story
I'll tell a brief story while I'm at it.
I had a crusty old District Ranger that I was frequently a source of conflict. One of episodes involved shotguns. We had a mix of shotguns as patrol shoulder arms at the time; some older 18" bead sighted Winchester 1200's were being phased out, and 20" rifle sighted 870 Remington s were taking their place.
I was in discussion with another Ranger regards the process, and had voiced my opinion over my preference for the Rem with its rifle sights, and my intention to keep it loaded with slugs. The DR jumped in on that, stating in his not so subtle way that the best arrangement was bead sights, and to " fill it up with OO buck and forget about it......you can't hit a (explicative!) thing past 50 yards with slugs anyhow." He had just before that outburst indicated he was staying with the old Winchesters and their bead sights.
Eventually I learned not to challenge the old rascal, but in this instance I was still young and learning "the way" and stated that I believed I could likely do passable work with the Remington and slugs back to 100 yds. Well the he stated he'd like to see me try.
So....at then end of all formal shooting , I posted a clean B-27 type qual target, , backed off to the farthest point on our range, about 90 yds or so, and took five slug shots, resting off a tree trunk for support. All five landed in or cut 10 ring and could be covered with a spread hand.
The difference was not so much the gun or my ability, but the sights. The DR's experience was with the stubby tube older guns and bead sight. Rifle sights on a slug gun turn it into a very formidable carbine in most instances once the preference for fodder is determined.
The DR picked up the next rifle sighted 870 available.