Red Dot Considerations

With so many red dot sights (RDS) available these days, maybe a quick overview of what matters might be useful. “What matters” is what matters for your use, not what some guy on the internet thinks. We will assume that you have decided you need (or want) a red dot, and are trying to figure out which setup to go with. Open emitter or closed emitter? Screw down or clamp? Direct milled or plate? Tall iron sights or standard iron sights? Reticle? Battery change? The list seems to never end, and the manufacturers just keep cranking out new models to choose from.

I first shot a slide-mounted RDS in 1996 at an ASLET conference. It was a Sig 228 with a Doctor optic mounted into the rear dovetail. They have come a long way since then, though that Sig was really functional at the time. The owner of that gun took a lot of flak over it, but it worked well enough for him. It was not durable or reliable enough for me, and until the release of the RMR Type 2 a few years ago, that was true of the rest of the market as well. Now, we have several good optics and mounting systems to choose from.

We will assume that your interest in red dots is for everyday concealed carry, but we will touch briefly on competition and overt duty carry as well. My goal here is NOT to cover all the possible RDS options out there. I will mention the ones I have found success with or that are notable in some way, but the point here is to help you figure out why you might choose one type of setup over another.

Carrying an RDS pistol concealed gives you the widest range of choices. It really doesn’t matter if you direct-mill it or use a plate, an open emitter, or a closed one. Most people will choose an optic first, then figure out how to mount it. That’s fine, as the optic is your visual connection to your gun and needs to give you what you want.

I prefer a closed emitter optic, but for concealed carry, I’m not sure it matters. Closed emitters are protected from the environment better than open emitters so that a snowflake or a raindrop will not interfere with your crisp dot. This has been a problem for Tac guys that I know, but their guns are carried overtly, and the issues have occurred while training. Training will obviously expose the gun to the elements for longer than a typical fight, so as I said, I’m not sure it actually matters. Nonetheless, a closed emitter is certainly theoretically superior. I suppose that if you are a particularly “linty” kind of person, you might get enough dust or lint into the open emitter to cause issues from carrying concealed, but I have never seen or heard of this. Daily inspection and cleaning as needed is an important part of carrying an RDS pistol. If that’s not going to happen, then maybe irons would be a better choice for you. I’m sure you can think of whole groups of people to whom that applies…

I’m not much on cleaning guns, but I do clean my optic very regularly. I have found that these disposable wipes are the fastest and easiest things to use, and they allow me to carry some in my range bag or even my pocket. It’s amazing how often I have to give these to other people who have not cleaned their optics in quite some time. I look through my optic at least once every morning before heading out and clean the optic as needed. This should remove any real concerns about carrying an open emitter concealed. I have been daily carrying an RMR for almost two years now with complete satisfaction. The RMR is likely the most tested (legitimately tested by agencies) open emitter optic out there. Its design is a bit dated, but it works very well if it’s what you have. I would go so far as to say that if battery changes did not require removal of the optic (and re-zeroing, or at least confirmation of zero), the only thing that would make the RMR even better would be to have some reticle choices like Holosun offers. One issue not everyone seems to be tracking is that when you do remove your screw-down optic, you should not reuse the screws. My understanding is that they can stretch a little and new screws will hold better. Not a big deal, but make sure you have fresh screws to go with the fresh battery.

The Acro P2 is likely the most tested closed emitter, and other than looking like an afterthought on most guns, it works really well and makes mounting and battery changes very easy. My only complaint with the P2 is the single dot reticle. I have come to really like having the option to choose between a single small dot (2-3 MOA) and a large open circle (32 MOA like Holosun offers). I have no use for the circle dot reticles, but if the P2 offered a circle as an option, it would check all the boxes that matter to me.

Holosun offers the 509T, another closed emitter optic that has been gaining a lot of professional users lately. It has all the benefits of the Acro, plus the ability to choose your reticle. On top of that, it looks sleeker on most guns. It has not been tested as much as the Acro, but it seems to be doing pretty well.

Since we’ve mentioned being able to choose your reticle, why does it matter? At the core of the issue, it doesn’t matter. Almost any of the reticles on the market will work just fine if you put the work in. On the other hand, if I can pull up a 2 MOA dot for zeroing and accuracy-based competitions (I historically prefer to use my carry gun for competition), but switch to a 32 MOA circle for carry and speed-based competitions. I feel like I can have my cake and eat it too. The 509T allows for this, and as a one-optic choice to do it all, it may very well be the way to go.

If you are like most people and prefer your competition gun to be different than your carry gun, then the SRO may be the optic to get. It is a screw-down mount, but the battery can be swapped without removing the optic from the gun. It also gives you about the biggest, clearest piece of glass on the market, and if you are shooting accuracy-based competitions then the 1 MOA or 2.5 MOA dots make sense. For speedier pursuits, the 5 MOA is probably best. In my case, I shot all my speed comps last year with my 3.25 MOA RMR and the dot and optic did not hold me back. Nonetheless, the SRO is probably the better choice. Again, if they offered a 32 MOA circle reticle, I would choose that for the faster pursuits, but either the 2.5 or the 5 MOA does work just fine. I would not carry the SRO, as it is very susceptible to damage from dropping. Having slammed a gun into a concrete step during a fight one time, I would rather have an optic that can take more abuse rather than less. In that case, only my strong hand thumb came away worse for wear.

There are some other interesting optics on the market, of which the Holosun EPS and EPS carry really stand out to me. I have been using the carry version for a while now, and though it is a screw-down mount, it sits so low that normal iron sights can be used with it. I have come to detest the “optic-height” sights that most RDS require, so the EPS series would seem to offer a real advantage. If it is directly mounted, you have a very solid mount that doesn’t need to be removed to change the battery. In general, Holosun may be leading the market with innovative designs and rapid development. If they can hold up to the G’s testing, they will really give the other guys a run.

Other RDSs that bear mentioning are the Holosun 509T and 507c X2 with the ACSS Vulcan reticle. They have a chevron reticle and a very large circle that you cannot see in your field of view from a correct shooting position. If your gun is canted a bit, like say on a support hand draw, then you will see some of the outer circle. This allows you to know exactly in which direction to move the gun in order to center your reticle. I think this is an excellent option for newer shooters, as well as professional gun carriers like cops. If you train a lot with your gun, you will likely not prefer the big outer circle, and it can be turned off in those optics. If you only qual 1-4 times a year on your issued gun, then the large outer reticle may really come in handy. The downside to the 509T version is that it uses a proprietary footprint for mounting, and will not even fit the standard 509T. The 507C X2 will fit any RMR footprint.

I don’t prefer the chevron reticle, but it does allow for acceptable accuracy at distance, and if you treat the entire chevron like a big dot, it works quite well for speed. Do not try and place the tip of the chevron on your target at speed, it will only slow you down.

Next week we will look at mounting options, and though I’m not at liberty to discuss it right now, my next two weeks will be pretty interesting when it comes to RDS use and training.