2021 - Do you have a light on your carry pistol?

[Anchorite]

IMO, a light on a CCW pistol is unnecessary. It's a Tactical Timmy fad.

Shawn nailed it.

 

[JDeere]

Nope, no need in making myself a target...I keep a separate hand held for various reasons...

 

[drobs]

50/50 I've been adding lights to various firearms - the majority of my AR15's have lights.
Some of my pistols do and some don't. My bedside Glock 19 has a light.

I camped out this weekend and had a light mounted on my Glock 19 and AR15. Normally my carry Glock 19 doesn't have a light.
My pocket carry Ruger LC9S Pro doesn't have a light.

There are a couple reasons I haven't added lights sooner.
1. Cost - good pistol lights are expensive.
2. Requirement for new holsters. More expense.
3. Added bulk and added length. Forget having a short slim pistol that conceals easily. Your compact Glock 19 is now Glock 17+ in length.

I've been experimenting with a couple different pistol lights over the past 3 years.

2019 - Streamlight TLR-6 $95 Amazon
https://www.streamlight.com/products/detail/index/tlr-6
This is garbage. It has 100 lumens. That is not enough light for a flashlight on a pistol. My driveway is just under 50yds long. I expect any flashlight I have to illuminate the road past my driveway. This one doesn't. In fact, my outdoor lights on my house have more lumens than this weapon light. Harbor Freight sells a $10 flashlight that has more lumens than this Streamlight. I made the mistake of buying a holster for this junk. This light should be on a key-chain not a pistol.

2020 - Surefire X300U-A $269.99 Simmons Sporting Goods
https://www.surefire.com/products/illumination/weapon-lights/x300u-a/
This is a professional grade pistol light with a professional grade price. It has 1000 lumens. It's expensive and bulky. It has everything I could want out of a weapon light. It lights up the end of my driveway, it will blind an attacker at longer distances. It has both toggle constant on / off and momentary push on.

2021 - LA Police Gear Sliderail XWL Tactical Weapon Light $69.99
https://lapolicegear.com/lapg-fl-xwl01-sliderail-xwl-light.html#
I consider this to be a best buy pistol light. It has 800 Lumens. Price is right. It's toggle only but has momentary on / off, and constant on, via a looser toggle than the Surefire. It comes with batteries. It lights up the end of my driveway. Pretty sure it's made in China.

Minor negative... it doesn't work with my Surefire X300 holsters as it is compatible with Streamlight TLR-1 holsters. I have this on an AR15 and my CZ Scorpion. I actually like it more than the X300 on my rifles. The toggle is easier to use on the side of a rifle.

Minor negative #2 - It locks on tight to pistols. It doesn't come off easy like the X300.

 

[sparkyv]

Light on my nightstand pistol yes. On my CCW, no, but I do have an Olight on my keychain on me as part of my EDC.

 

[JR24]

Added bulk and added length. Forget having a short slim pistol that conceals easily. Your compact Glock 19 is now Glock 17+ in length.

Minor quibble, but many of the smaller WMLs don't add any length to something like a Glock 19. Bulk, yes, but something like my perfectly functional Olight Mini 2 is shorter than the Glock 19s rail.

But it does add more bulk IWB, which is noticable for me, and a few more oz which can make a difference too (I can actually notice it when it's really hot and every oz feels like a pound to me).

 

[drobs]

Minor quibble, but many of the smaller WMLs don't add any length to something like a Glock 19. Bulk, yes, but something like my perfectly functional Olight Mini 2 is shorter than the Glock 19s rail.

But it does add more bulk IWB, which is noticable for me, and a few more oz which can make a difference too (I can actually notice it when it's really hot and every oz feels like a pound to me).

I'm not sold on Olight yet. I may eventually pick one up. I don't want to deal with more holsters though.
Read around online, some love them, some think they are Chinese garbage.

 

[shoobe01]

Minor quibble, but many of the smaller WMLs don't add any length to something like a Glock 19. Bulk, yes, but something like my perfectly functional Olight Mini 2 is shorter than the Glock 19s rail.

