No longer just a tactical sight, Crimson Trace Lasergrips are finding their way onto hunting handguns as well. The popular sighting device adds versatility to a handgun hunter’s kit.
Reoccurring problems tend to initiate innovation. People who are faced with those problems, or are insightful into another person’s dilemma, generally take the result of a given situation and learn from it. From what they learn, or in some cases create to overcome a given problem, others can usually benefit one way or another. Such is the case with Crimson Trace Lasergrips. They are the result of one man’s idea to help improve his hit ratio, however in the process, Lew Danielson, president of Crimson Trace, has given shooters a new tool for self-defense and hunting.
It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out that standard iron sights are as difficult to see in low-light conditions as an honest politician. This is a major problem considering most altercations where a self-defense handgun will likely be needed occur in low-light conditions. To counteract this, many shooters swapped their standard sights with those utilizing strands of fiber-optic, tritium or a combination of the two, which appear in low light, or in the case of tritium, no light. This helps to a certain degree, however the handgun must still be sighted using the traditional method—looking down the top of the gun to line up the sights. These sights are sometimes easily broken because of their relative fragility.
Whether for self-defense or hunting, the range at which you will see a laser
depends not only on the time of day and location, but also color of an animal’s fur.
Animals with brown fur, such as this feral hog, will be easier to pick up the laser
on than similar animals with black fur. (Photo credit: Travis Noteboom)
Advantage: Lasergrips
Crimson Trace Lasergrips afford the shooter an illuminated point of aim regardless of the handgun’s position or lighting conditions, whether it is high noon or midnight. Basically, if you can see the red dot on the target—barring there is nothing in the bullet’s path and the laser is sighted—the bullet will strike that spot. Since the projectile will strike where the red dot is, the shooter does not have to look down the sights using the traditional method, meaning the handgun can be canted or held in any position and still be utilized. This feature can turn the tide of a confrontation in your favor, say, for example, you are knocked to the ground or are on your side. Lasergrips help in shooting from any unnatural position or behind cover. As a deterrent, few criminals don’t understand what the red dot signifies.
There is no special grip or awkward button to push to activate Crimson Trace Lasergrips. A pressure-activated button is located on the face of the grip, which turns on the laser when the shooter grips the handgun.
With all its advantages, Lasergrips do have a couple of disadvantages. Though not likely to occur, there is the odd chance the batteries could fail at an inopportune time. I believe the grips are best used as a secondary sighting tool. Practice with the iron and laser sights and being able to utilize either interchangeably will lead to far more confidence in your gun handling. Too, different colors reflect more or less light so a red dot may not show up very well at longer distances, even though the laser is 5 milliwatts strong. This is especially true in bright daylight, and the old irons could save your life.
Lasergrips are effective sighting tools for close range, therefore the hunter will
benefit by putting in the extra effort to get close to game. Although this hog is
close to the hunter, because of the time of day and shade of fur on its neck the
dot is difficult to see. (Photo credit: Travis Noteboom)
Thinking Outside the Box
Although generally thought of for self-defense against humans, Crimson Trace Lasergrips are also useful in other applications. Anyone who treks into the wilderness is aware—or should be—of the possibility for an animal attack. Whether it is from a bear, boar, deer, mountain lion, rabid small game or even a domestic animal gone feral, an attack will likely occur very quickly and without warning. Lasergrips can improve the odds of dispatching an animal before it begins the attack or serious damage is done for many of the same reasons that they are effective against humans, mainly the ability to hit accurately without a perfect stance. There are limitations though, as we will soon see.
Another application for Lasergrips—one that requires you to check state game laws regarding the legality of using a laser-sighting device—is hunting. Practice and familiarity with a Lasergrip-equipped handgun can give a hunter more confidence in his ability to make a hit quickly when the chips are down. Remember, however, animals can see the laser and often will react to it. Too, the laser light is projected in a straight line, whereas a bullet’s trajectory is not, so shots need to be kept reasonably close range. For close-range work, the laser will show the bullet path to close proximity to what it will actually travel. Take this scenario for instance. A hunter is pursuing pigs one evening, and dark is fast approaching. Suddenly a hog appears close—perhaps 10 yards or less—but it is behind some brush. There is a softball-size opening over the vitals and a steady rest is available, so the shot is possible. Looking down the irons, the hunter can’t make them out very clearly, so he activates the Lasergrips. The red dot appears on the pig and shows a clear path for the bullet to travel through the opening in the brush.
Contrary to what one might think, lasers show up on animals with brown fur far
better than it does on animals with black fur, such as bear. For hunting this might simply be an inconvenience having to wait for a dark-colored animal to get closer,
but for self-defense, it could mean the difference between life and death.
(Photo credit: Travis Noteboom)
Limitations
There are limitations as to how far the laser can be seen. I set up an experiment to determine how far Lasergrips could be seen on animals during various times of the day. Because there is a chance of encountering an animal—whether hunting or self-defense—in the sun or shade, or any combination of the two, I draped an early-season, thin-haired deer hide over a box and another box with a black, wool evening coat to represent a bear or boar. I then determined the maximum range I could see the red dot using a Bushnell Elite 1500 Rangefinder at noon, 5:00 p.m. and 8:00 p.m. The gun used for the test was a Smith & Wesson 629 Classic with Crimson Trace’s Pro-Custom Series in RealTree Hardwoods Green HD. I was surprised to learn that at noon, I could only see the dot on the black coat a maximum distance of 18 yards when both the target and I were in the shade. When either was in the sun, that distance dropped to 11 yards. The deer hide showed the dot much better, with the maximum being 55 yards in the shade and 23 yards in the open. Five o’clock was no better for the black coat—18 yards in the shade and 11 yards in the sun. The deer hide could be seen at 35 yards in the sun and 55 yards in the shade. By 8:00 p.m., the red dot could been seen on the black coat at 30 yards, regardless of being in the fading sun or the shade, while the deer hide showed the dot out to an impressive 98 yards.
For hunting, Crimson Trace Lasergrips should prove beneficial, especially if the quarry is a shade of brown or is close, and the hunt takes place at night. As the experiment proved, the Lasergrip is most visible in low-light conditions, and it would certainly surpass the performance of iron sights at night. If the quarry is at close range, you’d be hard pressed to find an easier sight to use. But remember, you might not always be able to see the dot in a self-defense situation, so know your irons.