Optics have come a long way over the years. It wasn’t long ago that mounting red dot sights on micro compact pistols was unheard of, but that’s now becoming the norm. You can thank Shield Sights for some of that for pioneering the RMSc footprint with their early sights.
RMSc has become the industry standard for most of the micro compact sights we see today. Shield is still at it themselves, and their new OMSsc optic is a great example of why they were ahead of the field.
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The OMSsc
OMSsc stands for Open Mini Sight Sub Compact. It’s very low profile, at 1.60” x 0.74“ x 0.84” in size, and only weighs 0.51 ounces without a battery. The OMSsc has a simple, clean 4 or 8 MOA red dot reticle, depending on model. It uses a CR1632 3V lithium metal battery with a 9,000-hour battery life.
Shield’s OMSsc is built with an aerospace-grade anodized T6 6082 Aluminum body. It has a subdued matte black finish and is water-immersion rated to IP67.
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An interesting aspect of it is that the top half of the housing is made from clear polymer. Shield calls it a “world first panoramic roof.” Further, they say that the translucent roof gives users an unparalleled field of view compared to other similar optics. It allows more light onto the photo diode, which gives a much more precise level of LED output.
The OMSsc has automatic brightness adjustment. The lowest range is compatible with night vision. The highest is visible against the sky, even in bright daylight. Shield’s transparent frame also provides a sharp and clear reflective surface, resulting in an improved sight picture and reticle.
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Hands On
Earlier this year, I picked up an OMSsc and mounted it on an IWI Masada Slim Elite. The Masada is a slick, compact carry gun that shoots like a full-sized service pistol. I wanted to use a red dot with it, but wanted to keep it as compact as possible for carry. Shield’s OMSsc was a perfect fit for that.
The OMSsc mounts directly to the Masada’s slide with no plates or adapters needed. It’s extremely low profile. It’s a bottom-mounted battery, which means you have to pull the sight to swap it out. I’m honestly not thrilled with that setup, but it’s not like you’ll be swapping batteries often.
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It does help keep the profile amazingly small on this sight. I can deal with that.
The dot on the OMSsc is crisp and bright. I found the auto brightness adjustment worked well, and I never had an issue seeing the dot. The sight was used on an indoor range, and outside in both sunny and cloudy conditions. Additionally, I also tried it in various lighting inside the house during dry fire practice with the Masada.
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Sight in was simple and didn’t take long. The only controls on the OMSsc are the windage and elevation adjustment screws, so there isn’t much to figure out. That also means there’s really nothing to go wrong either.
Aside from the readily visible dot, the field of view on this Shield sight is excellent as well. The unique transparent “roof” really does blend with the background and disappear from your field of view. You aren’t distracted by a bulky sight frame, and you don’t lose sight of your target.
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Shield Continues to Deliver
Shield Sight’s OMSsc offers some great features that are perfectly suited to your everyday carry pistol. It’s about as light as you can get, at barely over a half ounce. The RMSc footprint is suited to sub and micro compact pistols, and the overall profile is extremely small.
With that said, the transparent roof helps give you a field of view like a bigger optic. Couple that with solid construction and warranty, which shows that Shield continues to offer sighting solutions that are ahead of the curve.
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MSRP on the OMSsc is listed at $429.99. However, I see some online vendors have it priced as much as $50 less than that, making it quite competitive on the micro red dot market.
