Been hunting more than 45 years but new to turkey hunting. I'm 57 and don't see as well as I used to so I'm mounting an optic on a dedicated turkey gun I just purchased - Weatherby SA-459 Turkey. I don't know whether to mount a reflex sight or a scope.
If I purchase a scope it will be a Leupold VX-1 1-4 Shotgun/Muzzleloader with Turkey Plex Reticle or a Reflex. If I go reflex it will be a Vortex Razor or a Meopta MeoSight III. The Burris FastFire III seems to be popular here but I feel the Razor and MeoSight are better quality. In addition I get dealer pricing on the optics I'm considering.
My question is which type of sight do you prefer for hunting turkey, scope or reflex?
Do you hunt more open or wooded areas? I'd say if you hunt in the woods like me go with a reflex and you have a better field of view and can use both eyes to scan the area as you shoot. If your hunting more open terrain or fields I'd go with a scope so you can dial in tight on him for those slightly longer shots.
Personally I'm still young (33 this month) and have good eyes and use the Tru Glo Magnum Gobble Dot rifled sights on my 20ga and my 12ga has a smooth barrel with factory rifled sights that I painted the dots brighter with finger nail polish.
I have 700 acres, most of it is open but their are strips of woods, mainly along fence lines. I've shot turkey in among the trees and out in the open when deer hunting. So I can have very long shots and close up shots I guess. Don't mean to be ambiguous, since I'm new this is my best estimate.
I'm from the south so when I say woods I'm talking about 1000's of acres of wooded area. I'm thinking from what your describing a scope would be good for you. I'd suggest going with a base on your shotgun where you mount a scope and if it's not liked then replace it with a reflex sight.
After thinking about it some more even in wooded areas it's not that thick. The other two places I hunt have less trees than my place and are much larger.
I've got something of a conundrum now. The Meopta red dot I want is backordered indefinitely so I Emailed our dealer rep at Vortex. The Venom is backordered until early fall. I've got a call in to see if they have any Razors, I've got one on an AR and it is excellent. I could get an AR-FASTFIRE III except I can only buy one optic a year through the dealer program which I've already. I'm asking if they will make an exception.
The products that are backordered are available retail but my discounts get me 60% off MSRP so I ain't buying retail. The Leupold DeltaPoints are an option except the DeltaPoint Pro is more than I want to spend and you have to take the DeltaPoint off the firearm to change the battery.
If I can't get a Razor or FastFire I will get a Leupold scope and get my red dot when they become available. The scope will only cost me $135.00 with tax.
There is a good reason that the Fastfire is so popular here. It is a great turkey hunting sight. I have been using them for the last few years and love them. Quality is top notch, but their customer service is some of the best too. I wouldn't rule it out.
Best sights available in that price range!
I have them on 2 turkey guns, and will be putting a 3rd on my daughters gun when I get one for her.
I recommend the Leupold scope with the turkey plex reticle. It's a durable product and the reticle doubles as a range finder so you know when to pull the trigger. Good luck.
For the price of that Leupold I would get that. If you get a discount for military/leo there are retailers that will honor the discount pricing of the manufacturers and will be quicker in shipping. Sportoptics comes to mind but Im sure there are others.
I hate re-sighting in optics but I took the FastFire III off my son's AR and mounted it on the shotgun. At 40 yards it was okay but not spectacular. Next I'm going to pull a Leupold VX-R off my AR and mount it on the shotgun and see how that goes. It's not like I'm in a rush because fall season is a long way off. I would like to just put a VX-R on it and have magnification and a red dot, but I'm not going to spend that kind of money on a turkey optic. I know I'm overthinking this.
I can only get one Burris optic a year at dealer pricing which I've already done. So a coworker ordered me the AR FF III with the hood. I would have preferred the Meopta or Razor but they backordered until this fall. If I wind up not liking it I can always get the Leupold scope. The good thing about Leupold optics is if they are out, they will assemble some quickly so you never have to wait longer than a month if they are backordered.