Lasers ... useful for a fight, or a good training tool only?

Lasers, a real combat tool, or a training tool only?

  • A great dry fire training tool

    Votes: 14 17.1%

  • A great night fire training tool

    Votes: 6 7.3%

  • A great combat tool for self defense

    Votes: 50 61.0%

  • A great tactical tool for entry teams, and other tactics

    Votes: 12 14.6%
  • Total voters
    82
  • Poll closed .
W

WildBill45

New member
Lasers, a practical fighting tool, or a civilian toy?

I know no one who has experienced real life and death combat that would use a laser on a fighting gun. They are good for Swat entry teams, as a deterrent, head game on the bad guy, or marking a bad guy for others to separate him from the crowd. To try and find a dot on a target that is currently trying to target you is a foolish endeavor indeed! Under the stress of up close combat no one will even remember they have a laser, much less use it! You will put the gun on the guy as fast as possible and shoot, period! I doubt most will ever see the sights of any kind. The exception being on the set of the CIS on TV!

They are great for dry fire practice for the new guys out there.

Your vote: Toy or combat tool?
 
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They have their place.

It's like any other tool, if there if you need it, but no law says you have to use it.
 
They are definitly a great training tool. As for an actual gunfight I have no idea how my gunfight is going to go down there are some circumstances where it may be very helpful to have a laser.
So I can't vote because they are a good training tool AND maybe useful in a fight
 
You should have added a worthless option.

Though the one that came mounted on one of my handguns is fun to "exercise" the cat.
 
donkee

You are correct, I should have added a category:

"A toy, not a tool."

I was not aware of how the Poll worked, so I was busy playing with that and didn't think it out enough.

Polls are interesting as you can see the wide scope of opinion. Some people take the subject seriously, and some think everything is silly. I think that shows the diversity of life experience displayed here. Some folks don't know which end the bullet comes out from, and then on the other end you have master gunsmiths, and combat veterans. Add on the people who get on the forum just to play around and have never seen a gun except in video games on their computer! In general though, it seems the majority take a serious look at things, as firearms can be a serious thing, whether you choose it to go that way or not. Sometimes troubles finds you all by itself!
 
I guess I must not know which end of a gun the bullet comes out, cause I like the laser on my carry pistol.

It doesn't replace the sights, it supplements them.

I will offer this, come visit my range some afternoon. We'll shoot a while with iron sights, then set on the porch, drink some coffee, bs a while, then when the sun goes down we'll shoot some more. Both with iron sights and lasers when the target is nothing but a dark shawdow. The yard light is enough to see the target but not the sights.

One should play with lasers a while, both in dry firing and shooting, then make up your mind. They are kind of like seat belts, you may never need them, but if the time comes when you do, they are damn nice.
 
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kraigwy

Great points Sir!

Your perspective is a military one, and I did say they are good for tactical use, but my perspective is from a street cop's point of view, where most unfriendly situations are up close and personal and in the dark! This is where the most of the bad guy contacts for civilians lie as well. In those situations I doubt if any sights are used, as it is blast and go, reflex not brain. Those who do this well survive, those who do not, don't.

I would gladly play with a laser sittin' on a summer porch, or with a rifle making entries wearing body armor, and with my back covered. Lasers add more weight, space, and complexity where light, simple, and fast is key!

Summer is coming, my Harley is ready, drop me a line and GPS numbers, and I may be there!:)
 
from a street cop's point of view,
Click to expand...

I thought about this a lot. Lasers weren't around when I was in LE, or at least I didn't know about them. I did a heck of a lot of building searches as a cop. I used mirrors a lot, peaking around corners and such.

A while back I got to thinking. I took a mirror and pistol out back to my range, got behind a barricade, poked the mirror around to see the target, then poked the revolver around and found I could see the red dot on the target and shoot, without exposing anything but my revolver and mirror.

The use of a laser is only limited by the imagination of the shooter.

Summer is coming, my Harley is ready
Click to expand...

Summer is coming, so is Sturgis Bike Week, I live in the Wyoming portion of the Black Hills, right down the road from Sturgis. No better riding anywhere in the world then the Black Hills, My Sportster will be ready. Come on, we can shoot and ride.
 
