Flashlight Techniques

[Dagga Boy]

First-I really like Matt Graham. I respect the heck out of him.

I really didn't like his technique for a couple of reasons. I don't like techniques that need "special lights" or "special accessories" to work. This goes back to define the mission and whose it is. In Matt's case, he was a FAM and they could not carry a WML. If the lights went down in the plane, they needed light to shoot with. Key-shoot with. Not a bunch of searching. Harries and many of these other techniques are "search" techniques you can shoot with. Others are "shoot with light" techniques. What do YOU need. I needed a search technique that I could shoot from, which is why I use the techniques i use and teach. I also depend on my lights as a force tool, so i need to be able to strike with it. The other big issue I found with the Graham method is that light will keep sinking downward the more you shoot. Again, this is a good technique for shooting while running the aisle on a tubular assault..........which I don't do a lot of, so its filed in the "good things to know" section of my brain. Also, if you look at how most "low light" matches are done, this also makes sense.......its not like you are going to have to come off and strike something, or you are really searching for anything, and the targets are going very far (same as in an aircraft). By the way, I am a big proponent of the high ready for working in tubular assaults as well, and why it is fairly limited in my daily world. Again, application of the skill and TTP's is very situationally dependent.

[HeadHunter]

The other big issue I found with the Graham method is that light will keep sinking downward the more you shoot.

Have to agree here. When I watched from the catwalk during a Hack/LAV lowlight class years ago, I noticed how often when the light shines low, the target ID takes a lot longer. Too long; you're dead, long. So any technique that doesn't collimate the light with the bore is a no-go for me.

[Casual Friday]

Although shooting well in low light is a valuable skill, I think flashlight assisted shooting techniques for private citizens are probably greatly overemphasized in many training programs.

We recently had student involved shooting #64. Not one of the 64 used a flashlight, nor did any of them need a flashlight. Over 90% of our student incidents occur away from home. The flashlight is a pro-active instrument, not a reactive instrument. Therefore, about the only place I can see a private citizen needing a flashlight is in a home search for intruders, but this need can be minimized by proper residential lighting.

Cops need flashlight techniques to hunt down BG’s in the dark. Private citizens, not so much.

The other old myth is that “80% of shootings occur in the dark”. No, almost no shootings occur in the dark. What are you OR the bad guy doing in the dark? The more accurate statement would be “80% of shootings occur during the hours of darkness”. For statistical purposes, the hours of darkness are 6pm to 6am, so no surprise most pistol fights occur during that time frame. That does not mean they are in the dark. I have been on Stop ‘n Rob parking lots at 3am where I could see my sights and the bad guy better than I could at 3pm on an overcast day, due to commercial exterior lighting.

I would like to see much of the time/ammo spent on flashlight techniques spent on getting good hits in a reduced light/dim light/low light environment, which I consider far more likely for most people.

What is your opinion on night sights on defensive handguns for private citizens?

[Chuck Haggard]

I'll disagree a little with Tom here. Just go back and look at the thread on shooting the Alzheimer guy. While the flashlight was not critical in Tom's students shootings, I would venture that not having one was critical in a ton of the bad/mistaken identity shootings over the years. It is why I am so big on handheld techniques as critical. You may not ever have to use the flashlight and the gun together, but you damn well better know how to use a light if you ever investigate a bump in the night or are ever trying not to have a bad guy "come out of no where". Equally, if you carry a pistol, you should know how to run the thing on some basic skills. If, by chance, the light and gun need over run each other, there are some good techniques that allow them to work together. I have used a light FAR more than a gun to deal with a ton of situations. That includes while not doing "cop stuff".

The difference here is that the dude that shot the little old man took on the role of cop hunting for bad guys, but did not train or equip himself for that role.

I strongly agree with Tom's assertion ref CCW folks and shootings since there will be light (tough to rob people when you are in the pitch black ninja closet) in such a scenario. If you have to go hunting, then lights become critical.

In an urban setting the whole idea of going outside to check out if there is a prowler is IMHO stupid as hell. Seriously. Stupid. As. Hell.

Keep watch, get the coppers in route to check things out, hunker down, wait.

I will throw out that the scenario you go out and walk into the middle of may be the little old man incident noted above, if may be a plain vanilla car burglar, or it may be the home invasion crew such as we had working here locally, and you will likely not be ready for the bad guy in the back yard being covered by the bad guy on your garage roof who is posted up with a shotgun just waiting for you to come out and investigate things.

What is your opinion on night sights on defensive handguns for private citizens?

To quote a buddy of mine who got into a OIS while he was undercover and got dragged into a armed robbery in-progress while trying to get a hamburger one night (and hit the bad guy in the dark from 33 feet), "Chuck, you know, night sights work really good at night".

