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Scope or Red Dot for turkey gun?
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<blockquote data-quote="DartonJager" data-source="post: 2343968" data-attributes="member: 95733"><p>Been trough the same dilemma myself. My eyesight changed 5 years ago and iron sights just didn't work well enough anymore so it was either a red dot or LPV scope. Unfortunately Nikon's and Leopold's excellent likely best of their kind turkey specific scope were long out of production by this time. </p><p>I was left with either using my 2-7x33mm Leupold VariX-II shotgun scopes or my Sig Romeo V 2moa red dot scopes.</p><p></p><p>Both have their strengths and both have weaknesses. Over all the red dot is better because in my now considerable experience of 4 seasons of use in two states turkey seasons because you can use it with both eyes open, it gives you a much greater field of view VS a regular scope and it allows you to get on and more importantly stay on a moving Tom faster and easier than a regular scope and if like me you strongly prefer fiber optic iron sights on your turkey gun the red dot is far more similar in use and application VS a scope. Also unlike a standard rifle scope your heads position and eye alignment behind a red dot is not critical, as long as you get the red dot on target you will kill the Tom.</p><p>Also finding a turkeys head in a scope in very heavy cover can be difficult VS a red dot and can result in getting busted if the Tom spots your head movement trying to spot him as you can't find him in the scope and this is with my VariX-II at 2x.</p><p>Lastly there is no eye relief issues with a red dot as recoil of a 12ga 3.5" magnum turkey shell makes a 300wm look meek and so no risk of scope eye with a red dot either and don't ask my son about that one.</p><p></p><p>But as I hunt public land about 45-55% of the time (100% if out of state) longer shots are very common so a 50-60 yard shot with a red dot is more difficult to aim precisely as a turkeys head is a quite small target.</p><p>The ideal solution would be 2x or 3x 2moa red dot scope but the few that exist that can reliably handle the recoil of a 12ga 3.5" magnum are VERY expensive and don't have reticles (that I know of) that lend themselves well to turkey hunting so I am sticking with my 2MOA Sig Romeo V red dot sights for now.</p><p>There are some very attractive LPV illuminated reticle scopes made for the AR platform of rifles and I even own two, and there are some in the $150-$200 price range but I would be concerned about their holding up long term to the very considerable recoil forces of a 12ga 3.5" magnum 2oz load of #5 shot turkey shells. I have already killed one supposed shotgun recoil rated scope and red dot both made in Japan by a very reputable scope maker both advertised as rated for 12ga slug guns and both failed first time out at the range during sight in. </p><p>Thankfully my Leupold VariX-II's and Sig Romeo V's have held up extremely well.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="DartonJager, post: 2343968, member: 95733"] Been trough the same dilemma myself. My eyesight changed 5 years ago and iron sights just didn't work well enough anymore so it was either a red dot or LPV scope. Unfortunately Nikon's and Leopold's excellent likely best of their kind turkey specific scope were long out of production by this time. I was left with either using my 2-7x33mm Leupold VariX-II shotgun scopes or my Sig Romeo V 2moa red dot scopes. Both have their strengths and both have weaknesses. Over all the red dot is better because in my now considerable experience of 4 seasons of use in two states turkey seasons because you can use it with both eyes open, it gives you a much greater field of view VS a regular scope and it allows you to get on and more importantly stay on a moving Tom faster and easier than a regular scope and if like me you strongly prefer fiber optic iron sights on your turkey gun the red dot is far more similar in use and application VS a scope. Also unlike a standard rifle scope your heads position and eye alignment behind a red dot is not critical, as long as you get the red dot on target you will kill the Tom. Also finding a turkeys head in a scope in very heavy cover can be difficult VS a red dot and can result in getting busted if the Tom spots your head movement trying to spot him as you can't find him in the scope and this is with my VariX-II at 2x. Lastly there is no eye relief issues with a red dot as recoil of a 12ga 3.5" magnum turkey shell makes a 300wm look meek and so no risk of scope eye with a red dot either and don't ask my son about that one. But as I hunt public land about 45-55% of the time (100% if out of state) longer shots are very common so a 50-60 yard shot with a red dot is more difficult to aim precisely as a turkeys head is a quite small target. The ideal solution would be 2x or 3x 2moa red dot scope but the few that exist that can reliably handle the recoil of a 12ga 3.5" magnum are VERY expensive and don't have reticles (that I know of) that lend themselves well to turkey hunting so I am sticking with my 2MOA Sig Romeo V red dot sights for now. There are some very attractive LPV illuminated reticle scopes made for the AR platform of rifles and I even own two, and there are some in the $150-$200 price range but I would be concerned about their holding up long term to the very considerable recoil forces of a 12ga 3.5" magnum 2oz load of #5 shot turkey shells. I have already killed one supposed shotgun recoil rated scope and red dot both made in Japan by a very reputable scope maker both advertised as rated for 12ga slug guns and both failed first time out at the range during sight in. Thankfully my Leupold VariX-II's and Sig Romeo V's have held up extremely well. [/QUOTE]
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