Sako TRG 22/42 A1

What are the main benefits of mounting a red dot sight on a shotgun?

The first and biggest benefit is the faster and easier aiming possibility since your eyes do not need to focus on bead sights or open sights on the rifle, and on the same time also on the target. This is especially noticeable among older shooters, which do not see so good anymore like the younger ones. Because aiming with a red dot sight is much faster, it is the perfect solution for driven hunts, where the hunter does not have much time to place the perfect shot.

A mounted red dot sight on a shotgun is also very handy for shooters which have opposite dominance of the eyes and arms – right hand and left eye for example.

As most of the hunters know, aiming over the rib with bead sights isn’t very accurate since different shotguns shoot differently.

• This is especially noticeable when shooting slugs.
• With a red dot, the shotgun can be shot very accurately and the red dot can be perfectly zeroed.

Why this aren’t picatinny rails that are going straight to the rifle body?

Shotguns with a pre-mounted Picatinny rail are mostly tactical shotguns, which are used by the police and military. But because the Picatinny rails are very popular for mounting optics and other accessories, many semi-auto hunting shotguns have the holes for mounting a rail already prepared.

In this category, we listed mounts that can be mounted

• directly on the rib of the shotgun or
• between the stock and the action of the rifle.

To do so, the rib on the rifle has to be ventilated. A ventilated rib is most common on "over and under" shotgun rifles, and is very rare on "side by side" shotgun rifles.

It is worth to mention that all mounts that come on the rib of a shotgun have to be pushed towards the muzzle to ensure a perfect fit with no movement during shooting sessions.

Picatinny rails for mounting on the "rib" of a shotgun

A Picatinny rail that can be mounted on the rib of a shotgun has one major benefit – it can be mounted on the entire length of the rib, so every user can adjust the eye-relief to his favorite position.

When a Picatinny rail is mounted, also the selection of the red dot sights increases. Almost all sights on the market feature a mounting solution for a Picatinny rail, so the user can easier decide what to mount. It is, whatsoever, worth mentioning that these Picatinny rails are not designed to be used with combination with a traditional rifle scope since the additional weight could damage the rib on the shotgun.

Because of the different shapes of the ribs on the shotguns, the manufacturers produce these Picatinny rails in different dimensions for each individual rifle. The most known manufacturer of such Picatinny rails is Recknagel, which has the widest selection on the market.

Docter Sight mounts for mounting on the "rib" of a shotgun

The "Docter Sight" mounting platform is the most common platform on red dot sights on the market. There are many companies that use this platform as their preferred one, because in most cases it is the lowest mounting solution.

The red dot sights that use this mounting platform are from design up very low, which is perfect for mounting on a shotgun since the aiming point does not travel too much higher, and the user still has to aim over the rib as before.

Typically, these mounts can be mounted on many types of shotgun ribs, so they are not designed for one specific rib on one specific shotgun.

Aimpoint Micro mounts for mounting on the "rib" of a shotgun

Aimpoint Micro mounts are practically the same as the Docter Sight mounts, just that they have an Aimpoint Micro profile instead of a Docter Sight profile. Today, this footprint is also widely used for other red dots on the market.

From the combination of these mounts and Aimpoint Micro red dots, the idea for the Micro S-1 was born.

Docter Sight mounts for mounting between the stock and the action of the rifle

To mount a red dot sight between the stock and the action on a shotgun was an idea from the American company Burris, which is owned by the Beretta group. In this group are also many companies which produce shotgun rifles, such as Benelli, Franchi, Stoeger, and so on.

On these mounts not only the Docter Sights can be mounted, but all red dot sights on the market that have the same footprint.

The main benefit of such a mount is the distance to the eye – because it is very close, the user quickly finds the red dot in his field of view. Whatsoever, many users don’t like this solution because the aesthetics of the rifle changes.

Red dot sights that can be mounted directly on the "rib" of a shotgun

The first red dot sight on the market with such a solution was from the Swedish company Redring. It can be mounted on any rib width ranging from 5 to 11.5 mm, on Over/Under, and Semi-automatic shotguns.

Because such sights are gaining on popularity, more and more companies design their own red dot sights that can be mounted directly on the rib of the shotgun.

In this category, you can find: 

• passive sights such as Easy hit, all the way to
• Docter/Noblex Quicksight,
• Aimpoint Micro s-1 and
• similar.