Today’s pocket dump includes a Smith & Wesson Bodyguard .380 ACP and a Kershaw Cryo folding knife. This Bodyguard has an Insight laser. So, let’s talk lasers. Do you have one on your carry gun? And if you do, how much have you trained with it?

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49 COMMENTS

    • I have to ask—why? A light makes sense on a SWAT team member’s pistol. It makes sense on a soldier’s handgun. It’s an excellent addition to an OFFENSIVE pistol.

      But on a CCW pistol? What for? The average DGU is under seven yards and is over in seconds. You’re not going to be clearing rooms with your carry pistol.

  2. The laser is not for you it’s for the person on the other end. A white light is great to identify the opponent.

    • “I don’t want to carry a shark in my pockets.”

      How about a trouser trout?

      *snicker* 😉

      • I have one of those high-intensity lasers..[handheld]…it’s touted as a self-defense weapon..but i’m unsure of the legality of using it that way…anybody know what the deal is with using it for that purpose?

    • Actually, that’s not true. I carry a Victoinox Tinker 3″ knife on my key chain, made in Switzerland, has been for a hundred years or so. Got my first one 58 years ago.

      • I’d throw that old knife away and get one with a ceramic blade or high tech polymer. . . . Victornox as far as I’m concerned the best knives made, used Forshner/Victornox at the meat .plant. Michael was talking about the Swiss Tool, )

    • Just don’t buy China made. It’s the only way we’ll ever get away from their crap products and world dominance endeavors.

  5. I love my lasers ever since the night I thought I had to confront an assailant at 3am. I was able to maintain cover, and put the dot on the suspected entry point, holding my 686 Smith 2 feet to my right.
    There was no intruder, but the confidence that dot gave in that scenario will NEVER be forgotten.

    • …got a small one attached to my mossberg 12 GA…which makes it useful when firing from the hip…which is the only practical way to go once you remove the shoulder stock and replace it with a pistol grip…

  6. Got the grip laser on my Kimber Custom Shop CDPII. Once I got used to it I found that I simply place the dot and the round hits that point. Every time.

  7. A laser is the dumbest thing one could ever mount on a fire arm (or even a water pistol, more on the water pistol later) or waste money on. Take the same amount of cash and spend it on ammo and your aim will get much better. The gun laser is a Hollywood gimmick (speaking of Hollywood, how many did John Wick have, yes zero, 0, zilch) it only serves to give away your position, can get you arrested (even watergun reference, can point a laser at many things and people, look it up), it is pretty much useless in bright light or at any distance. For the scare tactics against an intruder (and it worked for me once) buy a cheap laser pointer, but be careful at whom you point it. A better investment besides more ammo and more practice would be a red dot. As my eyes get older and I need glasses to find my glasses (luckily on near vision has suffered), and even though I can place 2 magazines in one large hole at 10 yards with 9mm Luger or .45ACP with factory iron sights, I use red dots most of the time I carry and on my bedside pistol.

    • “…it only serves to give away your position, can get you arrested (even watergun reference, can point a laser at many things and people, look it up), it is pretty much useless in bright light or at any distance.”

      Other than the statement being difficult to see in bright light this statement contains an impressive amount of fail.

      • I repeat, where is the edit button?
        You miss the point but so does the laser sight.
        A) it is very illegal (Federal and Florida law) to point any laser (including but not limited to laser sights and even pointers like those found at Office Depot, even if mounted on water guns) at pilots in airplanes, police officers or those a reasonable person would recognize as a police officer, etc.,etc.,etc.,…
        B) I see you are proud of your laser sight, but have you tried using it in bright light, as in daylight or when someone has a 1000 lumen light aimed back at you, for example, maybe
        C) it never happens in Hollywood movies, but reverse the situation for a moment. Suppose you see the dot of a laser moving along the wall beside you and rapidly approaching your head; right answer is trace it back to the origin and if it presents a true reasonable threat of imminent death or grievous bodily harm follow it back to the source and if needed, end the aforementioned threat.

        • I almost forgot, what if:
          D) you are that threat, or at least perceived so by your adversary (even if they are the one breaking into your home and assaulting your loved ones) and they notice your laser dot on the wall inching toward their head and decide to follow it back to yours and decide to terminate its source.

