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Co witness sights for 500 with RDS

JDXX

.22LR
I put the ATI Halo side saddle on my Mossberg 500. This side saddle set up hangs from a picatinny rail that obscures the front bead sight completely, which is fine as I am putting a Holosun 503cu circle dot sight on it. Not that it should ever need it but I would like to have back up iron sights that can be seen through the red dot optic "co-witness".

I have looked around a bit but haven't really found what I am looking for. There are quite a few rail mounted sights out there and a few clamp on front sights too. What I cant find is any information on what if anything will work together with my rail mount rear and bare barrel front.

I'm sure someone else has put together a setup similar to what I want. I just have not been able to find them yet. Any thoughts are appreciated, thanks.
 
The only thing I've found that's close to what you're after is this:


I have it on my Maverick 88. There's a red dot securely mounted on top, but I can still see the bead easily through the channel at the bottom of the rail mount. I can't fathom any way you'd be able to cowitness unless you ditch the pic rail and mill the receiver for an optic, similar to how the 940 Tactical and 590S Optic Ready come from the factory.
 
I found these and though they are pricey i put a query in with the company to find out the heights. I should have my RDS later today so once i get it mounted up ill have a better idea of what im looking for.
 

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I also have a set of Magpul BUIS that have been superceded by an etched retical prism scope on my AR15. I thought about trying one of those barrel clamp rails and seeing if they line up enough to work. The Magpul BUIS are pretty tall when deployed though.
 
I get what you're trying to do. I just wonder though, how rigid would a clamp on front sight be anyway? I mean if we're talking about wanting co-witness and buis...you must intend to mean business. I can envision a clamped front sight getting easily canted with a pretty light knock (gun clatters to the floor) then you're still SOL from any distance or any interpretation of "accuracy" and back to relying on the scattergun to do what it's made for anyway...hit $hit without thinking too hard about it.

IMHO, I'd think you'd be better served by a quick release mount for your RDS and forget co-witness. You want dead nuts accuracy and co-witness? You should prolly think more about a rifle. If you want something light and handy, lot's of PCC's that pack a whallop out there that fill that role real nice.

By all means though...put up some pics if you find a set up that works for you.
 
I get what you're trying to do. I just wonder though, how rigid would a clamp on front sight be anyway? I mean if we're talking about wanting co-witness and buis...you must intend to mean business. I can envision a clamped front sight getting easily canted with a pretty light knock (gun clatters to the floor) then you're still SOL from any distance or any interpretation of "accuracy" and back to relying on the scattergun to do what it's made for anyway...hit $hit without thinking too hard about it.

IMHO, I'd think you'd be better served by a quick release mount for your RDS and forget co-witness. You want dead nuts accuracy and co-witness? You should prolly think more about a rifle. If you want something light and handy, lot's of PCC's that pack a whallop out there that fill that role real nice.

By all means though...put up some pics if you find a set up that works for you.


I definitely thought about a quick release for the red dot but even then the picatinny rail obscures the factory bead. I looked at larger beads and such but none would be tall enough to see over the rail, at least I doesn't seem like it. To be honest I don't want to mess with having to remove the red dot anyway.

So I've got parts on the way that will hopefully give me exactly what I am looking for which is lower 1/3 co witness through the red dot. I will update here when I get everything installed and verify it works as intended.

Oh yeah and not to worry we have rifles and handguns that can also fill the HD role. I just wanted to build a shotty that fits the bill too!

Don't get me started on the PCC's! I'm not supposed to buy any more guns right now, which IS a problem. Hahaha!
 
Well the last piece arrived today and here's what I got going on.

Front sight is a UTG clamp on shotgun sight with a KNS extra tall A2 front sight post.

Rear sight is a Wiland USA sight base for a Ruger 10 22 with a notched V sight plate. Wiland makes several different sight plates for this base so I may end up changing it out for their H base wich I think has just a bit more height to it.

I will need to take it out and sight it in but as of now it matches the red dot at 50 yards so I think it will be pretty close.

This set up cost around 85 all in. Probably isn't the most durable with the exposed front sight post but I accomplished what I set out to do so I'm calling it good to go.
 
You made it happen! hope it works for you.

Out of curiosity, how do like the Magpul stock and does it only have the sling loops? Any spot for a swivel stud?
 
You made it happen! hope it works for you.

Out of curiosity, how do like the Magpul stock and does it only have the sling loops? Any spot for a swivel stud?
I feel like it's a pretty comfortable stock, but as this is my first shotgun I don't have much to compare it too yet. Expand the picture a bit and you can see a qd socket just forward of the built in sling loop. Currently I am using the loop on the other side of the stock for my rear connection point though. I plan to pull the qd sockets back out and install them in my ARs magpul rifle stock forward holes.
 
Glad you got 'er done to your liking.

It's your gun so enjoy it. I didn't think it could be done.

But it looks heavy as hell with all the hardware and all that extra ammo.
 
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