Crimson Trace and CCW

[Michael Janich]

First let me say I'm a lefty.  I have an XD9 Service that is my carry gun.  I have been on the CT forum and they say I have to keep my thumps lower, but when I do my grip does not feel right.  I have tried the display model they had in my local gun store and I can't seem to get my thumps out of the way.  Any suggestions?

In a two-handed lefty grip, I find the primary problem is my right thumb. Although I prefer to have the thumbs "stacked" with the support thumb on the frame, firing lefty I have to fold my thumb down completely to keep from blocking the laser. The left thumb rides alongside the laser "bump."

You might also consider a rail-mounted laser like the LaserLyte. Rob gave me one of these recently and it works pretty well. Activation of it is less intuitive than the CT models, but isn't difficult.

Stay safe,

Mike

[tnroadrunner]

Thanks Mike I will check out Laserlyte.

[mnshooter]

I previously posted this shortly after Jim  Cirillo's passing, but the subject is lasers;
I met Jim at the indoor range in Panama City, Florida.  He was testing lazer grips, and told me, "I have come to the conclusion that anyone without a laser who becomes involved in a low light shooting is at a distinct disadvantage."

[Charles Rives]

About a year ago, while walking my dog, another large aggressive dog charged me and my dog.  As it charged, I drew both a can of PUNCH II (OC Spray) and my Glock 19.  Since I didn't want to shoot the dog, I used the PUNCH II and managed to deter the dog that way.  It lunged and darted around me and my dog so FAST that sighted fire would be too slow and its vitals were to small to hit with a sloppy fast unsighted shot.  Also, because it not only moved fast but darted around me, it meant that (no faster or better at it than I am) I couldn't use the normal point-shooting body alignment tools of extending toward the target in the eye-muzzle-target line.  In Combat Focus terms, this situation put too much demand on my balance of speed and precision.  I couldn't be precise enough at the speed of a lunging aggressive dog.  If I had carried one of my Crimson Trace equipped pistols that day, I think it would have worked better (although, I'm still glad that the OC worked instead).

I keep CTC lasers on most of my handguns, now.  I sight them in so that they put the dot floating on top of my front sight blade when I'm in a normal firing stance. 

I seem to see three sets of problems with lasers on most people's guns:

• They never learned to shoot well in the first place and they expect the laser to take over the need for sighting entirely (and usually have such poor trigger control that they jerk the shot 2-4 feet low when the dot appears on target)
• They can shoot pretty well without the laser but they haven't spent time with their laser gun and get bedazzled by the dot.
• They learn to shoot well with the laser but become dependent upon it and are lost when things go wrong and it doesn't work.