Mount Your Light On Your Pistol Or Not?

[Abraham]

I've considered mounting a light on my pistol and have yet to do it.

Now, having realized that when you do this - you'll potentially be sweeping the innocent when you shine your light mounted pistol in their direction.

Strikes me as a bad idea...

What do you think?

[RugerP345]

I mount a Surefire X300 on my pistol for nightstand duty. It definitely illuminates the shadows! I bought it used for 150 off a pal. It’s kind of pricy if you get it new. I don't mount it for daily carry since my holster won't allow it. I do carry a flashlight on my evening excursions just in case.

I'm sure there are forum members on here who daily carry with a light.

[DoubleJ]

you can mount a light on yer gun, you just have to know that whatever you're illuminating has a gun pointed at it.
If you choose to use the two hand flashlight in one hand, gun in the other grip, you have to know that your gun grip is somewhat comprimised.

there are ups and downs to both approaches, but as long as you know the pitfalls before hand, you are less likely to fall into them.


as a caveat, they make a light that does NOT comprimise your gun grip, but not everyone has one so n'yeah.

[Excaliber]

I've considered mounting a light on my pistol and have yet to do it.

Now, having realized that when you do this - you'll potentially be sweeping the innocent when you shine your light mounted pistol in their direction.

Strikes me as a bad idea...

What do you think?

A light on a home defense gun is a good idea. It can be used to illuminates potential targets for identification, and you don't have to worry about sweeping innocents if you stay inside and you keep your family in a protected location. It also leaves your support hand free if needed.

A "quick on / quick off and move" technique is the way to avoid making more of a target of yourself than necessary.

Lights on police handguns are outstanding tools. LEO's need them because they constantly have to search for bad guys in dark locations. Civilians rarely have a good reason to do this outside the home.

I wouldn't recommend a gun mounted light on a gun used for general civilian carry because you couldn't use the light to search and identify without risking pointing the gun at somebody you have no business doing that to. However, if I lived on a ranch or on a sizable plot of land near the Mexican border, I'd be inclined to claim an exception for use on the property.

A light separate from the gun is an excellent idea, and I carry a Surefire LED version everywhere, whether armed or not. With the flashlight separate, you can use it with the gun, separately from the gun, or without the gun - the ultimate in versatility and utility.

[The Annoyed Man]

My "nightstand gun" is an H&K USP Compact. I found a used Insight Technologies Universal Tactical Light for H&K pistols in good condition for half of the new price at my local emporium of death. When that pistol is doing nightstand duty, I leave the light mounted on it. When I carry it, as I am occasionally wont to do, I take the light off. There is no place I need to be outside of my home that is so dark that I need to be carrying a pistol with a light mounted on it.

[davinco]

I keep a light, Insight M3-LED, on my glock 37 which only gets "nightstand duty." It is important that a gun mounted light have momentary on. Mine is accesseble with my non-trigger hands thumb in a natural grip. I also keep an O-light T20 by the pistol with a lanyard that I slip over my wrist if investigating things that go bump in the night. This allows me to shine a light in another direction should I need to keep my pistol pointed at a BG.

I also always have an O-light M20 on my person with my carry gun. It goes on the belt next to the spare mags weak side.

Just my thoughts and how I operate.

[Oldgringo]

What The Annoyed Man said about dark places outside - me too. Plus, a lighted gun provides a target, doesn't it?

We have night lights thoughout the house for illumination. The fact of the matter is that both Mrs. and Mr. Oldgringo wear C-Paps while sleeping and probably wouldn't hear a break-in if it was not in the BR. Hopefully, the alarm will alert us to any skullduggery?

Y'all reckon we should set up some trip wires?

[killerfly128]

My "nightstand gun" is an H&K USP Compact. I found a used Insight Technologies Universal Tactical Light for H&K pistols in good condition for half of the new price at my local emporium of death. When that pistol is doing nightstand duty, I leave the light mounted on it. When I carry it, as I am occasionally wont to do, I take the light off. There is no place I need to be outside of my home that is so dark that I need to be carrying a pistol with a light mounted on it.

If you ever want to get rid of that light let me know. I would love to have one for my USP compact.

[The Annoyed Man]

My "nightstand gun" is an H&K USP Compact. I found a used Insight Technologies Universal Tactical Light for H&K pistols in good condition for half of the new price at my local emporium of death. When that pistol is doing nightstand duty, I leave the light mounted on it. When I carry it, as I am occasionally wont to do, I take the light off. There is no place I need to be outside of my home that is so dark that I need to be carrying a pistol with a light mounted on it.

If you ever want to get rid of that light let me know. I would love to have one for my USP compact.

I'll keep that in mind. I am actually considering selling the pistol to finance another 1911, but I probably won't do anything about it until after the new year. Of course, the buyer may want the light also. Like I said, I will keep you in mind.

[JohnKSa]

Try to do some shooting in low light with your chosen carry gun/ammo combination.

Then try using an attached light & a separate light. Both have advantages & disadvantages.

The separate light will incur a time/accuracy penalty since you'll effectively be shooting one handed. The hand holding the light can be used to provide some support, but even using the "syringe" technique your grip will be compromised somewhat. The syringe technique also makes aiming your light more difficult.

Using an attached light you have no flexibility in terms of aiming the light. Where the gun is pointed, the light is pointed too. So if you point the light at something to identify it you're also pointing a loaded gun at it. Another issue is that the discharge smoke can act like fog and reflect light back into the shooter's eyes making aiming more difficult. The brighter the light the more glare there is. With a separate light you can aim the light down at the ground in front of the target and use the light reflecting off the ground to illuminate the target. That eliminates the glare off the discharge smoke. If your light is bright enough the reflected light will illuminate the target brightly enough that the target will backlight your sights and you can use standard sights, however the best option if you're going to use this technique is to have night sights on the gun to insure you can see them clearly.

[BambooShoots]

I carry a G19 with a TLR1 light every single day.

So I say yes, carry a light on your pistol.

It's there if I need it....all other times I use my SureFire Lumamax L1.

There is also a certain tactics for using lights...so all these worries of "they aim at the light" are moot. You do not leave the light on...instead you illuminate briefly then move then illuminate again and so on and so forth.

[bryang]

I prefer to use a separate light. I have a small Fenix Q-5 that is extremely bright and if I need a two hand grip I use the syringe technique. As John pointed out, there are advantages and disadvantages to either method you use. I just have some problems with an attached light, but that is just my opinion.

-geo

[jbirds1210]

I love to have both everywhere I go....just not tied together. I have done it both ways and prefer them seperate.

Jason

[subsonic]

A dedicated weapon light doesn't preclude a hand held light, especially at home.