Tuesday, August 05, 2014

Before.

Behold the factory sights on a Remington 870 slug barrel. If all goes according to plan, those will be replaced with a set of Trijicon RE01 tritium night sights. I don't know that they're as important as having a good white light mounted on the gun but, hey, they were on sale.

(Cue chatter about "giving away my position", as though I were laying an ambush on the Ho Chi Minh trail and not trying to evict an intruder from the living room at Roseholme Cottage, in 3... 2...)
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21 comments:

  1. Hey, not for nothing, but you'll give away your position when you rack the slide on that there slug gun and cause the home invader to soil himself on your living room floor just from the sound...

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  2. I went with non-tritium ghost rings as I don't like rifle sights. 'course, I don't have a slug barrel either. I've come to the conclusion that the forend light is the best thing I've ever strapped a gun besides good sights.

    As for the tritium nonsense, I figure the forend light, loud report and muzzle flashes will do more to give away my position than any dull green glow will ever do. Besides, if I ever want to ambush someone, the claymores and tiger pit in the living room should do the trick.

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  3. It doesn't need a light, just rack the slide! The sound of them crapping themselves will locate the bad guy for you.

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  4. The intruder will not be evicted, he will be there a while. At least until the coroner comes with the body bag. That would ruin anyone's day, getting shot with a 12 gauge slug.

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  5. I had a 20" Remchoke barrel with those same factory sights.

    I wound up putting it on a gun to trade off to get my 2nd ever 9mm (the CZ 75B).

    My house 870 then spent a couple years wearing the 24" vent rib that came off the gun I traded.

    When I decided it was time to replace it I discovered the 20" Remchoke was no longer made. So I went with the 18" Improved Cylinder wearing night sights from the factory.
    http://s410.photobucket.com/user/ScottJ175/media/DSC_4216.jpg

    And thanks for the reminder it's been far too long since I took the shotgun out for practice.

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  6. I've often wondered if an intruder wouldn't shoot at the light. Since I live on a mountain top, surrounded by forest, I do need a light. But someone in the tree line could zap me when I came out on the porch and turned the light on. :-(

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  7. I bought. You're very persuasive today, Tam.
    Back in the days when I WAS worried about "giving away my position" I used the SureFire light exactly ONCE. A while light ND on an ambush - even in practice - is FAR worse than any residual tritium glow.
    Now I wish I had that SureFire forend. I probably coulda boosted it but I just turned it in...

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  8. Harry Flashman,

    "I've often wondered if an intruder wouldn't shoot at the light. Since I live on a mountain top, surrounded by forest, I do need a light. But someone in the tree line could zap me when I came out on the porch and turned the light on. :-("

    I would definitely recommend instruction in the use of the weapon-mounted light. It's generally not a good idea to search for unknown or suspected targets with a WML, since you are by default pointing a gun at anything you point the light at.

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  9. I thought I was looking down the nose of a 1950 Studebaker.

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  10. Please keep us posted. I need sights on the house 870P, this may be the answer.

    On a side issue, you've substantially picked up your training pace, and seem to be adding specific equipment. Anything you know that we don't?

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  11. I sold a lot of lights to people who bought my shotguns. Shooting at noises, or silhouettes, or an impression of movement is a huge rule 4 violation, and it's a far better thing to be sure of your target and risk taking a hit yourself than to shoot your kid, or dog, or other innocent.

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  12. I've heard that comment about tritium sights as well. My response is in order to see the tritium to compromise your position they have to be behind you, you're already in trouble if that happens.

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  13. I have used my weapons light on an 870 to search and kill bad guys and bad girls without problems.

    My bad guys and girls tend to be possums, skunks and coyotes in and around the barn.

    I went with a fiber optic front sight when the factory sight got bent, long story. The weapons light really makes it glow.

    Good luck with the new rig.

    Gerry

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  14. You give away your position with the loud noise and muzzle flash.

    Hope you never need to use it in anger.

    Hope if you do, you get better results than this man.
    http://www.cnn.com/2014/08/04/justice/detroit-porch-shooting-trial/index.html

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  15. You were in 'Nam? Awesome! ;-)

    Having said that, my 870Mk1 actually did scare the fecal matter out of two miscreants intent on entering my residence in Citrus Heights, CA once upon a time. The sound, and the sight of the thing. I was cool with that, didn't really want to present the buckshot at high velocity unless I really had to...

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  16. I use that Surefire fore end light a bit. As a matter of fact, I used it the last time that I pointed a gun at someone. It has pluses and minuses, for my set-up. Minus: It's very bulky, and doesn't like our patrol cars' locking shotgun mount.
    Minus: The way our sling swivels are set up on the barrel and magazine extension tube, the sling wants to get in the way of the light.
    Plus: big light very fast on the grip surface. Click on or squeeze on.
    Minus: eats batteries (ours are older halogens lights)
    Plus: You never ever have the shotgun without the light.
    Minus: easy to put pressure on the switch and burn down the battery.
    Plus: Very durable, reliable switch and lamp. (Everyday service for a decade, with lots of quals with high-brass, and never a hiccup? Yes, please!)

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  17. Wait, isn't the muzzle flashes from the mortars and your buddies' small arms and the MGs, along with the parachute flares, enough light to see your sights and, uh, what do you mean this isn't, uh, you don't have, uh, oops.
    Sorry, got my flashes confused. So, now that I'm focusing on WML's, what would you suggest for an original Benelli S90-M1, plus mount? Seeing as I recently dragged this out of dead, er, deep storage, and there wasn't much choice when it was new.
    Also, any thoughts on the standard vs pistol grip stocks for this? I've got both for it.

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  18. If by "pistol grip" stock you mean ONLY a pistol grip then - NO!
    If you mean the buttstock with the integral pistol grip then very much YES - based on my experience with the Benelli M1.

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  19. Will,

    "So, now that I'm focusing on WML's, what would you suggest for an original Benelli S90-M1, plus mount? Seeing as I recently dragged this out of dead, er, deep storage, and there wasn't much choice when it was new.
    Also, any thoughts on the standard vs pistol grip stocks for this? I've got both for it.
    "

    Be aware that your Benelli M1, by virtue of being an imported self-loading shotgun, can still run afoul of 922(r). You can have the mag tube extension or the pistol grip, but not both.

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  20. (Surefire makes excellent lighting solutions for the M1.)

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