Training with Firearm Laser Devices

Here's another important video from the Personal Defense Network. Training with a laser gives the opportunity to experiment with some unorthodox shooting positions, shooting from non-extended positions, and understanding how to use the laser to get extreme precision in a low light situation. Once your laser is set-up properly, or at least you understand the laser's relationship to your proper sight alignment sight picture, if your point of aim, point of impact, at realistic defensive distances. This Beretta's set up with an internal guide rod laser. We can activate by pressing in with our trigger finger on this side, or by pressing across and in with the same button as it extends on the other side where it protrudes with our off hand in a two handed shooting position.

We can have it on when we're in the ready position. We certainly could just have it turned on when we extend into a shooting position, if we instead wanted to do that. We need to be sure, just like any other lever, maybe a safety lever that we're gonna actuate while we're extending the gun, that we turn that laser on before we reach extension. If we wait until after we reach extension, what's likely to happen is we're gonna create deviation, or we're gonna push our gun, or move our gun in and out of our preferred shooting position. So, what we wanna do is make sure that we're extending it.

Obviously, if you use your trigger finger to turn that laser on, that's gonna be easy. As you start your extension we turn the laser on, and then we touch and press when we reach extension. We actually get into our shooting position. We don't want to be moving buttons, moving the gun around at all. We want to extent into our shooting position.

Let's assume that we've turned the laser on already in our ready position. We're gonna engage different threat sizes. We're gonna actually use different parts of this target. The first thing we're gonna do is use all of the shape that contains a number as our combat accurate area. I have my training partner, Mike, in the background here at 360 Tactical Training Memorial Shooting Center.

He's gonna call out a number. I'm gonna engage that threat appropriately from the ready position. So, with a full extension, but counting on that laser to help me see where my point of impact is going to be. Five. Now, you can see with the laser, I slow my shooting way down.

It's a low light situation. I wanna focus on that laser dot. I wanna make sure the laser stays in the right position. If I turn my laser off, let's see what the shooting looks like. Four.

Extending, touching, and pressing is always going to be faster and easier than using any artificial sight alignment. The laser sight is an artificial gauge that tells me where the gun is aligned. When the need for precision demands that I use a laser, it's perfectly acceptable to take that extra time. But I don't wanna become dependent on looking for the laser. One of the other things I wanna be careful about in my training, is I don't stop aligning the gun in the proper place just because I have a laser on the gun.

For example, I see a lot of people on the shooting line, when they are using a laser, do something like this. I'll stand by for a command, and do it improperly as a demonstration. Six. Extending the gun straight out from the chest, and looking over the gun as we touch and press, will allow us to get the hit we need to get when we have the laser. But, as you saw, that gun moved much more dramatically in this position, shooting in front of my chest, than it will when I'm extended.

Even a relatively large gun like this in a caliber of nine millimeter, has recoil that we have to manage. I can manage that recoil better when I'm in my normal extended shooting position. If I close one eye, it's much harder for me to see that laser. And, in fact, I can't see the laser at this point. I have to open both eyes and see the laser around the gun.

We have binocular vision. It gives us the ability to let one eye see what's going on beyond the gun when the gun blocks the eye. Probably our stronger eye, because that's where we'd naturally align the gun as we point. Just like we would align our finger when we point. But our weaker eye can still pick up that laser dot.

We don't need to have the gun down here, and hold the gun in front of our chest, or in front of our chin. And far too often, I see shooters do just that when they start to rely on the laser. Now, the fact is, one of the advantages of the laser is being able to shoot in these unorthodox shooting positions. But, just like shooting from the ground, shooting from kneeling, shooting from seated position, we don't do that by choice. We do that because the circumstances demand it.

If I find myself in cramped quarters, maybe backed into a closet which I thought would hide me or keep me safe from a threat. The threat decided to come in towards the closet. As he did, opened the door, backed away into a position where the threat with a knife, maybe a threat with a firearm, and he's beyond two arms reach when I normally would want to extend. But, I was afraid they were going to come in closer to me and take the gun away, or hit the gun. I may shoot from a compressed position.

Shooting from a compressed position when we're in contact is very easy. We orient the gun using body alignment. Keep the magazine well and our thumb against our body. Knowing where that other person is, allows us to orient the muzzle appropriately. Touch and press, and fire from this position.

If someone is four, five, six, seven, eight feet away, we're backed into a confined space where we can't do lateral movement, we can't maneuver, we don't wanna have our gun extended where they might be able to come in and interfere with our ability to hurt them. We can shoot from this unorthodox position. So, in this case, I'll use the six again as my target area, and I'll shoot from a compressed position down here. Not really a contact retention position, but also not our full extended position. Just an in between position where I can still have my arm against my body.

Get a little bit of extra stability. I'll be in this position. I'll touch, and I'll slowly, smoothly press the trigger. And I'll get the hit that I need to get. Now, one of the things you might have noticed is that this particular laser set up on this guide rod, is shooting a little bit higher than I would normally want it to be if it were all dialed in exactly, perfectly right.

The fact is, you only have so much adjustment in these devices. And the devices do not always align perfectly with the barrel. There's always going to be some deviation. Knowing what that deviation is is important if we want to take advantage of the opportunity to use the laser for precision shooting. Now, I know that this laser is shooting two or three inches high at this distance.

I'm not likely to need to take a shot that has one inch of deviation control making a difference. If the hostage rescue shot were that close, I probably wouldn't take it. Honestly, it's not a responsible thing to do. But, if I need to shoot a smaller target area, maybe a head shot for some reason, because of a bystander, because of cover or intermediate barriers, I need to take that shot. I've decided it was the right thing to do to defend my family.

