Open sights vs Turkey Scope?

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hcdeerman

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I know the age old debate of one being better than others. I have recently switched from a single bead to a 2-piece sight system. I really want to swap to a scope, but have heard too many horror stories of misjudging yardage, unable to shoot a moving bird, etc. What are you guys' opinion? I'm looking at an actual scope, not red dot sight. I don't trust the batteries.
 
I HATE scopes on a turkey gun unless its a red dot style. As Ren stated, no chance of getting black eyes when your cramped up trying to get in the sight picture, no worried about parallax problems, and you can shoot moving or running birds MUCH easier with a red dot.
 
I use just beads in case go to shoot one flying. crp fields are so grown up they take off like quail sometimes
 
TheRealSpurhunter said:
I HATE scopes on a turkey gun unless its a red dot style. As Ren stated, no chance of getting black eyes when your cramped up trying to get in the sight picture, no worried about parallax problems, and you can shoot moving or running birds MUCH easier with a red dot.
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Agree with all above. A good red dot for sure, don't worry about batteries all the good ones have super life. Don�t go telescopic!
 
I've had experience with both. It was hard to get birds in view thru a scope...especially when they were within 20 or less yards. It took more effort to get into shooting position. I also missed birds on the run a few times. My Burris FF3 has fixed those issues and I like it best.
 
drrxnupe said:
I've had experience with both.
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Experience with both here, too, but can't say have had any problems getting a bird in view thru a scope.

Unlike Drrxnupe, I generally prefer the traditional scope over the Burris FF3 (or any red dot). I think the problem some people make with their traditional scopes is going with too much magnification. I keep my scope set on 1.5x most of the time, and it offers a tremendous field of view, along with much greater target clarity than a non-magnifying red dot or Burris Fastfire type sight.

I also really like the Burris FF3 sight, and it is my sight of choice to reduce weight. But, imo, it's not as "good" a sighting instrument as a good quality traditional scope with a little magnification. 1.5x magnification may not sound like much, but the difference in target clarity is significant.
 
depends on the gun... but I will always have some kind of sight on my gun besides just a bead. with the tight patterns guns are shooting now it is very easy to miss a beard with just a bead. as a lot of people pick their head up on a bead instead of staying down on the gun. on my next gun I will have a scope or a burris fast fire 3. or some sort of that. right now on my moss berg I actually have the dead ringer sights and they are very easy to install and they are very good. but I am a fan of a scope but not on a Mossberg they kick way to much and im not risking getting hit.
 
Unlike some red dot scopes, you should not have any battery issues with any of the Burris Fastfire series. If you worry about it, just change the batteries at the beginning of each year's turkey season.

One more thing, some may not be aware of the differences between "reflex" and "red dot" sights. The Burris Fastfire is a "reflex" sight (very small and light, although it does use a "red dot" as an aiming point).

I like reflex sights, don't like the larger "red dot" sights.
But like a good low-magnification traditional scope even better, at least for turkey hunting.
 
deerhunter10 said:
depends on the gun... but I will always have some kind of sight on my gun besides just a bead. with the tight patterns guns are shooting now it is very easy to miss a beard with just a bead.
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Good points.
You do need a scope with adequate eye relief, and most marketed as "shotgun" or "turkey" scopes will have it.

Someone mentioned parallax.
IMO, this is more a marketing issue than a real problem, at least regarding a turkey shotgun. I know some good squirrel hunters using traditional rifle scopes (not parallax free) having no problem hitting a squirrel's shoulder with a .22 at the same ranges we're shooting a shotgun at a turkey's neck. (Note that most of the finest rifle scopes are not offered with any type parallax adjustment until magnification exceeds 12x.)
 
Thanks for the info. I like my old bead sight better than the 2-piece b/c I felt like a couple of my shots were low last year b/c I didn't hold them in line right. That's why I was looking into maybe a very low power scope. With all the feed back about the Fast fires though, I might do some more research in that area.
 
i didn't mention the FF option cause you said you were not looking at that, however I use a FF3 and it is a great option if you want something other then bead. You don't have to worry about the recoil or getting your head on the stock, if the dot is on them they are dead.

lots of mounting options for a wide variety of guns AND an awesome warranty. If you are concerned with the battery life (which with the FF you need not worry) you can go the SpeedBead mount option and that still allows you to use the factory bead should something happen to the sight.


again its all a matter of preference and both options have different pros vs cons.
 
You were talking about battery life. I used one set of batteries on my eotech for two years. It will blink if batteries are low so no need to worry about it just being dead. I got it out the other night and they were dead so 2 years is how long I got. Also mine turns itself off after 4 hours of no use.
 
Wes Parrish said:
deerhunter10 said:
depends on the gun... but I will always have some kind of sight on my gun besides just a bead. with the tight patterns guns are shooting now it is very easy to miss a beard with just a bead.
Click to expand...
Good points.
You do need a scope with adequate eye relief, and most marketed as "shotgun" or "turkey" scopes will have it.

Someone mentioned parallax.
IMO, this is more a marketing issue than a real problem, at least regarding a turkey shotgun. I know some good squirrel hunters using traditional rifle scopes (not parallax free) having no problem hitting a squirrel's shoulder with a .22 at the same ranges we're shooting a shotgun at a turkey's neck. (Note that most of the finest rifle scopes are not offered with any type parallax adjustment until magnification exceeds 12x.)
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I think me and you have discussed this on a different thread. Your not using a fair comparison whatsoever.
The effect of paralax that causes trouble with turkey hunting is from not being able to line up PERFECTLY behind the scope for every shot. With 99% of magnified optics, if you are not, the point of impact is off. With most "red dots" and I qualify reflex sights as a red dot as well, it doesn't matter where your lined up behind the scope, if your dot, reticle, x, etc is on the target, you will hit the target.
 
I've got my turkey gun topped with a Burris FF3. Absolutely love it...no magnification, dot doesn't have to be centered, great for those run and gun situations. I batted .1000 with it last year!
 
TheRealSpurhunter said:
The effect of parallax that causes trouble with turkey hunting is from not being able to line up PERFECTLY behind the scope for every shot. With 99% of magnified optics, if you are not, the point of impact is off . . . .
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I understand, and you are technically very correct. Just saying the point of impact is not "off" enough to matter much. As I understand it, parallax becomes a greater issue the greater the magnification. In my personal case, I'm talking about comparing a 1.5x scope (which is totally parallax-free at 50 yards) to a zero magnification parallax-free Fastfire.

If parallax was a very big issue on low-power scopes, wouldn't most rifle shooters be demanding a parallax adjustment feature on the higher quality 9x and less magnification rifle scopes? I mean, trying to precisely place a bullet into a charging rhino's brain also often causes the shooter to not be PERFECTLY behind that scope. :)
 

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