Gun Mounted Light

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I decided to add a rail mounted light to my carry option, for night when I'm at home. Figured mounted was better than trying to hold one. Didn't go super expensive, But it's 190 lumens and has a strobe feature. Just wondering what others think? Gun is a XD45.
 
Personally I'm not a gun light kind of guy. If this is your normal carry gun do you have the correct holster or would you just be putting the light on it at night. I do have a 9mm that I have a laser on that my wife keeps on her side of the bed and I think it works well for her. I don't know if at the moment of truth I would remember to turn the light on. My home protection gun is a 870 with #4 buck, I'm more comfortable with that than a pistol.
 
No I would not carry with the light on it. The light I bought installs quickly. I live in an older farm house that has very little built in lighting. Sleeping upstairs I have no way of turning on any downstairs lighting from up stairs. I too have a scattergun however it has a full 28" barrel. Sits in the safe loaded with Winchester PDX-1.
 
Like you, I do not carry with a light on my duty pistol or BUG while carrying. However, when I get home in the evenings, I put rail lights on both. The constant on is great for just checking things out. The strobe function is for when contact is imminent and works great. Having been on the giving and receiving end of a strobe enabled rail light, I can tell you that under stress it is disorienting on the receiving end, while on the giving end the pulses are close enough together not to disorient the operator.
 
I highly recc a hand held light used like the police are trained to do. keep that next to your pistol ready to go. On the pistol have a grip activated laser that turns on when grip press. you don't want the crook seeing the laser shinning around until you are ready to shoot. Then you know exactly where your bullets are going to hit. The hand held light is essential for confirming crook and not family member.

LEARN WELL AND LIVE or REGRET AND CRY.
MARTINLOADER
 
Yes, one needs to be sure before any idea of shooting. I'm not a big weapon mounted light guy, but I don't have a problem with it. I know one can have several flashlights around, I see a need for a light much more so than the loaded gun.

Speaking of that identification, the family dog(when present) goes a long way to help I.D. a stranger. Our dog's reaction varies widely from the family member coming home verses that stranger.
 
I currently have the Streamlight TLR-1 HL at 630 Lumens it is almost too bright unless outside and with the thumb screw design it doens't just slip on and off as easily as other designs. I previously owned an M3 and found it to be much more user friendly, unfortunately for me I sold the M3 to buy the TLR-1. I carried the M3 in a Safari-land Holster for a few years, but found it to be much more useful to have a separate flashlight.

Once I stopped carrying the M3 on a daily basis, it was kept in the "nightstand" next to the Glock 35. I installed the M3 as needed and found I typically didn't need in an on duty or carry situation, yet it slid on fast when needed and locked in place. My son woke me up one night stating "the dog is going nuts outside, barking like crazy". I immediately slide the M3 on the Glock, turned on the light and went to investigate the situation. We live on a small hobby farm and the neighbors prized Husky dogs had gotten into the goat sheds and had 3 goats cornered. I gave the shed a good kick and dogs ran out to straight back home. I found the weapon light to be very useful in that situation as it left one hand free to retrieve more gear or available to grip the gun as needed.

The TLR-1 light is an extremely bright, however I have yet to use it in an emergency situation. Since I do not leave the light on the weapon, I can use it as a flash light and did so often with the M3. I have found the TLR-1 to not be as useful as it can be just too bright if it reflects off of something, bringing the brightness right back at you. I could not imagine hitting a mirror or the reflection off a glass door...when shining off a polished floor nearly leaves the user without sight.

Guess my point is to buy quality, but don't get overly bright for home defense. I'm sure the TLR-1 would be great for breaching doors and blinding bad guys, but that isn't what I do, so the overkill has cost me something that worked. If it works for you and your situation that is all that matters...don't fix it based on someone else's opinion. There are mini holsters available to carry the weapon light on a belt rather than on the weapon itself, might be something to check into if you ever plan take it with you. As mentioned before be certain of your target and stay safe!
 

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