Laser and/or flashlight on .45ACP Semi-Auto

Well I I finally got the SAR-K2 out to the range today. OMG am I going to love this pistol. I have small hands, but it fits me like a dream for shooting. It is a little thick to work the magazine release and close the bolt with total ease, but a little more practice will solve that issue. And I would trade that for shoot-ability any day. The muzzle flip is very gentle. The trigger isn't amazing, but it is much better than average. It's also a trigger with which I can be consistent. And I can shoot DA & SA with almost equal accuracy. I shot 75 rounds with 3 different types of ammo and there were no feed issues whatsoever, plus I couldn't tell that it preferred one type over the other. It points so the sites just line up naturally. I'm still grinning like a Cheshire cat.

But back to the topic. The bay I was shooting in was very dim and I forgot my pistol shooting glasses, so my sights were pretty blurry. But I finally got a halfway decent zero and then zeroed the laser just by putting the dot above the front sight. I was having so much fun with the iron sights that I almost forgot to try the laser. But I finally remembered and tried a couple of groups. I shot with the pistol next to my diagram. Each group was roughly 4 inches at 25 yards. That was a little less than 1/2 the size that I was able to get with my blurry sights. Time will tell whether the laser will hold a zero or whether it will last at all. Also I forgot to check the visibility of the laser in broad daylight. But so far I'm very pleased.

By the way, thank you for the very excellent points about lasers, hogs and dogs.
 
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Also I forgot to check the visibility of the laser in broad daylight. But so far I'm very pleased.
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Sorry, with a red laser you're going to have to shoot the old-fashioned way. :D

Green lasers are much more visible in daylight but eat batteries.

I'm content to use my iron sights in daylight. I just have to know that in low light I have a red laser. If CT ever starts putting green lasers in their Master Series laser grips I may change my mind. :)

Glad that new gun is working well for you. Thank goodness we live in a country that (still) recognizes the importance of an armed citizenry.
 
Well... It's overcast and rainy, but I can see the dot across the street and even against green bushes. Yet even though it's pointing right where I think it should be, it takes me a second or two to find the dot. I wouldn't necessarily want to use it for acquisition at that distance. With the new batteries and it being overcast, it shows nice and bright up to about 25 yards. I'm not sure what to expect in broad daylight. It looks like I'll need to wait a day or two to find out. But I'm really not concerned. It would be a very odd circumstance for me to need or want the laser outdoors in daylight.
 
You may have a problem on your hands if you end up shooting somebody at 25 yards. Also, IMO - lasers are for much closer work - say 10 yards or less. Anything further and you are better off using iron.
 
Onward Allusion, the odds are this pistol will rarely if ever be used as a carry weapon. While at home the pistol could be used for self-defense its primary purpose is use in the field. Shooting a moving target (hog) at or beyond 25 yards at night is certainly a possibility. Even in the daylight, the laser might be a better option than irons on something like a hog. (Using artificial light on game animals is illegal in Texas, so for something like deer irons would be used and it will be daylight anyway.)

In short, after reading the input provided in this post, I'm more of the thinking that lasers are good for when it is impractical to use irons; most have little or nothing to do with distance. Some examples would be:
  • Unconventional shooting position
  • Dim lighting
  • No lighting
  • Where attention needs to be kept on what's happening around the target, rather than on the front sight (hogs and dogs)
  • Distances greater than what irons allow for accuracy

With the addition of a laser to the pistol, it gives me more sighting options. It will also require me to answer one more question I make to myself before I take a shot, 'which is better, irons or laser'.
 
Well... It's overcast and rainy, but I can see the dot across the street and even against green bushes. Yet even though it's pointing right where I think it should be, it takes me a second or two to find the dot.
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There is a significant amount of many days taken up by dawn or dusk. In those times night sights have little utility and I cannot see my iron sights well at all, even given plenty of time. A lot of that may be age, but it is what it is, and the cause is irrelevant. But the red dot just screams across the ground, tress, bushes, etc.

To me night sights are for assassins. You know, where you are sneaking up on an unwary, still victim and have plenty of time to carefully aim. Trying to use them in an actual SD scenario seems problematic, to say the least. But however good they may work at night, they are useless to me during dawn and dusk light.

I don't get the "lasers are for short range" stuff. I regularly shoot in low light at 28 yards and find the laser to produce much more accurate results for me than iron sights in those conditions. The laser does not lie. Wherever it is, is where the bullet is going to strike. With the iron sights in low light it is very hard for me to even tell when they are lined up right, much less lined up right and on the target.

The CT laser is about 9/16" from the bore axis. That means if the laser is on at 25 yards it is going to be off by 9/16" at 50 yards (ignoring bullet-drop). If I had to make a SD or defense of others shot at 50 yards on a non-stationary target, I would much prefer to be able to use the laser than the irons, the problem with seeing the iron sights in low light aside. Even when I can see the irons, on a moving target, even a slow moving, the laser is going to work much better for me.
 
I picked up a Crimson Trace CMR-203 put it on my Walther PPQ M1 and love it. The green is very easy to see even in the sunlight. A lot of personal defense trainers have changed their mind and now recommend them as lasers have gotten smaller and brighter. They say in the heat of a battle "that I would say most if not all of us have never been in" with the adrenaline pumping it is quicker than sights. They show it can be used quicker if you drop to the ground and are moving. I mostly use my iron sights and use the laser as a tool. Like to see how much muzzle flip I have going on and focus on minimize that. Never totally rely on it. I also am teaching my daughter to shoot my 22 and it helps out a lot.
 
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