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I've always wanted a set of laser grips for my DC but always balked at the price. I finally had a little unexpected cash (who knew you could actually win at BlackJack :)) and decided to splurge.

Put them on and took them down the range today to sight them in.

Right off the bat I can see some real advantages:
1. I got on target quicker

2. Much greater confidence in longer shots (50' indoor range 5" w/4" .45)

3. Off-hand, from the hip and rapid fire all showed improved accuracy

4. This one I thought of as both an advantage and a disadvantage: I found myself a little more relaxed in my shooting posture. Good from a perspective of I didn't have tunnel vision and felt like I had a wider field of vision. Bad from I felt more exposed and sloppy. Not hunkered down in a combat stance.

5. I suspect I will be able to do some better training at home with holster draws

6. I also suspect that a red dot on center man would be intimidating to BG but that's just speculation

Some draw backs I found

1. Already mentioned shooting stance felt sloppy

2. Not nearly as focused on the front sight or sight picture (fundamentals of shooting felt weak)

3. Range wasn't ventalated very well and there was a nice line right back to my shooting position

4. Still danged expensive

My personal bottom line is I shot faster with the laser but I think I shoot better (big picture 'better', not necessarily more accurate) without the laser. I think they are a good addition to a carry gun but I will make sure to train without it too.

3.5 out of 5 stars IMO
 
Congrats on the purchase. If you work with them, you will start trending towards 5 out of 5.:D

I have found that the best results are to pick a distance, mine is thirty feet, and then adjust the elevation and windage of the laser sight to co-witness with the front sight ON POA/POI 10 ring HITS at that distance. Then, if the target is closer, you know you will hit ever so slightly high and a greater distances you will be slightly low, within reason, but you will always be horizontally locked in and never be hunting the dot or ignoring your sights unless you want to.

Then the greatest advantage comes into play. Your sight picture can totally suck due to high speed, stress, or weird shooting angles around cover or barriers, and you can trust what you are seeing without throwing a flier if you can stabilize the sight picture for even a moment and snap fire it. At least in less than broad daylight anyway. YMMV.

The biggest mistake borrowers of my laser sighted 1911 make when trying it out is "chasing the dot" while ignoring the front sight as their aim wanders at arm's length. The laser is ideally used to confirm the POA of the front sight.

Then you can do things like I have. Show a friend how you can now shoot cross eye dominant, like use your right hand to shoot while aiming or looking down range with only your left eye. Or shoot from the "FBI crouch" without active sight use at all.

You have to spend the time and a mix of your SD load and FMJ fodder, splitting the POI difference, if any, but if you put in the time, the CTC will hold its zero a damn long time as long as you don't take the grips off or change ammo.
 
I'm still not a huge fan of lasers...you tend to stare more at the laser than anything else. You will actually move your firearm out of the way of your head so you can see the laser.

For long distance I can see an advantage- even the psychological affect is awesome. Nevertheless it brings out bad habbits in shooting and you become too dependant upon it to find your target for you. And when the batteries die or your laser gets obstructed or breaks you will resort to what you practice the most on- which is not a good thing when you have bad habbits from shooting with a laser.
 
You only have the "bad habits" you develop. Like I said, I use mine as a co-witnessing device. I am still fully engaged with my sights and not chasing the dot, because the dot is obscured by my front sight at all practical distances. What I mean is that it shows up on the target, but mine is set up so that the front sight is like a lunar eclipse of the sun, a dark blade in my dot, the dot as a corona. You can't hunt it if it is already where you are sighting.

"When your batteries die. . . " I have used the grips for eight years and finally replaced the batteries at year five when they didn't even show a need for it yet.
 
I think one of prime advantages of the laser is as a defensive tool at night in your home. Should you wake up out of a sound sleep in a dark house and hear a window break, a door get kicked in, you do not have to use the gun sights, simply click on the laser on button once your know the location of the target. It may stop the home invasion quickly and if not you will direct fire at your target.:s0155:
 
I've owned three sets of laser grips. I sell them almost as quick as I buy them. They never have lived up to my expectations. The only thing that hasn't fallen short of my expectations has been CrimsonTrace's customer service. It has always been excellent.
 
I've owned three sets of laser grips. I sell them almost as quick as I buy them. They never have lived up to my expectations. The only thing that hasn't fallen short of my expectations has been CrimsonTrace's customer service. It has always been excellent.

+1 on their customer service...they have a reputation like no other. I told them one of our grips broke overseas, they said "say no more, a replecement is on the way!"
 
One huge advantage a laser can give you is firing around a corner/cover, where you only need to expose one eye and the weapon, itself, to get hits. I have just such a potential situation in the entrance of my split level home

Crimson Trace offers a training video, which I highly recommend
 

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