pros and cons of WMLs

[jsbhike]

Conversely.. Cops draw their guns on people that my be guilty of nothing all the time. So I don't know how to reconcile that piece of the law.

That(in some areas of the country) is starting to result in cops getting charged.

Can't recall which forum, but a cop mentioned a coworker getting pistol lights banned for their whole agency due to using one to direct traffic which was presumably(at the time at least) one of the areas in the country letting cops point firearms at people for no valid reason with no consequences.

[OutofBatt3ry]

This is a tricky topic. In AZ if I light up someone with a pistol mounted light in public and they turn out to be innocent of anything, I could be charged with Agg Assault for pointing a gun at someone.

This is one reason I don't like pistol mounted lights. I definitely carry my light separate from my pistol when out walking the dogs... that way I could light anyone approaching without worrying.

Rifle, on the other hand is an "in home" weapon, so anyone inside who doesn't belong there is legally subject to lethal force in AZ. Plus trying to shoot long gun with a handheld light is exhausting.

I recall a thread on the "other site" where a member was using his EDC light while on his Glock to find addresses when he was doing Uber/Door Dash.

Hilarity ensued.


If you watch a lot of Police videos (Check out the YouTube channel Police Activity), you'll see in stressfull shootings, even the pro's seem to be fumbling with the weapon light, so training is critical. Turn on the flashlight, and bang...shit.

I only have one pistol with a light (TLR3?), bedside gun, but it's locked in a safe and being groggy, it's slow to open. I just end up keeping a 20y/o Bushmaster "M4" clone next to the bed and a full sized Streamlight Stinger.

I have a number of long guns with lights and I do a lot of pre-dawn and night shooting. I went crazy and spent like $800 on a Surefire Scout and a Cloud Rein, + switches and mounts, then felt dumb spending that kind of money on flashlights. Yeah, they're bright AF, but I have a little 10.5" AR pistol with a Streamlight Protac, and that works just fine; it was like $100.

On my EDC..no light. Bone stock, plastic sights, G45, and just carry a little Streamlight handheld, little short/fat light. It's pretty neat.

[pag23]

I have WML on my HD guns since if I have to deploy it, there is someone in my house that is not invited. I do occasionally carry a light on my carry gun with a RDS but only if going out at night....but also carry a mini flashlight.

I wouldn't use a WML to ID anything unless I want to get charged...

[georgeib]

Interesting point. I've never tried a variety of lights. For a pistol mounted light, serious scrutiny on what minimizes the blinding reflection would be wise. I say that because the smoke in itself isn't the problem. It's the instant white reflection on the smoke that is the problem.

Exactly. A light with a lot of lumens and relatively low candela is a light that has a lot of spill with relatively low throw. These lights tend to illuminate a lot in the periphery without a highly concentrated center hot spot, and so will bounce a lot of light off things like a smoke cloud. Conversely, a tightly focused light with high candela, such as the Modlite OKW, has a much higher tendency to punch through such barriers. Let me see if I can dig up some images that illustrate this...

[georgeib]

Okay, here's a video that a good job of illustrating the difference between the Modlite heads, with video of the various heads against smoke, headlights, etc.



Here's a concise page that does a lot of the same thing, and explains some of the terminology with images and some short gifs:

https://www.badassoptic.com/what-is-photonic-barrier/

[markm]

Yeah. That gif really illustrates the issue well.

[SteveL]

Okay, here's a video that a good job of illustrating the difference between the Modlite heads, with video of the various heads against smoke, headlights, etc.



Here's a concise page that does a lot of the same thing, and explains some of the terminology with images and some short gifs:

https://www.badassoptic.com/what-is-photonic-barrier/

Thanks for posting this video.