A guy thing
Riverdog on flashlight addiction: The ladies have their little pinch-purse lights, but it is an addiction with many men.
He’s not a fan of weapon lights. I actually have a second Surefire G2 Nitrolon on my AR-15. It’s handy and adds negligible weight.
January 14th, 2009 at 12:03 pm
I was not a fan of weapon lights until I took a low-light/night shooting course from John Farnam. That changed my mind in a heartbeat.
Now my dedicated bedside gun ALWAYS has a light attached.
And I agree, us gadgety-guys love our flashlights. 🙂
January 14th, 2009 at 12:14 pm
Rivrdog may not be much of a fan of weapon lights, but Pat Rogers is. Nothin’ personal to Rivrdog, and I’m sure he’s a swell guy, but of the two, I think I’ll go with Yoda’s advice. 😉
(I have a TwinTask 1L in my purse; the SureFire Z2 CombatLight with its GG&G TID stays in my coat or vest pocket. There’s an LED doohickey on my keychain, too…)
January 14th, 2009 at 12:15 pm
Got a kid that needs a gift? All boys and most girls seem to love to get small flashlights. Trust me on this one folks, besides it’s simple.
January 14th, 2009 at 12:32 pm
Tam, not picking a fight here, but a polite comment is OK, right?
I learned tactical, high-threat night searching as a police tactic back before the first Mag-lite or Kel-light. That was when we bicycle-taped hacksaw blades to our Eveready Captain searchlights to give them more heft and black out their chrome parts.
In those days, the patrol officer was taught to hold the flashlight in the off-hand, as far away from his center of mass as possible, and forward enough so no light fell on the body. The revolver was held at waist-ready.
Then, the position switched to a crossed-wrist hold with the pistol hand, in an isosceles stance. Some still use this stance, as it keeps light off the body, but I don’t because it puts the light in the center of mass, and the baddie shooting at the light gets you in the center of mass.
Then, our weapons sprouted Picatinny Rails, and the lights were attached directly to the weapons, for the same nasty effect as above.
Through all these almost-40 years of tactical “progress”, the best tactics instructors always reminded us that a night duel is almost always won by the duelist with night vision, and lost by the duelist using a light.
If all old tactics and advice is so bad, Tam, why do we still read Col. Cooper’s?
January 14th, 2009 at 12:37 pm
I’ve been blogging about the interference fit between the QD foregrip and the VTAC mount. It’s nobody’s fault but different rails have variable dimensions between them, and space at/on one’s 3:00 and another’s 12:00 are different and have to be managed.
I like the fact that my G2 and Z3 Surefire’s are blinding – they beat any D-cell Maglight hands down.
January 14th, 2009 at 2:15 pm
“I actually have a second Surefire G2 Nitrolon on my AR-15.”
You have two flashlights on you AR? That’s seems a little overkill.
January 14th, 2009 at 2:18 pm
no, one on nightstand. one on AR.
January 14th, 2009 at 2:53 pm
Sure, but not all new stuff sucks either, right? Here’s where I’m coming from:
Which is a the best tool: A hammer or a screwdriver?
I can see scenarios where I’d want to be searching an area with a hand-held light away from my body, and scenarios where having the light on the gun, freeing up a hand, would be just the berries.
I can’t say “When the SHTF, I’m going to be doing thus-and-such,” because my crystal ball is in the shop. The weapon-mounted light is another valuable tool in the box, and one that has proved its usefulness on two-way ranges around the world for the last decade-plus. Even Mr. Traditionalist, Clint Smith, has come around 180 degrees on the topic, right?
January 15th, 2009 at 2:48 pm
Yep, it’s useful for shooting your way into a dark enemy location where you have superior firepower. If you are trying AT ALL to be stealthy, part of that stealth needs to be keeping your light off.
BTW, I had a tactics instructor who even disdained night sights on pistols, telling his students that they simply made users a target from the back quadrant.
My general policy is to start a search stealthy if at all possible, as longs as I know where all the friendlies are. Once I lose track of the friendlies, then I go non-stealthy.
That policy worked for me as a patrol tactic for 25 years, during which time I took several hiding-in burglars by surprise. I have had tactical partners who never went stealthy, and they almost never got their man.
I also disdain night shotgun searches, BTW. Especially after witnessing 2 ND-booms during them….