Old Laser Products aka Surefire products.

[MandoWookie]

So I rewatched Terminator the other day, and seeing the laser sighted 1911 made me recall an article I had ran across with pics of various old Laser Products ads, most specifically about a laser sighted AR that had been modified with chopping off the carry handle and had the laser basically stretch the whole length of the upper to the fsb. I for the life of me can't recall where I read it, possibly looserounds or weaponsman blogs, but my google-fu isn't pulling it up. Surprisingly, I'm actually not finding much at all on these old products, not even archived ads.
Seems strange seeing as how after Terminator came out every other 80s action movie seemed to have lasers on everything, you would think there would be more out there.
Anybody have any experience with those early Laser Products attachments? I figure they had to have been at least semi-successful for them to grow into Surefire today.

[UNM1136]

IIRC the laser sighted 1911 was a one off for the movie. There were cables going up the sleeve of the jacket to a huge, heavy battery pack. Lasers were not ready for prime time.

Fast forward, the .mil lasers for carbines are still nearly the size of a paperback, unless you are in a cool guy unit. The LaserMax and Crimson Trace started coming out in the 90s, and I have not tried the LaserMax, but have several of CTs offerings on all my serious use/teaching pistols. I was an early adopter, and I got my first one in 2004. I am the only one of our firearms staff that sees a use for them, and the only one in my department carrying one regularly. Most of the others still call "gimmick", or accuse me of trying to buy skill, rather than putting in the time and ammo to get good.

They have uses, but are one of the last things I would buy, and would not feel terrible if they were outlawed tomorrow by my administration.

pat

[MandoWookie]

I'm mainly curious about the early use and reception of them. What was the market for them? How successful were they? Curious about the history of the early innovations and how they led to what we have today.

Also still can't find the article that initially sparked my curiosity.
https://soldiersystems.net/wp-conten...3/img_2017.jpg
https://soldiersystems.net/2016/03/2...-was-surefire/

This is the closest I could find, but what I recall was specific to a modified AR , and there was a short article built around it.