Low light / Night fire training class

Recently I did a Low Light / Night Fire (i.e. handgun & flashlight) class at OFA here in Oregon.

The one-day (actually afternoon through early night), 8-hour class involved both classroom instruction and extensive firing range practice, and concluded with a police-qualification course-of-fire (I'm not a LEO BTW).

I learned some interesting things in the class and wanted to post with a number of things to share.

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I brought my two favorite small SureFires to the class, a 'Crosshairs' C2 and a 6Z.
(My larger C3, Z3, 9Z, & 7Z stayed at home, and my G2Z & G3Z aren't ready yet - starting to see a pattern? lol)

The 'grip ring' SF's were specifically designed for use with a handgun, and I have also found (through much usage) that this flashlight configuration works very well for me in general use as well. I do keep my SF C2 in my nightstand along with one or two other things. Both of these lights have been bored for 18650's and for the class I used my treasured Moddoo V2 XPG DD Triple drop-in in both lights (more on that later).



Clickable thumbnail below, regarding other things that are slightly off-topic for this thread.



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The class started with a classroom discussion on the more theoretical aspects of using a flashlight with a handgun, as well as the specific challenges of shooting in low light situations. First, some of the flashlight basics were covered, incandescent vs. LED, output, beam characterisics, switch types, single vs. multimodes, etc.

The instructors did state a preference for an output 'sweet spot' of ~100-200 lumens; they claimed that higher outputs could result in blinding reflections in close quarters. I have attended a few other OFA classes by now and am on reasonably good terms with the instructors, so I asked permission to quickly demonstrate something after they went over the aspects of hotspot vs. spill. (They already know I'm a flashlight junkie, lol.)

I went up to their graphic showing a typical beam pattern and fired up the XPG triple to overlay its beam on the diagram. I stated that this light was something like ~1500 lumens, but due to the absence of a central hotspot, I didn't feel like there were any points for concern, just a HUGE field of well-illuminated view (something the triple optics do far better than standard single optic or reflectored designs). I also used that opportunity to explain the difference between lumens output (something that everyone there was familiar with) and lux (which would be more related to the instructors' specific concern). My information was well-received and folks were comfortable enough to ask a few questions.

Some interesting things from the classroom session:

The instructors definitely preferred single mode lights with a rear momentary button, their reason being that if you drop your light it will immediately turn off and not continue to illuminate your position. No constant-on clicky switches! Also, inadvertently changing modes during use was very undesirable as can well be expected.

One instructor demonstrated the usage of a lanyard; interestingly enough they had a 'take' on it that I hadn't run into before:
Not only did they recommend short lanyards (to facilitate the reestablishment of holding/utilizing the light after doing lights-off tasks such as reloading), but one demonstrated something I found very interesting: A small ring (it was actually a hand grenade pull ring) attached directly to the lanyard attachment point on the flashlight body. The instructor could have the ring around one finger, and when doing other tasks (such as reloading), the flashlight would dangle just under the hand, maximizing readiness for subsequent use.

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On the range, they emphasized that immediately after you 'light up' and fire a couple of rounds (or even if you don't fire), after you turn off the light, TAKE TWO LARGE STEPS TO EITHER SIDE. Any opponent will most likely shoot where they last saw your light - needless to say you want to be anywhere but there.

Much was made about different handhold techniques, the "Overhand Grip" (i.e. the 'icepick' grip) and the "Base Switch Grip" (i.e. the 'cigar/syringe' grip) for the SureFire grip-ring-style lights. We trained with the 'Overhand-High', 'Overhand-Low', 'Harries', & 'Cigar/Rogers' as well as transitions between the different grip techniques. We did a lot of transitions during our live-fire training - fantastic practice.

I'm not going to go into detail here about how to use the individual grip techniques. Although I now have some small experience in using these, I'm definitely not an instructor and do not want to give any impression that I am qualified to teach these. During the range session I did form a definite personal preference for the 'Overhand High' and 'Harries' techiques - they were the easiest for me to quickly and reliably illuminate the threat prior to firing.

One thing I liked about the class was that we practiced a number of the popular techniques, not just the ones that anybody felt were the 'best'. The instructors emphasized that while one particular technique might often work the best for an individual, we did need some familiarity with the other techniques; furthermore some techniques would work better than others in specific situations such as shooting from behind doorways or low cover.

