Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Handguns what weapon light on pistol for Home Defense

to laser or not? which light?

how many lumens?

Lumens will depend on how big your house is, and whether you want to use it outside. One thing about high-intensity lights indoors, in a house with white walls, is that the reflection can dazzle you particularly if your eyes haven't adjusted to light when you activate the weapon-light. More lumens is not always better.

I've got a Streamlight TRL-1 on my night-stand gun and I like it because it's bright, light and inexpensive. I can also reach the rocker switch more easily than the switch on other brands of lights.

It's worth a trip to a well stocked store to be able to try out multiple lights on guns similar to your own, as each gun/light combination can have a different "switch reach" for lack of a better term. I like to have the switch where I can operate it with either my weak-hand thumb when grasping the gun with both hands, or with my right index finger when holding the gun with one hand. The placement of the rail on your pistol, and the length of the light itself, both influence how far of a reach you will have to the activation switch.

Ive read many opinions on blinding yourself with too many lumens indoors...some agree, some say if xommon sense is used, it rarely happens that easily...thanks for the info

Lumens can include beam pattern and spill, if a higher lumen light has more spill, it moght light up more without sweeping the muzzle and also,miggt makenit harder for someone to aim at you with that much intenisty in their retina

I have the TRL-1 on my Glock, don't have any problems with it inside. Bright and works well outside too.

Another vote for the TLR-1. I keep one attached to my nightstand glock all the time.

TLR-1. Go to u tube and do a search, they compared 4 different brands. It wasn't even close.

Thanks



Looking at that and surefire x300 ultra

I have the Surefire X300 on two of my Springfield 1911-A1 .45s. The light is amazingly bright, 500 Lumins, with great range. This is my dedicated home defense weapon, and the pistol that is always in my tent, or under my tarp, when camping.

Mannlicher

Pm,sent

my second Springfield 1911-A1, also with a X-300 light, and a friend.

Another vote for a TLR-1

I used the TLR-1 for a while and it is probably the most popular among friends, hard to beat for price and durability. I am quickly gaining preference for the inforce products.

Something in the 200-300 range will be plenty of light inside. I do run the 600 lumen TLR HD on a patrol rifle and like the extra reach but it can be a bit much indoors. I would rather have a bit to much light on occassion than not have enough for my needs.

For things that go bump in the night inside a home the TLR1 is hard to beat. I have 2 of them and 1 of the x300's

SAKO75, When you stated "home defense",I presume you meant your own home.Under that premise,I prefer tritium sights.I know my home and can get a clear sight picture without giving away my position and the element of surprise! To put it plainly,I want the fist and last light an intruder to see is a muzzle flash! I still have a "tactical" type light which can be put to use if needed, holding it away from my body while keeping my handgun in an offensive position. memtb

For pistol distances a TLR1 is plenty bright. I have several of them on different guns.

IME weapon mounted lights are really better for AFTER you've found a bad guy than for while you're looking for him. And after you've found him, there's no harm in lighting him up like the field of dreams. So for how I use one, I don't worry about it being too bright.

no one wants the laser it seems!

http://www.viridiangreenlaser.com/

I like these and have two. They can do green laser only, pulsating laser (saves battery), very bright white light with laser, very bright white light with no laser, etc.

They also make a holster that turns the laser/light on when drawn.

Good customer service, too.

im thinking of the viridian for my ccw shield....

I think you would like it. If disabling white light is something you are interested in, the Viridian is quite bright and also has a strobe that can be programmed into their lights. I've seen what that is like. An intruder or other target can't see the person who is directing it at them and is very disorienting on the receiving end. Pretty neat but if a person is subject to seizures, it can cause them.

IMO strobes are very disorienting on both ends

A little. Much worse on the other side of the muzzle.

I'll never understand a strobe function on a WML. I've never filled my hands with a gun and then wished the lights in the room would suddenly start flashing on and off real fast. Why would you induce something that makes it more difficult to see and execute the basic fundamentals of shooting?

Sure, it'll distract your attacker. But so will sending them a wall of hate one trigger pull at a time. Since when is have a reason to shoot-point your gun at someone-distract them so they get confused while we don't do what we think we need to do a valid tactic?

Black powder lights up a room pretty good. Either a '66 or a '73 will give you plenty of light at around 1 round/second...

strobe lights went out some time ago. Is this a video of Shrapnel in his youth?

http://www.tcm.com/mediaroom/video/294921/Saturday-Night-Fever-Movie-Clip-Disco-Inferno.html

and they will choke on the smoke cloud if you miss the first shot

But it takes awhile to reload

My bedroom gun is a .45 Beretta Px4 Storm with a Viridian X5L green laser on the rail. I keep it on strobe. Is that the best light? I don't know but I hope I never have to find out.

http://www.surefire.com/x300-ultra-led-weaponlight.html

500 lumens of retina searing LED light,it ligts up a room with an intense hotspot plus great spill... it lights up 100 yards away also LO


i went with this for a few reasons although the streamlight is probably just as good and the new HL is brighter supposedly...

the viridian stuff looks good, im considering it for my Shield

I carried a .45 in Vietnam & work in armed security & have no need for a light on my handgun. In my opinion a sure way to increase the odds of being shot. Probably stems from movies showing SWAT with lights on handguns looking for bad guys. May work well for trained officers in a group, but I question for home defense. In liberal Northern Virginia I do carry a S&W in .380 with a laser. The little .380 slips in a pocket & while not my preferred handgun is better than alternates. I also carry the little .380 as backup to my .40 cal. Glock when on duty. I do have several carry guns with Trigicon night sights & prefer these to any lights on guns.

tbear, Like you I have no need for a light on my handguns EXCEPT my bedroom gun. If someone is in my house in the middle of the night I'm not going to be shooting at shadows, I need to see what the threat is. I don't have to have a separate light, my handgun is equipped to do it all.

TLR 1.




Travis

same way I feel, until i start living alone, i must ID the target 100% prior to trigger pull