Holosun HS403GL - First Glance

by Mikemanm 4/7/2015, 1:01 pm

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Holosun HS403GL – First Glance

The first thing I noticed was how well the sight was packaged. (Except for the picture of a standard HS403 on the box) It gave confidence that the product contained inside was constructed/handled with care. Lifting out the small User’s Manual and removing the foam cushioning revealed a snugly packed sight, battery, hex wrenches and lens cloth. Rubber bikini covers were also in place to protect the lenses. The sight itself was quite small, but had some weight to it. Construction quality looked excellent, and I couldn’t find any signs of poor craftsmanship.

I understood immediately why shooters are comparing this sight to the Aimpoint T1. It is very similar in size, weight and appearance. One big difference however, is the brightness controls. On the T1, brightness is controlled with a rotary knob which also houses the 3 volt battery. On the Holosun HS403GL, brightness is controlled with top mounted push buttons labeled (+/-). I found these very easy to use and unlike other brands, these gave a nice positive click when the button was depressed.

Inserting the battery was a no brainer. Just unscrew the side mounted battery cover and insert the supplied CR2032 battery positive (+) side up. It took a few tries to get the cap back on as the fine threads were difficult to align, but once they were the cap was easily snugged up against the rubber O-ring. After removing the lens covers, I found that the sight had already powered itself up. The HS403GL uses a motion sensor and it was clearly doing its job. (It auto-offs after 8 hours of no use)

Looking through the lens, I found the 2 MOA red dot to be crisp and precise and the brightness range was excellent. Taking the sight indoors, I was able to adjust the intensity of the dot to properly account for the lack of ambient light. Out in bright sunlight, the unit was able to achieve enough brightness to make the dot stand out against the sky. I’ve use plenty of red dot sights, and many are either too bright for indoor use or not bright enough when faced with the summer sun. The Holosun did not have this problem. Lens quality was also excellent. Like nearly all red dot sights, there was a slight greenish tint when looking through the tube due to the lens coating. Lens clarity was near perfect and the reverse magnification which can occur in some sights, was very minimal.

Mounting the HS403GL couldn’t have been easier since this unit has a built in rail clamp system. Just loosen the single pass through bolt with the supplied wrench until the sight can straddle your Weaver or Picatinny rail. After your certain the sight is sitting flat on top of the rail, tighten the same bolt back up. That’s it. Just sight it in and you’re ready to go. And speaking of sighting it in…this sight uses low profile windage and elevation covers which double as adjustment tools. There is a small blade on the top of each cap which can be used like a screwdriver. There are also indicator lines on the inside of the cap and an arrow which lets you know which way to turn the adjuster to move the dot up/down or left/right. This is also very much like the Aimpoint T1 which uses raised dots to insert into the W/E adjustor. Both are quite handy, easy to use and make adjustments in the field a snap.

If you have a Weaver or Picatinny rail on the top of your weapon (and who doesn’t) you can mount the HS403GL on anything. I chose to put mine on an M&P 15 (.223) using the supplied riser. This gave me co-witness with my existing flip up iron sights. After spending about 15 minutes sighting the dot in using a laser boresighter, I loaded up and took a few test shots. A few more minor adjustments and I was ready to go. The first fifty rounds found the sight to be extremely accurate. There were no signs of movement and even after 100 shots fired…no further adjustment were necessary. This unit appeared to be rock solid. As time passes and I have more experience with the Holosun HS403GL, I’ll post updates and let you know how well it continues to function. For now, I’m going to give this product a 9 out of 10. It might not have the prestige of the Aimpoint T1…but at ¼ the price…it’s going to give it a run for the money. You can buy a Holosun HS403GL at www.legendaryoptics.com for just $199.99. Shipping is always fast and free.

by BrianD 11/23/2019, 10:09 am

I have been running a HS403GL on my 45 for going on 2 years. That is summer and in a winter league that is 24 weeks long. It is on a Kodiak mount but I have had no problems with it. Just in matches and leagues I have close to 4K rounds with it. I am going to get a second for my backup. Love them.

by Ray Dash 11/23/2019, 10:35 am

I personally think the Holusun, Primary Arms and Sigs are all the same quality dots. For the money they are hard to beat.

by CrankyThunder 11/23/2019, 10:52 am

I purchased the holosun as a reddot for one of my backup pistols, ended up on my fwb 093 because the housing shape allows me to remove the bolt for cleaning without removing the reddot with the brezonif mount, note that the primary arms reddot and the sig sauer sts 081 do not allow for this.

While there are a lot of features that I really like about the holosun, I have turned it off inadvertently by adjusting the brightness level, something that I do frequently in compitition .

This has happened a couple of times even when I was being careful.

With that being said, I will not rely on a holosun on my primary competition gun. I much prefer a rotary brightness adjustment.

I will recommend a primary arms red dot or the sig sauer sts 081 before the holosun.

Regards,
Cranky

by BrianD 11/23/2019, 12:03 pm

The HOLOSUN 403R is a rotary brightness adjustment dot.

https://holosun.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=1&products_id=91

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Holosun HS403GL - First Glance

Holosun HS403GL - First Glance

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Re: Holosun HS403GL - First Glance