Shoot it on a 1911 with Wolf ammo – the carbon build up acts as a filter 
PS has anyone tried any kind of filter on the X300 to try to defuse the light more?
I seem to remember looking at one point…no luck.
Doesnt mean there isnt something out there,just that i didnt find it at my usual places at the time.
I am a huge believer in weapon mounted lights. Years ago, I purchased my own M3(I know), and snuck it past the range masters to qual with it. Having to keep ti seperated from the gun.
All you have to do is go do a low light qual, and see the difference. Not sure what most LL quals consist of, but our goes to 15yds for the handgun, little farther for the rifle. I can easily tell how much better I shoot with the mounted light, and for me, that’s it right there, whatever I can do to put precision fire on the adversary, in all conditions.
All the various hand held techniques are compromises, and border line dangerous. Add to that the amount of equipment I need to carry on a response/assault/recapture, and the idea of doing the harries technique is laughable.
All That, does not mean I do not carry a secondary light, usually two more handhelds, or that I can not use the various hand held light techniques. In fact due to reliability issues, I am now w/o a mounted light. Something I will work to correct, and probably piss off a lot of people.
I’ve bought the SureFire rings and done a little dry fire with them, and will get some live fire in soon, but I do think they are the way to go, if your forced to use handheld lights.
Most of the pros and cons have been spelled out.
For those that say “You should never point your weapon at anything you are not willing to destroy” I say, Nothing says I can’t change my mind. I am perfectly willing to destroy that blob in the shadows, until I positively ID it.
The idea of carrying a handheld light in addition to the mounted light is a good one, as pointed out, but not because the mounted one may fail, your handheld one may fail also, so will the gun for that matter.
Other then conceal ability I don’t see a down side, and apparently some new holsters go along way to correcting that.
Bob
My duty handgun has a TLR-1 mounted on it for a reason. But there is also a reason I have a no less than two other handheld lights on my duty belt. The only time i have had to use the handgun-mounted light for illumination was in training (Active Shooter Response, low light classes and on my own).
I have used the handheld (Surefire 6P with LED lamp) quite a bit for searches and for clearing the courtroom prior to the start of the day. I became a huge believer of the weaponslight during the NTOA Patrol Response to an Active Shooter Certification Course I took many Solar Cycles ago.
While we were conducting our clearing exercises, two of the guys in my team had to clear a classroom that did not have any windows. As it turns out the lights were off and they went in pretty blind. One of them, tried to unsuccessfully sweep for the light switch on his way in. Both ended up running into all sorts of obstacle before either of them can retrieve their hand held lights. If this were the real thing and a BG was in that room, they would have been in a world of hurt.
I tried carrying a Surefire X200 on my off-duty pistol (Glock 23) in a Blade-Tech IWB holster but when I bent over it looked like I had dropped a load in my tidy-whiteys (not saying that I’m not full of crap :D). Plus, it got in the way when I sat down. FWIW, my nightstand gun (Glock 21 with SF Nitrolon) and my primary home defense long guns (SBR and shotgun) all have weaponslights.
IMHO, have both if you can. Each has their place in the Force Continuum. JM2CW.
I’ve switched to the weapon-mounted option simply because it frees up the hand formerly used for a flashight to do something else. It doesn’t matter what the “something else” is the point is the hand is freed up to do something else.
I train with both but prefer the gun mounted light system, as mentioned before, freeing up the other hand. It works great on my XD45 and I have one on my Taurus PT-145 kept in my car.
We went with the TLR1’s on our new M&P’s. They are great when you need light right now out of the holster. I use a Streamlight Stinger XT for doing searches where I don’t want to be pointing the handgun around.
I really do love the light and I’m thankful that the chief made the decision to equip us with them.
Like many of you, I carry both. The weapon mounted light is strictly for shooting or for situations where covering someone with a firearm is necessary. The other lights I carry are for general use. I’ve seen some officers using their weapon mounted light to look for things in their trunk or search cars at night while it is attached to the weapon which is not a good idea. I train to shoot both ways (weapon mounted and hand held) because sometimes, in spite of planning, lights go dead at bad times.
