Newb Pistol Attachment Questions

[Skoobie]

Hello everyone. New the forums here, relitively new to pistols. A couple years ago my father passed away and left me his gun collection. I've taken the rifles to the range on a regular basis but the pistols have stayed in the safe for the most part. Recently my wife has expressed intrest in keeping one of the pistols in the bedroom for HD. I keep a TS12 on my side of the bed but she HATES shotguns. She doesn't have much experience with pistols so I'd like to get a weapon light and/or a laser to help her out. The problem is the pistols are older and don't have any mounting rails. My question is are there any aftermarked mounting systems for pistols like these? Lights/Lasers that mount to the trigger guard perhaps? Or am I just boned? Thanks for the advise guys!

Pistols to choose from:

Tangfoglio EAA Witness in 45ACP:


S&W MOD 4013TSW Tactical in 40cal


S&W MOD CS9 Chief Special in 9MM

[TicTacticalTimmy]

Those are cool guns, particularly the two Smiths!

The answer to your question is maybe. There are companies that make/made a magnetic rail contoured to the dust cover of specific railless pistols you can slap on. There are other options that may involve drilling holes to bolt a rail on or perhaps epoxy. There is a company that makes grips which extend into a rail, but I doubt they would have a model for the unusual guns you own.

All of these options are suboptimal for a variety of reasons.

My advice is to sell one or more and buy a more modern firearm. Unless they have sentimental value, in which case you probably dont want them sitting in a police locker room indefinitely, so probably shouldnt use them for HD anyway. I bet you could sell one of those Smiths for enough to buy a modern high quality handgun with night sights and enough left over for a quality light such as a Streamlight TLR1.

[Skoobie]

Thanks for the input Tim. I was afraid of that. I'd rather not drill into the gun, I don't have a work-bench and I don't trust my skills enough not to F' it up. A good majority of dad's collection was from the 80's/90's/early 00's so yea, I don't have access to a lot of what the market has to offer unfortunatley. I actually had a Taurus 1911 in 45acp but I sold it to a buddy not realizing it had mounting rails and the other pistols didn't. Selling/buying firearms sucks these days (I'm in WA state) but if I have to sell I have to sell. I have an active account on GunBroker that I used to sell several of his hunting rifles (I don't hunt) so I can dump a pistol there if necessary. By the time you figure in shipping/gunbroker/PayPal fee's (especially for Pistols) the net profit isn't what you'd think though.

The S&W Tactical 40cal is my wife's favorite. She's small so it fits nicely in her hand. And I would prefer she have the slightly larger calibur for HD over the 9mm Chief Special. So if I WERE to dump one of the above guns which do you think would fetch the most $$$ and what would you suggest I get as a replacement? I don't have a lot of 9mm right now and it's REALLY expensive if you can even find it. I have a ton of 40cal/45acp though. I've heard whisperings that Biden might make it illegal to buy/sell firearms online so if I'm going to do this I think I should jump on it sooner than later. Thanks again for the help guys, much appriciated.

Marc

[BillSWPA]

Any of those would likely work well for home defense, but none with the possible exception of the 9mm would be my first choice for a first pistol lesson. You want recoil to be minimized until she gets used to dealing with it. Start with a .22, then a 9mm, then the .40 and .45.

Crimson Trace makes LaserGrips that replace the grips on a pistol as well as LaserGuards that secure to the trigger guard. A button on the front strap automatically turns on the laser as the gun is grasped, so there is no separate step to turn on the laser.

The most critical thing to get your wife is formal training. She should learn not only how to shoot, but when to shoot.

I am NEVER without a light when I carry a gun, but it is almost always a handheld light. Learning how to use the gun and light should be part of the more advanced training once she has the basic skills in order to avoid a mistaken identity shooting.

Be aware that 85% of all criminal attacks occur outside the home. If concealed carry licenses are easily obtainable in your area, consider obtaining one as well as some good concealment holsters.

Have a way to secure the gun when it is not within your or her immediate control. A lock box with a 5 button Simplex lock will help,prevent unauthorized access to the guns while allowing them to be accessed quickly.


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[Paul D]

I would recommend against getting a weapon mounted light on any of the guns. Shooting a pistol is hard enough. Managing it while managing a light is even harder. If your wife is not fully comfortable operating any of the pistols as is, then a light is probably not a useful addition at this time. My wife is really not interested in shooting but she has trained enough to handle a pistol competently and make deliberate on-target shots (albeit slowly but reliably). She however has a rock solid handle on how to gather our kids to our safe area, barricade our doors, call for help, escape outside if needed, etc.

