Cleared my house last night..

[hso]

Plus, the only motion sensor lights for interior use that I have seen are small and usually plugged directly into a socket.

Then you're not looking in the electrical department of any big box home store. There are plenty of wall switch units to be had that will keep the trigger zone above the dawg. As for the screw in variety look at the ones for outside the house so you can face them at the window or down a hallway.

Any half competent security company can mount one in a stairwell or hallway above the fido/felix level so that only a wee person could get by and if you're remotely competent with home wiring you can mount them yourself.

 

[DoubleTapDrew]

FWIW the raccoon came back last night. Dug a few holes in my yard and pooped infront of my patio. I am in the process right now of alternative methods of elimination of the pest. Any one got some good advice?

Suppressed .22lr with subsonic ammo, or a strong pellet gun

I had an issue with a pair of those suckers and it sounded like a couple guys walking onto my back deck near the sliding glass window. They aren't scared of a 12 gauge muzzle, a 60 lumen surefire, verbal commands, or a 180 lumen fenix so you may have to get physical if they keep coming back.

 

[Shawn Dodson]

If you can find a legal reason why I should I might consider it for future practice.

No legal reason. More for practical reasons, e.g., minimizing vulnerability during the threat identification process; minimizing risk of an armed confrontation involving a family member in the dark; minimizing legal risk (see - http://articles.orlandosentinel.com...-20100713_1_grand-jury-nancy-dinsmore-fiancee )

Cheers!

 

[Boris bush]

Good read SD!

I knew the location of everyone before I moved any further than the doorway to our room. Still good information, and not a bad idea at all to add to a routine.

 

[valorius]

A good weapon mounted or hand held light will go a long way toward ensuring you don't kill a loved one.

 

[JohnKSa]

If you've shot in the dark using a light, you may find that the discharge smoke becomes distracting in a hurry if you try to shine the light directly through the smoke onto the target.

But if you use indirect illumination (shine the light on the ground in front of the target or on the ceiling) then the smoke is much less of an issue. BUT, in that situation you will need your night sights. Indirect illumination lets you see the target but it may not be enough to silhouette your sights distinctly enough for you to use them unless they're night sights.

 

[Glamdring]

I don't understand why you don't want to use real lights, like lamps or wall/ceiling mounted lights?

They have TONS more lumens than a flashlight and they don't work like a beacon to say "here I am shoot me" the way a flashlight does.

If you have lighting planned you can use lighting to expose intruder while giving yourself concealment (ie shadow). Or better yet the way LEO use them for traffic stops with two or more bright lights no way to see where your hiding behind the glare & if you add cover in that dark spot it is as good as you likely to get.

You can also use it like people did in South Africa IIRC were they would wire a switch in bedroom to another part of the house to draw fire away from them (think Tappin & Cooper mentioned this in their newsletter).

Flashlights are good, but they have real limits.

 

[Boris bush]

BUT, in that situation you will need your night sights.

Night sights will still be a gimmick, even in that situation. I dont know if you were told that, had some kind of training or done it in real life.

I can tell you from practice and training over and over for years and years that you can see your sights. The smoke is not going to be so thick your sights will be hidden in the smoke. If you cannt see your target then you just cannt see your target. I have been in a room more than a few times with 3 other people shooting along with me. Yep it gets a little smokey. Never got so bad I could not see my sights. It also never got so bad I could not still see my target either. Now where it really counts, actualy doing it. The smoke will not stop you from shooting. If you have identified a target and fired it up some then you already know you are clear to shoot. A kid or wife will not warp space and time and appear behind your target because a little smoke is now in the air.

It just makes no sense to me why you think night sights will make shooting easier or sights more visible because of a few rounds of smoke. I do not know how the identity of the target could change because of a little smoke. Every time I did it the light was weapon mounted and the smoke never was an issue for anyone on our team. We still saw our non fangled plain no glow sights, we still saw our targets.

Just my observation and experience, nothing more..

 

[Kleanbore]

It just makes no sense to me why you think night sights will make shooting easier or sights more visible because of a few rounds of smoke.

Boris, I think John's point was that you would probably want to use night sights because your use of indirect lighting would make the sights more difficult to see.

I do not know how the identity of the target could change because of a little smoke.

Not sure what brought that up...

It doesn't take much smoke to make a beam of light visible, and unless I had some way of knowing for sure that the "target" that I had identified was the only threat in the house I would be reluctant to risk making my precise location known.

