Who else aims with their Flashlight's hotspot?

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

_CY_

Sharpshooter
Supporting Member
Special Hen Supporter
Joined
May 11, 2009
Messages
33,848
Reaction score
6,619
Location
tulsa
My Glock 17 is mated to a Surefire X200 weapon light with Hiviz fiber optic sights. Same for Scattergun Tech TRS 870, which is also mated to a Surefire weapon light.

Both guns has point of impact mated to center of Surefire weapon lights LED hotspot. meaning both weapons uses flashlight's hotspot as an aiming device. Exactly like a laser, only with flashlight being used for a dual purpose of illuminating what you are shooting and aiming gun.

aiming flashlight is possible due to the fact that reflector is never centered exactly. this allows aiming by rotating reflector until center of flashlight's hotspot matches gun's sights point of impact. note this is only possible on flashlights that allows access to reflector. X200's reflector was not accessible but aim luckily was near center. Surefire's weapon lights mount solid and results in repeatable aim points.

here's an article posted earlier on how to upgrade a surefire light with a P-60 LED drop-in. http://www.okshooters.com/showthread.php?110483-Surefire-Shotgun-Forend-WeaponLights-LED-Upgrade

Who else uses an LED flashlight as an aiming device?


beamshot for Surefire weapon light with P-60 LED drop-in (aprox. 300 lumens)
aimg.photobucket.com_albums_v186_o0pss_beamshot870.jpg


ahome.tulsaconnect.com_toug_cpf_scattergun.JPG


beamshot Surefire X200 (aprox. 100 lumens)
aimg.photobucket.com_albums_v186_o0pss_beamshotx200.jpg


aimg.photobucket.com_albums_v186_o0pss_g17x200.jpg
 
Last edited:

_CY_

Sharpshooter
Supporting Member
Special Hen Supporter
Joined
May 11, 2009
Messages
33,848
Reaction score
6,619
Location
tulsa
so does anyone else aim their gun with a Surefire weapon mounted flashlight?

this method uses flashlight's LED hotspot exactly like a laser aiming device like Crimson trace.
flashlight also identifies with 100% certainty what you are shooting in pitch darkness.
this is why I've taken off my TFO tritium night sights in favor of Hiviz fiber optic sights.
 

rlongnt

Sharpshooter
Supporting Member
Special Hen Supporter
Joined
May 16, 2006
Messages
4,414
Reaction score
3,586
Location
Edmond
Sure, I see that you can at "real" close range. BUT! I do not use a mounted light on my pistol in favor of a hand held for the single reason that in order to illuminate my target, I must be aiming a loaded weapon directly at it. The chances of the bump I hear not being a bad guy but one of my children make it a no-brainer. For people who go chasing bad guys for a living or have a different living environment I can certainly see the value and am not telling anyone how to set up their rig. That is just how I do it. I also opt to turn on the damn milti-jillion lumen set of lights powered by 110 AC that came with the house!

I do have an X300 on my AR and have noticed your point perfectly well at close range. It has some merit but the lights hot-spot is not what I would really call a responsible shot beyond just a few feet if at all.
 

SMS

Sharpshooter
Supporting Member
Special Hen Supporter
Joined
Jun 15, 2005
Messages
15,299
Reaction score
4,219
Location
OKC area
...in order to illuminate my target, I must be aiming a loaded weapon directly at it.

If that is true for you then you might be doing it wrong. Try lighting up your living room at low ready. A good weapon light will provide more than enough illumination to identify a target without covering the target.

That being said I don't/won't use the center of my flashlight's beam as a replacement for proper sight alignment. What's the MOA of the 'hotspot' in question?
 

peanut

Sharpshooter
Joined
Jan 8, 2011
Messages
2,634
Reaction score
0
Location
Broken Arrow
I wondered how long it would take for someone to chime in.
I thought about posting this morning and figured i'd just see how long it took.