We did an hour or so of training while it was still light so we could practice the relevant techniques (supervised and in a safe fashion) that we would be using once it got dark.
One aspect I particularly liked was intensive training on doing handgun reloads in the dark - taking the flashlight out of use to make both hands available for reloading, while keeping the eyes up and towards the threat.

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Some other memories of the class:

About halfway down the line, some poor soul was having an occasional difficulty with his multimode light - every once in a while I saw some strobing to my right. Handgun recoil, insufficient grip, or finger fumbling can easily interrupt the pressure on the 'on' switch, and a multimode light can easily change modes in this situation. I've been a firm believer in single mode lights (almost all of my P60 series SureFires are single mode) and my experience in this class reinforced that opinion.

Once it was dark, each of us illuminated our targets in sucession, while stating out loud what light it was so that others could see the illumination differences.
"Oveready XP-G triple" from station 2 It was gratifying to see my light not only completely light up my 10 yd target, but also the targets to the right and left as well.
I cannot emphasize enough how useful it was to have a broad beam with a resulting wide field of view - being able to see potential threats adjacent to your target instead of merely the tunnel vision you get with a traditional beam could quite literally save your life.

At one point during the 'night' phase, one instructor mentioned that one thing many of us needed to work on was to keep the light on the target during firing; they had noticed lights pointing up/down/whereever and not consistently directed for the best illumination of the potential threat. I was confident that the wide beam of my OR Triple was nearly always illuminating my target 100% and I could put most of my attention on evaluating the threat and making center-of-mass hits.


I can assure you that when you're trying to reload in the dark as fast as you can, kneeling down & hunched behind cover; you're cold and your hands are shaking and there is shooting up and down the firing line, it's a rather memorable experience.


Bringing this back around to flashlights, while I found that manipulating my SF C2 was pretty easy, I found the classic 6Z body style to be the best: Not only was it slightly lighter (making grip transitions easier & less likelihood of dropping the light), but the slightly narrower body section made the flashlight easier to keep full control of at all times. The older non-lockout tailcap button was simply perfect: soft and wide, easy to activate and keep on during live fire.

To say that runtime wasn't important would be an understatement, as we only used our lights in ~2-3 second bursts.
I probably did less than 3 minutes of runtime for the ~4-5 hours we were on the firing range.

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It was an exceptional experience in every respect and I'm planning on taking it again next winter.
Any CPF'ers in Oregon, if you're interested in taking the class next November, please let me know as it would be fun to meet up.
BTW there are a couple of prerequisite classes for this, so sign up early if you don't want to be disappointed.

It was one thing to know some of the relevant illumination aspects in a theoretical manner beforehand, but being able to train with a variety of these techniques in a safe manner while supervised by highly-qualified OFA personnel was an outstanding opportunity.

Thanks for reading,
Kestrel

Great narrative, Kestrel. Could you perhaps post a picture of a similar setup to the instructor's lanyard with retaining ring in hand? No grenade pull pin ring needed, maybe a keychain? I'm just trying to get a visual of how this works. Thanks for posting!

Excellent write up! I'd also like to see what this grenade ring grip looked like. I wonder if it is similar to the Raven Concealment Surefire Clip?

Thanks folks, I'll try to put something together to illustrate that at some point. Just imagine wanting the ability to whip a grenade in and out of your palm if you need the dexterity to tackle some other task in the interim, that would be the general idea.

Kestrel said:

[...] A small ring (it was actually a hand grenade pull ring) attached directly to the lanyard attachment point on the flashlight body. The instructor could have the ring around one finger, and when doing other tasks (such as reloading), the flashlight would dangle just under the hand, maximizing readiness for subsequent use.

Click to expand...

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BTW, rubber grip rings are AWESOME, no matter how you're actually holding the flashlight. If you're putting pressure on the rear 'momentary' tailswitch with your thumb or palm, having a grip ring bearing against one of your fingers is a wonderful aid to consistent operation/manipulation of the light.

If your hands are cold or wet (or bloody? ), and you're trying to keep a secure hold on your light while you are firing a handgun, having that flashlight stay right there and not shift in your grip, no matter what, is a godsend.