 

[ultradoc]

I cleared my church once. Door was broken open. I had one person stand on each corner of the building with cell phones ready to dial 911. Didn't find anybody but a few things were taken. Called the cops when I was done and he didn't even do a walk through.

 

[ONLY]

Why not use a red light? It would help to save your night vision and still allow you to see who or what is there. Its easy to diy just get a flash light they sell some good but inexpesive lights at lowes a can of red spary paint and your good.

 

[valorius]

It's probably wise to point out that it is impossible to safely clear a house alone. It cannot be done. So by going after the intruder, you are very likely just going to your doom if someone is actually there waiting for you, crouched in a dark corner with a sawed off shotgun.

Especially be leery of stairwells, hallways, doorways, and other "fatal funnels."

It really takes a minimum of 3 well trained individuals to "safely" clear a house, and 4 is a lot better.

 

[Boris bush]

Boris, I think John's point was that you would probably want to use night sights because your use of indirect lighting would make the sights more difficult to see.

Maybe if I were a trend chaser or was keeping up with the jonses and had a pistol that was illfitting, then maybe I would need a visual aid to correct poorly aligned sights. My pistol of choice fits me. I have shot Glock pistols for so long they are just a part of me. I have no problem with a proper grip with the sights being off.

Not sure what brought that up...

My point was in real life I have never had a problem with gunsmoke obscuring my vision of the target while a weapon mounted light was being used. I dont remember if I mentioned it, but the light I use is not weapon mounted for my civil purposes. I like the option of not pointing my pistol just to illuminate anything in civil settings, just how I feel about things.

valorius

I know exactly what you mean. We have both been there. I however am not going to call 911 and hunker down waiting 20 min. for them to tell me there is nothing there. Look at the date I posted. You live very near me. It was a cool windy night. The windows were all closed I could hear the muffled closed door closed window noise of the windchimes. I was pretty darn sure the doors had not been broken down (the noise would have woken me anyway) and the windows were all still closed and intact. At that point I am not going to call it all good, complacency kills, and you know that. I checked the security of my house even though I was positive I could have just rolled back over and went back to sleep. Maybe if I lived alone or had no kids. Besides the wife would have done it herself if I would not have. Then the whatif thing comes into play. I wish you could have been there with me. Another experienced person would have been nice, and you know darn well sometimes when momentum must not be stopped, two guys will go into a room.

FYI. I have a plan to catch and eliminate the rogue raccoon pooping in my yard and digging holes. But it will have to wait until I can stay up all night, or atleast 0130 to 0300, the times it seems to come and visit......

 

[Mudinyeri]

It's probably wise to point out that it is impossible to safely clear a house alone. It cannot be done. So by going after the intruder, you are very likely just going to your doom if someone is actually there waiting for you, crouched in a dark corner with a sawed off shotgun.

Especially be leery of stairwells, hallways, doorways, and other "fatal funnels."

It really takes a minimum of 3 well trained individuals to "safely" clear a house, and 4 is a lot better.

People WILL continue to do it, however ... even (or maybe especially) people with no training in how to do it.

 

[Boris bush]

I love the "I'm from the internet, I will learn you" posts. They make me laugh.

 

[valorius]

I know exactly what you mean. We have both been there. I however am not going to call 911 and hunker down waiting 20 min. for them to tell me there is nothing there.

I hear you bro. If they showed up here in just 20 minutes i would be astonished.

People WILL continue to do it, however ... even (or maybe especially) people with no training in how to do it.

Yep, i know. I do it too.

It's still the truth though.

 

[JohnKSa]

I dont know if you were told that, had some kind of training or done it in real life.

You can read about it here.

http://thefiringline.com/forums/showthread.php?t=323334&

I made the point that night sights are only useful in a narrow range of lighting intensity, but they do provide additional capability in those circumstances. I don't think they're nearly as useful as many folks think they will be, but based on the testing I did I wouldn't say they're a gimmick.

Just my observation and experience, nothing more...

Yup, that's where I'm coming from too. I certainly don't mean anything I've said as an indictment of anything you've said or done and I'm not sure why you have reacted to my comments as you have.

 

[Glamdring]

I know first hand that at night if your taking advantage of shadow you can be in a spot to dark to see your sights yet still see target well enough to ID it. Night sights work well then.

Doesn't really matter if the light is moon or starlight or electric lights from somewhere.

Once your eyes dark adapt even starlight is pretty bright unless your under a lot of trees. And moonlight can be bright enough to hurt your eyes, like stepping into sun from indoors, if you walk into it from someplace darker (like into a clearing from dense woods).

