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Mike S wrote: ↑Wed Aug 15, 2018 12:12 pmAgreed that visible lasers on a handgun are more gimmick than utility. An exception to this would be awkward shooting positions, such as underneath a vehicle where getting a sight picture might be difficult. Other than limited circumstances, it's better to build good fundamentals to allow instinctive indexing of targets (using your sights).

ETA:. And also echo what others have said about having a good light with you, regardless of time of day. Weapon mounted, hand held, or both.

And when I say gimmicky, that's just been my experience with it. It would almost be more of a deterrence to keep from shooting someone when they can the beam on them.

I've never did any training that focused on shooting with a laser, the few classes I have taken have always focused on getting a good sight picture. When I've shoot with the CT grips, it's always been in an indoor range and it always seemed like I spent more time looking for the laser beam rather than getting my sights aligned and shooting. I'm sure that was due to lack of practice. Not sure if the time taken to focus on the target and take a shot would have gone up or not shooting outdoors.

bblhd672 wrote: ↑Wed Aug 15, 2018 11:22 am Last night I read an article by SGM Kyle Lamb in the August Guns and Ammo about this subject. It is not available online unfortunately.
Best takeaway I got was: 1. Have a gun mounted light. 2. Have a second light with a bungee cord on it that you can hold in your hand in case of failure of light on gun. He didn't say anything about laser use.

A couple of G&A articles I did find:

How to Choose Lights & Lasers for your CCW:
http://www.gunsandammo.com/gear-accesso ... nd-lasers/

Handheld Flashlight Techniques Are Essential Skills For Personal Defense
http://www.gunsandammo.com/tips-tactics ... z5OGPhbsYE

This! Whenever I go walk the dog at night I always have a backup of some kind even if it's not ideal. Weapon Mounted Light and a handheld flashlight. No WML, a good Surefire handheld and some sort of small single cell flashlight just in case the main one goes dead.

Definitely go with a weapon mounted light (WML), but I'm not sold on using a laser. I had a Crimson Trace grip laser on an Officer size 1911 that I really never used and seemed more gimmicky than useful. But I do like having the ability to use a WML one handed if I had to, like if I'm pointing my gun at someone with one hand while calling 911 with the other. Try juggling doing that while holding a flashlight.

Guess I'll get more experience with this later in the year when I take a low light class or two. As far as the laser, to each their own. If you can get an advantage using it then go for it. But for a bedside gun, definitely have a light on it.