Moreover, scopes make good sense even on shotguns intended for short-range shooting. The best way to bust brush is to shoot around the branches, and a scope lets you pick out holes in the cover far more easily than will iron sights. It should come as no surprise, then, that scope makers are busy turning out scopes specifically designed for shotguns. The Leupold Vari-X II shotgun scope I hunted with last season is a good example. The Vari-X features a heavy duplex reticle to help the shooter see the crosshairs in heavy brush.
Eye relief is nearly five inches, suitable for both receiver and extended barrel mounts.
A glance at any outdoor catalog shows a number of similar models. Redfield's 1x4 variable has six inches of eye relief and comes in both a standard finish and a realtree camouflaged model. Simmons has a pair of shotgun scopes with five-inch eye relief in 2.5x and 4x. The increasing popularity of rifled slug guns should insure more and more new scopes with the features deer hunters want in the years to come. All rights reserved.