My personal experience with CT grips on my duty pistol over the years has been excellent. I preferred the original style grips with nothing across the front strap. My 228/CT combo had many thousands of rounds through it.Originally Posted by GJM
My personal experience with CT grips on my duty pistol over the years has been excellent. I preferred the original style grips with nothing across the front strap. My 228/CT combo had many thousands of rounds through it.
Formerly known as xpd54.
The opinions expressed in this post are my own and do not reflect the opinions or policies of my employer.
www.gunsnobbery.wordpress.com
Thanks for the shout-out! My agency has approved lasers since 2003. I remember that vividly because they were approved in January and I took the laser class in February right before my dad died. Anyway, I used to think lasers were a gimmick. The gun store where I worked started to carry CTC lasers around 2001 and since we were a big retailer, the managers and assistant managers were able to attend a training class with Clyde Caseres and I was sold. I bought one of those early versions (the two separate grip panels with the oblong button) for my Kimber 1911. When I heard my department was considering approving lasers (I was still in the academy) I chose a CTC certificate for my prize at the 2002 Steel Challenge and ordered a set for my issued Beretta.
When I went to patrol I had that CTC laser on my Beretta. When I switched to a Vertec in late 2007 because we'd approved WMLs, I set it up with CTC grips, Trijicon night sights and a Surefire X200. I used the laser on both my 92FS and on my Vertec to try to look meaner than I am and apparently succeeded because I never had to shoot anyone. The area where I worked incorporates very high crime urban areas, desert, and mountains including a ski resort, and none of those conditions phased the laser. It always worked. The only issue I ever heard (and we have hundreds of deputies using lasers) with CTC lasers is that on the older models with side switches, the seat belt will wear on the rubberized parts and eventually mess up the switch. I finally retired the old all plastic CTC grips from my j-frame and bought a new set this year. They still worked, but after 14 years the switch had become a bit intermittent.
After becoming part of our firearm training staff, I eventually and grudgingly came around to believe that pressure switches for weapon mounted lights were essential for effective use by the average law enforcement officer and I began using pressure switches a lot. I found that the rear activation on my M&Ps CTC, coupled with the front activation of the WML was confusing and a bit problematic. I ended up with a couple Streamlight TLR-2s. If I wasn't so cheap I'd have gone with the X400... I'm glad I didn't, but more on that later. I did manage to mess one up. It's a TLR-2G - One of the first to be released and it's the obsolete version with the laser module projecting from inside the bezel of the light. The advertised high operating temperature seemed a bit low for desert summers so I left it on the dash of a patrol car with the windows up for an hour or so. Don’t do that. I’ll send it back at some point to see if they can fix it. It works, but the laser is a big blob and it’s starting to go intermittent. The light still works perfectly.
The Streamlight Contour switch was what made me seriously consider their lights. I had them and played with them, but without a pressure switch they were far less than ideal. With the new pressure switch they combined the light and laser with one easy method to control both – while being affordable for me. I had a TLR-2 (red laser) and I installed it on my Beretta M9A1 (coincidentally the M&P Contour Switch works great on the M9A1) and was very impressed. Since that time it’s been mounted on the Beretta, M&Ps as well as its current home on a Glock. I’ve fired several thousand rounds with the TLR-2 mounted and it has held up without issue in a bunch of conditions to include heat, dust, cold, rain, and snow. It seems to hold zero just fine for my laser methods. I’m sure I’ll break it someday. I break lots of things.
I also picked up a TLR-6 for my Shield and a CTC Laserguard Pro (light/laser) for my Glock 43 and I’m working with those now. I can say I absolutely prefer the pressure switch of the CTC, but I haven’t fired enough rounds yet to speak to quality and durability.
I’ve trained a lot of deputies who use the TLR-2 series and other than my TLR-2G, I’ve never seen one go down (I’m sure they do). I’ve seen one X400 have the laser unit ripped right off the main housing (he was using the wrong holster if I remember correctly) and I have a partner who is on his second or third unit since it keeps breaking with minimal use. It’s sad because I think the light/laser setups are the best bet for uniformed law enforcement and I’m a Surefire fan.
My current duty gun (though I’m really liking my 17Gen5) is a Glock 34 with a Streamlight TLR-2 and Contour Switch in a Safariland 6285 holster. Backup is my Glock 43 with the CTC Laserguard Pro light/laser unit. I tried the CTC unit for my Glock 19 (off duty carry gun) but it prevents it from fitting in a duty holster (Safariland 7285) if I want to use it and it changes the feel of the grip enough I don’t like it. That’s my major issue with some of the CTC designs. I’ll have to try one of the more modern offerings as mine is an older version.
Contrary to popular belief, my department has sucked in the past for testing things. In some ways we’ve been super thorough (testing for the M&P was 34,000 rounds plus in one of the test guns and by now we have well over 100,000 in many of our instructor guns. Testing for the Shield was around 15,000 rounds through one sample and over 18,000 through the other), but in other ways, especially documentation – we sucked. I’ve worked to change that and I’m pretty happy with where we are now. I honestly don’t know what was done to test lasers, and if I were in charge, our training would be much more thorough, but I’ve seen enough while training to form some strong opinions.
To bring this digression back to the subject of this thread, I’m a long-time fan of lasers. I feel they offer a significant advantage for law enforcement work when trained and practiced correctly. Similarly, I’ve been considering pistol optics for a while, but I’ve always cheaped out when it comes to the combination of gun and optic. I recently bit the bullet and bought a Glock 17MOS and Trijicon RMR. The Cabela’s $261 shipped RMR was a big push. So now I’m playing with one and I read the Sage report as well as the Trijicon supported University study. I feel that pistol optics offer potential advantages, but just like lasers, I have concerns as well. I look forward to evaluating pistol optics and re-visiting the applicability of lasers to see if they offer significant improvements in effectiveness.
Last edited by SoCalDep; 09-25-2017 at 11:50 PM.
Just wanted to bump this thread
I have thought about trying a g19 RMR but I live in a cold weather climate. Can anyone add any experiences with the cold weather going from warm to cold. Almost seems like fogging would be inevitable and be a big negative.
I would only consider a red dot with an exposed emitter, if your pistol is equipped with a laser that is an alternative sighting system. Some years back, I fell into a snow bank with an M&P with an RMR, and that fouled the display enough that BUIS were not usable. Same with an RMR in heavy Alaska rain.
Likes pretty much everything in every caliber.
Thanks GJM
Seems like it would be best to wait it out till RDS evolve a little more.
Looks like it has come up a few times:
https://pistol-forum.com/showthread....238#post604238
https://pistol-forum.com/showthread....-red-dot-study
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