I have used red dots on shotguns for turkey and slug (smoothbore). They work well, with a couple of drawbacks. Make sure you always carry a spare battery and that you can change it in the field. At first and last light, no matter how low the setting, I still can't see anything other than the red dot. I can see the deer with my eyes, but when I look through the dot, it fades to black. I was able to keep 2" groups with a smoothbore 870 with the dot at 50 yards, which is about as good as that gun would do. It was fast to aquire, so with enough light it worked great. I think if I had the choice I would agree with cayuga and use a 1x scope or a peep sight.