 

[boostedxt]

My safety plan with my wife involves her being on the phone to 911 and me putting myself between the door and her. We are going to stay our ground...and issue a threat to the intruder. "We are on the phone with 911, the cops are on their way. I have a loaded gun at the door and a breach of the door is considered a threat upon our lives and I will shoot you dead." Something along those lines...I would feel less safe leaving my wife alone and clearing the house.

Other thought.....Couldnt clearing the house be seen as a bad idea should you have to defend and shoot? It shows aggresion and action as opposed to passiveness and being trapped.

if you really need to clear the house leave all the lights off...stay low...and get some night vision goggles.

joe

 

[Bovice]

I live in a townhome and have the luxury of having a fairly linear path in walking the entire house. Right outside my bedroom door is a light switch that illuminates the entire upstairs hall, and at the foot of the stairs is a built-in desk that is parallel to the first flight of stairs. At this desk is another switch that illuminates the lower hall. at the first landing, there is a huge mirror on the wall that allows me to see the entire downstairs area. I can see who's at the front door without ever going down.

My strategy would be to go out and get under the desk at the top of the stairs, and watch the mirror. I would turn on the lights for the lower hallway, and anybody down there is in my indirect line of sight. Since I'd still be in the dark, they'd have no idea I was watching. If they were stupid enough to make a dash for the stairs, they'd get shot at the first landing.

If they breach a window on the 2nd floor (unlikely, but stranger things have happened to others), thats even more advantageous to me. It puts them right in the hallway with no cover, and I can open fire.

That's as far as I'd go, in terms of "sweeping" the house.

Of course I don't anticipate really needing to ever do any of this. We have 2 squad cars that sit at the front gate of the development, and one that circles the block. We also have 4 LEOs that live there, one of them is our backdoor neighbor.

 

[CHEVELLE427]

I PICKED UP a hand held light (3in long)a few weeks back at the local gun shop that has
white led,
led strobe,
UV,
green led
and a laser
seems to work good takes 3 AA BATTERIES,
can use some in combo with each other

strobe would be confusing to the bad guy i would think.

$20

Other thought.....Couldnt clearing the house be seen as a bad idea should you have to defend and shoot? It shows aggresion and action as opposed to passiveness and being trapped.

i have kids in the house so im going to have to check it out, and we in FLORIDA have a stand your ground law now,we do not have to run

bad guy in house to bad for him

 

[valorius]

I made the point that night sights are only useful in a narrow range of lighting intensity, but they do provide additional capability in those circumstances. I don't think they're nearly as useful as many folks think they will be, but based on the testing I did I wouldn't say they're a gimmick.

Night sites absolutely shine when you can see a silhouette of the target , but the silhouette is too dark to see your sights. In those scenarios, Tritium night sights are invaluable aids in shooting accurately, IMO.

 

[Boris bush]

JohnKSa

Good read. That was training though. If these shooters have an aversion to a little smoke from their firearm then I have got to wonder what smoke, muzzleflash and muzzleblast from the other end of a two way range will do to their vision of perfect shooting. Lets not forget that they will not have ear pro on for the most part either.

You should have someone tossing M80s out while they are doing their course of fire to better simulate smoke, flash and noise you can expect in real life. All shoots are not practice shoots.

 

[Mudinyeri]

You should have someone tossing M80s out while they are doing their course of fire to better simulate smoke, flash and noise you can expect in real life. All shoots are not practice shoots.

Ha ha! I've actually done that. A buddy of mine sells fireworks and I had him toss some M80's in my general direction while I attempted to empty a magazine into a silouette target from about 7 yards. You could definitely tell which shots immediately followed the M80 blasts!

 

[shockwave]

(see - http://articles.orlandosentinel.com/...nsmore-fiancee )

Oh. My. God.

What a horrible thing to have happen. It was the suggestion of this possibility from the experts here at High Road that persuaded me to add a light to my shotgun. Also, I purchased a S&W Galaxy Series 6 LED flashlight with 3 white and 3 blue LEDs. This is for use with a handgun, and there are two switches. You can go white, blue, or both.

Under no circumstances will I fire on a silhouette in the dark. Target ID is essential, as the poor schmuck in the linked article now understands the hard way. Having practiced with it, I find the blue LED is extremely useful. The size and shape of this light are also superb. I don't like mini-tac lights except the one on the SG. For hand carry, the 6" length is good and the switches are where you want them.