Steiner is a German optics company well known for their extremely clear glass and their magnified optics. They’ve dabbled in red dots but have only recently thrown their entire back into the market. The Steiner MPS, or Micro Pistol Sight, is a mini red dot aimed at defensive and duty handguns. Steiner delivers an enclosed emitter optic, meaning we have a big square made entirely of metal with a lens at the rear and a lens at the front.
The Steiner MPS is one of the few enclosed emitter optics that’s making a big splash in the world of handgun optics. Enclosed emitters offer an extreme degree of reliability. Having the emitter protected by glass and steel prevents anything from getting between the front lens and the reticle emitter.
With an open emitter, like the Trijicon RMR or Holosun 507C, rain snow, dirt, debris, and the like can find their way between the emitter and glass. This distorts or even prevents your reticle from appearing on the front lens. An enclosed emitter prevents that entirely and eliminates any external reliability issues.
We’ve equipped the Steiner MPS to an Arex Delta Gen 2 and have been popping shots off for a few months now.
The Steiner MPS – Specifications and Features
Enclosed emitter optics are built like tanks, and the MPS is no different. It’s quite larger, but that’s the nature of the beast. The Steiner MPS is 1.25 inches wide, 1.125 inches tall, and 2.17 inches long. It’s big, but it does only weigh 2.10 ounces, so it won’t weigh you down.
The MPS uses the Aimpoint Acro footprint, which is a bright move. The Acro has a lot of support on the market, including a variety of different plates and adapters for optics-ready slides. Steiner includes a plate that attaches to a Docter footprint. It’s odd, but it works. If your gun isn’t cut for a Docter optic, it’s easy to find alternative plates.
The Steiner packs eight brightness levels, with six being for daytime use and two being for night vision use. The reticle is 3.3 MOA in size and crystal clear. The battery mounts to the top and packs 13,000 hours of power. That’s not a ton in the world of optics and is about half the standard. There is an auto shut-off, but it only shuts the optic off after 13 hours of no movement. When it detects movement, it fires right back up.
This is a very odd choice. An auto, motion-activated shut-off would preferably be more aggressive. Most only require the optic to remain motionless for a few minutes, not several hours.
At the Range
Once mounted, zeroing the Steiner MPS was plenty easy. It has 1 MOA adjustment that is quite broad, and broad is good with handgun accuracy. I zeroed at 25 yards and got the optic dead on in short order. The satisfaction of punching the blackout of a bull’s eye is tough to beat. A red dot makes that so much easier than using iron sights.
Steiner made their reputation with excellent clarity, and that’s on display here. Two lenses offer double the chance of clarity issues, but that’s not a problem here. The view through the lens is clear as it gets like spring water. The red dot is also remarkably clear and crisp. It hovers as a perfect circle, a little red dot waiting to guide you on target.
Once zeroed, the optic holds up without complaint. Round after round fired delivered excellent results. The big, bright, and clear dot is easy to see and use to aim. The open emitter design is a little more forgiving of alignment, and aligning the two lenses always ensures you see your dot.
With the Steiner MPS on my Arex Delta, I shot fast and further with greater accuracy. A good red dot works wonders on even the most average of handguns. A many a plate rack and dueling tree fell to my hands with my Steiner-equipped pistol.
Holding Zero
The Steiner MPS throws us a rock-solid optic. I dropped it for chest height over and over, and it survived fall after fall without losing zero or failing to function. I sprayed it with water, and that didn’t even come close to breaking through to the MPS’s 10-meter submersion depth. One of the smarter moves by Steiner was to recess the glass ever so slightly. This gives the glass a hood that protects the lenses from damage.
The MPS can take the beating required of a concealed carry optic. Heck, it’s designed to take the beating that the world of military and police forces face. The MPS is a tank in more ways than one.
Best yet, at around 500 dollars, it’s a fair bit cheaper than the Aimpoint Acro, and it’s admittedly much easier to find than an ACRO P2. Check it out here, and if you have any questions, feel free to ask below.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Travis Pike is a former Marine Machine gunner who served with 2nd Bn 2nd Marines for 5 years. He deployed in 2009 to Afghanistan and again in 2011 with the 22nd MEU(SOC) during a record-setting 11 months at sea. Travis has trained with the Romanian Army, the Spanish Marines, the Emirate Marines, and the Afghan National Army.
He serves as an NRA-certified pistol instructor and pursues a variety of firearms-based hobbies.
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