I have been married for 35 years. My wife has never expressed any interest in learning to shoot. The events of the last few months have changed her mind. I have taken her to the range several times and she has shot a variety of both semi automatic pistols and revolvers. I started her with .22s and she has tried both .38 Specials and 9mms. She has decided that my Ruger Mark I 5" Bull Barrel target model and my Sig X5 Legion are her favorites and the guns we will concentrate on. I have never experimented with flashlights or laser sights on a pistol. So I need advice. Should I get her one or the other or both in case something goes bump in the night? There is a thread about a flashlight sale in the Lounge. I am not familiar with that brand. Would that be a good one to buy? Any other advice or insights would be appreciated. Thank you.

I’m a big proponent of weapon mounted lights. The ability to to positively ID a target/threat while having a hand free to do something else (call 911, hold a child, open a door, hold a dog leash, etc) is invaluable. With that said, it does add another layer of complexity to the weapon, and as such, needs to be addressed with training.

A second, separate light is also a good idea. I weapon mounted light should never be used as a primary light source.

As to the brand mentioned in the recent thread, Olight, I don’t have any direct experience with. My go to for lights is Streamlight. I currently use a TLR-7A on my Glock 23, and an HL-X (I think) on my AR. For a full size gun, I’d recommend the TLR-1HL, or the new TLR-9. Both are rated at 1000 lumens.

Other brands may be worth looking at, but Streamlight is the one I have the most experience with, and trust for my duty and off duty needs.

I am another proponent of having both a weapon mounted light and a separate flashlight if it’s necessary to check a suspicious noise or something similar. That’s keeping in mind, of course, if we know there’s an intruder, stay in a defensive position and wait for the cavalry that should be called immediately.

Lasers, however, are … controversial. Some people are convinced they’d never be able to hit a man-sized target across a typical room without one. Others, like me, believe that if it’s time to shoot in such situations, point the gun in the direction of the target and shoot as many times as are necessary. In my experience, unless someone is willing to spend a lot of time mastering use of the laser, it just slows them down as compared with aiming and shooting without it.

The olight PL2 Valkyrie on my bedside gun has been fantastic.

I am a fan of lights, but not so much lasers. My main issue with them is that they usually show up at indoor ranges or inside your home, but often disappear in broad daylight. My concern is that someone who relies on visible cue of the dot for practice - when faced with an outdoor threat at noon, for example - may waste valuable time looking for a dot that’s not going to appear instead of concentrating on the sights.

But that is just an opinion, not advice.

For an EDC gun, no light or laser. For a duty gun, they are a must. Ditto for a home defense gun.

I just put a WML on a P320C with a Red Dot optic. It definitely has a learning curve.

First, at the range, you're going to get unburned powder, dust, and debris on the lens. And you'll need to clean it. Personally, I woukldn't consider uding one of these lights on a defensive gun until after taking a training course with it. (Currently, mine is on a range gun). Then, you need to constantly be conscious of the fact that the light is both giving away your location, and an aim point for your opponent.

But before that, you'll need to determine how many Lumens you'll want, and whether you want a battery powered unit or a rechargeable version. Also, something I didn't think of beforehand ... holsters become more problematic.

I think a flashlight is an important accessory for a defensive firearm, but I'm not a fan of lasers.

Visible lasers can only really be seen in limited situations at specific shorter distances in certain specific lighting, but people still insist on trying to use them as a crutch instead of practicing broadly-applicable fundamentals, and it typically just ends up slowing them down and/or completely hamstringing them in most scenarios.

There's a reason that visible lasers have not gained much of any traction in the law enforcement, military, or competitions worlds, especially in comparison to things like night sights, mounted flashlights, or even red dot optics nowadays.

(IR lasers on rifles are a different matter, and they have their place when used in conjunction with night vision, but that's not something the average person is going to be using for home defense. And those operate on a different principle since the entire beam is visible, rather than having to hunt around for the bouncing 2D dot somewhere in the vicinity of the target.)

I think wml’s are somewhat problematic. I believe they require a whole other training regimen to be safe with them. In the scenario posted above I think OP might have his hands full getting his wife to train to proficiency with gun. Adding light to mix may or may not happen. My wife has the exact setup bedside. CZ 75 P01 with light/laser combo. I come home from a trip to discover she “investigated” a noise in backyard. Used the wml as a flashlight the whole time. I also think in heat of moment trigger finger actuation of light becomes a possible ND vector. Personally I have never been professionally trained with wml but I only use off hand to turn on/off light.

I will await smarter trained people to comment but without actual training I’d be wary.

I have them but I need to train more with using weapon lights. Definately make sure she has a flashlight to use so she isnt pointing a gun at someone that she doesnt mean too.

surefire/ streamlight are both really good products I bought an olight but cant comment yet

At this point, pay for her some training by a reputable source. It’ll pay a larger dividend than adding lights, lasers or disco balls.

Surefire light X300/etc. Please. If not, then a Streamlight offering. There are others but, there's a reason they aren't used as duty/fighting lights by LE. Being able to see, identify your target and even as a force option in itself (causing someone to look away due to the light, is changing their behavior and may save the shooting) are very important in carry guns.

Lasers have their place but, not with the everyday gun user. They have strengths and limitations that must be understood, practiced with and are only a supplement for those gunfighters that put the time in. SWAT vs patrol in LE as an example.


Good on you sir for raising another shooter!

quote:

Originally posted by jljones:
At this point, pay for her some training by a reputable source. It’ll pay a larger dividend than adding lights, lasers or disco balls.

I think that is a very good idea. I have done a little looking and have not seen anything I think appropriate. Most of what I am seeing is tactical. My wife is eligible for Social Security and is not in the best of health. I do not think she needs to roll around on the ground, run around obstacles and practice clearing houses. We just want her to be able to defend herself if someone breaks into the house.

Lol.

Not all classes require you to do cart wheels. For instance, the SIG Academt has a wide range of classes for all types of shooters.

Best of luck to you in your search

I have an older Surefire X400 and a new X300u-b. I find them both to be useful as home defense lights. I also have Crimson Trace laser grips for my S&W 642. I find that quite useful as well.

I get criticized for this and do understand those who disagree but still have to say in my opinion putting a light on a weapon is a bad idea for most people. I would suggest some serious firearms training before doing it.... as in at least 4 days. Just way too easy for someone to violate one of the cardinal gun rules with a light on the gun.
Now with that said, I do think lasers are a good idea.

There will go. The circle is complete.

Being able to see is better than not being able to see. Having a light on your HD weapon makes sense. I really don’t understand the fuddlore against it, other than not having a firearm with mounting surfaces because you are stuck in the 50s. A TLR1 is around $100, easily worth that to have a method of seeing affixed to your life saving equipment.

I added a light to my EDC about a year ago.

I fully understand the different perspectives of "light / no light" but here is my stance: I would rather have a mounted light and not use it than to not have one and need it.

My kit works well for me, and that's the only one I'm trying to please.

quote:

serious firearms training before doing it.... as in at least 4 days

I'm certainly in the disagree camp so let's look at what happens in real life. I'd like you to show me, literally anywhere in the US, in any organization that people are issued a firearm, a requirement for 4 days of training to use a weapon mounted light. And just in case you can find some strange outlier I want like thousands and thousands of them to show that's its a normal consideration.

The only gun I have a light on is my bedside gun. The flashlight on that gun turns into a laser at the flip of a switch.

https://www.olightstore.com/baldr-mini.html