KyroWebs Posted June 15, 2011 Share Posted June 15, 2011 Did a little dryfiring today specifically working with a flashlight for the darkhouse this weekend. I tried about everything I can think of, and the only thing that seems semi-comfortable is holding it across my chest under my strong arm as a support(I think it's called the Harries hold?) Anyways, how do some of you experienced guys hold it while shooting and reloading. I'm getting excited for this one! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bbbean Posted June 15, 2011 Share Posted June 15, 2011 Did a little dryfiring today specifically working with a flashlight for the darkhouse this weekend. I tried about everything I can think of, and the only thing that seems semi-comfortable is holding it across my chest under my strong arm as a support(I think it's called the Harries hold?) Anyways, how do some of you experienced guys hold it while shooting and reloading. I'm getting excited for this one! I learned this from a cop at the SS Nats, but it should work for wheel guns as well: Hold the flashlight in your weak hand with the ring and pinky fingers, light pointing away from your thumb. Raise your hand to your cheek, which puts the light in a position to illuminate both the targets and the sights. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joe4d Posted June 15, 2011 Share Posted June 15, 2011 I learned from D.R. Middlebrook, granted the light technique is a little more defensive than game but it still works pretty good and is versatile. The cross wrist you are using is backwards, put the light on top of the strong arm, You will be faster controlling the recoil up than you will using the weak arm as a rest. You will also be able to quickly move the light in and out of position depending on the obsticles and targets, not to mention it is a more sound technique. In event of a gun grab your weak hand is free to use the light as a cross hand inpact weapon, with the light under your gun you end up with your weak hand pinned against your body. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom Mainus Posted June 15, 2011 Share Posted June 15, 2011 In years past the flashlight has a lanyard on it. I would just wrap it around my wrist and let it flop. You can see plenty good from the light it gives off. The dark house is usually pretty straight forward. Tom Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
M1911 Posted June 16, 2011 Share Posted June 16, 2011 I used to shoot Harries, but it gets tiring pretty quickly. I use an AA12 flashlight, which has a pretty thin barrel. I use basically a cigar hold, with the rear of the flashlight against my palm. I then just put my left hand against the left side of the grip of the gun, almost as though I was holding the gun in a normal two-handed grip. I find this works much better than Harries, as it is closer to how I usually shoot. Also, I find that Harries slows you down when moving or transitioning left or right. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bbbean Posted June 16, 2011 Share Posted June 16, 2011 Note also that the shoot house is small enough that you should be able to easily shoot the stage SHO without difficulty. If you shot from corner to corner, I don't think the shot would be much over 7 yards, but most shots will be taken from 1-3 yards. BB Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carmoney Posted June 16, 2011 Share Posted June 16, 2011 Just remember to push the flashlight button until it fully clicks on. Seems obvious, but on the dark house stage at the Single Stack Nats, I somehow failed to fully click the light on, and when I reached for my reload, everything went pitch black in there. Reloading a revo while juggling a flashlight can be a challenge. Tom, with regard to your suggestion to just let the flashlight dangle from the wrist lanyard....have you actually tried that in the dark house at PASA? Makes sense to me, but I ask because Sam actually tried doing that at the Single Stack, and afterwards he said it didn't work well and was definitely not the way to go (at least for him). The other thing to keep in mind is they always have at least one or two targets partially blocked by no-shoots in the dark house. If you're planning on blazing through there, one-handing them in partial darkness, better keep the locations of the no-shoot targets firmly in mind. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aglifter Posted June 16, 2011 Share Posted June 16, 2011 Would a liberator flashlight be legal for your stage? I have one, and it works very well to use while shooting Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jay870 Posted June 16, 2011 Share Posted June 16, 2011 Would a liberator flashlight be legal for your stage? I have one, and it works very well to use while shooting You use the light the match provides. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Round_Gun_Shooter Posted June 16, 2011 Share Posted June 16, 2011 If the light has a lanyard, fit it around the back of your hand so basically ties the light to your hand. That is how they were designed to work. Lanyard affixed to one end of the light then around the back of the hand and attached to the front of the light and snugged with the tensioning buttons on the lanyard. After that, you have good use of your hand and using the light being held at a neck indexing technique. It always worked well for me but my light use was for a different "game" Take a look at Dave Spaulding's video Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carmoney Posted June 17, 2011 Share Posted June 17, 2011 With the lights they used at PASA for the SSN, you couldn't adjust the lanyard. Maybe the lanyard can be laced through the fingers for the cigar hold. I'm not sure. The actual shooting in the dark house is not the problem. The thing that really matters is being able to complete a revolver reload with the flashlight in the hand. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Round_Gun_Shooter Posted June 17, 2011 Share Posted June 17, 2011 (edited) With the lights they used at PASA for the SSN, you couldn't adjust the lanyard. Maybe the lanyard can be laced through the fingers for the cigar hold. I'm not sure. The actual shooting in the dark house is not the problem. The thing that really matters is being able to complete a revolver reload with the flashlight in the hand. Without using the lanyard, I have used the cigar hold but I have always reloaded in the dark (let the light go out) I remember a State Championship match where the SO (IDPA) got nervous when my light went out and illuminated for me. Guess he was afraid of the dark It is one advantage to strong hand reload. The one thing to remember is hang on to that light. I also remember a friend (Master class shooter) at S&W one year. As the light went skidding across the floor, all I heard was "CRAP!!!" Edited June 17, 2011 by Round_Gun_Shooter Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
M1911 Posted June 17, 2011 Share Posted June 17, 2011 (edited) With the lights they used at PASA for the SSN, you couldn't adjust the lanyard. Maybe the lanyard can be laced through the fingers for the cigar hold. I'm not sure. The actual shooting in the dark house is not the problem. The thing that really matters is being able to complete a revolver reload with the flashlight in the hand. My flashlight came with a rubber handgrip that you could put your fingers through. I used it for a couple matches, but found that it just took too long for me to get it out of my pocket and get my fingers into the handgrip. So I ditched the handgrip for the most recent match. Here's a picture of the handgrip: http://www.4sevens.com/images/Quark%202-cell%20accessories.jpg And one of the light that I use: http://www.4sevens.com/images/aa-2-L.jpg My flashlight has a thin enough barrel that I was able to keep it in my left hand in a cigar-style hold while doing weak-hand reloads. Edited June 18, 2011 by M1911 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KyroWebs Posted June 19, 2011 Author Share Posted June 19, 2011 Turned out no flashlight this year....just low light shooting. Easily my favorite stage of the match! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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