1st of, not many people practice with the weapon light attached. Not that it is not needed, just prob not used much. Practice with the handheld and weapon should be more!!
2nd, my guns with weapon lights on them generally stay in the house. I'm not going to point a loaded weapon at someone just to shine a light. Outside of the house, handheld light one hand with weapon in the other or holstered.
I'm not LE or Mil. so I don't walk around outside with lighted weapons.
Inside the house i'm not worried about it. I can get plenty of light splash to light the area if need be without directly pointing the weapon.
 

rlongnt

Sharpshooter
Supporting Member
Special Hen Supporter
Joined
May 16, 2006
Messages
4,414
Reaction score
3,586
Location
Edmond
Sure I get that you can light an area in general using deflected lighting which you should be doing anyway to prevent you from blinding yourself with the hot-spot. Another reason I use a hand held is that it can be laying around loose next to the bed without violating the youth handgun safety act. Just kidding, I have a gun vault on the dresser for that too

Lastly, another aspect to consider is that my home defense and CCW are the same gun if for no other reason that familiarity. I don’t carry my CCW with a mounted light but do carry the same light and weapon that are next to me at night. Familiarity and using it the same way I practice and carry just seem to make sense to me.

Now if someone has a spare HK 45 and X300 they don’t need I will bolt the gun-vault to my dresser, change my point of view and rewrite my thoughts on the matter.
 

Glocktogo

Sharpshooter
Supporting Member
Special Hen Supporter
Joined
Jan 12, 2007
Messages
29,424
Reaction score
15,659
Location
Collinsville
so does anyone else aim their gun with a Surefire weapon mounted flashlight?

this method uses flashlight's LED hotspot exactly like a laser aiming device like Crimson trace.
flashlight also identifies with 100% certainty what you are shooting in pitch darkness.
this is why I've taken off my TFO tritium night sights in favor of Hiviz fiber optic sights.

You might want to consider the "Two is one and one is none." theory before ditching those night sights. If your light dies when you need it most, you need a hand held as a backup and that's not going to work as well with FO sights. Also, I can think of a few instances where you don't want to illum the target while engaging. Have you spent much time live firing in the dark with your setup vs. other options?
 

_CY_

Sharpshooter
Supporting Member
Special Hen Supporter
Joined
May 11, 2009
Messages
33,848
Reaction score
6,619
Location
tulsa
finally we have some feedback ... was beginning to feel like I'm the only one doing this.

to answer a few questions... have not measured moa of hotspot yet. true a tight hotspot makes this method possible, but spill of light. which illuminates room/environment is equally important.

what started all this was the debate of using a tritium night sight or not. risk of shooting something you cannot identify with 100% certainty would be a career ender. that would be valid for LEO and/or anyone else that uses a gun to defend their life.

in normal daylight, fiber optic sights like Hiviz is clearly superior to hybrid sights like TFO which uses tritium tubes embedded into sight assembly. in failing light, if you no longer can see a high quality fiber optic sight like Hiviz. IMHO opinion you should not be taking that shot!!! again this would include LEO and/or anyone else who finds themselves in that unfortunate situation.

with today's technology LED has long surpassed incandescent lamp's output. reliability is why Surefire remains weapon light of choice. this aiming/illuminating method lets you ID your target with 100% certainty without having to fiddle with your sights.

steps are almost fool proof for this method of aiming/illuminating target/environment. note this method of aiming/illuminating environment is meant for closeup encounter. ideal in an home defense situation.

1. test shoot your gun, especially your shotty to confirm sight matches point of impact and what size groups for your particular load. OO buck, etc.

2. with weapon light mounted. shine light at 10 yds to isolate hotspot. then check if your sights matches up with center of hotspot. if hotspot matches point of impact for sights, then you are done.

unfortunately weapon lights don't come with option to adjust hotspot like laser sights. however for folks using a P-60 LED drop-in. it is possible to match hotspot to gun's point of impact by rotating P-60 LED drop-in. the link is in OP.

plans are to post a series of targets shot in pitch darkness. with feedback on size of hotspot to distance, etc.
 

redmax51

Sharpshooter
Joined
Dec 5, 2005
Messages
7,918
Reaction score
5
Location
Tulsa
You might want to consider the "Two is one and one is none." theory before ditching those night sights. If your light dies when you need it most, you need a hand held as a backup and that's not going to work as well with FO sights. Also, I can think of a few instances where you don't want to illum the target while engaging. Have you spent much time live firing in the dark with your setup vs. other options?



^^ This for sure.
 

Latest posts

Top Bottom