Pistol Red Dots - fully enclosed important?

Closed emitters make sense, but I can't help shake the feeling they are also a great way to make people opt for higher price points. What would be great is if someone were to figure out a QD mount that adds no baseplate height to a pistol red dot. Then open and closed wouldn't matter as much because you'd just rip it off in a pinch and fall back on irons.
Meprolight has a model and concept like that but the optic looks stupidly high. If they don't have a patent on a QD mount on tbe rear iron sight, maybe someone else will put something smaller and thinner on it, Holosun SCS perhaps.

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I don't think this is a common issue where the glass is so cracked that you can't see thru it.
What is your irons sights break? Shit happens, learn to shoot without them

True, but my point was if someone were to figure this out, then open or closed wouldn't matter as much as you could just rip off either if there was a problem.
 
What if either version of red dot is spider webbed or otherwise blocked from seeing through them?
Not something I’m particularly worried about.

I’ve had a rear sight blade break off, a rear sight get loose in its dovetail, a front sight get loose in its dovetail, a front sight fly off. If you shoot enough rounds, stuff happens. But that chance of me being in a gunfight AND experiencing such a failure at the same time seems rather unlikely.
 
What's the advantages and disadvantages of these enclosed sights? I'm not familiar with them
Con: instead of a flat panel TV, you've mounted a CRT on your slide
Pro: protected from lint or sweat getting on the emitter, which would make the dot less effective

The Acro looks like something we’ll all be shaking our heads and laughing at 10 years from now.
I kind of agree.
I still kind of want one on my g20. But only because I want to set that up as my hyper-modern LARPer bear hunting pistol (then pair it with a PCC, dang it!)
 
What's the advantages and disadvantages of these enclosed sights? I'm not familiar with them
on an open sight like an RMR, dirt or debris can fall in between the screen and the emitter. In that case you no longer see a dot and it is hard to clear.

A closed red dot has a rear piece of glass/plastic so that can’t happen — the emitter is between the two pieces of glass. If dirt gets on rear glass it is easy to just wipe it off

Downsides of closed sights are size, weight, and cost.
 
I kind of agree.
I still kind of want one on my g20. But only because I want to set that up as my hyper-modern LARPer bear hunting pistol (then pair it with a PCC, dang it!)
This is what I was thinking, but need the kkm gen 5 barrels to come out first.
 
This is what I was thinking, but need the kkm gen 5 barrels to come out first.
I suppose that makes sense. Because it's invisible, I was ok with a plate.

Edit - I can't read. You said barrel. I was thinking of the slide. Let this be forever a testament to my big brain.
 
As an HK fanboy who owns USPs and P30 and SKs, as much as I adore my German hammers, the VP9 was the only one I could put a dot on without having the gun custom milled lol.
There plates for dovetail mounts as well for those.
Got one on my HK 45.
Plan yo do it for my usp's as well until I either get the original slode milled or buy a seperate slide for them amd then mill them.
 
Not something I’m particularly worried about.

I’ve had a rear sight blade break off, a rear sight get loose in its dovetail, a front sight get loose in its dovetail, a front sight fly off. If you shoot enough rounds, stuff happens. But that chance of me being in a gunfight AND experiencing such a failure at the same time seems rather unlikely.

And, it's even more unlikely that even if all of the above happened, at the distance you'd be shooting, it probably wouldn't matter at all.
 
Seems all the cool kids of 2023 are running fully enclosed pistol red dots now like the Aimpoint ACRO and Holosun 509T.
Who are the cool kids?
Let me know when National or World shooting competitions are won with them. Currently among performers top its a toss up between the following( in no particular order): Trijicon SRO, Leopold Delta point pro, Sig Romeo 3 Max / XL, C-more RTS2
 
This guy saved lives that day, had a red dot on his Glock and was able to cap the armed mass shooter from 40 yards away, landing 8 out of 10 shots. At that self defense range, a dot beats focusing on a front iron any day.

Seeing some body cam videos of LEO's making quick & fast distance shots with RDS pistols convinced me to move to RDS carry.

The number of slide-cut new pistols, or upgraded-factory-slides, and RDS optics choices = are constantly growing.
I personally opted to rotate between a Sig P365XL with the factory installed Sig RDS (but with a sig metal protective shroud over it) and a Kimber R7 Mako with the factory installed CT RDS.

IMHO = Yes, there are arguments for so many other carry pistol options and RDS options (including the EPS), but I (and some others here) would inevitably go broke = if we are continuously "changing" and "upgrading" to every new trend and recommended new pistol & optic feature that comes out.
 
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What's the advantages and disadvantages of these enclosed sights? I'm not familiar with them
On a closed emitter the emitter is contained within the sight, sheltered from the outside elements, A open editor is not the emitter is outside of the sight projecting the dot onto the glass
 
If’n I get another red dot, maybe I’ll go for a closed design. More important are features like “shake awake” and auto-adjust intensity, in my book. Study is good, but not at the expense of huge and heavy.

Nine of nine at a SIG course this past weekend preferred red dots over iron sights. Newbies in the 101 course, they figured out how to find the dot pretty quick once shown that you drive the slide linearly out from your face and find the dot as it’s going out rather the lever the gun up with straight arms and then try to find the dot.
 
I tried everything I just can’t do a red dot tried a green that I just bought for the 5.7, I just shake to much I don’t have a steady hold iron sights for me I guess and I get frustrated came home from the range today took off the dot put it back in the box and on the shelf
 
I don't know about yous, but when I draw and shoot at self defense distances, I don't even look at the sights, I just hit the target, I only look at them for the third shot.
 
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