But it does add more bulk IWB, which is noticable for me, and a few more oz which can make a difference too (I can actually notice it when it's really hot and every oz feels like a pound to me).

See the TLR-6 on my Kahr above. Also have friends with the same on other modern compacts, some with tiny rails. Same effect, a small bulge, doesn't stick out past the muzzle. Easy to pick your constraints and keep to it. Compact guns get compact lights.

For the full sized lights, the offset is not the same as a 5" gun plus light. You only have the tube of light head sticking out, and frankly when you play around and /force/ printing, it looks like... a bulge. Sure doesn't look like a gun when the WML is on there.

 

[FL-NC]

No. The environment and attire in Fl most of the year dictates "summer wear". Even smaller handguns can be difficult to conceal under such limitations, so adding more mass to a handgun with a light or RDS isn't something I'm going to do. But I will carry a small hand held surefire light.

 

[drobs]

See the TLR-6 on my Kahr above. Also have friends with the same on other modern compacts, some with tiny rails. Same effect, a small bulge, doesn't stick out past the muzzle. Easy to pick your constraints and keep to it. Compact guns get compact lights.

For the full sized lights, the offset is not the same as a 5" gun plus light. You only have the tube of light head sticking out, and frankly when you play around and /force/ printing, it looks like... a bulge. Sure doesn't look like a gun when the WML is on there.

My other beef with the TLR-6 is it's on or off. There is no momentary activation. Is it better than nothing? Maybe for point blank "get off" me shooting or finding your keys. It doesn't do either very well.

I'd rather carry a hand held light. My Fenix PD45 doubles as an incendiary device. While blinding a person without drawing a pistol it gets so hot, it could start a car on fire, if placed in the gas tank. That's sarcasm but...

 

[JR24]

I'm not sold on Olight yet. I may eventually pick one up. I don't want to deal with more holsters though.
Read around online, some love them, some think they are Chinese garbage.

Mine seem OK, easy on and off I like, fairly bright and hold their charge pretty well (rechargable, but I don't use them often anyway) and have held up fine.

I tend to keep one on my CCW when I put it in the safe for the night, while my dedicated nightstand gun gets the much less easy on/off TLR on it.

 

[Space Ghost]

IMO, a light on a CCW pistol is unnecessary. It's a Tactical Timmy fad.

Link to Ballistic Radio podcast - "Handgun WMLs Are Not Necessary"

It's not hard to ID a threat when it's actively attacking you in a Wal Mart parking lot... but when you're walking down some dark street from the restaurant to the car 2 blocks away, or when the power is out in the storm, and the opportunists come out, or when you're changing a tire on the side of the highway on a dark rainy night, and a predator rolls up...

But hey, attacks in general (per capita) are actually pretty rare. We just want to be prepared in case one does happen to us, so with that in mind...
Wouldn't even packing around a gun all day, (at all) every day be kinda "Tactical Timmy"?
Light, or no light?

 

[Rule3]

No and no optics either, I don't go to scary places at night.

My nightstand gun has a light

 

[JTQ]

Hi all - did not see definitive results in the search. Please feel free to explain your answers.

I don't have a light on any of my guns. Here are a couple of data points for consideration.

From Tom Givens who has probably studied the non-LE/non-MIL defensive use of firearms as much as anybody, this is in regards to night sights, but it equally applicable to mounted lights on carry guns.

https://civiliandefender.com/2016/04/01/low-light-red-sights-and-tom-givens-glock-35/

...in the 60 plus defensive shootings his students have been involved in, the lighting (or lack of lighting) was a factor in the outcome in exactly ZERO cases.

From Tucker Gun Leather https://tuckergunleather.com/faq/

Q. Does Tucker recommend carrying a defensive pistol with a light attached to an accessory rail?

A. Tucker says, "If you're on a SWAT team, go for it. If not, your pistol is a quick-response tool for a sudden and extreme self-defense situation. If you have a light on the gun, you may find it distracting enough to slow down your response."

 

[WrongHanded]

Yes.

And also, no.