It would be relatively easy to accidentally drop the light at a most inopportune time (to say that your hands are full would be an understatement ), and I found that the grip rings on my C2 and 6Z provided me extra confidence in manipulating my lights at all times.

Yeah, grip rings are sweet, much easier that way.

Also, I find that just as you saw, and were instructed, that if you HAVE TO keep the light pointed at the target to see it well enough to aim at it, that's TWO things you have to worry about aiming.

Around here, the strong floody beams are what work best because you DON'T have to aim the light, just have it vaguely in the right direction...as a floody beam should have enough light to shoot with even if its at the ground, etc, unless the ranges get long, etc. It also increases your situational awareness, as you can also see where they might run for cover, who else might be there/making a move, where they threw the stuff they don't want to get caught with, etc.

The DIS-Advantage of the floody beam, esp with a lot of spill, is that it can inadvertently light up your compadres as well. Staggering your line so to speak can help avoid that effect...but, you are still lighting up where you might be expected to duck for cover, etc.

A floody beam with very little spill is therefore the most useful.

One school of thought is two steps to the side after the light goes off. The other school of thought is "as far away as you can get" as you don't actually know how accurate that return fire will be...and they may "miss" and hit you.

The other is randomly alternating the altitude, so one time the light is over your head, the next is shooting prone from the ground, etc.


In the dark, the shooter uses the apparent height to estimate range, so a higher light is perceived as further away, etc. That throws their hold overs way up, etc. If the light is at ground level, and they last thought it was at waist height for example, the new position makes them perceive the ground as waist high, throwing their return fire into the dirt, etc.

That only works best without spill...and, esp well if when on, it temporarily blinds them. (Ever aim AT a light through a sight?)

Kestrel,

ref your comment "About halfway down the line, some poor soul was having an occasional difficulty with his multimode light - every once in a while I saw some strobing to my right"

I am curious - Did those instructors have any comment on the use of a strobed flashlight? Yes, I did read the long thread on CPF about the police use of strobe. There are some very specific recommendations in that thread.

I know from my own experience that animals do not react to strobing, but those same animals do have problems with really bright lights, typically starting in the ~900 lumen area up to 2000+ lumens depending on distance. The animals (ie: nasty dogs) simply cannot see you even if they can smell you. Hence the informal recommendation to hold the light out at full arms length to either side if you are not sure what is going on and do not believe that you will need to employ lethal force. ie: the dog may charge the light source - where you are not.

moldyoldy said:

Kestrel,

ref your comment "About halfway down the line, some poor soul was having an occasional difficulty with his multimode light - every once in a while I saw some strobing to my right"

I am curious - Did those instructors have any comment on the use of a strobed flashlight? Yes, I did read the long thread on CPF about the police use of strobe. There are some very specific recommendations in that thread.

I know from my own experience that animals do not react to strobing, but those same animals do have problems with really bright lights, typically starting in the ~900 lumen area up to 2000+ lumens depending on distance. The animals (ie: nasty dogs) simply cannot see you even if they can smell you. Hence the informal recommendation to hold the light out at full arms length to either side if you are not sure what is going on and do not believe that you will need to employ lethal force. ie: the dog may charge the light source - where you are not.

Click to expand...

True on the dogs, typically...but they tend not to charge the light at all.

Strobe use is a separate issue, and you need training to use it properly. In a return fire scenario such as discussed, you would not typically be using it. Its more of a close range application, and, buys a moment's hesitation. If you know what to do in that moment, it works for you. If not, its better typically to not attempt it.

I WOULD recommend getting away from lumen based qualifications though, as lux is actually the only important aspect of the use in discussion...as all of it is lux based.

Nice write-up Kestrel. Thanks for sharing with us.

With regard to the ring you mentioned, was it anything like the Raven Concealment Clip? It's designed for SureFire lights but will fit others lights of similar sizes.

Some have simply used a large keyring such as this gentleman on YouTube. His use of the ring leans more toward using the light as a weapon so I won't embed the video here.

