Low/no light shooting

[polydeuces]

During a Defoor class he had us do low/no light rifle and pistol drills.
It was really interesting to see how fast the wheels came off - most of us (me most of all) were not sufficiently set up for any of this type of shooting.
Very sobering, considering how often things go boink at night
I now try to shoot low/no available light whenever given the chance. I consider it one of the more essential skill sets.

[Pappabear]

I shot a pistol match last night that we did low light shooting for the first time ever. Was not much to it but was able to use my 226 with X300 for that stage.

I almost signed up for a Frontsight class that was lowlight but never did. I would love to do more training on low light. Ive done jackshit and need it badly. And is probably the situation where I would need to use a gun.

PB

[markm]

interesting to see how fast the wheels came off - most of us (me most of all) were not sufficiently set up for any of this type of shooting.

What were some of the challenges? Equipment? Ability?

[MegademiC]

You can dry fire and test all this out every night in the house.

Surefire tape switch has been 100% reliable for me.

[polydeuces]

Been a 'few' years so let me try n remember.
All training/classes are/were '9-to-5' so the entire lo/no light spectrum rarely gets addressed, other than "you need to have a good weapon light".

Most of it (especially rifle) was obvious-stupid-basic: insufficient light, not able to see the target.
Crazy how much light you need to id a target at even 25yds. Not just volume, but focus, if that makes sense.
Hard to hit anything if you cant see sh#t.....

Also muzzle blast, recall the difference between ammo. That steel case Tula/BrownBear stuff put out these massive flames. It did have an effect on your night vision.
Reiterating the essence of suppressors if wanting to remain concealed....(alive?)

My main takeaway was to have a bright enough weapon light (be it pistol or rifle) with enough of a focused beam. AND a laser - especially on my pistol, dialed in for whatever max distance is reasonable. AND a laser. With suppressor as cherry on top....

Red dots on pistol is big these days but having tried a few set-ups its not for me, so yeah laser is my go to.
Another thing I find helpful is large enough sights - tritium suppressor height sights really help, on so many levels. I'm in the process on putting them on every edc pistol i own.
(But then again I'm getting old and my vision is going down the drain).

I'd love to hear others' experiences.

[markm]

Most of it (especially rifle) was obvious-stupid-basic: insufficient light, not able to see the target.
Crazy how much light you need to id a target at even 25yds. Not just volume, but focus, if that makes sense.
Hard to hit anything if you cant see sh#t.....

No doubt. We shoot a night shoot maybe once per year. Amazing how difficult a 100 yard target is to see or hit even with a decent rifle light.

It really becomes a 50 or shorter deal.

Also muzzle blast

Last time I shot a night class some dude ran a Cav Comp, and it was flashing gloriously.

Red dots on pistol is big these days but having tried a few set-ups its not for me, so yeah laser is my go to.

Yeah. Red Dots have a long way to go before I'd consider one. I shoot my buddies all the time, but it's not for me... yet.

We shoot low light just enough to realize how ill prepared we are. Another buddy of ours has killer NOD gear, and since he never practices with it, it's a whole learning curve when he brings it out.

[Diamondback]

If you wear corrective optics might be a good idea to train without them occasionally too... you may not remember or have time to grab your glasses or put in contacts when Things Go Bump In The Night, and I can't really recommend sleeping on your back and never taking 'em off like I do. (Granted, I'm on a round-the-clock schedule so my sleep is 90 minutes a a time rather than straight-through, but... yeah, can't recommend that either.)

[polydeuces]

Getting older and your vision going to crap.
An issue worthy of a separate discussion; 'work-arounds' and solutions.
Another reason why a good weapon light is a must.

[polydeuces]

Circling back to Marks' question:
Low light No light Pistol, another take-away: night sights are useless.

Caveat - my eyesight, especially at night, has taken a serious dump. Therefore the following is based on MY experience:


Using bright weapon light to 'paint' the target (i.e you can see whats safely deemed to be a target in a somewhat hi-stress situation) they are strongly backlit rendering their 'tritium' etc function negligible - any regular iron sight would serve.

Only time I can see that 'bright tritium front dot' was when it was dark enough, light off, meaning I can no really safely id my target.
They no longer have any real world use for me.

Again - this is my 'reality'; you may have a different experience.