Lights on guns. WHY????

[Kirk Freeman]

Why do you think you need a light on your gun? I look at a light as a target at night or dark areas. You have a light on your pistol, you are using it, where is your body? Light on long gun, most are to the left a very few to the right side. Very few bad guys are using a light. Lights show where you are as a target! Just my thoughts from being shot at and shoting back in my youth!

If you use a light is on a pistol or long gun?

I look at a light as a way to follow through on Rule #4 so I do not shoot people that do not need to be shot.

If you have a light on your gun or in your hand your body will be behind the light.

I don't care if bad guys are not using lights. I am not a bad guy and do not want to be sent to prison for acting like a bad guy. I train so I do not fight. I train so I learn how to maximize the use of the light.

Just because you have a light does not mean that one must turn it on.

You are a target. Best to understand cover, optimally best not to fight.

 

[Ggreen]

I look at a light as a way to follow through on Rule #4 so I do not shoot people that do not need to be shot.



You are a target. Best to understand cover, optimally best not to fight.

There is no fog of war defense in a civil court or your conscious even if you somehow make it through criminal court without a conviction. Positive ID is vital beyond words.

Yes yes and yes.

 

[Ggreen]

Most trainers never teach how to use a flashlight, they teach assuming you use a WML. I would bet that a large percent of the younger people that have "Light Training" have never been shown how to hold a flashlight let alone how to use it. The odds are your EDC will not have a light on it. I know a lot of friends that carry a bright flashlight in a pocket with the EDC. They have no clue to the use of the flashlight after taking training in light use.

Honestly i don't have to hold a light and shoot, because i can and will drop the handheld and use the wml of a threat is identified. Or with the firearm at low ready use the splash of the light to search without sweeping.

The best tactics are always fundamental tactics. A proper wml doesn't change the way you handle the firearm that it is mounted to. If anything wml's reduce split times on pistols, and we're going to see every gun in uspsa with wml this year with the rule change. My edc will have a wml as soon as i get the holster in. I've realized after doing some training that i spend most of my vulnerable time outside in the dark.

Indiana has a lot of high level low light training available. Classes available at mtac have some of the best trainers in the world.

 

[lonehoosier]

Great read, thanks @BehindBlueI's

I always carry a handheld "plan A" and always have a WML "plan B" on all of my defense guns.

Plan A





Plan B



This is my older setup. Now it's a Glock 17 with a TLR-1 and a Olight MTR Warrior Pro.

 

[Kirk Freeman]

Most trainers never teach how to use a flashlight, they teach assuming you use a WML. I would bet that a large percent of the younger people that have "Light Training" have never been shown how to hold a flashlight let alone how to use it. The odds are your EDC will not have a light on it. I know a lot of friends that carry a bright flashlight in a pocket with the EDC. They have no clue to the use of the flashlight after taking training in light use.

Who doesn't instruct on the flashlight? Everyone who has turned on a flashlight has a bloody technique. What happened to the "light is my weapon" nonsense that was so popular just a few years ago?

Who is not training on this?

 

[Tactically Fat]

"But I have a light in my hands, how can I ever possibly shoot a hand gun while holding a light?"

Rubbish with the right gear and training. Lonehoosier demonstrates one way.

The Thyrm Switchback 2.0 finger loop / pocket hook is another inexpensive piece of kit that goes a LONG way towards a 2-handed firing grip on a hand gun.

Raven Concealment used to make one, too. https://www.bigtexoutdoors.com/product/raven-concealment-surefire-p-and-g-series-pocket-clip/ I checked a few websites - all were OOS. Perhaps they've quit making them?

 

[baranjhn]

I just use my light for when I'm reading in bed at night.

 

[pitbulld45]

OP, have you ever cleared a dark building with no light?

Its not like you have it on the entire time. You click it on and off depending where your at and what you are doing.

 

[nrgrams]

Proper identification. Would hate the ramifications of not knowing what I am aiming and shooting at.

 

[Gabriel]

Plan A

View attachment 129544

View attachment 129545

Plan B

View attachment 129546

This is my older setup. Now it's a Glock 17 with a TLR-1 and a Olight MTR Warrior Pro.

This makes absolutely no sense to me. Why is your light in your right hand?

 

[churchmouse]

OP, have you ever cleared a dark building with no light?

Its not like you have it on the entire time. You click it on and off depending where your at and what you are doing.

To many movies me thinks.

Man I never ever thought a thread about WML's would get contentious.

 

[lovemachine]

This makes absolutely no sense to me. Why is your light in your right hand?

Maybe he’s left handed?

 

[Sigblaster]

I haven't read all 6 pages of this purse-swinging thread, but I've skimmed through it, and I haven't seen this mentioned.

My friends and I have been known to be arses to each other and pull different small pranks. When I get a new light (or any other accessory), one of my favorites is to say "check out this thing I just bought" and turn it on and shine it directly in their eyes. Their immediate reaction, without exception, is to close their eyes, turn their head, and turn their palm to the light to block it.

That's a basic human reaction to a bright light, and one that I hope I can use to my advantage should the need arise. Having that kind of device mounted to my defensive firearms just makes sense, whether it's used for identification or temporary disablement of a potential target.

 

[Methane Herder]

Can't shoot what you can't identify. Would be tough to justify shooting at shadows and noises in the middle of the night.

Light on left or right side doesn't make much of a difference in my experience but plenty of right-handed shooters are running lights on the right side + using a pressure pad.

I use lights on both pistols and long guns.

Bad guys don't have to use lights because they're less concerned with shooting things they shouldn't shoot.

Light at the other end of the hallway of the house I have just broken into, Bad. Light illuminates bayonet on the end of a AK 74 clone, very very Bad.
At this point it becomes a Darwinian test involving reasoning and ballistics.

MH

 

[Gabriel]

Maybe he’s left handed?

He is. I looked at the picture wrong on my phone and thought he was holding it right handed with the light in his palm. It makes much more sense now.

 

[lonehoosier]

This makes absolutely no sense to me. Why is your light in your right hand?

Because I'm left handed

 

[actaeon277]

Because I'm left handed

I always knew there was something weird about you.

 

[lonehoosier]

I always knew there was something weird about you.

Right?! I'm not even mad

 

[OakRiver]

Light at the other end of the hallway of the house I have just broken into, Bad. Light illuminates bayonet on the end of a AK 74 clone, very very Bad.
At this point it becomes a Darwinian test involving reasoning and ballistics.

MH

Light on your rifle illuminates Mosin bayonet as the Russian Red Army Choir sings 'Sweet Home Alabama'. 7.62R punches through the air as you charge the enemy wearing a ushanka

 

[Gingerbeardman]

I figure a WML is like car headlights, I'm gonna flip it on when needed. Headed down the hallway? No. Come around the corner and see a shadowy figure? YEP.