Handgun scope on shotgun

[Questor]

My son starts deer hunting this year and he'll be using his Mossberg 20 guage pump gun. I want to put a scope on it, but don't want to buy a specialty scope. I've got a Leupold 2x handgun scope and a Burris 2-7x handgun scope. I've also got a Leupold 3-9x rifle scope. Will these work OK on the shotgun? Which do you think will work best?

Have you tried something like this?

The scope base for that gun is a Weaver that screws into a tapped receiver.

[Blaine]

Choosing from the choices you list, I would have to ask what the eye relief distance is on both the handgun scopes. They might be too long if they are designed for handguns. The Leupold would then be your only choice given the options you list.

[Mikey]

Questor:  Good Mornin'....  Both Blaine and cknight are correct.  In one instance the handgun scope may have to be mounted too far down the barrel to give your son the proper eye relief and the Leopold rifle scope may be the best optionof the three.  

There are other choices however.  There are scopes which are made for shotguns that handle the recoil of the heavy shotguns very well and some are not all that expensive.  Lately I have been headed toward the Bushnell Banner Dawn to Dusk scopes - inexpensive and built to handle recoil.  They are fairly in a low power range, 1.5x - 4.5x and give great clarity.  They can be used on both rifle AND shotgun and you don't have to deal with the parallax issue as you do with most shotgun only scopes.  I have been using one on a 444 Marlin lately and it works very well for me.  HTH.  Mikey.

[dave375hh]

Quester,
   I've had a Bushnell Banner 1.5 to 4.5X on my 12 ga for 11 years now and it's still going strong. If I were to replace it with anything it would be a reddot like I use on my .44 SBH. Once your used to them, they are the fastest optical sights you'll find.

   By all means once you make your decision have your son mount the gun 20-30 times every day so it becomes automatic for him. have him find a sight picture each time as fast as possible. You should watch to see if he is sliding his head back & forth on the stock to see if you need to reposion the scope to fit him. With enough practice the sight picture will be there at the same time the butt hits his shoulder. The bonus is he'll do this for the rest of his life and be a better shooter to boot!

[Questor]

Thanks, guys. You've given me good advice.  I think the Bushnell rifle scope makes a lot of sense, and so does the red dot. I've got a handgun red dot I could use. I never thought of using it on a shotgun, but I think the eye relief would work.  I'll have to try it out at close eye relief to see how target acquisition is. There's a knack to getting good target acquisition with this 1" Ultradot with a handgun. He's familiar with scopes, so the best thing to do is probably to cave in and get the low-power scope.

By the way, in calculating the recoil I find that my son is about to learn how to deal with real recoil. His 20 gauge pump with a 3/4 ounce slug has more recoil than a .270 bolt action rifle.

[Bullseye]

I would go with the Leopold 3-9 if I did not want to spend any money, maybe even if I did want to spend some money.  As noted the pistol scope will not work to well.  I used to have a Leupold 2-7 on my shotgun.  The Leupolds have plenty of eye relief for a shotgun and I have never had a parallax prolbelms with the Leupolds at the shorter diatances.  I used to have Leupold 3-9 on my muzzleloader and it worked well, which is a similar application.

[Buster]

The red dot should work great.  I put a BSA 42mm red dot on my Ithaca riot gun, thinking, "this thing will shake loose in a few shots".  That was 5 years ago!  I've killed a pile of deer with it, including my best buck ever last year.   You couldn't pry it away from me now.   It groups 4" or better at 75 yards.