Yes (or rather, often) on the G22/.357 Sig because it has tritium in the front sight only, and because it's already a large enough gun that I don't think the additional light makes much of a difference to concealment. It's a bedside gun but also a carry gun when the weather is cool enough for cover garments, and the days short enough that a light would be helpful.

No for the relatively new G33 all-the-time carry gun. I don't need it any bulkier, so it has Truglo tritium sights. It also has no rail.

 

[Zaydok Allen]

No, I have night sights, and rarely go out into a city at night anymore anyway. Too many deer on the road for the hour drive home.

 

[MedWheeler]

On my carry gun, no. On my bedside gun, yes.

 

[Corpral_Agarn]

curious for the people who think a light is a negative addition:
have you ever taken a class or shot a match in the dark?

it can be real eye opener. I've used both the handheld light (that I carry with me all the time) and a pistol light in matches and training.

Weapon mounted light is way better.

As for becoming a target while using your light... the alternative is to not know what you are shooting at or...?

IMO positive ID of target is more important.

 

[JTQ]

curious for the people who think a light is a negative addition:
have you ever taken a class or shot a match in the dark?

This is always a tough debate to have. We have lots of current/former LE/MIL folks on the forum that are locked into what works for LE/MIL, but the concealed carrier has different needs/requirements.

If this is a debate for what LE/MIL folks should have on their gun, that would be one answer, but I suspect this question is directed towards the concealed carrier, which would have a different need.

I can't find his article, but a Tom Givens American Handgunner article, "When Citizens Fight Back" is referenced in this thread https://www.thehighroad.org/index.p...-citizens-fight-are-we-training-wrong.756551/

Breaking the LE/MIL paradigm is tough for lots of folks.

 

[miamivicedade]

Im in the 50/50 camp. I normally do not have one on my EDC, but I don't think it's a bad idea, and personally, I don't think you lose much at all by having one on. I think the positives outweight the negatives, by a good margin. I have a few WMLs, but haven't used them much. I probably will more in the future.

 

[SharpDog]

Holy Fazoli:

1. It gives away my position ... that's why they have a momentary switch ... use it and move
2. I have to point the gun to use the light ... so use your handheld light, I assume you have one since you don't have a WML
3. re @Shawn Dodson in post #16 above. I don't see ANY statistics about how the lighting was in those altercations. Nice obfuscation BTW ...
4. a p365 with a TLR-6 fits nicely in my pocket in an Alabama Holster pocket holster. I have one with and without a WML and it makes zero difference.



Folks, a WML is an asset you can choose to use ... but only if you have it.

 

[Styx]

Never have or will.

 

[herrwalther]

2021 - LA Police Gear Sliderail XWL Tactical Weapon Light $69.99
https://lapolicegear.com/lapg-fl-xwl01-sliderail-xwl-light.html#
I consider this to be a best buy pistol light. It has 800 Lumens. Price is right. It's toggle only but has momentary on / off, and constant on, via a looser toggle than the Surefire. It comes with batteries. It lights up the end of my driveway. Pretty sure it's made in China.

I got one of these a while back. Considered it a win-win because it fits TLR-1 holsters but much less expensive. It showed up dead on arrival. Never came on at all with 3 different sets of batteries. Took 2 months for LAPG to refund my money after the return. I might get another one to try, but the first experience wasn't a good one.

 

[WheelGunMan]

I'm considering a light for my home defense gun. As far as my carry gun goes...a definite no. I carry my defensive weapon discreetly. You can't do that with lights and accessories hanging off of it that enlarges it and make it harder to obscure.

 

[drobs]

I got one of these a while back. Considered it a win-win because it fits TLR-1 holsters but much less expensive. It showed up dead on arrival. Never came on at all with 3 different sets of batteries. Took 2 months for LAPG to refund my money after the return. I might get another one to try, but the first experience wasn't a good one.

That's a bummer. I got 3 a couple months ago. They work perfectly.

 

[Nuclear]

On a concealed pistol, no, because it makes it harder to conceal. I carry a flashlight just about everywhere, anyways.