Do "glow-dot" beads help you shoot a shotgun better?

[Old No7]

I suppose I could ask this on a shotgun forum, but I'd trust the varied opinions and experiences of my Leverguns brethren here more.

So the question is, do you shoot better with a "glow dot" bead on a shotgun? Something like this one, for example:

Truglo Glo-Dot bead.jpg

That's the Glo-Dot from Truglo, and I added them to my 12 and 20 ga Browning BPS Upland Special pump shotguns (with straight grips and short 22" barrels) years ago when my son and I started turkey hunting. Those worked really well on stationary targets, but then we moved up to removable Truglo's Gobble-Dot sights that look like front & rear fiber-optic rifle sights, as they were adjustable for point of impact. When those are removed, the Glo-Dots are still on the ribs.

The problem is, I haven't shot too much trap or skeet over all those years, and my results on the range at the Boxing Day trap shoot were dismal at best... Very dismal at the worst...

OK, I realize my eyes aren't as good now as they were 10 years ago, but I don't ever recall shooting that poorly at trap... With both guns too! You would have thought the extra shot in the larger 12 ga would have helped my score... (Not!!!) So now I'm questioning whether the "glow dots" sights are a good idea on flying targets or not???

I know you "aim" a rifle and should "point" a shotgun -- and keep it moving too -- but now I suspect the bright bead is drawing too much attention from my eye, and I may be focusing too much on that -- and not on the target. That's what I've read before, that with a rifle or handgun you focus on the front sight and the target is blurry. But with a shotgun, you should focus on the target and the bead/barrel should be blurry.

What say all the experts here???

Thanks!

Old -- and feeling a little older -- No7

[Buck Elliott]

My answer is NO... and for the same reason you cited. While I can see a possible advantage on fairly stationary targets like turkeys, i find that the glowing sight draws my eye away from moving birds.. I shoot a SXS double, with hammers, and 20" barrels. The front bead is .175" diameter, with a .136" center bead. i have learned to ignore the center bead, for the most part, unless it is obviously not lined up, when it catches my attention.. Other than that, it is just a matter of gun mounting, because your eye is your rear sight..
Others may see it differently, but this is a guy who still shoots iron sights, and hits what he shoots at...

[BigSky56]

I use them for hunting they are great for picking up on upland or waterfowl
I rarely shoot a round of trap cant give you a opinion either way some guys I've see at shoots have ivory beads. danny

[RIHMFIRE]

I use them while shooting trap, skeet and sporting clays....
but my eyes are always on the target...not the bead....
It helps me to maintain my leads....

[stew71]

My answer is NO... I find that the glowing sight draws my eye away from moving birds..

This. Right here. Hate the darn things. In fact, I don't even really notice the front bead on any of my shotguns.

[.Dirty-.Thirty]

I only hunt Turkers and Squirrels, my Benelli came with one and I have used them on 2 more shotguns. I find they bother me none and are easy to see. This Spring I am using a scope on 2 of turkey guns, they work well too and are useful when you have a gun that kills easily to 60yds. Go ahead and try something different its what keeps it interesting! .DT

[Marlin32]

I use one (only on front) when turkey hunting, have used it when shooting ducks etc, shows up well against sky, but don't know if it helps, I aint looking at it. I am staring bird in the eye, never really see the sight.

[shawn_c992001]

I for one love them, and just used one today to drop 2 Hooded Mergansers, and a canada goose. For me they make it easier to maintain the lead on birds, just find the bead, swing ahead of the birds beak,, and squeeze the trigger.

[Lastmohecken]

I think you probaby just need to practice more, either way. It might help and it might not. It does depend on how you shoot your shotgun at moving targets.

Personally, I don't like any of the new fangled high vis sights, but I have experimented a lot with sights and beads on shotguns, and know that for some people they are probaby a boom.

I have actually had gunsmiths install rifle sights on a few shotguns in the past. I usually started with a Reminton 700 rear sight and whatever hight frontsight seemed to work the best. Sometimes I used a front sight off of a 30/30, sometimes taller depending on the contour of the barrels, etc. If I purchased a shotgun that did not shoot where I wanted it to, then this was my solution and really it worked very well, but I am a shotgun aimer, not a pointer.

When I shoot, I do keep my eye on the bird, but I bring my shotgun up to my eye and I do actually aim it, in the final mili-second, before I shoot. So I am very conscious of my rib, bead, barrel, etc. So, as a result, I am very picky as to the sight picture I get on a shotgun when I throw it up and look down the barrel.

So, actually I would probably like one of those new sights, it's just that I hate the way they look on a gun, and they seem fragil to me.

[TMair]

I tried one once, it landed in the marsh some where, not because I took it off, it just came off, so don't really know if it helped or not, but I do know that for me, I had a shotgun with a big white front bead, I shot very well with that gun, but not any better then I do with my Ruger Red Label with a brass bead, I think it is what you are used to, and your shooting style, they say if you make contact with the shot gun in the same way every time, you just make the shot instinctivly, I guess I don't make contact the same way every time
Terry

[Rusty]

I've never shot one myself but I do know someone that had one on his turkey gun. He is a rabid turkey hunter and shoots a Bennelli. After he had the gun a while the plastic "glow" came out one day leaving a ring on the end of the barrel. He found that he liked the ring front sight so much that he talked several of his hunting buddies to try his gun. A few of them liked it so much they also took the glow out of their sights as well.

[retmech]

I've shot a lot of skeet and sporting clays over the past 40+ years, if I was looking at the bead when I pulled the trigger it was always a miss. IMO you "look" at the target, the barrel and bead are in you peripheral vision.