on October 25, 2009 7:53 AM
I took this class from KR Training last night.
We learned a couple of techniques for using a flashlight and pistol at night, did a couple of courses of fire, and did the "funhouse" as I like to call it.
I had done a fair amount of shooting at dusk before, but my range rules say no shooting after 30 minutes past sunset, so never any real night shooting.
I don't carry a flashlight and that probably won't change, but it was great to finally be able to practice. (I'm old now and don't really go anywhere at night except maybe to the corner store for some late night coding fuel, and that place is lit up very well.)
I think what I took away from that class the most is how much one handed shooting sucks. I can do it well enough, but it just feels slow and awkward.
Of the two techniques we learned, I preferred the Harries over the Neck Index because it had more support, was faster, and more accurate. Most people preferred the Neck Index though. Different strokes for different folks and all that.
Thoughts on night sights
Hsoi and I have argued about these things forever. I'm fer and he's agin.
I will say, if you are a Neck Index person and carry a flashlight everywhere night sights really won't offer you very much.
On the other hand, if your preferred low light technique is like the Harries where the light is held forward and doesn't light up your gun, night sights will be a little easier to see.
If you've never shot at night, you might want to try it before plunking down the cash on gear.
We learned a couple of techniques for using a flashlight and pistol at night, did a couple of courses of fire, and did the "funhouse" as I like to call it.
I had done a fair amount of shooting at dusk before, but my range rules say no shooting after 30 minutes past sunset, so never any real night shooting.
I don't carry a flashlight and that probably won't change, but it was great to finally be able to practice. (I'm old now and don't really go anywhere at night except maybe to the corner store for some late night coding fuel, and that place is lit up very well.)
I think what I took away from that class the most is how much one handed shooting sucks. I can do it well enough, but it just feels slow and awkward.
Of the two techniques we learned, I preferred the Harries over the Neck Index because it had more support, was faster, and more accurate. Most people preferred the Neck Index though. Different strokes for different folks and all that.
Thoughts on night sights
Hsoi and I have argued about these things forever. I'm fer and he's agin.
I will say, if you are a Neck Index person and carry a flashlight everywhere night sights really won't offer you very much.
On the other hand, if your preferred low light technique is like the Harries where the light is held forward and doesn't light up your gun, night sights will be a little easier to see.
If you've never shot at night, you might want to try it before plunking down the cash on gear.
I'd guess your most likely low light shooting situation would be a home invasion (either defending against or, I suppose, entering into. :)
I can't help but think that a pistol is the wrong tool for this job. There's nothing wrong with the pistol ammo, but getting shots on target is very difficult.
As mentioned in your Embiggen your caliber post a pistol should never be your preferred weapon in a tactical situation. A pistol cartridge is effective when fired from a shoulder supported weapon. Something like an MP-5, perhaps. This is also an excellent frame to support a tactical light.
So, in my inexpert opinion, for low light tactical shooting you should be using a shouldered weapon.
Now, where does this leave you if you're in a low light situation where you are carrying a concealed pistol. When the fit his the shan are you going to be able to draw your weapon from concealment and then draw and turn on a flashlight? I seriously doubt it. If you have the time to draw a light you probably have time to get out of Dodge. I can't think of a likely situation where drawing a pistol, then a light, and then going looking for trouble would be preferable to fleeing the scene. (Excepting home invasion, where I believe a pistol is the wrong tool for the job.)
Pyro
To the first part of your reply, my preferred home defense tool is my AR, which does have a light mounted on it.
To the part about drawing a gun and a flashlight, I doubt it too, but the skills are still useful to know and the class itself is fun. (I love fireballs.)
I used to not carry a flashlight. When I started to, I realized how handy it was. Maybe I just have to zip outside for a minute to go close a gate... it's nice to be able to light up the grass so I'm not walking on a snake (we get the occasional rattler in the yard). To have the flashlight always on me, it's handy and ready to go whenever I might need it. Really... I didn't realize how useful it was until I started to carry it, but now that I do I can't imagine not carrying it. It's also why I have a SureFire E2L... not the most uber-tactical light, very practical, but certainly works for shooting stuff.
So would I perhaps be drawing the gun then the light? Probably not. More likely might be I already have the light out, then something gets ugly. Maybe walking through the parking lot, or maybe entering the home (tho if I knew my home had been breeched and I returned home to find it that way, I wouldn't enter it.. .call the cops; only would enter if I had to, e.g. knew the wife or kids could be inside). Or yes, you're in a home defense situation. And yeah, weapon-mounted light is good there... both Mitch and I have lights on our AR's. If your home gun is a pistol, have a rail and get a rail-mounted light. The downside to these is the light and the muzzle move in unison, which may not be desirable as anything you light up you could also uh...light up.
I also think that's one problem with Harries, that the light and muzzle are essentially in unison. Plus, RevolverRob (another blogger, and was in the class) was using Harries and in his case he was shooting with what he thought was the front sight but was actually some shadow cast by the flashlight. He moved to neck index, sights were properly lit up, and nailed the plate. Could night sights at least on the front sight helped here? Perhaps... maybe not getting precision shots (you'd only have the dot to line up on, not proper sight picture), but it may have helped avoid the false positive on finding the front sight.