Time to buy a laser?

[Armyphotog]

Lazer sights and cell phones! How did we ever get along without them........................Better, I think.

 

[David Sinko]

The laser is the biggest scam in defensive handgunning, even worse than tritium sights.

An older friend of mine is always complaining about how bad his vision is and that he needs a laser on his carry piece, but he can easily hit man size targets at 25 yards using just the iron sights on a service grade handgun. The bottom line is he just doesn't want to practice with a small handgun because he doesn't know how to shoot them effectively and he thinks the laser is an easy solution. I suspect there are many shooters out there with this mentality.

If you can see well enough to identify your assailant and see that he has a gun, you should be capable of hitting him at close range with an iron sighted handgun. Defensive handgunning is not bullseye shooting.

Dave Sinko

 

[JcMack]

The laser is the biggest scam in defensive handgunning, even worse than tritium sights.

An older friend of mine is always complaining about how bad his vision is and that he needs a laser on his carry piece, but he can easily hit man size targets at 25 yards using just the iron sights on a service grade handgun. The bottom line is he just doesn't want to practice with a small handgun because he doesn't know how to shoot them effectively and he thinks the laser is an easy solution. I suspect there are many shooters out there with this mentality.

If you can see well enough to identify your assailant and see that he has a gun, you should be capable of hitting him at close range with an iron sighted handgun. Defensive handgunning is not bullseye shooting.

Dave Sinko

I kinda agree. If you use night sights (at night) after the first shot you're blind. Lasers at night would give you the option of firing from another angle other than using sights, giving you a second shot capability. I fear too many new gun owners eager to CC are going to rely on a device that may fail, rather than train at the basics.

 

[ralph7]

The laser is the biggest scam in defensive handgunning, even worse than tritium sights.

An older friend of mine is always complaining about how bad his vision is and that he needs a laser on his carry piece, but he can easily hit man size targets at 25 yards using just the iron sights on a service grade handgun. The bottom line is he just doesn't want to practice with a small handgun because he doesn't know how to shoot them effectively and he thinks the laser is an easy solution. I suspect there are many shooters out there with this mentality.

If you can see well enough to identify your assailant and see that he has a gun, you should be capable of hitting him at close range with an iron sighted handgun. Defensive handgunning is not bullseye shooting.

Dave Sinko

i think in a panic situation the front sight would be the first thing one would acquire and thus render the laser moot at that point.
the laser is excellent in almost every other scenario, imho.

 

[oldfella]

If you can see well enough to identify your assailant and see that he has a gun, you should be capable of hitting him at close range with an iron sighted handgun. Defensive handgunning is not bullseye shooting.

Dave Sinko

By close range, I take it to mean 3 to 6 feet Besides poor eyesight, most of us old people tend to have shaky hands, and accurate point-shooting, which is what we'd be doing when the stuff hits the fan, is not very common among the elderly; we need every advantage we can have, laser sighting is one of them.

Pete

Pete

 

[Moonman]

Try reaching and shooting around a corner with iron sights. (lasers give you options). A life and death situation requires that one take advantage of any and all opportunities. The best situation would never be involved in a shooting, unfortunately today's society is a much more violent one and you may not have that choice.

Cell phones can also highly assist with your safety and well-being. They can also be a detriment to your situational attentiveness if all you do is BS and play games on them.

 

[Kanewpadle]

Try reaching and shooting around a corner with iron sights. (lasers give you options). A life and death situation requires that one take advantage of any and all opportunities. The best situation would never be involved in a shooting, unfortunately today's society is a much more violent one and you may not have that choice.

Cell phones can also highly assist with your safety and well-being. They can also be a detriment to your situational attentiveness if all you do is BS and play games on them.

True enough.

Over the years I have read many threads on the usefullness of a laser and found that usually those that didn't like them, don't have any experience with them at all.

Simply another case of bashing something without knowing what your talking about.

Or too set in their ways to change or try something new.

There are those who keep up with technology. And those who will be passed by it and left behind. To each their own I guess.

Five or six years ago I asked about the advantages or disadvantages of the laser. I asked on several gun forums, I asked people face to face. I got no definative answers except resistance from those who didn't like them because they were new.

So I bought a set for a 1911 and over the next month shot just over a thousand rounds with and without a laser.

I used a Crimson Trace laser installed on a Kimber.

Here were my unscientific findings.

If properly sighted in, the laser should be inline with the bore. Not the sights.

When bringing up the gun I saw the sights first and the laser in the background on the target. The laser was a distraction. I could aquire the sights faster and put shots on target faster.

But that was the one and only disadvantage I found.

Shooting from various positions, I found the laser to be easy to aquire and almost neccessary in certain positions such as around a corner or on your back or side.

Getting good hits on target was much easier and faster than the sights alone.

While in the process of testing the laser, a man in a wheel chair asked if he could try. He wanted to shoot more accurately with one hand while he moved is chair with the other. He was impressed by his results. So much so that he immediately bought a set for his j frame.

The above findings are merely my experience with lasers. I find them highly advantageous but only if used properly and only as a secondary sighting system. Learn to shoot the gun accurately with the regular sights first.

 

[Moonman]

Defensive shooting with a laser requires that you shoot from 6 inches below your eye level. The laser or battery could fail, and in that case you continue up to your normal sight picture with iron sights to fire.

By firing from below eye level you maintain contact with your immediate environment. (WOLVES TRAVEL IN PACKS)

A civilian shoot usually happens within several seconds and it's over.
PRACTICE-PRACTICE-PRACTICE is still something everyone should do, but they don't. This last statement includes the majority of LEO'S that use a BUG J-frame. (carry a lot and shoot little) LEO'S are much more at risk of a violent and shooting encounter that the average civilian.

S&W'S hottest sellers are the J-frames and untold numbers of them still exist out there. Most people that even practice with them shoot small numbers of ammo. The 1 7/8-2 inch Airweight J-frames are just not a fun gun to see how much ammo you can expend practicing. The new S&W Bodyguard is even factory laser equipped.

Ole' Men's Eyes they say of laser, and I are one. I have them on firearms from J-frames to 1911's. I love my lasers, red-dots, night-sights and yes I even love my iron sights too.

Life is full of choices, I've made mine, please enjoy yours.

STAY SAFE OUT THERE !!!!!

 

[JcMack]

I just watched "Fargo" again. The pregnant LEO just shot a guy running across a frozen lake with a J frame at about 30 yards sans laser. What more proof do you need?