[Chuck Whitlock]

I agree with Tom that once the assault starts, the chances are slim-to-none that you will deploy a light in response to said assault.
However, Darryl and Chuck both make great points, and I think that a light can be used not only to PID a potential threat, but to possibly forestall that assault.

Let me share a recent personal anecdote:

A couple of weeks ago, my spouse and I were visiting my folks in south Texas. Our lap dog usually needs to go out to use the bathroom at zero-dark-thirty. There are a lot of trip hazards in the back yard, which fronts the parking lot of a jr. high school. The front of the house is on the corner of a cul-de-sac (basically roadway on 3 sides of house), so we take her out to the grass behind the fence. Plenty of artificial light and gray overcast generally provide more than adequate illumination.

So we are out with her on the leash ~0430ish. A dark 4-door pickup occupied approximately 3 times drives by in the parking lot (not at all unusual), then parks behind a house on the far side of the lot, shuts down headlights, but no one exits(incredibly kittening unsual), so I am very much in condition day-glo orange. After a bit, it starts rolling our way again, but we are done with our business and walking around the fence to the door. We are strolling around the fence and back to the door, and the truck continues on its merry way.

So, a non-event. However, if we had been approached by anyone on foot, or the truck got anywhere close to abreast of us, or turned the corner we had turned, the individual(s) or interior of the truck would have immediately received approximately 260 lumens in the face from the Streamlight PT2L that had migrated from my left pocket to my left fist, with my right fully prepared to access my G23 IWB @ 4:00(not sure if my bride had stuck her G19 in her waistband or not, since I was with her). I believe that at the very least that instantaneous "flash of brilliance" would have at least reset an OODA loop or two.

I fully believe that it was a non-event due to my situational awareness, and I truly believe that something about my posture/stance/positioning/whatever made us a "no-go" according to William Aprill.

I also believe that the great breath of knowledge shared here at P-F and TPI was instrumental in providing that to me, not to mention Craig's MUC block at last year's Tac Conference in Memphis.

[Chuck Haggard]

MUCing people with a blip of light is a superb way to reset their OODA loop, done so several times.


If the dude I just MUCed had started to pull a gun on me then I would have dropped the light as I went for my gun and/or cover. I can easily be in a MUC scenario off duty and use the light as a "kitten off" tool, but that doesn't mean I need it to solve a shooting problem from there.

[Chuck Whitlock]

If the dude I just MUCed had started to pull a gun on me then I would have dropped the light as I went for my gun and/or cover. I can easily be in a MUC scenario off duty and use the light as a "kitten off" tool, but that doesn't mean I need it to solve a shooting problem from there.

That was my exact plan in the above incident.

[Dagga Boy]

I've solved so many problems by lighting up a MUC before a FUT starts that I am very ingrained in using the flashlight in the FUT as well as a tool for both AMIS and ECQC. I will note that my Maglite was much better for CIS (caving in skulls) in FUT's than FSS (face-smashing sh*theads) with the smaller crenelated Surefire's. The crenelated lights do have a good ability the MSH (make stuff hamburger) when they won't let go of things. I am also so ingrained with Harries that I just go to it without even thinking about it, but that is based on over two decades of working nights in both cop stuff and running a high threat security detail SRT unit. Also, in one of the events that "proved" a lot of things to me was the use of Harries was critical in "seeing" the threat where I wasn't really looking for it, reseting the idiots OODA loop, seeing the dynamic change in direction of the crook that needed a much tighter shot, and helped "clear" and identify the crook once down for others who were now responding to the shots in the downed crook, as well as being able to use the light to direct others to the suspects pistol that was now sitting in front of another guy. I guarantee I could have solved the problem without the light, but it would have been fighting from behind, and there would have been rounds in the good guys that were not ever fired. Again, victims of our own experience. Also, in my first shooting, I was not able to bring the light into play on suspect one who got dumped, but after I had to "wait" for the lighting conditions to get to the point that I could see the sights-47 yards away. Suspect 2 was in a totally different place, was armed with a pistol and essentially had the drop on me while I was dumping his co-offender. The second I "lit" him with the light mated to the for end of the shotgun, he threw the gun down and surrendered. Lights, can very much be a "game-changer" when dealing with "identification" adverse criminals. They very much act like roaches when illuminated.......panicky, yet still hard to kill.

[cclaxton]

How close are we to night vision glasses that are nearly the same size/weight of regular shooting glasses?
It would seem to me that is the ideal: Being able to see in the dark without visible light.
Cody

[Dropkick]

How close are we to night vision glasses that are nearly the same size/weight of regular shooting glasses?
It would seem to me that is the ideal: Being able to see in the dark without visible light.
Cody

Meh... I'm waiting for cyborg eye implants that do night vision, thermal, x-ray and a IFF HUD.