Video: Effectively Shooting With A Handheld Light

Effectively shooting with a handheld light is, well, a handful. Jamie Caldwell offers some techniques to get a grip on the challenge.

Best-case scenario, you’ll have a weapons light directly attached to your defensive handgun. In reality, this won’t always be the case. Maybe running this type of setup is too bulky for your carry profile or your gun doesn’t happen to sport an accessory rail. Whatever the case, a weapons light might prove a bridge too far.
Then what’s the solution for low-light situations?

Well, unless you wear your night-vision nogs everywhere after dark, it’s time to learn to shoot with a handheld light. Honestly, as former special operator and current instructor with 1-Minute Out Jamie Caldwell points out in the above video, it’s easier said than done. At issue, is how to shed light while maximizing the ability to get hits. The difficulty in this comes from the fact the support hand in most techniques is off the gun, essentially forcing much more inaccurate one-hand shooting.

Now, the key point here is “most techniques” because there are some which allow a fundamental two-hand grip. Caldwell demonstrates one, where the light is clutched between two of the support-hand fingers while gripping the gun. It’s a solid system, though it takes some practice to make it an efficient tactic. For some, especially those with smaller hands, it may even prove prohibitive.

This leads us to another point, not every lighting technique will work for every shooter. In addition to the methods Caldwell covers, shooters should do their homework and investigate other ways to deploy a handheld light. Then they should experiment and find what works best for them. Not every system is compatible with every shooter, it takes time and effort to parse out how to light up a target, then effectively engage it.

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