Just picked up the Holosun 503g to put on my home defense rifle. Does anyone have one that can tell me if it will hold up over time? I like the nice clear reticle and the fact that it turns on as soon as I pick the gun up without having to mess with any switches.
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It’s a hobby grade optic. It may last a long time, it may crap out tomorrow. I have one myself…but I also have Aimpoints and Trijicon optics. Those last two go on my duty grade guns. The Holosun goes on one of my plinker rifles.
Eh, i’d disagree.
The holosun and PA optics have proven themselves past the point of “hobby grade.”
They’re really impressive red dots.
Chinese made hobby optic.
Add another $150 to you budget and find an Aimpoint ACO or Pro on sale.
Sorry buddy, but I disagree. People are still having failures with these. Yes, they have a lifetime warranty, but I rather not have to send it in and be without it when it is so much harder to kill an Aimpoint or Trijicon.
Take this for what it is worth but the rep at the Holosun booth at the NRA meeting said some police depts are using their optics on duty rifles. I have no way to verify it since I am not LE but thought I would throw that in. I do have a 503GU on my sons rifle and it has been flawless but this has only been limited use in indoor ranges.
I have a couple. Used them on ARs (including on both of my meltdown uppers FWIW), AKs with gas tube mounts, PCCs, etc… I’ve yet to have one fail but I have broken 2 factory AR height mounts. Optics were fine; just sheared the portion where it screws in on both mounts.
[video=youtube_share;9-eu7LxqGf8]https://youtu.be/9-eu7LxqGf8[/video]
I just picked up one of these from American Defense MFG
Holosun HS503GU-GR Elite w/ Co-Witness Mount / Item No: AD-HS503GU-GR-ELITE-10-PKG
Going on an 11.5" AR-556 pistol, SBA3 brace, No BUIS as of now
Similar experience here with the crappy mounts; broke one and bent the other. I have two of these and the optic itself seems pretty darn solid. I have one mounted on my Buckmark and another on a “loaner” AR. While I haven’t had any issues with the optics themselves, I can afford better quality for my serious use weapons.
I would believe that some officers may be using them on their rifles if the department doesn’t have an SOP out on allowed optics. My agency has a list of allowed optics on rifles. Trijicon, aimpoint, eotech, and believe it or not TRS-25 is on there to use. But nothing else.
Just an FYI; I was in a Travis Haley D5 Carbine course a couple of weekends ago and Travis was running a Romeo 4M (made by Holosun) on a Scalarworks mount. I asked him about it and he said they beat the shit out them in classes and haven’t had any issues. He also mentioned the Holosuns have done well. From what I can tell, the Romeo 4M appears to be the same as the Holosun 503GU, though I could be mistaken. I run one on my VEPR AK and decided to get a 503GU for my primary AR, since my EOTech XPS2-2 decided to blink on me during one of the drills.
Pic of Haley’s carbine:
I’ve never looked at Holosun optics before and now I have a couple of questions:
I have Holosuns, Sigs, and PAs on several fun guns that get run a lot and never had a real problem. The worst issue I have seen is the auto on function needing a bit of a shake to come on. Some get tossed around and beat up more than my too many serious guns with Aimpoints and Trijicons.
The OEM mounts are definitely much lower quality and all mine get tossed and switched out for quality Micro compatible mounts.
They have proven themselves to be much better than your average knockoff junk, but at their price point they just can’t have the same general build quality and especially QC of hard use brands.
But I would likely choose one over irons if it came down to it…
Dennis.
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Thank you.
Another happy Holosun customer.
re: quality
In AR-terms, they feel like an M&P15 or Ruger AR-556. Not top of the line like BCM, LMT, Noveske, etc (which would be your Aimpoint, EOTech, Trijicon, etc), but they’re not truly budget Delton or Olympic ARs (which would be your Sightmark, Vortex Sparc, etc).
If I was going overseas again, I’d much rather have the Trijicon ACOG I was issued, but now that I’m a pogue reservist who goes to the range a few times a year? The mid-tier grade will do just nicely.
re: features
What I really appreciate about the Holosun 5xx series is that they have a 65 MOA circle (great for close quarters work) and “shake-awake” functionality (I like that I don’t have to fumble with a button). Again, for my application (suburban dad, home defense), they’re sufficient. For LEOs and active duty military in harm’s way, I can’t speak to that level of durability.
P.S. For those confused by all the different model numbers, here is a blurb from the Holosun website: “HS = Holosun; 1st digit = 4 for 2 moa dot only reticle, 5 for 2 moa dot with a 65 moa circle reticle; 2nd digit = 0 for standard accessories, 1 for upgraded accessories (kill-flash filter, Quick release mount and flip lens covers), 3rd digit = 0, 1 or 2 for an infinity 30 mm tube red dot, 3 for a micro red dot Final letter = C for solar, all others for battery powered only.”
https://holosun.com/index.php?main_page=page&id=22
I picked up from AKOU (unbelievably fast shipping as always. Do u make Veronica run down to post office like Santa Elf?). It looks great and I absolutely love the reticle. Brilliant concept.
Anyway, I will be zeroing likely tomorrow or this weekend on AKM 7.62x39.
Vern raises a really good question about the position of the dots and the front sight post. I had not considered this. You had mentioned the Magpul cheek riser as one way to work w this and Vern mentioned raising his cheek weld a bit.
I will check this out on my own, but I am wondering if the ultra-low mounts like RS Reg and Ultimak are somewhat overkill or wasted on this optic because of the vertical dot BDC function of the reticle?
You give up maybe lowest co-witness w Chevron but gain advantages of super light red dot w BDC and rangeing capabilities.
Is that a fair summary?
@bodhi , I tend to agree with you. I am a scope snob, but these two outfits, although Chinese made (and Holosun manufacturers for PA), and while I agree to a limited extent with @thehammer69 and @RHINOWSO , Aimpoint is a far better red-dot, the quality of Holosun and PA have come up consistently each year, and are solid performers for budget minded enthusiasts. I would recommend either of those, over a Vortex, fwiw.
Can’t argue with vortex’s warranty though.
But we’re definitely in the golden age of affordable optics. I’m actually about to buy a 510c within the next day or so. My huey didn’t work out for me as expected.
My quibble with these “better than average” budget optics is simply that they’re not that cheap anymore to start with, and I STILL have to buy a quality mount to put it on…at which point I’m not far off an Aimpoint Pro/Comp2 or an Eotech/MRO on the re-sale market.
Further, they still can have issues, like lack of ability to stay watertight…
I have an OG PA MD-07 on my .22. It’s been great there, and it does indeed f***ing hold zero, but compared to other high end sights I have owned or borrowed, I just can’t see it on a “serious use” gun.