(1100 words)

Recently, I wrote about a weapon light I purchased, an Olight Odin mini. I purchased it because I wanted the tail switch, but it comes with a pressure tape switch and mount.

It has now been moved to my weapon and will live there. It was lacking in a couple of features I wanted.

My Olight Baton 1SR is small. It does not have a tail switch. It does the job I needed it to do, but was not as useful as I needed it to be for defensive firearm use.

I decided to pick up a different Olight. A Warrior 3s. This light works for me on almost all fronts.

You can purchase a weapon mount to put it on your rifle and a pressure switch to go with it. Nice. The pressure switch it uses has a high and a turbo mode. The beam is focused rather tightly.

So why is this a go-to light for me now? Because it works for more of my needs.

According to my research, there are three common offhand light methods used with a pistol. All of them are designed around a grip with your thumb on the tail switch and the head of the light at your pinky.

The Harries Technique

The first hold is to put your offhand under your strong hand wrist to support while pointing the light downrange. This works very well. You can turn the light on or off with your thumb. You have some support for your strong side. This works for me. I’ve used it with my Winchester ’94 as well. The rifle does “jump” but it does work and I can cycle the rifle.

The downside is that your light is directly in front of you. Bad guys shooting at the light are likely to hit you.

The Neck Index Technique

The second method I found was the “neck rest”. You hold your light in your offhand and place it at your neck. This illuminates both your target and your firearm sights.

The downside is that you’ve now told the bad guys where to shoot while adding now support for your shooting hand.

The FBI Technique

With this method, you hold the light up and to your offside. The downsides of this method significant. You have to support your offhand in an unnatural position. It is tiring. You add no support to your shooting hand. You now have to be more aware of your surroundings above and to the side, so you don’t clunk your hand/arm into something.

The huge advantage is that you are no longer telling the bad guy where to shoot to hit you.

They all have their advantages.

Why the Warrior?

It has enough modes. It has the moon mode, which is 1 (or 2?) lumens. This is the run for weeks mode and is the most common mode I use. With the focus, I can actually move through the woods with the light in this mode after a short adjustment time. In a no moon, no streetlight situation.

The next two modes work for most other uses. The low mode is a good setting for working on things, looking in dark, small, holes, and other such needs. The medium is more than bright enough to light up most of the front yard.

The next mode is the high mode. This is perfectly acceptable for illuminating targets at pistol ranges or short rifle ranges (trash panda ranges). In terms of distance, I can use this to illuminate a trash panda at 50 yards clearly enough to put my iron sights on it.

The moon, low, and medium modes are accessed by my pinky pressing the side switch. The high mode can also be accessed via the side switch. Hold and it will cycle through low, medium, and high.

You can also access the high mode with a partial depression of the tail switch. A short press will turn the light on in this mode. Press and hold, and the light will turn on and stay on until you release the tail switch.

Turbo mode is accessed in one of two ways. Double-clicking the side button or full press of the tail switch.

This means I can switch from low light to blinding light quickly, as needed. I think of it almost like using a search radar to locate my target and then switching to a targeting radar for putting my sights on the target.

Conclusion

Get trained on your weapon system. The entire system. This includes your firearm(s), your sights, your backup sights, any weapon mounted lights, your hand held lights, your holster(s) and sling(s), your magazine pouches. All of it.

Then train with your weapon system. Now go get some more training.

What works for me might not work for you. What works for you might not work for me.

Now that you’ve done all of that. You’ve made sure you are capable of using your entire weapon system, go train on getting your weapon system ready to use.

Go lie down in your bed, under the covers, dressed for sleeping. Now have the timer go off. You have to access your weapon system and move as your plan requires and be able to use the weapon system.

Do you sleep in the nude? Are the dangly bits between your legs going to put you off if you have to start moving through your AO? If so, do you have something you can step into quickly? If you have the boobs, are you going to be able to move through your AO without having them contained?

How fast can you get your feet into something to protect them while not sounding like a herd of elephants?

That weapon system you have been training with, is that what you have at hand?

For me, there is a load bearing gear right there which is a fast on. My EDC light is right there. My rifle is right there. That is one of my weapon systems. I do train with that weapon system. I do train on going from in bed under the covers to ready to engage.

Lastly, that is not my preferred weapon system. It is the weapon system I have in the bedroom because it is the weapon system my wife can use. She isn’t going to go for the load bearing gear, but that rifle is her go-to weapon system.

Images are from How to use a tactical light with a firearm