        • aware of those restrictions…but we’re talking bad guys here… I would think a red-dot on your chest would give anybody pause….the more powerful ones can cause temporary blindness…

        • A) I’m quite well aware of the law. It’s an issue with laser pointers in the hands of stupid people. We’re talking about a weapon mounted laser so the question is Why the hell are you pointing your gun at cops and aircraft?.

          B)Proud of the laser sight that I said I sighted in and have never used since? The one I got because the TLR2 was on sale and therefore cheaper than the TLR1 by $50? I’m so proud that I haven’t used it in five years? Are you stupid?

          C) The presence of a laser dot in such an instance as you describe tells you that there’s a laser being pointed in your general direction. Since a red laser sight, barring dusty/misty conditions isn’t a visible beam “tracing it back” to it’s origin isn’t anywhere near as easy as you seem to think. The point of origin could be anywhere behind you that has an LOS to the location you see the dot. However since I don’t spend much time in action movies I don’t really worry about being painted by a laser.

          D) Again, nonsense. Were I using the laser, which I wouldn’t be, I wouldn’t be “inching” it towards anything and if anything was giving away my position it would be the WML with that laser on it. Further, be damn well assured that if I point a gun at you at most you might have a second to realize what that dot was before I planted a .45 round in you face. About the time you realized what was going on the thump of my suppressed pistol would be the last thing you’d hear. And you probably would hear it because .45 is subsonic.

          I’m not a fan of laser sights. I just don’t have anything against them and I call people out when they’re full of shit which, in this case, you are.

      • Oh, and I repeat, a laser is the dumbest thing anyone could mount to a firearm. Dejavú all over again?

  8. all police forces should adapt weapons mounted lasers to be able to distract and shoot your cat as well as your dog.

  9. My bedside pistol runs a TLR2 light/laser combo just because it was on sale.

    I ranged the laser out 20 yards past where I’m comfortable hitting a milk jug with the irons just because the laser was there. Other than that I’ve never used it.

    • As a side note, if someone was actually at the range for me to use the laser I think I would probably have serious problems legally justifying shooting them under most circumstances.

  10. Lazer will not work in compatibility with a steel framed firearm. Something about gravitational pull, magnetic fluxes, tremendously decreased battery life, and global whining . If I had a 17 Gock or bigger I’d definitely shine a Lazer on it

  11. Back when I was shooting matches and lasers first came out I won a lot of money post match. 12 yards. Pepper poppers. First hit wins. While their looking for their red dot down range I’ve acquired my front sight. Bang, ding. That’ll be $20 please. Thank you. If you have night vision goggles and can see the entire beam. Okay. If you’re in a smoke filled environment, like tracers, they work both ways. Now that I’m no longer military, or law enforcement. Lasers? No thanks. White lights on a night stand gun. Yep. Used one when a gunfight broke out on my street a few days after Hurricane Michael.

    • Citizen Eco-Drive H500 (I think). Got mine at Amazon 5- 10 years ago. About $70 kids. Solar powered, no battery, no winding, can conceivably run forever, accurate timekeeping if you keep it near a light source.

  14. Just so happens I had a conversation with some of the engineers who designed the laser built into the S&W Bodyguard .380. Told them the switch was crap and the laser too dim and it was selling well because it was a fad but that would soon pass. Also told them if they’d fix the switch and improve the laser power I’d buy one. Didn’t happen of course.

    I have two lasers I don’t use anymore. If they were brighter, more powerful to be seen in full daylight and green, it’d be a different story. The 5mW (0.005 watts of power) these lasers claim is pathetically weak. Limited by manufacturer’s fears of lawsuits if they gave you more power and you hurt somebody with it. Or yourself for that matter.

    Green is superior to red because green is the center of the human eye’s sensitivity to color. Red and blue are out toward the limits of what the eye can see.

    One laser is on my .380 pocket gun which was bought purposefully, with the pocket holster to fit it ordered at the same time. I gave up putting batteries in it a couple of years ago, now it is just part of the grip, I should take it off, order a new holster and train for the change in grip. Gave up on it because there are so few scenarios where it can be seen, or practiced with.

    The other is one of those Ruger sold for the 10/22. The Ruger was an impulse buy, it was cut way down in price so what the heck huh?

    The laser on the 10/22 is strictly a waste of money. As I only use it outside in the daytime, I instantly discovered the laser is only visible within 10 feet. So, completely pointless for saber toothed jackrabbits and zombie prairie rats. Also the assorted tin cans, steel gongs, clays and other stuff that tend to attract little rimfire lead lumps at distances out 25 to 100 yards.

