Holographic Sights for Hunting: Not Useless, Not Ideal

A little while back, Vortex Optics sent over their AMG UH-1 Gen II holographic sight, and it spent its time with me riding on a MAC IX and a Rossi R95 Triple Black lever action. Somewhere between those two guns, a question got stuck in my head. Holographic sights are built for larpers, close-quarters work, and the military/law enforcement crowd, so do they have any business in the hunting world? All of my time with the UH-1 was at the range and not in the woods, so take this as an opinion piece with some legwork behind it. Let’s dive right into the rabbit hole!

Note: Since I have a Vortex  AMG UH-1 Gen II in hand, it will be used as the focus optic of this thought exercise, but just about any holographic or holographic company can be applied.

Vortex Coverage on AllOutdoor:

• S&W Model 1854 Lever Guns Ship With Vortex Crossfire HD Scope
• Vortex Crossfire II Red Dots Add Solar, Motion Activation
• Vortex Announces the Veil 400 Thermal Monocular
• AllOutdoor Review – Vortex Defender-CCW Enclosed Solar Micro Red Dot
• NEW Vortex Optics Strike Eagle 1-10×24 FFP Riflescope

What is a Holographic Sight?

From the outside, a holographic sight looks a lot like a big enclosed red dot, and it fills the same role. 1x, both eyes open, put the reticle on the target and go. The difference is on the inside. A red dot uses an LED that bounces a dot off a coated lens. A holographic uses a laser and a recorded hologram to rebuild the reticle image out in front of you. The practical upshot is that a holographic is not stuck with a single dot. The UH-1’s EBR-CQB reticle is a 65 MOA ring with a 1 MOA dot in the middle and a small triangle at the bottom for close shots.

To put that in hunting terms, 65 MOA works out to roughly 68 inches at 100 yards (a whole deer and then some). The ring is a speed tool, not an aiming point. The 1 MOA dot is about an inch at 100 yards, which is plenty fine for putting a bullet in the vitals. So the reticle can do the job.

The trade-off for all of that is the hardware. The UH-1 Gen II weighs 11.6 oz and is 3.9″ long and 2.7″ tall. It runs on a single CR123A, and it carries an MSRP of $959.99 (I have seen street prices run much lower).

The Case For It: Holographic Sights for Hunting

I have hunted with illuminated scopes, and I have never run a red dot on a hunting gun. The closest I have come is chasing grouse with a shotgun that had a red dot on it, and that was for a review more than any real preference. So I’m not coming at this as a red dot hunter looking for an upgrade. That being said, after putting the UH-1 on the R95, I can see the potential.

If you hunt somewhere you’d normally run a red dot, a holographic makes sense. Think short shots in thick brush, the kind of country where a deer steps out at 40 yards and gives you about two seconds to decide. On a short, light brush gun like that 16.5″ R95, the UH-1 is very quick to get on and easy to see. And for short distances in brushy areas, folks, that sounds pretty good to me.

There is also the look of it. A lot of hunting guns these days lean tactical (black finishes, rails, threaded barrels), and a holographic fits that aesthetic. It isn’t a wimpy optic either, and that matters. Nobody wants a flimsy sight that lets go at the wrong moment and wounds an animal. You can be accurate with the UH-1 and do a good job. It’s just not really made for this.

Then there are hogs and predators. In places where night hunting is legal (Texas, for one, lets you hunt hogs 24 hours a day, every day of the year), the UH-1’s night vision mode starts to look like a real feature and not a spec line. I did not test the NV mode myself (I don’t own night vision), so I can’t vouch for it. But that’s the one corner of hunting this kind of sight was built for.

The Case Against It: Holographic Sights for Hunting

Onto the not so fun stuff. The first knock is weight and bulk. Eleven-plus ounces on top of a gun doesn’t sound like much at the range, but it adds up when you are trudging through the woods or up hills all day. It is also tall and long, and it snags. On a brush gun built to be handy, it’s a lot of optic.

Shotguns are where I go back and forth. I can see it on a slug gun or a turkey gun, since they are already 1x guns and a big ring is fast. But then you are putting a giant optic on an already bulky, heavy platform. Debatable, I would say.

Batteries are the usual knock against holographics in general. Vortex doesn’t publish a battery life figure for the UH-1, but my sight’s original battery still hasn’t run out, so I can’t complain much there. Cold matters more for hunting than it does at the range, so I looked into it. A lithium CR123A like Energizer’s 123 is rated down to -40°F. I would still throw a spare in your pack. A sight with a dead battery is just a fancy paperweight.

Speaking of the woods, the light is the bigger problem. Hunting lives and dies at first and last light, and that is exactly when a holographic needs babysitting. In my time with the UH-1, whenever the reticle was brighter than the light called for, it got pixelated and fuzzy, and that little triangle turned into a dot of its own. Dial it to a touch under the ambient light and it firms right up. But that means you’ll be adjusting it as the sun comes up or goes down…which is right when you would rather be watching the trail. Hunters running holographics on deer shotguns say much the same thing online, and some talk about fiddling with brightness several times a sit.

And then there’s the money. At $959.99 MSRP, and even at a lower street price, this is a weird thing to spend money on for this purpose.

Speaking of money, Vortex does sell a fix for the 1x problem if your shots run longer than brush distances. Their Micro6X magnifier (sold separately at $549.99) sits behind the UH-1 and gives you 6x when you need to reach out across a field edge or a cut line. On paper, that makes the setup a lot more flexible for hunting. That being said, I did not have one in hand, so I can’t tell you how well the two play together. And it stacks more weight, more length, and more cost onto an optic that is already heavy on all three…that math gets ugly pretty quick.

Check Your Regs: Holographic Sights for Hunting

This part surprised me. Before you put any electronic sight on a hunting gun, look at your state’s rules, and look especially hard at muzzleloader seasons. Some states flat out say no to red dots and anything like them during those seasons. A few examples:

• Colorado: In muzzleloading seasons, only open or iron sights are allowed, and electronic or battery-powered devices cannot be attached to the gun.
• Oregon: For muzzleloaders, scopes and any sight that uses batteries, artificial light or power are not allowed. Fiber optic and fluorescent paint open sights are fine.
• Idaho: Muzzleloader-only hunts allow open or peep sights only, and scopes and any electronics are prohibited.

All three make exceptions for visually impaired hunters through a permit or a specific vision standard. In my home state of Minnesota, the statute spells out that scopes are allowed on a muzzleloader during the muzzleloader season. But that’s my state, not yours, and these rules change. At the end of the day, the regulations booklet for your state and season is the final word, not a gun writer on the internet.

Final Thoughts: Holographic Sights for Hunting

So, do holographics have a place in hunting? I would say yes, but a narrow one. It wouldn’t be my first suggestion by any means, and it isn’t going to be at the top of my list. But I don’t think it’s useless for hunting either. On a short brush gun in thick country, it is fast and easy to see, and the reticle has the precision to do the job right. Hog and predator hunters running night vision where it’s legal probably have the best argument of anybody.

For everybody else, it may be more of a backup item. Maybe it’s the optic on the truck gun or the gun that already wears the tactical look. Weight, bulk, light fiddling at dawn and dusk, and the price all count against it in the woods. None of those knock it out completely. It’s a good sight. It’s just not really made for this.

If you have a question or you are sitting on information that could sharpen up an article like this one, you can find me through my Linktree.

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