In 2019 weapon lights are mandatory....convince me otherwise

[Clusterfrack]

I gave the WML for CCW a try for a little over a year. I shot a few 1000 rounds in low light training with it. There were pros and cons, and I do not currently have a WML on any of my CCWs. Because of this, and for other obvious reasons, I have spent significant time building good SHO shooting ability.

Pros: target acquisition, illumination +shooting +a free hand, and the ability to use a standard grip while shooting.

Cons: sight illumination is better with a handheld. Illumination and muzzle direction are independent. Specialty holsters required for every gun/light combo. Holsters not as comfortable.

I have a WML on my house pistol, and on every defensive SBR, rifle, or shotgun.

[YVK]

I am working on fitting a small LED light inside one of the chambers of my J frame.

[GJM]

A WML on a handgun doesn’t interest me for use with people, but for moose and bear, a WML is very handy. Especially if you might have a leash in one hand.

[Duke]

If I recall you were a fan of the Keeper; what holster are you using with a weapon light?

Currently a modified Phlster floodlight for an x300 equipped brig tac.

Added a steel drop to one hole to add more reverse cant. Added a Velcro patch, a big keeper wedge and use a flat iron to reduce the snap loop profile.

[Drang]

In 2019 weapon lights are mandatory....convince me otherwise

Semantically, of course, the thesis is absurd: There is no requirement that you must have a light on your semi-auto pistol or else.
(Yes, there may be agencies or organizations that mandate their use under certain circumstances. I ass-you-me that you are not referring to such circumscribed conditions.)


Practically... To quote (or actually to paraphrase) @Mas in MAG40, "There are many valid reasons to have a light mounted on your pistol, but using it to search for a threat is not one of them."

[Duke]

Practically... To quote (or actually to paraphrase) @Mas in MAG40, "There are many valid reasons to have a light mounted on your pistol, but using it to search for a threat is not one of them."

Which I said on the 4th whole sentence of the original post......

[David S.]

My casual-wear EDC is my nightstand gun. I've been running a P-09/RMR/TLR in a PHLster Floodlight for the last couple months and like it. I sacrifice a bit in comfort but haven't found concealability to be negatively impacted by the light.

[Duke]

My casual-wear EDC is my nightstand gun. I've been running a P-09/RMR/TLR in a PHLster Floodlight for the last couple months and like it. I sacrifice a bit in comfort but haven't found concealability to be negatively impacted by the light.

Concur though I feel the floodlight as delivered sit too low in the belt.

[breakingtime91]

Its awesome to have but I don't think you absolutely need it. I think everything is a balance.. I carry a 9mm 1911 that doens't have a rail. I also train 50 rounds every week strong hand only with my light.. so am I more ready then a guy who trains once a month with his wml? Everything in context.

[LOKNLOD]

I don't believe it's mandatory for private citizen carry. In a perfect world we'd all have a handheld, WML, green laser, red dot in play all the time. And maybe crew-served overwatch. But I don't think it's mandatory.

To start, yes one needs handheld anyway. I use a flashlight quite frequently, and I've never needed to draw a gun (*knocks on wood*) for reasons almost never involving anything remotely . Anything that's worth shooting is generally going to need to be identified before the gun comes into play. I'm also only rarely out after dark, to be honest. While there are plenty of darkish situations even during "daylight" hours, they're still situations where the gun coming out is way too late for first introduction of extra light.

From a practicality of carrying standpoint, it makes for a wide holster footprint that I find uncomfortable in the AIWB position. The bulk means I'm less likely to carry it, and I'm more likely to make a concession to a smaller gun or, heaven forbid, no gun at all. It's more sensitive to belt/pant combination selection. In paranoia of being spotted, I'm liable to downsize to a Shield-43 over a full size Glockrettakoch in many situations, even without the bulk of a light. So that's one issue. Can it be overcome? Yes. Something like a Shield or G43 with a CT LightGuard is probably pretty workable. If you can find a decent holster for it. (My preferred Keepers are not available for lights - partly because they prioritize narrow width, which is one of the reasons they work for me.)

Which gets me to my next point - activation method. A lot of the newer compact, more easily holstered lights have crappy switching. I don't have much use for lights without some sort of strong-hand grip activation. Running a light with my trigger finger doesn't feel very practical, and adds a degree of fiddlefuckery under stress that I believe adds more risk of FUBARing the process of sending bullets out the front of the gun on-and-only-on demand than it mitigates by having a light present. Depending on the gun/light combination, I can run the light with my off thumb, but that limits me to two-hand shooting. A grip-activated switch is ambidextrous and ambivalent to freestyle vs. PHO-SHO shooting. That requirement for me is very limiting to small set of (mostly larger) lights. I know there are some really solid SMEs on both sides of this opinion, but this is where I'm at.

Now, on a house gun, I do run a WML. It's a different "mission profile" if you'll pardon the buzzword and a lot of the carry drawbacks are negated by storage vs. holster.

I won't open any wormcans by opining on the practice for LE... though there is far less compromise required for duty belt carry of WML, so that's one big factor out of the way.