EDC gear question..

[CRZ]

After reading about how a pretty large percentage of firefights occur in low light conditions, I've taken to making sure I've got a flashlight in my pocket all the time.

Sure, right now when I leave the house for work and get back in the evening it's pretty much unnecessary, but we're going to shift into those months when it's dark out morning and evening, and I'm also a creature of habit. If I put something in my pocket gear stash it ALWAYS goes with me.. wallet, keys, loose change/cash, phone, pocket knife, gum, and flashlight.

I know a lot of folks swear by Surefires, but after researching them I wasn't overly impressed with them given the price point. I ended up picking up a Quark 123*2 and some rechargeable batteries for it, amazing output and utility for a light that clips to my pocket. Great quality light. I keep it clipped in my weakside pocket.

I've loaded up the p229 with dummy rounds and spent some time drawing the light and gun trying to figure out if I'm more comfortable with the cigar carry or Harries method best. I'm tending toward a modified cigar carry given that it allows something close to a normal two handed grip on the gun. Either way, I yank the light with the weak hand before moving it to the strong side to lift the cover garment.

I guess the point here is to find out opinions on

1) What size/type light do you regularly carry, do you ALWAYS carry it and if so, do you rely on a clip, holster or lanyard?

2) What method do you use or recommend to deploy both your handgun and light?

[rovert97]

my main carry light now is that CR battery Coleman Max LED light at walmart for $20 something. 115 lumens is really blinding and it has an aluminum body and rubberized tailcap on/off button. its pretty tiny too so holding it and a gun isnt that hard to do. in the darkness its good for about 75 feet, and anything reflective within id say 200 feet shines like its daylight.

[LittleRedToyota]

1) What size/type light do you regularly carry, do you ALWAYS carry it and if so, do you rely on a clip, holster or lanyard?

surefire G2. always carry it. i just put it in my pocket.

(when in use, i do not want it actually attached to me. if someone manages to grab hold of it during a fight, i do not want that the also give them control over my wrist.)

2) What method do you use or recommend to deploy both your handgun and light?

in theory i like the "cigar" method, but in practice, i just can't get it to work well...i find the compromised grip to be too compromised to really be better than the harries grip and i also find myself getting my index finger on the flashlight hand in my trigger guard from time to time. (a flashlight specifically designed for that use would probably help with both of these, though.)

so, in practice, i use the harries method. i also practice the FBI method a bit.

shooting with a flashlight is not easy to say the least.

[Shawn.L]

in theory i like the "cigar" method, but in practice, i just can't get it to work well...i find the compromised grip to be too compromised to really be better than the harries grip and i also find myself getting my index finger on the flashlight hand in my trigger guard from time to time. (a flashlight specifically designed for that use would probably help with both of these, though.)

so, in practice, i use the harries method. i also practice the FBI method a bit.

shooting with a flashlight is not easy to say the least.

yeah, I prefer the surefire/cigar as well. But in actual use it is too easy to lose control of the tail switch.

using these grips in the dark and actually needed to use the light to identify a target will bring out these weaknesses.

I find that harries is easier to use, but managing recoil is different, so shooting like this is a must. and the other weakness is if you are R handed like me then harries is great for going around corners and moving to the left, but awful for clearing right hand corners and moving right.

I also like to practice neck indexing and firing strong hand only. I find that works pretty well for me.

In reality I think its wise to practice all of it and be able to adapt and change techniques if needed.

I will use harries primarily and move to surfire/cigar or neck or FBI if I need to clear a right hand turn.

I carry a surefire backup E1
http://www.surefire.com/E1B-Backup

it is small enough to carry all the time, and I really do use it quite a lot. It has a clip and I put it in my weak side pocket with the clip. It aslo has a nice beveled edge.


also, my wife bought it for me as a x-mas present

I think she said she found it on ebay NIB for ~$80

its great to see posts like this and see people thinking about the issues at hand and asking for help.

a good quality training course or 2 or 3........ will help you answer quite a number of these questions and take you leaps and bounds past where you are now.

[King 5.45]

Aviator A2 -- works a treat but suffers from not having a setting to lock the light on from the cap.

[CRZ]

Well it's good to know I'm not the only one concerned with how friggin' awkward finding a comfortable and confident method of gun and flashlight is.

I had thought about a simple neck/FBI one-hand grip -- it's certainly less awkward. I just worry about my single hand accuracy under stress.

Then again, I'm sure it's far better to shoot comfortably strong handed than awkwardly with two.

[King 5.45]

Well it's good to know I'm not the only one concerned with how friggin' awkward finding a comfortable and confident method of gun and flashlight is.

I had thought about a simple neck/FBI one-hand grip -- it's certainly less awkward. I just worry about my single hand accuracy under stress.

Then again, I'm sure it's far better to shoot comfortably strong handed than awkwardly with two.

You need to remember that the advantage of a light is to make it difficult for someone in front of it to see, let alone focus. Oft times, they'll shoot back at the light, if armed, so having it next to your neck in the weak hand may or may not be advisable. Gun-over-light (Harris?) isn't much better for not placing your location firmly in their mind.

[Shawn.L]

You need to remember that the advantage of a light is to make it difficult for someone in front of it to see, let alone focus. Oft times, they'll shoot back at the light, if armed, so having it next to your neck in the weak hand may or may not be advisable. Gun-over-light (Harris?) isn't much better for not placing your location firmly in their mind.

FBI is great for this.

also, pratice idetifying the target, then shooting with the light on. Then LIGHT OFF, MOVE. Relight from another position and take another shot.

if you are being shot at they will be shooting towards where the light was, not where you have moved to.

[Nic]

I use the Harries technique.

Here is a link to Handheld Flashlight-Handgun Techniques. It lists the most popular techniques and includes pictures of each including Harries, Ayoob, FBI, Marine Corp, Chapman, Hargreaves Lite-Touch, Keller, and Neck Index. It's from Surefire.com.

http://www.surefire.com/articles-handheld_techniques

[Carnes]

I prefer the Carnes Sendry Method. (Or FBI depending on situation)

Carnes Sendry Method: It is a combination of the Chapman and the Hargreaves Lite-Touch.

The flashlight is held between the thumb and index finger of the non-firing hand. The remaining three fingers wrap around the firing hand to enhance the grip on the weapon. The tailcap of the flashlight is depressed against the tip of the thumb of the firing hand.

-Only works with tailcap activated flashlights. With a side switch light I'll use either Chapman or FBI.

-The gun in the nightstand has a mounted weapon light, as this is my preferred option.