Raccoon Ricky
Inactive
Obviously, the tactical fore end light has the advantage in being able to momentarily to turn it on or off without both hands leaving the firearm. And that's a useful thing, certainly. That's a great deal if I surprise my assailant, flash'em with the light and bang!
That's a cool story bro.
Realistically, on your home defence gun, you're going to be grabbing it because you think someone has broken into your house, or is in the process of breaking into your house. YOU ARE AT THE DISADVANTAGE HERE. You have no idea who is invading your house, how many there are, what they are armed with or why they are doing this. Without knowing this, you are going to leave a "safe" place(insomuch as you know there are no hostiles in there), to venture into an uncertain and potentially life threatening environment with the intention of identifying the intruders, deciding if it's a lethal use of force situation, engage and win? Phew. Man, that's a pretty big list of intangibles to go sling lead around.
I mean, first, what do you have to defend? Like what are you willing to lose? My life? No. My Gun? No. My loved Ones? No. My dogs? Maybe. My Computer? Sure. My Television? Sure. My car? Sure! I have lived without those things, I will get by without them again for a while until I replace them. So for me, I've got myself and my mom to worry about, and we live in a duplex about a half mile from the police station. Judging from the time it took for them to respond to a drunken dude crashing on new years in front of our place, I figure that the police will probably be there within 5 to 10 minutes.
So that's what I HAVE to defend. Fortunately, our rooms share a hallway, with the bathroom in between our rooms, and the hallway opening up into the other half of the house, with one room for kitchen, dining room and living room. From the door into that area, I figure it's about 3-4yds to the front door, or maybe 5-6 yards to the back door.
I can see my front door from my bedroom door. My bedroom is typically the darkest, so I would be adjusting from lower light to brighter light, and that's maybe a 4-5 yd shot. If the front door was closed, you'd be able to get in the corner and I would be blind. If I advance to the door into the living room, I can cover most of the house, though I don't like that idea.
But really, my home defense plan stops essentially at my bedroom door. From there I can cover the front door(the backdoor opens into a fenced in yard, neighboring yards have dogs), and call the cops. Sit tight and wait for the cavalry to roll up. They can't get to my momma, they can't get to me.
Well, they could shoot through the walls. That's a a bummer. But if I've got a bunch of guys with pistols in my kitchen who decide to shoot through the walls? Well, I'm screwed either way.
So, I don't see a tactical need for a flash light on my mossy.
Now, that's not the only time I ever would use my mossy. I occasionally watch property for people who are out of town for a while. Some of these people have been the victims of armed robbery and theft of their possessions, or had their chickens killed or gone missing, etc. They like someone to check out the place, let the dogs in and out(if they didn't take them), and just generally keep an eye on things.
Now, depending on the property, that might mean I wake up in the middle of the night to chickens and goats going crazy, maybe some kind of crashing noise, and I can't just sit in the house while a raccoon is killing chickens or just causing a problem. And if someone's out there in the workshop stealing the table saw and drill press, I'm going to be in trouble! So, I gotta go outside.
There, a headlamp is awesome. The first thing I wanna do is alert any thing to my presence. The presence of someone is often enough to get someone to leave. I've come outside before to hear a car going out the end of the drive way. But when I'm looking around the property at night, having a hands free light that I can use is just the bees knees. It also helps to spot wild animals and drive them off, which works for me when I have to watch the goats.
It's also cost effective. A $20 headlamp is something that is useful for a whole lot of things other than going on the side of your gun. So if you never use it for a home defense scenario, it's still a solid use of money. A $20 dollar taclight is a piece of crap that's going to fall apart after prolonged use. I'd rather have a light I know works, than a light that might not. And if you drop real money for a nice light? For starting with a shotgun? Ehhh, you'd probably be better served spending that on instruction and/or ammunition and range time.
If you are certain you have a real need for a light, then get a good one, and keep it on the gun when you shoot. It's going to change the balance of your gun, it's going to change the way you shoot. I have always believed that the adage of Bruce Lee "train like you fight, because you fight how you train" is central for preparing for anything.
But I don't think it's really a big deal.
Also, on the target issue? Now, that's really a bit of a non issue. If you have your shotgun shouldered so you can get cheek weld and use sighted fire, that light's gonna be close to your face regardless. Staring at a bright light is disorientating(and you can get pretty bright lights for pretty cheap), which could have an effect on whether they hit me or not. But if they shoot center of the light, and put those rounds in a 4" circle at 5 yds, I'm probably dead regardless of whether they hit my brain pan, my lower face or my throat. Enough rounds, and that's going to probably incapacitate me. I better shoot before he can shoot. Maybe the light can give me that advantage?
