Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Handguns Your feelings on Crimson Trace grips?

Hey guys, I was thinking about puting some crimson trace grips on my new Sig P226 and I'd like to hear pros and cons. Here's the pistol in question:




Thanks for your input...

Lots of folks like them, I have used them once, really will show you how unstable you are.. LOL little red dot dancing all over. Good thing it will be dancing all over the 10 ring.

I looked at then a couple of years ago for my 226. IIRC they have a rubber piece with finger grooves that wraps around the front of the grip. I didn't like the way it looked or felt on the gun.

I was checking some out at the last gunshow and thought they were pretty cool on their demo pistols....

They make 2 different models for the p226 now so I'll have to check into that.

I've got crimson trace grips on both my LCR .38 and LCR .22. I really like them. They're quick to get on target and increase accuracy, in my case anyway . I have a Viridian light/lazer (green) on the rail of my Beretta PX4 Storm .45. The green lazer is very visible in daylight. Lazers are expensive but I think they are well worth it on some pistols.

I have some on a Glock 19. Like them just fine.

I've got CTC grips on several guns. IMHO, they are best-suited to the smaller guns, like J-frames, that are harder to shoot. My CTC-equipped 442 will put 5/5 shots into a pie plate at 25 yards with the CTC's on it, which extends my "kill" range to double what it would be without.

I also have CTC's on my Glock 23. It's the gun that sleeps beside my bed, and the gun I take with me to the movies... I can hit the -0 zone of an IDPA target in the dark at 35 yards with the CTC laser on it. Without it, even with tritium sights, half the distance.

YMMV.

CTC's are pricey...if you ask me, they don't charge what they're worth. They don't really replace anything, you still use your sights on instinct. For training purposes, I love that little dot just confirming my sight picture. It also allows you to shoot accurately from some weird positions. It makes for one hell of a night sight. I really like them on my combat guns.

This Beretta PX4 Storm .45acp is my bedroom gun. I keep the Viridian sight set on strobe light with the green dot.

I'm legally blind, lazer sights do me NO good.

I'm holding out for the new radar sights. You just wave your gun around and when you hear a return 'ping' ...

Pull the trigger!

Daylight lasers are silly. If you have trouble seeing irons, or just want to be quicker in general, milling the slide to accept an RMR is the way to go. Hope to do this myself in the foreseeable future.

I have them, they work. OTOH with so many Doc Holidays and Wyatt Earp's out there today, most wont need them.

Seemed like a cool idea at first blush, but after getting them I became less impressed with the whole concept of laser sighting systems on handguns. First of all, it's just another thing that can go wrong, and if you've come to depend on them you will be out of luck when that battery fails at the worst possible time. I didn't find it so much of an improvement over traditional sights as to counterbalance this consideration.

IMO, a lot of folks who've made the investment become emotionally invested in the idea itself, and will for this reason think more favorably of them than they would otherwise. Sort of the opposite of cognitive dissonance, i.e., you want to think favorably of something you've spent a lot of money on.

I put them on my P226 in 40S&W, and my 380 Ruger LCP. I like them and guns shoot to the little red dot, can't ask for anything better.

I have one on my Airweight J Frame. It has been quite a useful training tool for this piece. No thoughts of putting one on larger handguns.

Like I said, lasers are OK on some handguns. My main carry is a XDs .45,... there is NO NEED for one on this gun..

I mounted crimson's on my Ruger 22 pistol strictly for keeping varments out of my trashcan's at night. Mainly because I cant see the sites in the dark. I keep that gun full of CCI Quiet-22LR's It's a 40 Grain/710 FPS coon thumper. I can see where CT's would give someone that extra confidence that they are on target. But I don't think I would like them on my carry guns.

I was never a fan until my wife's S &W M& P 9C came with a set.
She can hold the dot like it was painted on!
And shoots like it too.
Me? I use the spray 'em all over technique. That way one is assured of maximum target coverage.

I wish they made one for my Diamondback 9!
I'd snap it up ASAP.

By "RMR", do you mean a reflex sight? I've been watching the development of these tiny optical sights for a few years... the seem to be getting better in quality and durability, and prices are starting to come down, too.

I'm not so sure that "daylight lasers are silly", though. When my former department went to the SIG P220, we got new holsters, and the sheriff paid for rail-mounted lasers and the holsters to go with them. Not only that, but they gave our whole department low-light training with them, so by the time I left just about every guy on patrol had a light/laser on his gun.

We had several guys use their lasers during daylight hours over the subsequent couple years. Funny thing, the sun might be shining outside, but when you chase an armed felon into a building it can get dark really, really fast...

Another observation re daylight lasers... they're "banned" in most action pistol competition, even though those matches are almost always held in daylight. Seems that lasers give the users "an unfair advantage" over their competitors. I happen to know it's true. A few years ago I shot an IDPA BUG match "off the record" with my CTC-equipped Centennial. I not only shot better than several guys that normally beat me, but I shot a better score on those stages with my 442 than I had shot with my fullsize 686 previously that day.

I've worked with my laser-fitted guns in both daylight and dark, and I can say with confidence that the lasers improve my ability to shoot tighter, faster groups at a greater distance in all but the brightest sunlight.

I haven't shot a match with a reflex sight on one of my handguns, but I expect that will be highly advantageous over iron sights as well. As soon as I get one, I'll try it out and report back here.