Providing lightning fast target acquisition and pin point accuracy, ghost ring sights are the choice for most tactical and competition shotguns. One of the more common ghost ring sights encountered, the Trak-Lock II are easy to install and provide a dramatic increase in performance for shooters. How fast is fast? Right after installation, we regularly hit an 8″ circle at 7 yards from low ready (safety on, muzzle below the belt) in 0.65 seconds.
Installation, while not simple, is relatively straight forward and easy. The rear sight base is secured to the receiver with two screws that need to be drilled and tapped; the front sight is epoxied over the existing bead base and then cross pinned with a roll pin. If you can measure, drill, tap and have a little bit of patience, this is a fun project.
Before beginning we make sure the shotgun is safe and empty.
You will need to order the following items:
Track-Lock II Ghost ring sights 800-110-007WB, we used the set with a tritium rear
Trak-Lock Sights as suppliedBead base. The sight fits snugly over this.Bead removed & filed flush.Prep area ahead of installation. Soak the area clean of grease and oil with alcohol. The instructions call for soaking both areas in MEK to degrease, but we have had good results with alcohol. Keep in mind, we also cross pin the front sight, which isn’t called for.Mix the included two-part epoxy.Fill the base of the front sight with epoxy.Firmly press the sight over the base. Verify that the sight is not canted to either side.Wipe away any excess epoxy with alcohol. Place the barrel in a safe place and do not touch it for at least 24-hours. The instructions call for clamping the sight. We haven’t found a way to clamp these that we like, and have had good results with just leaving the sight alone to dry.While no longer called for in the installation instructions, we prefer to cross pin the front sight with a 1/16″ x 1/2″ roll pin. It is critical that the epoxy is fully set prior to starting this step. Failure to do so, can result in the destruction of the front sight (it slips off while being drilled). Paying attention to the measurements we took off the bead base earlier, we drill a 1/16″ hole thought the sight and base. When aligning the barrel to drill the hole, back the barrel off so you can observe how straight the drill will pass through the sight. You need it to be low enough to pass through the base but high enough to avoid the barrel. This is a critical step.Slow and steady. These drill bits are fragile. Breaking one before you complete the hole will prove problematic.Use a roll pin holder to set the roll pin. The barrel is sitting on a nylon bench blockFinish setting the pin with a roll pin punch.Front sight installation complete.
Rear Sight Installation:
We begin by disassembling the shotgun and masking the sides with tape to prevent marring in the bronze vise jawsUtilizing the dimensions included in the instructions, we mark the locations of the two screw holes.Spotting the location of the first hole.A #33 drill is used for both holes.The second hole is located towards the rear of receiver where the drill bit isn’t perpendicular to the metal. After spotting the hole with a center drill, a #33 drill is used. The manufacturer calls for this hole to only be .375″ deep. Remember this when running your tap.A 6/40 tap with some Do-Drill oil and a little bit of patience. Careful, you don’t want to break a tap. Small broken taps are nearly impossible to remove.After degreasing the holes, we use some #248 blue Loctite on the screws and install the rear sight. We are ready to zero.
This installation was on a 18″ barrel equipped with a bead base. In the past, we have cut and crowned a 20″ rifle-sighted barrel to 18.25″. This left enough material from the front sight ramp to glue the new sight over. We would shape whats left of the ramp to fit inside of the base of the new sight and have had great results.
I have read some criticism of the front sight being epoxied in place. We have not found this to be a problem. We have a Scattergun Technologies 870 that was built in the mid 90s. Recently, we drifted the roll pin and tried to remove the front sight. We couldn’t do it. We even hit the sight with a dead blow mallet! That’s nearly a 20-year old installation with the pin REMOVED and it still held strong.
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