I have a “Crimson Trace” laser designator on my antique m1911a1 Colt 45. The main advantage for me is not having to hold the pistol in the appropriate position, when my aging arms and eyes have trouble keeping it on target. I can hold it in close, down where I can rest it against my body. I get about the same shot group (seven out of seven in a pie plate, at thirty feet) that way that I do eyeballing it and holding it appropriately, but I am a bit faster at re-acquiring the target with the designator.
The entire device is built into replacement hand grips that don’t alter the weapon in any other way. It has a built in adjustment to zero for different ranges, but I didn’t need to adjust it, my first magazine was entirely acceptable. Given that my pistol is sixty some years old, and has been fired fairly regularly, the shot group is probably somewhat loose just from wear. However, I can’t imagine needing better accuracy for any sort of home defense, where thirty feet would be the guy leaving, when I am not supposed to shoot his ass.
The best use of it, to me would be putting that bright red dot right in the guy’s eye and asking him if he wants to get shot in the head, or in the ass as he runs away.
I know more than a few cops who have lasers installed on their sidearms. What I’ve always heard from the rangemasters is, “Use a laser for intimidation, NEVER for aiming!” To aim, as Crafter_Man said, you focus only on the front sight. Trying to look around your gun to see the red dot is just stupid.
Tasers also have lasers for targeting. These are much more useful, as they have worthless sights and are used at close distances. The dot shows where the top dart will hit - the second dart is aimed eight degrees lower.
“Intimidating” someone with a firearm-mounted laser sight violates that rule. If you’re pointing a gun at someone, you should be intending to shoot them, not scare them.
“He isn’t going to shoot me? Then he ought not point a gun at me. It’s insincere.” – Joe Moore, Heist
What you are talking about is probably an IR laser designator, which is actually a vital piece of equipment, versus a visible laser which is of only limited use at best, in most circumstances.
As you can probably tell from looking at it, the point of an IR laser pointer is to provide for shooting without the use of regular sights, when wearing night vision goggles, which tends to throw a monkey wrench into the regular daylight aiming process. The model linked above is actually the “commander’s model”, because it also has an additional wide-beam IR transmitter for…uh… other purposes (I have some limited familiarity with this particular model, but someone else can probably describe it more accurately than me).
It doesn’t have to. If a cop pulls a gun on someone, he realizes that he may have to shoot that person. In the event that he has to shoot, the advice is to not use the laser. However, having the laser may make it more likely that the person aimed at backs down. So the gun is not drawn for intimidation; the gun is drawn because it might need to be used. The laser is attached to the gun for intimidation (but not for aiming).
That rationale makes no sense. First of all, it’s not as if you can see the beam except in mist or a very dusty environment, and if you can’t, that’s a tactical bad on the part of the shooter. It is mostly likely that the target will never see a bead placed correctly in mid-torso. Second, if your painting the suspect with frame-mounted laser, you’re pointing the muzzle at him., period. If you don’t intend or expect to shoot someone, you shouldn’t have gun in hand. Third, no laser is promoted or sold as an “intimidation device”; they’re intended for sighting, a purpose for which, on a service firearm, they are (admittedly in my not-so-humble opinion) ill-suited.
I guess if you want to intimidate perpetrators as you say, then you should carry a laser pointer around with you. There’s no good purpose, however, in attaching it to the frame of a service arm, and the general use of them is out of conformance with recognized good practice for establishing a sight picture.
No, it doesn’t. Just because I’m “willing to destroy” the target doesn’t mean that I am “intending to destroy” it/him/her. It may come to that, but I’m hoping that he/she will be smart and not force me to shoot.
Here’s how it works: you tell the guy, “Look down at your chest. See that red dot? That’s where the bullet will go if you don’t do what you’re told”. This can only be done in a lethal force situation, where I can justify shooting him if I have to.
We’re going to have to agree to differ on the appropriate use of firearms. My training was to aver from merely brandishing a firearm for the purposes of intimidation, and if I have time to have have a polite conversation with the perpetrator I’m probably not justified in dropping the hammer on such. The best practice when confronted with a situation in which combat is non imminent is to seek cover or concealment, and the only thing one needs to say in such a situation is, “I’m armed; leave now or I’ll shoot.” Any situation that involves an exchange of threats, or holding an aggressor in confinement, or anysuch increases your tactical and legal liability in an emotionally-charged situation where a mistake may cost you your life or freedom.
I put a laser on my Nylon 66 Remington .22 semi-auto rifle for shooting ‘dillos’ in the dark or when only lighted by small flash lights.
Found that the wife with a 2M candle power, battery powered , hand held works much better and she is getting real good at tracking the light with their flight. (also raccoons, possums, and other things that we need gone)
Maybe if I learned to shoot with a laser but since I am old and old school, laser does not do it in real world work.
Listen to ‘Stranger’ he knows for what he says…
Here is a small gyrostabilizer of the type used on Steadicam-type mounts and handheld commercial cameras. It would be larger and weight more than the gun, and the gyroscopes would also have to be spun up before use. It would also prevent you from easily reorienting the pistol once active. None of this would be desirable in a sidearm.
Some turret-mounted heavy machine guns are gyro-stabilized (to compensate for vehicle vibration) and many analog sighting systems use gyroscopes to stabilize the aiming system to compensate for recoil, but this isn’t practical for portable arms, and certainly not a service sidearm.
Now that I’ve said this, someone will probably dig up a heavily customized Desert Eagle mounted in a Steadicam armature with 523nm dual pulsed lasers, to which I’ll reply, “Does Milt Sparks make an Improved Baker pancake for that?”
Ah. See, I’m a cop. “Holding an aggressor in confinement” (i.e. an armed standoff) is something that we do.
I did not say that one should use the gun for intimidation, just the laser. I have the gun out fully prepared to use it if necessary. The laser is just a visual aid for the guy at whom I am pointing my weapon.
And that’s why I don’t have a laser, and very few cops do. They have little practical use, as the situation I described is very, very rare, even for us.