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Fiber optic shotgun sights

10K views 25 replies 18 participants last post by  JoeBerg 
#1 ·
Hi Guys, I would like your thoughts on fiber optic shotgun sights. Please advise
if you've had experiences with: Hi-Viz, Uni-dot, Easy hit, Tru-glo or any other
types that are out on the market. Good or bad. Thanks.

Will Cam
 
#6 ·
I like the small 2 mm diameter green Uni-Dot P200 on my trap guns. This helps prevent occasional crossfire and it is not a distraction but it is there in peripheral vision without looking at it. I use the larger diameter Meadow Industries Vari Brite II on my field guns.
 
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#9 ·
I use the smallest green pipe there is in my Browning Hi-Viz Comp Sight at dusk on overcast days when the lights don't help and my peripheral vision can't find the white bead. In fact, I've sanded the smallest pipe smaller so it's just a straight stick.

Otherwise I use the middle size white one 'cause it looks like a regular bead. Anything else is like hanging a highway flare on the end of my barrel.

Mike
 
#11 ·
I'm also a fan of the Hi-Viz Comp-sight. Saw it on a Browning 525, added it to both my 425 & BT-99s. Fluorescent green is my choice.

The reason I like the Comp-Sight is that it is a system of a low profile sight which screws into the front bead hole (5 screws are provided), plus you get (7) pipes - (3) green, (3) red & (1) white, plus a tool for easy interchange.

Check eBay for best prices,
Jay
 
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#13 ·
<blockquote>"The reason I like the Comp-Sight is that it is a system of a low profile sight which screws into the front bead hole (5 screws are provided), plus you get (7) pipes - (3) green, (3) red & (1) white, plus a tool for easy interchange."</blockquote>

I think I'm keeping North Pass Ltd. in business buying replacement light pipes. I buy'em by the dozen. They're not very durable.

Mike
 
#14 ·
I'm using the Uni-Dot P-200 and mainly the P-210 2mm sights. I have them on all of my shotguns except my coybow side-by-side (not sanctioned for those matches) and my tactical shotgun (they don't make one to fit round barrels).<br>
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I'm left eye dominant, but right handed. My right eye sees a transparent gun barrel, while my left eye sees an opaque barrel. This leads to very bad crossfiring. For aerial targets, I could not hit the ocean from a rowboat with both eyes open. And I hit a peak if around 20 to 21 birds shooting with one eye closed. I really need both eyes open to judge distance and speed properly.<br>
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I installed a Uni-Dot. My scores dropped down to the mid-teens for a couple of months, but then suddenly I ran my first 25 and 50.<br>
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The Uni-Dot is properly called a partially occluded sight. It's designed so your non-shooting eye does not see the dot. This is what prevents crossfiring.<br>
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The secret to using the Uni-Dot successfully is - DON'T LOOK AT THE SIGHT. Your eyes should be on the bird. You bring the dot to the bird with peripheral vision. If you look at the dot (which is very tempting and easy to do because it's bright) you will miss.<br>
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I'm on a budget, and don't waste money, especially on gimmicks. I've bought something like ten of these, and will continue to buy them for any shotgun barrel I have that has a rib.<br>
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As for models, I prefer the P-210 over the P-200. If you damage or break the rod on a P-200, you're out of action. The rods are interchangable on the P-210, so you're back in business quickly.<br.
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For shooting, I prefer to wear vermillion glasses with a red rod. Combined with a flourescent red clay, this combo works out well at all times except sunset with a red sky. Works well even for night shoots under lights with red or white clays. White clays "streak" badly under lights, but the vermillion glasses cuts the streaking way down. Because the background is darkened, it's almost like watching fireworks going off when you hit a clay. And the vermillion glasses cuts the bright glare from the green grass around the trap house.<br>
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Some trap shooters have such high combs that they are looking down on the ribs, possibly way above the height that a Uni-Dot will allow. In this casse, you're better off having a custom rib made by Keen Sights Ribs that will be at an angle, blocking the non-shooting eye. The fiberoptic rid in the Keen Sights Rib operates on the same principle as the Uni-Dot - it just differs in technique, using a trough instead of a tube.
 
#16 ·
I don't know if anyone remembers, but years ago I was all alone in advocating the UniDot on this board for "cross eyed" shooters like me and Brian.

I spent much time trying to explain and it seems folks have finally figured it out.

As Brian explained, if you are dominant in your off eye, you will see two barrels.

With the UniDot only one of the two will have the glowing dot (it is the correct one over your shooting shoulder).

It does take some mental training, but if you stick to it, you can train your brain to focus -- I mean tight, clear, primary focus, on the target (this it the opposite of pistol shooting where you focus on the front sight and the target is blurry) -- and your brain will pick up on the glowing dot to make the right bird/bead relationship to break the target.

Contrary to much popular myth, which seems to be finally fading away, you need a good bird/bead relationship to break the target.

Where you'll run into trouble, as Brian explained, is when you try to focus on the bead rather than the target. That much is not myth, it will lead to misses.

I am still awaiting getting a custom fit stock, which I believe is essential to consistent shooting, but believe that once I get one and dial in the fit and POI I will be at very little, if any, disadvantage shooting with a UniDot vis a vie having my dominant hand and eye the same.

To me, trap is nearly identical to golf in the physical and mental skills involved. Assuming everything is set up right to fit you and shoot where you are looking (with the right bird/bead relationship (shooting where you are looking means nothing if the bead and POI are matched up to where you look)) you will probably find that most of your misses are due to errors between the ears (like thinking about breaking the next ten rather than the one you are shooting at or what your wife will wear to bed that night).

