Posted: 8/1/2011 1:31:38 AM EDT
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So I had an idea and thought I'd see what everyone thinks... Basically I was thinking of a rail mounted flashlight with a quick attach/detach kinda like the tlr-1 has where you can push in and than just hand tighten it, or maybe have a tenson lever or somethig. but also have a pocket clip on it so you can carry it as your normal light as well.
I know a lot of us would love to have the ability to conceal carry with a light but holsters are harder to find, comfort, printing, ect.. Plus even if you do carry with an attached light you still have to carry another light because your not gonna pull your gun out to look for your car keys... Well most of the time. So what are your thoughts? |
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Minus the belt clip it already exists.
Surefire, insight, and I feel like on more brand, all snap on with out any sort of screw. pic: 
The belt clip idea is not bad, there is however a product that is essentially a belt clip with a section of rail. So you can snap the light on that and then snap it onto the gun. |
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Safariland RLS. http://www.safariland.com/DutyGear/rls/
This has a belt clip, and it attaches to the light rail on a pistol in about 2 seconds. It places the light on either side of the pistol right where your off-hand thumb is. The main downside are that the light itself isn't very brightat only 60 lumens. But they sell the mount separately, so you could concievably add something brighter like a Surefire E1B Backup, which produces 110 lumens and is 1/2" shorter and 1.8 ounces lighter than Safariland's light. Also, with the light on one side of the gun or the other you lose some ability to run the system one handed. |
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Quoted:
Safariland RLS. http://www.safariland.com/DutyGear/rls/ This has a belt clip, and it attaches to the light rail on a pistol in about 2 seconds. It places the light on either side of the pistol right where your off-hand thumb is. The main downside are that the light itself isn't very brightat only 60 lumens. But they sell the mount separately, so you could concievably add something brighter like a Surefire E1B Backup, which produces 110 lumens and is 1/2" shorter and 1.8 ounces lighter than Safariland's light. Also, with the light on one side of the gun or the other you lose some ability to run the system one handed. I had one of those. The light itself is made by Coast. Good lights actually. Run on AAA bats. The button was a little stiff on mine, but all in all it was a good light for my handgun. I sold my gun with a rail and now use it as a bedside flashlight with my 1911. I think I'm changing the way I handle my lights... No more weapons mounted lights. It's sufficiently bright for an apartment or in a house. Outside is a little different, but it certainly lights up my apartment like a spot light. |
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So, what's your TTP for using this light?
When SHTF, do you, 1: Quickly draw your gun, then try to quickly attach the light to the rail? 2: Plan on drawing the gun early to give yourself the extra time to safely get the light attached. 3: Quickly draw your gun, then use the light just as you would a hand held. Anything but number 3 is a really bad idea. Most LEO policies absolutely forbid carrying without a WML and then trying to attach one after drawing. Drawing and then trying to attach a light, near the muzzle, under time pressure, is an absolute clusterfuck. I've done it dryfire and live fire during practice. I'll never do it again. There are plenty of techniques for using a hand held light that give better speed, accuracy and safety than trying to mount a WML after the draw. Gringop |
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Quoted:
So, what's your TTP for using this light? When SHTF, do you, 1: Quickly draw your gun, then try to quickly attach the light to the rail? 2: Plan on drawing the gun early to give yourself the extra time to safely get the light attached. 3: Quickly draw your gun, then use the light just as you would a hand held. Anything but number 3 is a really bad idea. Most LEO policies absolutely forbid carrying without a WML and then trying to attach one after drawing. Drawing and then trying to attach a light, near the muzzle, under time pressure, is an absolute clusterfuck. I've done it dryfire and live fire during practice. I'll never do it again. There are plenty of techniques for using a hand held light that give better speed, accuracy and safety than trying to mount a WML after the draw. Gringop Basically its a tool to have in the bag. I am not saying I plan on using it in every scenario that I would have to draw my weapon. But for the situations in which you have time to put it on. I want a light I can use hand held but if time permits be able to attach it to my weapon as well. I am pretty sure everyone would agree that having 2 hands on your weapon, or a having a free hand while still being able to use your weapon w/ light is a nice thing to have. |
| A WML needs to be dedicated with a holster made for a light. One of my friends got the safariland RLS and thought it was the greatest thing ever, til I asked him what he would do if he needed to holster his gun quickly. He doesn't have one anymore. Anything that requires you to put your fingers around the muzzle of a loaded gun is something I'd like to avoid. |
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If you are going to use a weaponlight and carry a weaponlight, it needs to be on the gun all the time. Attach/detach is a completely unnecessary step and just another point of potential failure. If you are going to have your gun out for whatever reason, you do not need to test the fine motor skill of attaching a light under stress.
Quoted:
... Plus even if you do carry with an attached light you still have to carry another light because your not gonna pull your gun out to look for your car keys... Well most of the time. So what are your thoughts? Quoted:
.. if you need to use the light "in a pinch" but you don't want to go around pointing your weapon everywhere. I don't use a light when I C.C. but i like to for HD. What is so difficult about carrying a handheld light? Weaponlight or not, you should always have a handheld light. If you choose to use a weaponlight, it is not anymore of a burden because it should be attached to your gun already. If you forgot your weaponlight, you forgot your gun. A handheld light and a weaponlight are completely seperate accessories for completely seperate roles. Quit trying to combine the two. |
| I have a Safariland RLS and like it. On my budget it was the best choice I could find, got it on sale for $50. It is actually listed at 90 lumens not 60 as someone else posted. I have used it as a handheld several times in the dark of the night and it is more than sufficient for lighting up anyone/thing in your general vicinity. I know from experience that it is bright enough to momentarily blind someone from roughly 20' away if shined directly at the eyes. The drawbacks are that it is a little bulky, will not fit in any holster, and that it would have to be attached AFTER any initial incident requiring the use of you handgun being drawn. |
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Quoted:
If you are going to use a weaponlight and carry a weaponlight, it needs to be on the gun all the time. Attach/detach is a completely unnecessary step and just another point of potential failure. If you are going to have your gun out for whatever reason, you do not need to test the fine motor skill of attaching a light under stress. Quoted:
... Plus even if you do carry with an attached light you still have to carry another light because your not gonna pull your gun out to look for your car keys... Well most of the time. So what are your thoughts? Quoted:
.. if you need to use the light "in a pinch" but you don't want to go around pointing your weapon everywhere. I don't use a light when I C.C. but i like to for HD. What is so difficult about carrying a handheld light? Weaponlight or not, you should always have a handheld light. If you choose to use a weaponlight, it is not anymore of a burden because it should be attached to your gun already. If you forgot your weaponlight, you forgot your gun. A handheld light and a weaponlight are completely seperate accessories for completely seperate roles. Quit trying to combine the two. Beavo, sounds like you've been to some low-light pistol training...you hit the nail on the head. In the low-light training I've been to a handheld light is a requirement even if you have a weaponlight: in case your weaponlight fails, or if pointing a weapon is not needed but you still need a light. |