There's a lot of people who make up their minds about things like laser sights before really trying them out to see how they work (or don't work) in real case scenarios. They will argue that they've trained so long one way that it would be impossible, even dangerous to their health, if they ever dared tried something different or new. I consider this attitude defeatist in nature and inviting a self-fulfilled prophecy.
For me, the "jury is still out" regarding the practical use of laser sights as a combat tool. Though I did survive thirty years of a career in le without having a laser on my handgun (my agency transitioned from revolvers to semi-autos about a decade before I retired and even the concept of a laser sight was foreign to me during that period of time), I have been experimenting with lasers over the past couple of years and have come to a few conclusions about their useful applications for myself:
(1) Contrary to what some people advocate, I think the laser is used more effectively at a distance rather than up close. Armed confrontations at bad breath distance is going to be a "point and shoot affair". Time spent, while up close and personal, searching for a dancing red dot on your target before you pull the trigger, could well mean a life (yours) wasted.
On the other hand, I think one of the best tactics when using a laser is when time, distance and cover is to your advantage, making it possible to place a red dot on your target from behind a barricade without exposing yourself. As kraigwy noted, "The use of a laser is only limited to the imagination of the shooter."
(2) Don't be fooled by the so-called "deterrence" factor; that is that your assailant will give up the fight once he spots that little red dot of yours trained on his left nipple. Nobody searches their chest area looking for the dot of a laser while a gun is being pointed at them. Would you?
(3) Some people have made the argument that a battery dying on a laser sight could end up resulting in you dying. Though there are no doubt good arguments for not having a laser sight, this isn't one of them. If your laser goes dead, you still have the sights your gun came with. Use them!
(4) Laser sights are useful training aids, especially when dry-firing. And this goes for old-timers as well as new-comers.
Anyhow, like I said, the jury is still out for me-but I'm getting much closer to a verdict. ;)
 
I vote 'cat toy'

They may be good on a square range after dark shooting at a stationary target.

Put one on an Airsoft or Sim pistol and see how useful they are in actual Force-On-Force training. See how many of the ad copy promises work out for you.
 
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kraigwy

"No better riding anywhere in the world then the Black Hills, My Sportster will be ready. Come on, we can shoot and ride."

Sounds like a plan to me! I lived in Colorado for 25 years, and have ridden throughout the American West. There is nothing like a Colorado sunset while sittin' a Cowboy hot tub!
 
I showed a target I had shot, with fixed sights, to a fellow that trains FL state police in combat shooting. He told me that, in an SD situation, if you take the time to align the sights, focus on squeezing the trigger, and breath control you will be dead.

I asked him his opinion of lasers and he said they make good cat toys. Since then I practice point shooting and sights don't enter into it. Laser or otherwise. Doesn't hurt to have a laser if it is the grip type but I wouldn't learn to depend on it. YMMV.
 
I have a friend who is a firearms instructor who bought one for a glock and one for M 60 snub.
He also recently took a course from another firearms instructor. Both agreed that they slow you down. You have a tendancy to look for the spot rather than get the shot off.

I tried them also and arrived at the same conclusion. I could get off accurate shots faster without the laser. At close range where you point shoot I hope no one would be looking for the spot of light.

Rgards,
Jerry
 
Are they a cure-all in a gunfight? I seriously doubt it. Can they help under certain situations? In my mind, undoubtedly.

As others have said, no law says you have to use it. Practice wtih it, practice without it, and learn to use your handgun to it's full potential.

Daryl
 
I dont care for lasers. I have tried them but my technique and training is so that i instinctively look for my sights. That is my opinion and i am sure there are shooters that find the opposite apply to them.

I just cannot see how they can be used by a normal civilian in an everyday scenario. If you have the luxury of time to point a dot at someone then try and change their mind then you have the wrong idea of self defence.

Bad guys will pretend to walk past you, then sucker punch/stab you, then empty out your pockets themselves and leave. I have been in too many situations and i have yet a bad guy come to me, take out a knife/gun and ask me to hand over my valuables.

In business robberies they walk in, attack the manager and really mess him up, then run for the cash and remove it.

I dont see how a laser is going to help or maybe criminals are just more violent where i am.
 
I could maybe see one when used as a snap cap with the dot fired through the bore in dry fire to confirm your "hit" when the hammer/striker fell, but other than that, I agree, "cat toy" .
 
People sure do buy them.

A guy I know has one on his ruger 22, it is in the grips. He uses it at night to clear dumb birds from his trees over the car. Shines the lite on them shoots dead birdy. Some way up there too.

For me? I will continue to use the clapper and a good flashlite. Cost is much less.
 
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