If you are set on getting a pistol that is capable of mounting a light; I would sell one of those pistols and get a more modern option. I am pretty certain you could offer them on this forum and have a taker (me included...just saying).

[RevolverRob]

I would take all three and your wife to the range and have her try each gun to determine which one she shoots best. Then worry about attachments, etc.

The Smiths are indeed quite collectible these days and you can probably find someone who will happily pay a premium for them today. However, you may then be sans a gun for awhile, because finding something to replace them right now could be difficult.

If I were a betting man, if the Tanfo fits in your wife's hands, she'll probably shoot it quite well. The combination of the relatively soft recoil of .45ACP ammo, plus the heavy steel frame, plus the single port compensator will probably make for a tame shooting gun overall. If it is reliable with quality defensive ammo, and your wife can shoot it reliably with one hand, I would load it and place it in a nightstand safe with a hand held flashlight and call it a day.

Be aware that most laser sights don't hold zero very well and they are almost universally used wrong. Focus should be on pistol shooting fundamentals - align the sights, press the trigger rearward without disrupting the sights being the two key ones. K

[Flamingo]

(I'm in WA state)

Marc

I would suggest that you and your wife take some classes from Marty Hayes at the Firearms Academy of Seattle (which isn't in Seattle, it is in Onalaska, WA).

I am not a fan of .40 cal. It is snappy to shoot and with modern bullets is not better than 9mm.

What part of WA are you in? I am in the South Sound area.

[Skoobie]

100% agree on the training issue. I've been through all my safety courses and have been around firearms for nearly 35 years now. My wife however hasn't fired a gun in over a decade. I also have my CCP in WA but haven't been able to talk my wife into it. She works at a hospital which forbids weapons on the premises. On top of that she works in Oregon which doesn't recognise WA CCP's. Because of that she won't be conceal carriying. This pistol would be strictly for HD.

As far as using any of the guns I currently own like I said before I really would like something that would accept a weapon mounted light. The laser I could live without but I currently have lights on both my shotguns and my X95 bullpup and I love them. I feel like having a light integrated into the weapon system makes for one less thing to worry about in an emergency situation. I'd rather just have to scrammble for a gun and not have to fish around for a flashlight at the same time. My wife prefered the S&W 40cal simply because of the way it fit in her hand. She hasn't experienced the recoil of the weapon however. Like you mentioned above the Witness is actually the tamest of the three. The weight of the pistol along with the compensator make for some fun shooting. It's just too big for her to fire with one hand. I'm not even sure if she could charge it effectively?

So if I were to slide into the market what would you guys suggest in the budget to mid-level price range (something that would preferrably be covered by selling one of the above pistols)? Focus being on stopping power, reliability, and smaller sized frame (with accesory rails of course). Like I said earlier I have an excess of 40cal/45acp but other caliburs arn't a deal breaker.


Oh, as far as training with a smaller handgun we also have a S&W 22A to practice with.

[That Guy]

I would recommend against getting a weapon mounted light on any of the guns. Shooting a pistol is hard enough. Managing it while managing a light is even harder.

True, adding light manipulations to weapon manipulations makes things more complicated. But personally I feel a weapon mounted light feels like cheating compared to a hand held, it's that much easier to use. So if you have to have a light, weapon mounted makes life easier. Proper training and sufficient practice is of course necessary, regardless. "Slap a light on it and hope for the best" is not a good idea.

[RJ]

She doesn't have much experience with pistols so I'd like to get a weapon light and/or a laser to help her out. The problem is the pistols are older and don't have any mounting rails. My question is are there any aftermarked mounting systems for pistols like these? Lights/Lasers that mount to the trigger guard perhaps? Or am I just boned?

Welcome Skoobie.

Streamlight is a popular reasonably priced company that does weapon mounted lights/lasers. I did a search there for options, but unfortunately didn't come up with anything that might work with those three pistols, sorry.

I think the guys up thread suggested selling these three and purchasing a HD gun designed to accept a light/laser. If I were in your shoes, that's probably what I would do.

I do like @RevolverRob's suggestion to try them out at the range first, though. All of them will likely work fine for HD, sans a light. An alternative is a hand-held of course in any event (which, many people much smarter than I am tell me a WML is not an absolute requirement for a civilian. I mean, you can just turn the lights on at home, or simply leave a LED light running 24/7 in your living area. That way there's no "turn the light on" required. I got that idea from a good book on self defense by Tom Givens, who knows a thing or two about this subject).

Good luck!



Tom Givens Book, in case of interest: https://www.amazon.com/Concealed-Car.../dp/B083C4GFJT