I need some help understanding MOA circle reticles

Help me with what I’m thinking.

I’ve been considering a red dot sight on a shotgun. It would be my 835 which I use mostly for varmints, and I try to do some predator hunting too. But I like patterning as much as anything.

At the top of my list right now is a sight with either a 2 MOA red dot or a 20 MOA circle. If I understand right, that circle will look like approximately 21” at 100 yards and appear smaller on the same target at closer distances? So for example, at 50 yards it should look to be 10-1/2”?

Here’s why I ask and what I’m thinking.
When I pattern, I’m using a 10” circle and counting hits only in that circle. I’m not using the traditional wing shooting 30” circle and trying to get a 70% pattern. Although I like John A’s idea better of a 3” circle. But, I pattern that 10” circle to at least 40 yards and if my understanding is right, the 20 MOA reticle should appear to be about 8” at that distance which would work with how I pattern.

So if I am shooting at a critter, I can put the circle reticle on a shoulder at any given distance and have a reasonable expectation of how many pellets will be on target. If the circle is too big over the target, then I’m out of range.

Another popular reticle uses a 65 MOA circle dot but I’m thinking that’s too big to be useful in this way.

Does any of this sound right? Help me where I’m wrong here, please and thank you!

Sounds like I’m on the right track with my thinking.

The reticle I’m looking at is a 20 MOA circle or “donut” reticle. I stated incorrectly that it’s a 2 MOA dot, it’s actually a 3.5 MOA dot, or the 20 MOA ring or donut. I really want a reticle that is as close as possible to how i pattern and I think the larger 65 MOA would be good at close range for a shotgun, I’m still trying to push the range as long as I can.

I’m curious about the Bushnell you mentioned. I haven’t seen that one. The Bushnell TRS 25 is selling for around $60 now and I’m about ready to buy one. Until I found the 20 MOA circle.

Ohhhhh! I gotcha now, i purusing the site now and all I’m see is the new stuff. They do have a very nice red dot that looks similar but it looks like a fixed mount designed to cowittness with AR irons.

I’ve seen $100 on the 1x28 Bushnell. The new enrage says it comes removable hi mount. I don’t know. I’m gonna try and stay as small as possible, though the 1x28 has some appeal.

Not bad at all!

Also nice!

This has been helpful. I really want to stay close to that 20/25 MOA circle. Preferably low, but if I have to I can add to my comb height. I don’t mind spending a little money, but not Eotech or Aimpoint kind of money.

It looks like there are only 2 options really with that circle. The armasight mcs and the Bushnell trophy 1x28.

I have never wanted any kind of scope or electric sight on my shotguns, but now you guys have got me thinking.

I shot my buddies new Glock 9mm with the integrated laser sight last week, and I was very impressed at how easy it was to aim.

But I sure didn't like that extra lump sticking up on top of the gun. OTOH, I was certainly better at it than shooting my 45 with black Iron Sights.

The one consumer-grade electronic gunsight I do own, I had a bad experience with.

The Recoil from anything larger than a 22 causes it to increase the brightness with every shot and after three steps max it turns itself off.

That left me with the feeling that if I cannot afford really durable military grade Hardware, there's no sense of putting such on a shotgun, or any gun with serious recoil.

But if I could get a really durable one for reasonable money I might still go for it.

That's the one I bought! $99, and does a donut or a DOT or a little X.

I am sorry I ever even picked the thing up.

But this stuff is always evolving, so surely you'll have better luck.

I once tried a Bushnell trophy red dot with a fixed mount set for absolute cowittness with AR irons on a shotgun. It worked. I think it’s replacement is the Bushnell incinerator mentioned earlier but it looks like the incinerator base is removable. I’m looking for more info before I try something like that again.

It worked. It worked well and held up to shotgun recoil. But imagine 1 oz slug recoil without a proper cheek weld. It looked kinda cool and it did it’s job. Worked with buckshot pretty well too. But I didn’t use it like that for long.

The donut ring is the direction I wanna go for sure. I’ll pay for what I want. I want small and as low a profile as possible. I have that Triad stock pack on all my long guns, and each one comes with inserts to raise the comb height so even if the optic is a little tall, I can work with it.

For my purposes to 40 yards or so, I think the 20 to 25 MOA is gonna be the best option.

At 25 yards, most of my pattern is about 8” with 3” #4 buck. The reticle would appear to be about 5” in diameter on target. That works excellently with putting the reticle on the shoulder of a critter.

I just received a reply from a vendor on amazon. I asked about the two piece base on the new Bushnell incinerate. He said the riser is removable which makes this sight with the 25 MOA donut ring a contender for a shotgun.

I might go ahead and shake this one down. It’s a decent price, Bushnell is decent entry level stuff and the riser means it can be swapped to an AR or similar platform for absolute cowittness and then a magnifier can be added too.

It’s bigger than what I want, but it’s also less expensive.

Another point of note, which may or may not be of interest to anyone, is that the rear sight is cut to Glock specs. It has “irons” across the top. The rear sight is removable and anything that works on Glock will work on this. Don’t know if that’s something that would ever be useful or not.