Why I Chose an Enclosed Pistol Optic

The Holosun EPS is a pistol mounted opticoffered in many different dot colors, dot sizes and housing sizes. The EPS stands for enclosed pistol sight, and this is where it becomes a very useful unit, for me at least.

I own quite a few pistol red dots at this point, mostly with an open emitter. Open emitters are totally usable and work very well in most contexts, but I did end up encountering a situation that changed my mind.

I went to a Tap-Rack class by Bill Blowers back in 2021. It was a great diagnostic class and I highly recommend it. His handgun class is based in using testable diagnostics to see what technique works best FOR YOU by putting them on the timer side by side. It's a great class to refine your pistol technique and push you processing abilities.

In any case, the first half of day 1 was full on rain. I mean, ankle deep, heavy raincoat, start finding two of each animal for the Ark type of rain. So with all the drawing and holstering we were doing, you found out pretty quickly that rain on the lens of an open emitter was trouble. When water gets on the back of the lens, the led will refract off the water and give you a splotchy dot. You have to play the "which dot is brightest" game, which is truly no fun.

Now if you know Blowers, he is all about getting the most precision out of a gun that you can. We were shooting B8 centers, so precision was paramount. With this in mind, Blowers made a call that if you needed to shake the water off the dot, feel free to burn a round into the berm before you shoot the drill. The brisk movement of the slide definitely shook the water loose, and it was better (not perfect), but the whole scenario got me thinking deeper about the whole situation.

On the one side, in what defensive situation would I have had the gun in and out of the holster for 3 hours already, getting wet the entire time? My concealed handgun would be covered by clothing and I would not generally be ok with being that wet, so I would try to keep dry.

But the reality of the issues with moisture and environmental factors remain true. If I ever encountered this situation, I would have a substandard sighting tool. I don't have the luxury of burning a round off into the ether (down the street, hall, etc), so I need to use it as it is. As Chuck Haggard would say, less than ideal.

So I invested in an enclosed sight. The EPS has met every need I had for my carry gun and has proven to be durable in holding zero as well ad taking general bumps. I am no Aaron Cowan, dropping my optic every 500 rounds, but my general use has told me that the optic will stand up to some minor abuse.

So there you have it. The case for the enclosed red dot. Make a achoice based on your needs, not mine, but I hope you can learn from experiences that are not your own as well.

Be safe, be well.