Saiga 12 sighting Problems

[Azrial]

First, I am not sure that some are aware of how wide the pattern of a 12 gauge shotgun is. Taking one out and shooting it at 7,15, 30 and 100 yards at a large piece of cardboard will do a lot to make one familiar with the capabilities of the gun. The bottom line is that the pattern is not near as large at close range as many think!

Shotguns are designed for the engagement of multiple, fast moving targets. As such they are intended to be pointed, not aimed. Modern combat shotgun usage has made an effort to split the difference, due to improvements in the shells, changes in engagement technique and the relative slowness and larger side of human targets.

In my opinion many sighting systems that are currently being used on shotguns tip the scale to far toward rifle-like aiming, with it's subsequent loss in speed. For example I am not a big fan of scopes on shotguns, but I kind of like the little Docter Red Dot sights.

There are a few advantages of the longer sight radius as offered by by dust cover mounted HK and AR style sights. Greater precision and faster sight acquisition. The longer sight radius makes sight misalignment more obvious to the eye and correction quicker.

Peeps are a great idea as the eye tends to self center in the rear peep. But the normal rear sight position of the AK being forward of receiver makes this a a fairly slow system for most shooters, the distance taxing the eye's self centering ability. The Mojo Sight is an example of this, it can be quite precise, but will be slower for most.

Personally I believe that a Ghost ring mounted on the rear dust cover and a tower front sight would be the ideal system. We have several towers, but I have yet to find a good ghost ring rear for the Saiga. I would guess that an HK or AR rear on its largest notch would be as close as I have seen.

Of course any sight mounted on the rear dust cover soon seems to develop repeatability problems as the covers fit to the receiver wears.

I welcome and input or correction on these ideas or better sighting solutions than I have come up with. It was my hope in posting this here that new ideas on this problem might be found.

[ggiilliiee]

ya ive used all the mall ninja knobs and levers ....found out they just slow me down .....
the best sight you can get is shooting 500 clays a weekend for 5-6 years ...and dont forget the poppers ..hehe practise is the best sighting system going ...when you can shoot doubles with one arm .(the other pulling the release ..your getting good ....

[W.E.G.]

I think the recoil associated with the first shot from a shotgun pretty much negates any advantage the shotgun has over a carbine with an EOTECH.

I can't carry a shotgun AND a carbine.

Other than hunting small game, I can't think of any use for a shotgun where I wouldn't rather have a carbine.

As for "tactical shotguns," the old Smith and Wesson 3000 with iron sights does everything I need a shotgun like that to do.