With most folks on these forums agreeing that accuracy is king in any gun play situation, I started thinking about an experience I had with Crimson Trace. If accuracy is paramount, why wouldn't everyone want one of these things on their carry gun, especially a compact. CT says that police hit rate is 90% in shootings where their product is involved. http://www.crimsontrace.com/ctc-defense/law-enforcement/law-enforcement-purchasing/ Contrast that with the often cited 30% hit rate. Here is a product that evidently not only works at the range, but offers perhaps an even bigger advantage in stress fire situations.
I'm curious about experiences other folks have had with CT lasers and why one would choose them or not. I've only had a two experiences -- described below:
Prior to this spring, I shot guns one day in my life about 20 years ago. In modern times the first gun I shot at the local range was a rented 686 with the CT laser. With the laser, I was deadly accurate out of the gate. Without it, not so much. I ended up buying a 4" SP101, and it's taken a few months to get really accurate with the iron sights. After I few moths I'm finally able to perform significantly better with the iron sights on my SP101 than I was as a complete beginner with the CT equipped 686. But I'll never forget that 686 with the CT.
More recently, I bought and LCP. Mine shoots hopelessly low and right. It's way off even at short ranges like 15 feet. The sights are tiny, and difficulty to acquire in even good lighting -- not a confidence builder. I've also read that people focus their vision on the threat in real life situations -- to me that means that many folks often don't aim their guns properly when faced with a real threat, and videos I've seen confirm this. People say, "know thyself." I can't see myself spending the time to acquire my tiny, inaccurate LCP sights when a dude is pulling a gun or charging me with a knife. I'm a pretty cool customer, but I'm not that cool -- not even close.
So I was remembering how good life was with the CT, contrasting that with how bad the iron sights on my LCP suck. I bought the CT, and my LCP is a completely different gun. A gun that would be lucky to get a couple on a pie plate at 15 feet (with hold off) now shoots a ragged hole a 15 feet. Point shooting? I can now aim accurately with the gun held low. No worries about point shooting and hitting a by-stander because I didn't aim.
I don't intend to get CT for my other guns. I like using iron sights at the range, I really do. But for a carry gun (especially something compact), it seems like CT should be a pretty easy choice unless people have experiences radically different from mine. I feel that it offers me a tactical advantage that I could not have without it -- even if my teeny little LCP iron sights were dead on.
I'm curious about experiences other folks have had with CT lasers and why one would choose them or not. I've only had a two experiences -- described below:
Prior to this spring, I shot guns one day in my life about 20 years ago. In modern times the first gun I shot at the local range was a rented 686 with the CT laser. With the laser, I was deadly accurate out of the gate. Without it, not so much. I ended up buying a 4" SP101, and it's taken a few months to get really accurate with the iron sights. After I few moths I'm finally able to perform significantly better with the iron sights on my SP101 than I was as a complete beginner with the CT equipped 686. But I'll never forget that 686 with the CT.
More recently, I bought and LCP. Mine shoots hopelessly low and right. It's way off even at short ranges like 15 feet. The sights are tiny, and difficulty to acquire in even good lighting -- not a confidence builder. I've also read that people focus their vision on the threat in real life situations -- to me that means that many folks often don't aim their guns properly when faced with a real threat, and videos I've seen confirm this. People say, "know thyself." I can't see myself spending the time to acquire my tiny, inaccurate LCP sights when a dude is pulling a gun or charging me with a knife. I'm a pretty cool customer, but I'm not that cool -- not even close.
So I was remembering how good life was with the CT, contrasting that with how bad the iron sights on my LCP suck. I bought the CT, and my LCP is a completely different gun. A gun that would be lucky to get a couple on a pie plate at 15 feet (with hold off) now shoots a ragged hole a 15 feet. Point shooting? I can now aim accurately with the gun held low. No worries about point shooting and hitting a by-stander because I didn't aim.
I don't intend to get CT for my other guns. I like using iron sights at the range, I really do. But for a carry gun (especially something compact), it seems like CT should be a pretty easy choice unless people have experiences radically different from mine. I feel that it offers me a tactical advantage that I could not have without it -- even if my teeny little LCP iron sights were dead on.