How do YOU operate a Pistol Mounted Light??

Katrina, Rodney King Riots, SF Earthquakes, other national disasters, OCCUPY Movement protestors, are all examples of incidents where civilians were required to protect themselves with firearms in situations where there were power outages, rampant looting, rape, assault, robbery, murder, and other crimes. Each one of these incidents came close to martial law.

We did not hear about much from the media, but if you were in the Rodney King riots, many people and criminals were shot and killed by civilians and police.

So Skadoosh, civilians do engage in the dangers or may be subjected to the dangers similiar to LE and military. I am guessing you have never been involved in civil unrest where crime is at your doorstep! I disagree with what you stated! There is always great potential for natural disaster or civil unrest and we must all be prepared and not live in denial!
 
You guys are hijacking the thread that the op has tried to keep on track, it's not a debate on a pistol mounted light, it a technique question.
 
To the OP - It has a lot to do with what kind of light you have attached to your handgun. Lets just assume your talking about something like a surefire white light rig.

1. If your in 100% total darkness where you cant see your hand in front of your face (unlikely) then the act of turning the light on places you at a disadvantage. The bad guy will know exactly where you are before you know where he is.

2, If your in 100% total darkness the bad guy cant see you any better. Your number one asset at that point is your hearing - you need to ID approximate location before you go turning on a light.

3. If your in 100% total darkness and your LE and you take a shot without seeing hands your in deep $H1T.

4. Realistically it going to be a low light confrontation as opposed to a no light confrontation. Weather or not you hit that remote switch is going to depend on how low light. Question is : how sure are you that the dark blob in front of you is the threat?

5. Point>Illuminate>ID>engage (dependent on your ID of course) . After that you have some decision to make based on whether or not it was a single intruder, or your confidence that the threat has been neutralized.

Do you want to keep the light on longer to ensure the threat is gone or do you want to continue the clear to ensure ALL the threats are gone?


No matter what I write or anyone else writes ref white light shooting there will be disagreements ad nauseum. I can come up with a zillion different scenarios that will either support or destroy different techniques (mine included).

In other words If your in a no-light low-light engagement you have stepped into a bad situation.

If you really really really want to be the night avenger get some genIV Night vision and either an I.R. light or better yet an I.R. Laser (might as well go with a suppressed weapon) and you will come out on top of a low-light/no-light fight every time :-)

barring that - its a crap shoot


If someone wants to start a thread on handheld light - I'll be happy to discuss the advantages and disadvantages of the Ayoob, OK , Offset, parrallel, team illume techniques of night fire. :-)
 
All...a little clarification seems to be in order. My original question was only to find out how the light is mechanically operated. I did not intend to start a discussion on when, why or any of the other tactical aspects.

Sorry for the confusion, I should have been more clear in the original post.
 
So Skadoosh, civilians do engage in the dangers or may be subjected to the dangers similiar to LE and military. I am guessing you have never been involved in civil unrest where crime is at your doorstep! I disagree with what you stated! There is always great potential for natural disaster or civil unrest and we must all be prepared and not live in denial!
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This cracks me up. If you absolutely must need a taclight on your pistol, you're doing it wrong.

You are driving at night and your car breaks down on a dark road. As you are fixing it, an assailant gets the drop on you.
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:rolleyes:

Obviously the assailant must be an invisible ninja or a vampire of some kind that I wont be able to draw a bead on him with my trusty snubnosed revolver...
 
If all your asking is how the light is mechanically operated - depends on the light then. what kind of light do you have ? didn't it come with instructions?


if thats it then alabama shooter probably has the best answer so far :-)
 
It depends on they type of light. Some are pressure switch actuated, some are toggles, some are push buttons. Some have a cord that can be mounted to the grip or along the bottom of the slide. Some mount on picitany rails... etc... just depends on the system you use. Personally I'm not a huge fan on having a light mounted directly on a firearm (pistol anyways) but if you can figure out what setup you want there is pretty much a company that makes that specific system for almost any pistol out there.
 
Depends entirely on the exact light you have.

Some lights like Crimson Trace's new one has a button on the front of the grip you press with the middle finger of your firing hand.

The Surefire rail mounted ones have switches you can hit with either your trigger finger or support hand thumb. I find the 2nd option to be easier to do, but it requires a 2 hand grip. For the most part I use a handheld light for primary illumination and consider the weapon mounted light to be a backup, for situations where my support hand is occupied with other tasks but I still need a light to make the shot.

So I practice running all my pistol mounted lights with just the firing hand.

I'm sure there are other designs out there, but those are the lights I've played with...
 
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