While our agency authorizes them, we have to buy are own for now (the whole budget thing), which I’ve done as I consider it an investment in my own safety. I’ve also bought my GF one for her duty weapon…ain’t I sweet:)
Echoing as others have…
When at home (not activelying CCWing) the 1911 has an X300 on it.
When carring, I carry a handheld surefire.
Not that it hasn’t been covered here already but here’s my .02
For home defense the 1911 has an X300 mounted on it. The wife prefers her G19 and a Surefire 6P LED (for her this is a more simple setup that lets her get rounds downrange faster and safer than messing with a weapon-mounted light).
For work I have the X300 on my pistol, a 9P on my support side, and a rechargable Mag-lite in the patrol car. If I am conducting a vehicle search, looking for items in my trunk, etc I use the 9P. Building searches I completely agree with Bob Moran when he says he can change his mind on what to shoot. Just because you shine your weapon mounted light at something doesn’t mean you have to pull the trigger. If during a search, call, warrant or other situation I am worried about coming in contact with someone who wishes me bodily harm, the weapon-mounted light is the only option for me.
I look at lights like I do the “Use of Force” continuum. You can always start with a weapon-mounted light if the situation is justified. Just be sure that when the time comes you have a handheld to back it up.
Anyone that uses a weapon-mounted light as a general purpose flashlight is just asking for a costly mistake and a huge liability. (LEO’s are some of the bigget offenders when it comes to this and it baffles me every time I hear about it or see it)
I carry both as well.
I keep a M3 on my Glock pretty much 24/7 and have a SureFire 6P that rides backup for those times I just need a light.
I’m old school and don’t believe in giving the bad guys a target that’s sitting in front of my center mass. I can understand the ease of use of the gun mounted lights, but they’re just not for me. I was on a large PD and was in a few shootings, and later investigated about 75 officer involved shootings, and I can’t recall that lights, used one way or the other, ever came into the equation (except for not having one at all…).
Our philosophy is that the pistol-mounted light is a niche tool. Your handhelds should be your primary lights in most circumstances. In some instances, however, the pistol-mounted light offers a great advantage. Sadly, we’re usually only issued two hands and sometimes it seems you need a couple more to illuminate a suspect/scene, open a door, pull back a curtain or sheet, use a radio, or whatever.
I carry a G-2 on my belt, an E2 in my pocket, a mini-light on my keychain, and a Streamlight SL-20X in the cruiser. I certainly like my handhelds.
I carried a hand held for years, as soon as I got a light mountable gun I switched, of course that was after I was out of uniform LOL
i have a TLR-1 on my HD pistol, but not CCW
just today i was messing around with a XML-mini. its a poor light and all plastic, but its the perfect size on a P228R
does anyone know when the TLR-3 subcompact light will be out?
i hope there’s a variety of holsters to accommodate it eventually.
DING
This has been the single biggest issue for me and weaponlights. When I do CC, I’ve had to detach the light and stash it in a pocket, which is a PITA. If I ever need it, I’m hard pressed to figure out the most efficient/practical way for attachment if a rapid response is needed.
My search for holsters, non-drop-leg, that accomodate lights has been an exercise in extreme futility.
I’ve recently added a second ring to my G2L(i’ve actually ended up commandeering the wifes here(yellow)…as i keep finding new applications for the G2’s).It’s a trimmed SF plain ring.I placed it between the tailcap and body of the light.
I use my index finger to grip the forward ring.I find it helps keep the light in-line with the weapon(rather than wanting to point at the ground).It also keeps the light more flush with my shooting hand for activating the tailcap switch.Seems to put the switch perfectly on the ring finger of my shooting hand every time.
I’ve been playing with it for about a month now…
Just all arround more stable,repeatable,and usable for me than the single ring.
Sorry,webcam pics…
Using the single ring…
Using both…
