Thinking about adding an optic to your handgun? You're in the right place! Today we're covering the key things to know before buying your first one: open vs. enclosed emitter red dots, common mounting footprints, reticle sizes, and a few brands worth checking out. And when you're ready to buy, Winter Timber Outdoors has everything you need!

OPEN OR ENCLOSED EMITTER?

So what does it mean for an optic to be open or enclosed? An open emitter optic will have a single lens that your reticle is projected onto, while an enclosed emitter optic will have a forward lens that the reticle is projected onto, plus a rearward lens that keeps debris out of the way of the reticle emitter. Most of the time open emitters will have zero issues, but if anything like mud, water, or even lint from your clothes gets onto the emitter, your reticle won’t be able to project onto the lens, and you won’t be able to aim. An enclosed emitter alleviates these problems by protecting the emitter from the elements. 

Now, you need to think about what the gun is going to be used for when deciding between open or enclosed. A handgun that you use for concealed carry, or duty carry if you’re an LEO, is probably going to be different from an optic that you’re using on a competition or range gun. My personal preference is to go for something enclosed when I’m thinking about an optic for concealed carry while my competition guns all have open emitter optics with large viewing windows to give me more wiggle room with finding the reticle when I present the gun.

Before we move onto reticles, window size is another big thing to look at with your optic choice. The larger the window, the easier it is to find the reticle when you aim the gun. If your optic is too large though, it can end up printing through your clothes if you’re carrying the gun concealed. You’ll typically see smaller window optics on guns that people carry and larger window optics on guns people compete with or just have for fun at the range.

RETICLE CONSIDERATIONS

Next thing to look at is the reticle of the optic. You have different colors, styles, and sizes that you can choose from. Red and green are the colors that are most common. You have options for just a single dot or a multi-reticle option where there will be a central dot with at least one circle surrounding it, typically you’ll see that called a circle dot. Finally, you’ll see different reticle sizes. The typical range is something from 2-8 MOA, but you can see it as small as 1 MOA or even as large as 16 MOA. That size refers to how the central dot appears when you look through the optic, with the larger MOA reticle appearing as a larger dot to your eye.

Unfortunately, reticle choice is almost entirely personal preference. While my favorite reticle is a 5-8 MOA red dot with no surrounding circle, a lot of people really enjoy green circle dot reticles or smaller reticle red dots. The only way to really figure it out is to look through different optics and figure out what you like. Most people that I’ve spoken to over the years seem to prefer a circle dot when they’re getting started, and then transition later to just having a single dot. If you’ve got some friends with optics on their guns, check theirs out or head to your local Winter Timber store and look at our selection and see what you think you’d like the best!

COMMON FOOTPRINTS & BRANDS

There are a lot of footprints out there and it can definitely be overwhelming when you’re trying to figure it all out. But luckily, the industry has largely standardized around 4 footprints. If you have a more traditional double stack gun, think Glock 19 size or larger, you’re probably going to want something in an RMR or DPP footprint. If you have one of the currently popular micro compact guns, like the P365, Hellcat, Shield, or 43X, you’re probably going to want to look at something in the RMSc or Holosun K footprint. A majority of manufacturers are making their guns optic ready now, and often they include everything you need to get it mounted. So you just need to figure out the footprint of your gun, the footprint of the optic you want and make sure you have the plate or the proper screws for your gun.

The K footprint you’ll find on the small Holosun optics like the 407K or EPS Carry is actually a modified RMSc footprint. So RMSc optics will fit a K footprint gun like the Sig Sauer P365, but you’ll need a plate to adapt a K footprint to an RMSc footprint gun like the Springfield Hellcat.

TOP SELLERS AT WTO AND MY PERSONAL CHOICES

At Winter Timber the Vortex and Holosun are definitely our top sellers. The EPS Carry and the 407K are the most popular options from Holosun. The Vortex Defender ST is definitely the most popular option from Vortex.

I personally have a Vortex Venom Enclosed on my main carry gun, a Ruger RXM. My 2 main competition guns, a Glock 34 MOS and a second Ruger RXM, have a Holosun 507 Comp and a Vortex Defender ST, respectively. I have thoroughly enjoyed all three optics and all three have filled their roles very well.

I hope that this quick little guide has helped provide some clarity with what to look for when considering your first pistol optic. We’d love to have you come to the store and let our sales staff help you pick out the best option for you!

Brands, Models, and Footprints

Holosun

Model	Footprint - Enclosed/Open
407C/507C/508T/407Comp/507Comp/507Pro Max	RMR - Open
407K/507K	K Footprint - Open
EPS/EPS Carry/SCS Carry	K Footprint - Enclosed
SCS 320	DPP - Enclosed
509T/AEMS Macro	509T - Enclosed

Vortex

Model	Footprint - Enclosed/Open
Defender ST/Defender XL	DPP - Open
Venom Enclosed/Defender ST Enclosed	DPP - Enclosed
Defender CCW	RMSc - Open
Defender CCW Enclosed	RMSc - Enclosed

Sig Sauer

Model	Footprint - Enclosed/Open
Romeo-RS Pro/Romeo1Pro/Romeo2/Romeo-X Pro	DPP - Open
Romeo-X Enclosed Pro	DPP - Enclosed
Romeo-RS Compact/Romeo-X Compact	RMSc - Open
Romeo-X Enclosed Compact	RMSc - Enclosed
Romeo-X Sig-Loc Pro	Sig-Loc Pro (SIG HANDGUNS ONLY)
Romeo-X Sig-Loc Compact	Sig-Loc Compact (SIG HANDGUNS ONLY)

Eotech

Model	Footprint - Enclosed/Open
EFLX	DPP - Open

Leupold

Model	Footprint - Enclosed/Open
Delta Point Pro	DPP - Open

Trijicon

Model	Footprint - Enclosed/Open
RMR/RMR HD/SRO	RMR - Open
RCR	RMR - Enclosed
RMRcc	RMRcc - Enclosed

Aimpoint

Model	Footprint - Enclosed/Open
ACRO	ACRO - Enclosed
COA	COA - Enclosed