Let's take a look at the three in this instance. The three has two half circles, the top one and the bottom one. And I'm gonna look, very specifically, at the top one. I'm gonna decide that that's going to be my deviation area. That's gonna be my combat accurate area.

Just the top half of the three. Knowing that my laser dot is actually a little bit lower than my point of impact, I'm gonna hold a little bit low, two or three inches. I'm gonna use my flashlight to illuminate that. You can see that hole is directly into the top of the three. So, we know that the laser can help us in this situation with precision shooting.

The laser can help us to pinpoint our accuracy in a low light situation. Especially a situation where there's not a lot of contrast between the sights and our target. If we look at our dark target that we have set up over here to the side, I don't even know if you can see that on the camera, but we'd certainly have enough light in this range right now to see that target and shoot that target. In fact, if I wanted to take a precision shot into the head, I could certainly do that with my laser. At this point, I'll take the flashlight out again and illuminate that hole so that you can see it.

Now, there's no way with that dark target, in this dark environment, with these sights, that I would have been able to use traditional sight alignment sight picture to get the hit I needed to get in this case. This is one of those opportunities to really take advantage of the laser for precision shooting. Where we would normally use sight alignment sight picture, but we can't because of a low light situation, the laser gives us the opportunity to be precise. So, while the laser doesn't necessarily speed us up, and, in fact, I believe it slows most shooters down, in traditional shooting situations where we're simply going to extend, touch, press, it does allow us to be faster in situations where we're in compromised confined positions where we can't extend our gun. It allows us to be more precise in low light situations when we can't count on normal sight alignment and sight picture because of low contrast issues.

The other thing laser allows us to do is to be a little more precise when it comes to offhand shooting. If your offhand shooting is something you don't get to practice a lot, you find yourself in a situation where the gun ends up in your weak hand because of an injury, a distraction. Maybe you're in a fight with this hand and you're trying to control somebody. Whether it's someone who's trying to run into the line of fire, someone that you're trying to protect and keep at bay, and you just have to shoot with your left hand. The target's relatively close.

Coming in, getting closer. More of an imminent threat. We decided we have to shoot with our weak hand. Or, this could be involved with someone who's holding it. Maybe somebody who doesn't want us to survive.

Someone who's trying to help the threat. Maybe somebody adversary who's not lethal, that we are holding and pinning down. We need to shoot with our weak hand. Whatever the situation is, there are certainly plausible ones where we'll need to shoot with our weak hand. The laser can make that a lot easier to do.

As we extend, and we just watch that laser dot on the actual target, then we can touch and press and be able to maintain control. Maybe even for rapid follow up shots. Once we get that laser in the area that we want it in, we can take that shot. Even in these situations where we're shooting with our weak hand, we don't get to practice with our weak hand as much as we'd like to. So, while that wasn't the fastest shooting in the world, and it wasn't the most accurate shooting in the world, it was combat accurate.

It was shots that would have had a significant effect on the targets ability to present a lethal threat. And if I haven't practiced with my weak hand, that may be where I end up. I may not have extended the gun properly. I may not have done what I needed to do. Of course, if we've done proper training with our weak hand, and we know how to get into proper extension, and we get proper alignment, good intuitive shooting position, the laser can still assist us to verify the position of the gun and the alignment.

Now, what just happened is something that can happen with a laser. It can get turned off during recoil, especially if shooting in the weak hand, or shooting in unorthodox shooting positions. That's exactly what just happened. One of the things about any electrical device is that you need to know how to overcome it's failure. If you're dependent upon a laser in a defensive shooting situation, you're setting yourself up to get hurt when that laser fails.

It's one of the reasons we insist that people with lasers on their guns don't learn to shoot like this. Because if you learn to shoot looking over the gun, when it comes time to shoot intuitively, without the laser, or with standard sight alignment sight picture, which honestly, are the overwhelming majority of defensive situations. Good extended, in the line of sight, parallel with the line of sight shooting situations, you really have a problem if all you've ever done was look over the gun at that laser device. Now, obviously, with a laser that's set up to use ambidextrously, if that recoil turns the laser off, and I do need it because of a compromised situation, I can simply use my weak-handed trigger finger to turn it back on, and once again be in a situation where I can use that laser to find and identify my point of impact. Get back into my extended position, Take the shot I need to take.

Get the hit I need to get, and again, deal with the threat appropriately. Multiple shots if necessary. Maybe one shot'll do the trick. Multiple shots. Knowing that that laser is gonna allow us to get back on target in these unorthodox shooting situations, is important to remember.

Remember the laser can help in precision shooting when the night sights, or the regular sights you have, aren't in a situation where they can actually be of help because of low contrast, or no contrast situations. A laser is a great option. Especially if you can get one that conveniently integrates with the gun, such as the rear sight laser, the laser guide rod, or the laser grips, which don't interfere with your ability to put the firearm into a holster, and use it both inside the home and out of the home. The lasers that attach underneath the barrel also have more deviation from that bore line, which means there's gonna be an even greater disparity between your point of aim and your point of impact when you're using that laser. Especially across different distances, as those two lines will intersect at only one point in space, some known distance from the gun.

When you get a laser on a firearm, make sure that you set it up as well as you can to be as close to your point of impact as you need it to be, inside of the standard distances which you're gonna defend yourself. We recommend 10 to 12 feet for the typical homeowner or concealed carry permit owner. Check out more videos just like this one at the Personal Defense Network.