Euclidean

I think that as a prepared person, whether you CCW or not, you should carry a good "tactical" light of your preference. I actually prefer the term "personal" light.

Now to be clear, a light on a long gun makes a lot of sense to me. You are better off being able to see the target. It's true a light gives you away, but this cannot be helped. The fact is you can't use a shotgun or a rifle and a light at the same time unless they're integrated.

But on a handgun? For me, nope.

The main issue for me is that I carry my light a lot more places and times than I carry my pistol due to laws. And to be honest I actually have to use a light to assist myself fairly often, much more often than I have to shoot a goblin. Far, far more often.

The fact is I want a "personal" light to be a light, not something I bought primarily because it mounts on a Pitcanny rail. The fact is, if you will let it be, a good personal light is a self defense tool in a myriad of ways. And it's a tool I can take to work with me, it's a tool I can take on an airplane, it's a tool I can take anywhere. Thus when I invest money in a personal light, I want it to be a good light that can function well by itself and with a handgun.

The other thing is, I'm not an LEO. I have no legal protection from pointing a muzzle at a target. If I see something moving in corner of the parking garage and my good light is on my gun, I'm forced to point a muzzle at an unidentified target to illuminate it. Let's ignore the fact that such is patently unsafe, and that's a pretty big thing to ignore. But can we say lawsuit? Not to mention, imagine you're in a dark parking lot and you see someone with a gun with a light on it pointing it at you. How would you react?

Another thing, and one that tends to be forgotten, is that in the darkness, an armed goblin is going to shoot at the light. If your light is on your gun he's shooting at you. If it's in your extended arm, odds are pretty decent he's shooting air or at least an extremity and not your vitals.

There are ways to coordinate light and gun. It's really not that entirely difficult. It actually comes very naturally. When I practice shooting my carry pistol, I will grab my light in one hand and my gun in the other and practice that way. Try going when it's dark too so you can actually use your light and see what it would be like to really try that. You can also practice readying your light and gun at the same time. It becomes a reflex pretty quick.

A consideration you shouldn't dismiss is that if your gun goes into a courtroom with a light on it... well were you planning on shooting someone that night? Obviously you were or you wouldn't have that evil looking M3 on it.

Finally, and this is just me, a gun is something that I really just want to be a gun if at all possible. I want to look at my gun and say "That is a tool for shooting things. That is its sole purpose." I don't want a light, a laser, an expresso machine, and a video game built into my pistol when it doesn't have to be there. I want no ambiguity in my mind at all as to the purpose of that device. Now in the case of the long gun, the light on the gun is necessary because we need both hands to handle the weapon. I can accept that as a necessary evil you could say.

And I'm not saying there's no use for a light mounted on a handgun. For a cop I think it's a fantastic idea. For the gun that lives in your bedroom it's a good idea, although I personally just sleep with the lights on and get far better illumination that way. I can conceive of how for some people, it would probably work better to have the gun and light all in one package. I can see how that could be an asset to someone if their needs were different than mine.

But for me, I'm avoiding it. I might get an illuminator that mounts on a rail someday, but for right now the Surefire Centurion foots the bill.

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I am The Armed Educator.

ExSoldier

Euc, you'd probably like the E2D "Defender" from SureFire as it can double as an impact weapon in a pinch with that neat bevelled tip. I sure do want a SureFire X200 I could instant ON or OFF a gun rail. For home mostly. I think the Harries technique is fine but I'd feel better with a more traditional two handed grip in the face of potential hostilities. Remember you are the ONLY real safety. IF you've trained correctly your finger will always reside outside the trigger guard until you've identified a target as hostile and are ready to engage. Then you verify with the light and MOVE one or two giant steps to either side, and fire. The SureFire has the capability to momentarily stun an unwary attacker with the power of it's beam so you could probably reilluminate; resight and squeeze. When I get my H&K USP 45 I intend to get the X200 which has an easy on & off adaptor so I can use it at home or not. It wouldn't be a permanent fixture on the gun, just when I think I need it. I'll still carry my conventional SureFire Nitrolon or E2D. Also I don't think the light will qualify you as automatically having an evil intent to kill. In fact, it could be counted as a SAFETY MEASURE and a "good shoot" is a good shoot regardless.