    Back to centerfire and self defense…..

    You must be able to aim and shoot your gun under all lighting conditions. If you only practice putting the wimpy-assed 5mW laser on the target under indoor or after-sunset conditions, you will come up short if you ever have a real life need to shoot somebody. You will point the gun, not sight it, hesitate wondering where the glowing magic dot is at?

    Not a good plan.

    • “The 5mW (0.005 watts of power) these lasers claim is pathetically weak. Limited by manufacturer’s fears of lawsuits if they gave you more power and you hurt somebody with it.”

      This is incorrect.

      The 5mW limit is imposed by government regulation. In fact, when Wicked Lasers released their 1W Blue Laser it was immediately classified by (get this) the FDA as a medical device and made illegal to import/possess without a license.

      The same thing applies to any of their other lasers which these days go up to like 3.5W. If you order one they ship it all over the world and add it into box after box to cover up where it’s coming from. Otherwise CBP will confiscate it when/if they find it. Oh, and they ARE looking. When these gizmos first came out it took 11 months for Wicked Lasers to deliver them because the first, second and third sets of shipments were all confiscated when they reached US jurisdiction.

      • had no problem getting mine…they sell them right here on the internet…and, yes…it does seem wickedly powerful…a brilliant green that shines a long, long way…maybe all i’ve acquired is a legal liability here…but this thing is impressive…..

      • More precisely what the FDA regulates is labeling and safety features. A laser of any power can be confiscated from a manufacturer (but not from an owner/consumer) if it is marketed for a purpose other than its safety and warning labels indicate. Or, if fully compliant with labeling and marking and advertising regulations, the FDA and Customs cannot take it. Not that they cannot attempt to take it, bureaucrats can attempt to do all kinds of rude behaviors.

        Nor is it illegal for you to own a laser of any power or color. If you use it unsafely tho, you can get into quite a lot of trouble. For example the FDA has the authority to inspect laser light shows and shut them down if safety regulations are not being followed. You may not point a laser of any power at an aircraft without violating the law.

        The FDA has wanted for some time to declare all non-red handheld lasers to be “defective”, banning the importation or sale of them. I believe the last effort to do that was in 2016. Yet another example of a bureaucracy preempting lawful behavior because somebody may misbehave with something.

        For now manufacturers and sellers can make and sell whatever they want. What they must do is be extremely careful in how they label and market what they sell. Any indication at all that they are suggesting an unsafe use per the FDA’s view of it, and their products can be seized.

        Ideally a targeting laser on a rifle would be in the IR spectrum, invisible to the eye. Only viewed in night vision sights and googles. But go that route and the costs are enormous, and who wants to walk around wearing night vision goggles all the time anyway?

        • Well that’s not what the FDA said back I 2011 when the Arctic first came out. I ordered one, got a series of emails from Wicked Lasers directing me to FDA websites on the topic and apologizing that my laser hadn’t been delivered because CPB was actively confiscating them.

          Eventually a box showed up from Oregon. I side was a box from Australia, inside that was a box from Japan, inside that was a box from main land China and I sure that was the original shipping box.

          The FDA stated plainly at the time that they considered a blue laser in a 1W power range to be a “medical device” which couldn’t be imported or possessed without a license. There was no talk of the labeling, which I agree they regulate.

  15. yeesh. now i hafta wickd lasier.
    used crimson trace grips for hi power. some parallax, pick your distance.
    if you had two you could just hold them up and point them down; yow single point of light/ no sight.
    lazer beans are cool.

    • …especially on shotguns…don’t think they’re all that effective for precise bullet placement at any distance….a red dot in your scopes cross hairs seems to work pretty well on my 30/06 though….

  17. I tried a couple of lasers mounted on pistols. One self destructed from normal use and the other ate batteries like there was no tomorrow, leaving me high and dry. I removed it and and it sits in the draw of unloved holster mistakes (the ones you buy thinking they will be the one that fits so well you will forget you are carrying). Not reliable and not worth its weight / bulk. IMO EDC should be driven by KISS principles.

  19. No lasers. No lights. No red dots. It’s a defensive carry pistol. I’m not ringing steel at 50 feet or clearing rooms. Pretty hard to justify long range shots and aggressive action to the DA.

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