Kestrel said:

...One instructor demonstrated the usage of a lanyard; interestingly enough they had a 'take' on it that I hadn't run into before:
Not only did they recommend short lanyards (to facilitate the reestablishment of holding/utilizing the light after doing lights-off tasks such as reloading), but one demonstrated something I found very interesting: A small ring (it was actually a hand grenade pull ring) attached directly to the lanyard attachment point on the flashlight body. The instructor could have the ring around one finger, and when doing other tasks (such as reloading), the flashlight would dangle just under the hand, maximizing readiness for subsequent use...

Kestrel

Click to expand...

Nice review Kestrel!

I bet you could use the pull pin off a fire extinguisher to get the same effect.

kelmo

TEEJ said:

True on the dogs, typically...but they tend not to charge the light at all.

Strobe use is a separate issue, and you need training to use it properly. In a return fire scenario such as discussed, you would not typically be using it. Its more of a close range application, and, buys a moment's hesitation. If you know what to do in that moment, it works for you. If not, its better typically to not attempt it.

I WOULD recommend getting away from lumen based qualifications though, as lux is actually the only important aspect of the use in discussion...as all of it is lux based.

Click to expand...

Agreed on the reaction of dogs to a very bright beam. They growl and put their head down with ears flattened, but neither I nor any of my acquaintances with high-lumen lights have experienced that they charged the light. However in theory those animals were all domesticated dogs. I no longer travel thru areas where feral dogs are a problem.

My use of lumens is simply to use the only easy value-number that the flashlight manufacturers print on the packages. Most flashaholic lights are well above the output of Target/Walmart/Costco/SamsClub specials.

I do agree fully that beam profile is signficant, and is not simply a 'how far does it throw' question. However for the average John Q. Public to be carrying the EDC or pocketable light with the correct profile for some ocassion is nearly impossible. Even for specialized SAR activities I read many opinions that do not agree with my own limited SAR in northern Idaho. LEOs and EMS personnel can focus on specific uses since it is their job.

Excellent review, and it seems like a very worthwhile class.

Very good writeup Kestrel! I don't have a handgun or do any low light shooting, but some of the points here are excellent to think about in general flashlight usage; from the shape and design of the light, to the UI, to the beam pattern. I think a lot of members will be able to use this information, especially those who may use weapons in this setting and are encouraged to take a similar class. Good stuff!

Excellent writeup Kestrel! I'm not some Tier 1 operator but the simplicity of a single mode light, momentary switch and cigar grip ring are the main reasons I love my C2s and Z2s!

Thanks for sharing!

Sounds like the instructors follow some of the low light doctrine from Thunder Ranch, e.g., the concern about clickies staying/jamming on when dropped and the use of the flashlight ring. The ring seems to be popularized by TR, and conceived by Tiger McKee. Did the class cover anything on low light clearing, reloading the pistol while retaining the flashlight, and integrating the flashlight with unarmed skills? Regarding low light clearing, it might be interesting to see what effect a bright, large flood beam might have on using something like Harries when clearing around the left side of cover for a right-handed shooter.

I had been thinking about getting one of the Raven Concealment flashlight clips and after reading this thread last week I went ahead and ordered one. It arrived Friday and I'm very happy with it. I never appreciated how much the ring would improve grip on the light and the ability to flip it out of the way when both hands are needed is just an added bonus. Thanks again Kestrel for sharing your experience.

How much did that run you 880?

I agree - excellent write-up!

Thanks for taking the time, Kestrel.

On a side note: have you tried the Raven clip as described above? Or attaching a split key ring through the traditional Surefire lanyard ring?

Great review of your experience. I really enjoyed reading it and I have a lot to think about from your experience. I hope I can find a similar class here in NC.
Thanks for posting.

TMedina, I would never use something like a key ring to emulate the Tiger ring. IMO, you are just asking for a nasty degloving injury. I'd use a soft grommet or thick o-ring.

cland72 said:

How much did that run you 880?

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$14.99 + $5.85 shipping. The price isn't that bad but I hated to pay that much for shipping.

Justin Case said:

TMedina, I would never use something like a key ring to emulate the Tiger ring. IMO, you are just asking for a nasty degloving injury. I'd use a soft grommet or thick o-ring.

Click to expand...

+1

If the metal ring is large enough it probably wouldn't cause degloving but it could certainly cause bone or ligament damage if things went wrong. It would also be much less comfortable than an O-ring.

To avoid taking this thread too far off course I have started a new thread about the Raven Concealment clip.