Green Lasers a Tactical No-no?

I have several green laser on gun I own.

While the green trace does lead back too you,,,there is another factor nobody has mentioned.....If you have a "Target" hitting him in the eyes with the green laser will blind him for a few minutes...so not to worry about being targeted. He can no longer see you.

Some of the guys running road block in Iraq, found it was way easier to get the cars stopped for road blocks when the driver was blind...(saved a lot of ammo and bad press).

Nice thing is it does no permanent damage. That is what the trigger finger is for.

So you maybe want to re-think the red/green applications and adjust you tactics to take advantage of this factor.
 
"...referring to the beam, not the dot..." If you're using a laser sight as your only sight, the dot is the only thing that matters. The beam means nothing.
 
When used properly, the laser does not activate until the shooter is in the very act of firing the weapon; it is an alternate sighting device to be used while actively shooting and not otherwise. In that circumstance, the muzzle flash will give away your position just as thoroughly as the laser will
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I agree with this statement. One of the downside to lasers is I have noticed they tend to make people a little too cavalier about pointing a weapon at someone as a means of intimidation. Just when would I be feeling threatened enough to put a laser dot on someone when they are not aware of my position but not threatened enough to shoot?
 
Go for green!

Green 110%. I have both. one I got one used when I bought a 1911 (Red) and I ordered a Viridian Laser for my SR9 (Green) I find the red one unless in almost perfect darkness can get "lost" while moving it around. The whole point of a laser is to increase the speed and accuracy of shots in high stress situations, IMHO. So time searching for where your laser is... thats time wasted... Might as well use your sights. :rolleyes:

Now the green laser is the exact opposite. Day or night, indoors or outdoors I can see it easily its zeroed right above my front sight in the longest part of my house so its mostly for close range. 30ft roughly. If I'm fighting for my life I wanna have something I can see immediately on my side. Odds are if he can see it there is already a bullet on the way.:D

It's piece of mind as well. My Girlfriend is becoming an avid shooter but if I am not around and she needs a weapon for self-defense my SR9 is all ready to go 17rds and a green laser, is mine shes not familiar with it, but between her knowledge and the Viridian I am confident she can handle herself.
 
One of the advantage of green lasers is the eyes sensitivity.

It is not uniform across colors, and green is the most sensitive color in human vision.

At equal power levels green will appear brighter than red.
 
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Im sure its been said, But Radio shack carries Greenies handheld. I had one. Its great fun, But you can easily blind yourself cause the light is intense. It probally wont permanatley damage your eyes, but You only see green for about 5 or 6 minutes. So it would be good to blind the target.
 
When I was in Iraq, we got issued 10 of these green lasers per platoon. Then we were yelled at for about 20 minutes because they were so expensive and we, and I quote, " Had better not lose or break them, because if you do you had better hope AIF gets you!" As quoted directly from my platoon sergeant. The were ridiculously expensive, apparently. So we rode around with them for a few months. They did excel at one thing. At night, they are WAAAAY more effective than warning shots! We would have cars that wouldn't see us at night, and they'd get lit up with greenbeams. Boy would you hear brakes squeal then! Mostly they were just tailgaters and curfew violators. Those things blind the hell out of you. We finally dumped them after the novelty wore off. I preferred my Surefire vertical foregrip/tac-light.
 
Would this not be a tactical disadvantage in giving away your location, effectively painting a line back to you?
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Something tells me that if I am shooting at somebody, then I have given away my position, chances are. Given that I am not a sniper or involved in deep cover mafia kills, then the bad guy probably already knows my position.

Lasers??
Guys havent you heard, amatuers talk hardware........professionals talk software!!
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Either you don't know any professionals or the professionals I know were never instructed on talk protocol.
 
Man am I glad this was asked. I was thinking of putting a laser on my AR. I will look at the green ones after hearing all of this. Thanks all.
 
When I was in Iraq, we got issued 10 of these green lasers per platoon. Then we were yelled at for about 20 minutes because they were so expensive and we, and I quote, " Had better not lose or break them, because if you do you had better hope AIF gets you!" As quoted directly from my platoon sergeant. The were ridiculously expensive, apparently. So we rode around with them for a few months. They did excel at one thing. At night, they are WAAAAY more effective than warning shots! We would have cars that wouldn't see us at night, and they'd get lit up with greenbeams. Boy would you hear brakes squeal then! Mostly they were just tailgaters and curfew violators. Those things blind the hell out of you. We finally dumped them after the novelty wore off. I preferred my Surefire vertical foregrip/tac-light.
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Skan,

Any idea on the milliwats (mw) for those green lasers? I'm not sure a 5mw would be as effective....
 
