Tetleyb,
The class you offer sounds like a well thought out class. It is important to understand how each lighting level will affect you.
The best night class I have done was structured very similarly. The course started at 6:00 pm and progressed through about 2:00 am. The night I shot the course, I think it was 28 degrees F. Hey, a night and cold weather course together!
The course I shot utilized multiple light techniques. I went into the course familiar with the Surefire-Rogers, Harries, Ayoob, Chapman and the FBI techniques and thought I was “good to go.†The course was an eye opening experience.
We shot both with and without night sights. We shot with flashlights and without flashlights.
We shot in varying degrees of illumination. With lights behind us. Lights in front of us. With car head lights. Into targets with car style head lights beside us. Utilizing the Blue flashing lights of a police car. In a field without illumination and in a dark kill house. We shot with cover and concealment, we shot moving laterally, forward and retreating. We also shot from the ground. We practiced reloads and failure drills at night. This course had about 3 hours of class room and 8 hours of range time.
The course showed me what does work and what does not work. It also enlightened me about at lot of the “facts†that are espoused by the major gun literature.
Clubsoda22, Fix,
If all your guns have mounted lights, or if your carry concealed and you choose to carry the gun with the light mounted, or if you only have one go to gun that you utilize for home defense at night; then I think your strategy is fine. If you do not meet one of the above criterion then I think you should strongly consider rethinking your strategy. For some scenarios a weapon mounted light is the superior choice, but there are a lot of situations in which it is impractical.
I choose to carry concealed and I leave my house at night. I choose not to try to conceal a weapon mounted light so I carry a light with me and have learned the proper techniques to utilize a separate light.
If you have a weapon mounted light I really think you should still consider learning to use a separate light. There are times that a separate light can be advantageous.
Clipse,
IMHO, the Surefire-Rogers technique is one of the more flexible techniques with fewer weakness than strengths. This technique works best for me with a weapon with night sights. The only weakness of this technique in my opinion is “hand confusion.†I have never experienced this, but I understand it is quite real.
Smoke, The Harries, like any other style, has both strengths and weakness. The Harries style really does not work well shooting from the left hand side of cover.
Mercop, I believe you are referring to the neck index technique as taught by the Surefire academy. If I could only use one technique. I believe this is the technique I would choose.
Again; I reiterate, If you are going to carry a gun for self defense get professional training. There is no substitute for professional training. As stated by one of the famous gun writers, if owning a violin does not make you a musician, why does owning a gun and the right gear make us gunfighters?
There is no single best flashlight technique, each has its strengths and weakness and to be most proficient you should be familiar with all the techniques, have professional training, shoot realistically at night and evaluate which techniques work best for you with each situation.
Just my thoughts on the subject.
Charles