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Former Infantry Captain; 20 yrs as an NRA Certified Instructor; Avid practitioner of the martial art: KLIK-PAO.

firefighter4884

Euc,

I don't agree with you. Then again, I don't disagree with you. When I start to carry (after I get out of this grrrrr state!!!) I plan on having a light attached to my gun, or if not attached all the time, at least on my person where it can be attached. That is, an underbarrel tact light of some kind (IE, Surefire X200) on my belt that can be mounted on the pistol without a huge fuss. I'll also carry a second light of some kind weak side for utility use and for identifying targets.

My thought pattern goes something along these lines. 1) two lights is better then one. 2) if I end up in an unavoidable confrontation in dark / dusk, i'd perfer to be shooting two handed as opposed to one, but would still like to be able to see my attacker 3) i realize that i'm not going to want to destroy everything that I have to light up to see better, but there may come a time when I need to do so.

Just a thought, it's another tool, and one that I may be unlikely to use, but if I need it, I'm probably not going to have time to 1) go looking for it or 2) kick myself for not having it.

just my 0.02

Jim :)

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Jim_Linch

Unless you are sweeping houses, etc. there is no reason to carry a weapon mounted light for your CCW. As a Deputy I found them to be the cat's meow, but the odds that you will know ahead of time you're going to need it as a CHL holder are very very slim. Weapon mounted lights are better for shooting, but unless you intend to carry your CCW with the light mounted all the time, it really makes little sense.

rocky

For home defense, yes I want to mount a light. I need to be able to clear rooms in my house due to the lay out of the bedrooms. For day to day carry I see em as too bulky, as well as many of the above mentioned reasons not to have em mounted. A hint( strobe your light rather than keep it on continuous to confuse your oponent as to your exact location. )

Tangle

WML (Weapon Mounted Light) for handguns can be a big plus on a home defense gun and I have had an experience or two to back that up.

But they are also very beneficial on a carry gun if you can tolerate the problems of carrying the larger package. If you can get by with it, carrying a WML on the gun AND carrying a separate handheld may be the optimal set up. If you are not justified in presenting your gun for lighting, then you can use your handheld. If you need to shoot you can use either light or both. If you have a WML on the gun and a handheld, you have a backup if one fails. You even have the option of removing the WML and using it as a handheld.

There are some significant tactical advantages of the WML. One is, as previously mentioned, a two-hand hold for shooting. Another is you can hold the gun with the WML on the threat or threat area with your shooting hand and have a free hand to call 911, open doors, etc. as the situation dictates.

The potential of using the two lights together is intriguing. With the two lights you could make it appear that there are two of you, or the two lights could be used to confuse and disorient the threat. You could hold the gun (and WML) on the threat or threat area and use the other light to signal, direct, check a different area, check for a safe place to step, etc. or use the two to blind two BGs.

I just haven’t warmed up to carrying the bulk of the gun and WML and being limited in holster selection that the mounted WML creates.

Greymoor

Holster selection, bulk, additional controls in a tense situation, these are the reasons I do not have a WML on my house weapon. I use a Surefire Aviator as my "bump in the night" light. I also practice firing with my light in my off hand.

There are some advantages to having a mounted light but for me I prefer not to use WML or lasers either. I'd rather not have anything leading right back to me.

Euclidean

I do have to confess that if I were to "bite" and get a light that would mount on a handgun, I'd get the XML that Springfield Armory markets under their own name. I forget who actually makes it, and it's not the brightest or best light, but it's so small.

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I am The Armed Educator.

Tangle

Just a heads up about the Aviator. My Projects Class tested 20 tactical lights and one way we tested them was a run down test. Of all the lights we tested, two failed miserably, Surefire L2 and "my" Aviator.

The failure mode is overheating after about 20 - 30 minutes into the test. The lights begin blinking (i.e. shutting off and on) and are so hot you can hardly hold them.

I talked to Surefire and they basically question the phenomenon but will take care of the problem if I will send the lights to them. When I mentioned this on another forum, somebody else said they experienced the problem on the L2 they tested.

So if you plan to use the A2 for its full 60 minutes, you may want to run it down once and see if it overheats like mine does.

ExSoldier

Believe it or not, the actual BEAM is invisible. They photoshop a red line into the ads for the visual effect. I understand it doesn't even particularly show up with mist or fog in the air. But I have no solid info on THAT. Lasers have their place like everything else.

__________________
Former Infantry Captain; 20 yrs as an NRA Certified Instructor; Avid practitioner of the martial art: KLIK-PAO.