Quick notes on the Viridian X5L (now that I've received it):

(1) regarding the DOT (end point of the beam only): in near complete darkness, INSIDE my house, the DOT is superbright and will light up the entire area it hits IF it hits a non-reflective surface (Hit something like a picture frame and it diffuses a bit); it is far far brighter than my Crimson Trace red lasers (in appearance to the human eye anyway)
-- with the above, there is NO WAY someone wearing normal clothes and in an enclosed environment (car or house) isn't going to notice the dot on themselves and the light spreading from it

(2) regarding the BEAM: in a DIMLY lit room, if you look very hard, you can see the beam if you are very close to it -- otherwise, it may as well not be visible; in a DARK room, you can more easily discern the beam, even from a distance (I could only go as far as 10' from it before hitting a wall); the BEAM itself does not scatter enough light to light up its path in any meaningful way; the tiny amount of particulate inside my house (i.e. dust) sparkled occasionally in the beam -- I imagine outside in remotely dusty environment and the beam would really put on a show (similar to what Viridian's own video shows on their website).

(3) DAYLIGHT -- in a brightly lit room (daylight through windows + overhead lights), picking up on the green dot remained near instantaneous (from the shooter's perspective) whereas the crimson trace dot could get lost if focused on a non-dark end point; both were still quite capable of being useful at the max distance I had a chance to try them (about 45 feet)

(4) NIGHT/DARK -- here's where it is interesting... where the Crimson Trace red dot is just as useful in targeting as it's green brethren, the one major difference here is that it ISN'T too bright to be a problem in tight quarters... while I understand you shouldn't go with constant on beams in a tactical situation, I would note that if you are in the dark and scanning a room with the green laser, if/as you lase over a nearby wall/door, the intensity of the green light may impact your own night vision; the red doesn't have the same impact... of couse, used properly, the extreme brightness in the dark of the green is a great weapon/deterrent in and of itself... splash it over someone's eyes at night and they'll be seeing spots [note: not tested nor recommended] I imagine the same thing would hold true for a flashlight... a super bright beam thrown down range is fine, but bounce that off of a wall 3 feet from your own face (in the dark) and it could be a problem.

The rifle I plan to mount this on is due in shortly. I'll follow up with a more hands-on range report once I get the chance to take 'er out. In case I opt for another laser for the rifle, I also bought a holster that can be used with this light mounted on my SigP226 (a Blackhawk Omega VI holster).
 
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Ah they're just toys to me. I could run the dog I used to have into the wall with it, but my new dog is too smart for that.

I did get to use mine as a deterrent one time. A group of "homies" were bothering my son and kept driving by or sitting in front of the house to intimidate him so I put the laser inside with them one time and voila' they wanted to leave and never saw them again for some reason???:D
 
I like night sights. But, don't like lasers. Night sights are just there if you need them - no switches, no batteries, and nothing to give away your position. For home defense, I want to be as stealthy as possible and let the BG give away his position. That means no shotgun "cha-chink", no racking the slide, no lasers and no flashlights. Just me and my gun.
 
I like night sights. But, don't like lasers. Night sights are just there if you need them - no switches, no batteries, and nothing to give away your position. To me, a handgun with lasers and/or flashlights is like a Harley with loud pipes. Great for letting people know you're there....but doesn't do a damn thing for getting the job done any faster.

For home defense, I want to be as stealthy as possible and let the BG give away his position. That means no shotgun "cha-chink", no racking the slide, no lasers and no flashlights. Just me and my gun.
 
Obviously, a green laser company would have to call itself the Green Lantern Corps but then it would get sued by DC and Warner Brothers.

When I can hang a power ring on my AR - that will be something.

I wonder if folks suffer from gadet choice in a crisis? Makes sense from a human factors point - too many controls to choose from.
 
splash it over someone's eyes at night and they'll be seeing spots [note: not tested nor recommended] I imagine the same thing would hold true for a flashlight.

There is a real difference between the green laser and flashlight. I have the military version of the green laser, and with the flashlight you just loose night vision, with the green laser, you are blind for 5 to 20 minutes...nothing permanent, but it truly panics the heck out of your opponent.

Also in a very dark room, the "splatter" effect of the green laser, while putting it in the eyes of your target, it allows visibility to determine if he/she has an accomplice. Then a quick move to that smiling face, and you own the night.

Move quietly, and if you know any basic marshal arts, put them on the ground, (remember they are blind). If they have weapons, do not endanger yourself, unless you have the training. Remember the old saying...."Violence and sex, you can't enjoy one if you don't survive the other"

In my home I have some industrial strength zip ties...2 for the wrists, in a figure 8, 1 for the ankles, 1 for the throat and a few Daisey chained together to connect the throat zip to the ankle zip and bow tie them...
 
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