Rear sight for plain shotgun barrel

[jmsj]

Hey guys,
I've got an old Remington 11-87 for a "do it all" shotgun for around the place. We live very rural and have no close neighbors, This gun is used for skunks, coons, feral cats, squirrels, possibly bears (we had one get halfway into the kitchen window last month) and I have used it for called predators.
I usually keep heavy pheasant loads in the gun and it works well for the pests but lately I have been playing with slugs. This gun has a plain barrel and a front bead, at 35 yards it prints about right vertically but shoots to the left. Also it seems to take me longer than I like to try and aim the shotgun accurately when shooting slugs.
I have looked for a windage adjustable rear sight that folds down so that I can use just the bead when using shot loads but can't find anything. I was hoping I could find a fold down rear apeture similar to the rear sight on a Ruger Ranch Rifle (mini-14 type) that could be mounted to the rear of the receiver but came up empty.
I was wondering if any of you have seen anything like this or have any ideas?
Thanks, jmsj

[ted60]

buy a saddle mount and a small variable scope and you can adjust that to point of aim and its easy to see, or a short 18 barrel rifled with rifle or ghost ring sights, I just bought a 18" barrel with Rem choke tubes, with scope and Aimtech saddle mount, my vision is bad and the scope is perfect. or you could have a smith put on a 03 peep sight with a blade front?

[jmsj]

ted60,
Thanks for the input.
Just this past weekend I started shooting round balls in this gun. Mostly I shoot shot loads in it. Would the saddle mount allow me to use the bead?
Thanks, jmsj

[Mk42gunner]

IIRC the folding sight on a Ranch Rifle looks suspicously like a folding Lyman with a different insert. You can get a folding rear sight from Brownell's, you might have to make your own aperture piece for it though.

Robert

[jmsj]

Robert,
I think you are right, I have two Ranch Rifles and that is where I got the idea. I like the way I can change from peep sights to optics on that platform. I was hoping to find a similar system to switch from bead sight to peep sights on my shotgun.
I was just hoping some one was making a mount/sight like this already that was for sale.
Well, maybe this winter I'll spend some time in the shop and try make this work.
Thanks, jmsj

[nicholst55]

I'll wager that Brownells carries a glue-on sight set for not a lot of money, intended for either turkey hunting or slug shooting.

[Junior1942]

My Stevens 94 "found shotgun" has a slightly bent barrel and shot about 1-duck to the left. After I whacked the barrel to 24", I slightly offset a HIVIZ sight 3-56 hole and put the POI right on, luckily. Then I epoxied a 5/16" or so section of a red fiber optic rod in the rear sight U. To aim, I put the green front fiber optic rod behind the red rear fiber optic rod. It works fine, shooting 3 Lee 1 oz slugs in 2 1/2" @ 20 yards. That's through a Cylinder bore @ ~1350 fps. If I put real, aiming type sights on it I think it would put 3 slugs in one hole.

But it's mainly for fast, thicket shooting with buckshot, so the sights stay as they are. If you want to try a rear homemade red fiber optic, send me a SASE with 64¢ postage on it, and I'll send you a freebie 1" or so section. Junior Doughty; 190 Major Doughty Road; Tullos Louisiana 71479.

[JSnover]

I have an old Hi-Standard pump with a bright orange bead and an aperture sight with the insert removed. Makes a nice 'ghost ring setup. Didn't cost much and it was easy to do.

[Saiga .410]

Marlin rifles have a fold down buckhorn style rear sight. I'm sure you could find 'em

[jmsj]

Thanks guys for the responses and thanks for the offer Junior.
I actually have a couple of the Marbles/Lyman fold down sights and can pull off one of the Ruger fold down apetures off my Ranch Rifles but I have not figured out how to mount it so that when folded down it doesn't intefere with using the bead sight.
If mounted to the barrel, when folded down it will still obscure the bead. I think that mounting on the back of the receiver, where it slopes down to the stock, is the only place I can think to mount something that would be out of the way when using the bead. Mounting it this far back means that it would probably need to be the apeture sight.
I guess this is an oddball idea. It makes sense to me as it would allow a guy to turn his smooth bore bird gun into a rifle sighted turkey or slug gun without changing anything but flipping the sight up or down. But I have been known to have some odd ideas.
Thanks guys, jmsj

[GREENCOUNTYPETE]

Williams sight used to make a set of rifle sights that fit on the vent rib , got a pair used them for a lot of years , but they didn't fold at all it was a front and rear but i shot trap with them just fine several times , sure made you good for running shots with slugs once you got the feel for rifle sights in trap


this gun now wears a 2x7 scope , i want to try that at trap some time

i don't think it is an oddball idea , it sounds like a good way to get a lot of use out of one gun
using rifle sights all the time was part of how i did the same thing for many years that was my do everything gun,

i have another 12ga with a poly choke on a plain round barrel no rib, the poly choke unit carries the front sight , i have thought of putting something on the back like your talking about as the poly choke elevates the front sight some . it is a real do anything cause with a twist of the poly choke it goes from x-full to slug


however , some of the new holo sights , red dots and even low power standard scopes are so fast to aim that many have just gone to that , for shot or slug
i wouldn't hesitate to have a good smith drill and tap it for a scope i see no value lost as long as it is done right.