The UniDot is not magic, but if you are willing to train your brain it should work for you. If you believe it won't, well then I'm pretty sure your brain will make sure it doesn't.

If you can afford them, or if your comb is pretty high, the Keensight (by Vicky Keen) are really freaking cool, as Brian from Oregon said. They have the fiber optic bar set in a channel down the middle of the rib. They keep your off eye (the dominant eye if you are a cross-eyed shooter) from seeing the dot so that when you see the double vision barrels, only one will have the glowing dot on the end and you can train your brain to match that one up with the target and ignore the other.

If you are focusing on the target and not the end of the barrel/bead, you will see only ONE target, even if you are cross dominant.

Many folks will tell you this is all crapola, but they just don't understand what is happening or are just stubborn mules.

For other folks who are reading this, understand that cross dominance can be occasional as well. This is what happens to me. I can shoot most targets fine without the dot, but on targets that cross to the left across my left eye (with the gun shouldered on my right), my left eye will take over and the eye (functionally your rear sight) alignment between my rear sight (eye) and front bead will cross and I will miss the target.

If you have a kid like this just switch them over to shouldering the gun on the side of their dominant eye. It can be done and is preferred. Did you know that Phil Mickelson golfs wrong handed? It is true.

For those of you that are already grown up and just can't get used to the feel of switching shoulders, put the time in with the UniDot and you may just find it the greatest thing since [fill in the blank].

fatXXXerikcartman@yahoo.com (remove XXX)
 
#17 ·
I'm not a fan of the magnetic type. Found my O/U Trap gun would not pattern well with it on, shot to the left. Took it off and my poi and patterning was fine. I don't have any on my trap guns. I have a screw in Raybar type on my turkey gun that I installed, it patterened well, functions well, and kills turkeys. I installed this for light absorbence in certain situations. The gun is fine without a Raybar on it. I may install a screw in type on my Beretta Urika Trap, or just find a new white front bead similar to my Brownings. I don't make these hi-viz sights out to be more than they are. When target shooting I'm not concentrating on my front bead.
 
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#18 ·
<blockquote>"Why are you going thru pipes so often? I rarely pull my pipes, why the breakage?

Jay"</blockquote>

I do much of my shooting at night and I shoot at a number of clubs. Some have good lighting and some have rotten lighting ( and everything in between ). Changing the size of the light pipe keeps the appearance of the front of the barrel in my peripheral the very close to the same from one club to another...bigger pipe in poor lighting, smaller pipe in good lighting. And changing the size/color from bright sun to dismal fog accomplishes the same thing during the day. Most important, the pipe changes keep me from running over low targets in dim breezy conditions.

Mike
 
#19 ·
Will, I was having problems with hard left birds from station one. I'm a left-handed shooter with a very dominant left eye. For me,from station one, the 'ghost' leads the true barrel and is quite visible. I had the tendancy to shoot where I saw it (the 'ghost') and not the actual barrel. I went to the Easy Hit 2.5mm green sight. Love the darn thing! Works great! It only allows the shooting eye to see the colored dot. If the green dot is there, that's where the shot is going......IF my head is on the stock. The 'ghost' is still there BUT without a green dot, and I have no problem seeing the difference. (NOTE: The sight, unfortunately, doesn't help keep your head down on the wood.) Good luck and good shooting. Mike
 
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#21 ·
<blockquote>"Black "sharpie" to black out the front bead.......then look at the BIRD!"</blockquote>

Yes, Frank...we know. Thank you SO much for that sage revalation. I'm happy with a 95 registered average changing pipes.

Mike
 
#22 ·
Mac V, when shooting buddies or Oakleys in those poorly lit clubs, I bet you'd appreciate all the other guys in the shoot had their beads blacked out huh? :) I know I would also! On another thread, one of the posters mentioned trying to shoot a shotgun in the darkness behind the lit area. If you can't see the barrel end or bead on a shotgun, your toast and that's a fact. Lots of shooters don't understand the difference between using peripheral vision to see with and bead checking or looking back to the bead. That's why Phil K. blacks out those beads, he's attempting to teach them to keep their eye on the target!! Hap

In most states when taking the eye tests, they test your peripheral vision too. While looking at an object in the middle of the screen, small lights will twinkle off to the side and the examiner will ask you where it flashed. That's also seeing peripherally, just like the light pipes.
 
#23 ·
Mike,Good for you!!! I am happy with my .98 thanks to the sharpie. Live and learn I guess. I TRIED one then the other.
These are MY thoughts on Fiber optic sights...
Per the original post"
Hi Guys, I would like your thoughts on fiber optic shotgun sights. Please advise if you've had experiences with: Hi-Viz, Uni-dot, Easy hit, Tru-glo or any other types that are out on the market. Good or bad. Thanks."
 
G
#25 ·
<blockquote>"But, at night I can't see the fiber optic sight! I would like a Solution to this problem?"</blockquote>

I have a card-shoot gun with fiber optic rifle sights and the front sight is unseeable after dark. I found a solution by attaching a small clear grain-of-wheat bulb (model railroad supplies) to the side of the front light pipe with a dab of black silicone sealer. Then I painted the outer part of the bulb black to prevent any light from escaping except through the light pipe. Then I ran very thin wires along the rib and connected them (through bayonet connections) to a 12-volt ni-cad battery pack I keep in my shirt pocket. A little slide switch in the wiring completes the job. Sight is bright as day. That's my idea...you do the engineering.

Mike
 
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