TL; DR; Cheap lights are cheap, make sure you need a light before you put money on a light.
That's a cool story bro.
Realistically, on your home defence gun, you're going to be grabbing it because you think someone has broken into your house, or is in the process of breaking into your house. YOU ARE AT THE DISADVANTAGE HERE. You have no idea who is invading your house, how many there are, what they are armed with or why they are doing this. Without knowing this, you are going to leave a "safe" place(insomuch as you know there are no hostiles in there), to venture into an uncertain and potentially life threatening environment with the intention of identifying the intruders, deciding if it's a lethal use of force situation, engage and win? Phew. Man, that's a pretty big list of intangibles to go sling lead around.
I mean, first, what do you have to defend? Like what are you willing to lose? My life? No. My Gun? No. My loved Ones? No. My dogs? Maybe. My Computer? Sure. My Television? Sure. My car? Sure! I have lived without those things, I will get by without them again for a while until I replace them. So for me, I've got myself and my mom to worry about, and we live in a duplex about a half mile from the police station. Judging from the time it took for them to respond to a drunken dude crashing on new years in front of our place, I figure that the police will probably be there within 5 to 10 minutes.
So that's what I HAVE to defend. Fortunately, our rooms share a hallway, with the bathroom in between our rooms, and the hallway opening up into the other half of the house, with one room for kitchen, dining room and living room. From the door into that area, I figure it's about 3-4yds to the front door, or maybe 5-6 yards to the back door.
I can see my front door from my bedroom door. My bedroom is typically the darkest, so I would be adjusting from lower light to brighter light, and that's maybe a 4-5 yd shot. If the front door was closed, you'd be able to get in the corner and I would be blind. If I advance to the door into the living room, I can cover most of the house, though I don't like that idea.
But really, my home defense plan stops essentially at my bedroom door. From there I can cover the front door(the backdoor opens into a fenced in yard, neighboring yards have dogs), and call the cops. Sit tight and wait for the cavalry to roll up. They can't get to my momma, they can't get to me.
Well, they could shoot through the walls. That's a a bummer. But if I've got a bunch of guys with pistols in my kitchen who decide to shoot through the walls? Well, I'm screwed either way.
So, I don't see a tactical need for a flash light on my mossy.
Now, that's not the only time I ever would use my mossy. I occasionally watch property for people who are out of town for a while. Some of these people have been the victims of armed robbery and theft of their possessions, or had their chickens killed or gone missing, etc. They like someone to check out the place, let the dogs in and out(if they didn't take them), and just generally keep an eye on things.
Now, depending on the property, that might mean I wake up in the middle of the night to chickens and goats going crazy, maybe some kind of crashing noise, and I can't just sit in the house while a raccoon is killing chickens or just causing a problem. And if someone's out there in the workshop stealing the table saw and drill press, I'm going to be in trouble! So, I gotta go outside.
There, a headlamp is awesome. The first thing I wanna do is alert any thing to my presence. The presence of someone is often enough to get someone to leave. I've come outside before to hear a car going out the end of the drive way. But when I'm looking around the property at night, having a hands free light that I can use is just the bees knees. It also helps to spot wild animals and drive them off, which works for me when I have to watch the goats.
It's also cost effective. A $20 headlamp is something that is useful for a whole lot of things other than going on the side of your gun. So if you never use it for a home defense scenario, it's still a solid use of money. A $20 dollar taclight is a piece of crap that's going to fall apart after prolonged use. I'd rather have a light I know works, than a light that might not. And if you drop real money for a nice light? For starting with a shotgun? Ehhh, you'd probably be better served spending that on instruction and/or ammunition and range time.
If you are certain you have a real need for a light, then get a good one, and keep it on the gun when you shoot. It's going to change the balance of your gun, it's going to change the way you shoot. I have always believed that the adage of Bruce Lee "train like you fight, because you fight how you train" is central for preparing for anything.
But I don't think it's really a big deal.
Also, on the target issue? Now, that's really a bit of a non issue. If you have your shotgun shouldered so you can get cheek weld and use sighted fire, that light's gonna be close to your face regardless. Staring at a bright light is disorientating(and you can get pretty bright lights for pretty cheap), which could have an effect on whether they hit me or not. But if they shoot center of the light, and put those rounds in a 4" circle at 5 yds, I'm probably dead regardless of whether they hit my brain pan, my lower face or my throat. Enough rounds, and that's going to probably incapacitate me. I better shoot before he can shoot. Maybe the light can give me that advantage?
TL; DR; Cheap lights are cheap, make sure you need a light before you put money on a light.