Night Fire: Three Things You Realize When the Lights Go Out
For the last three decades I’ve had the good fortune to take part in some of the best firearms and tactics training available to the US Military, Law Enforcement, and citizen alike. Small arms trainers realized long ago that for any training program to be practical, the troops needed to shoot at night. After all, the FBI Uniform Crime Reporting Program regularly shows that violent attacks on police officers take place at least fifty percent of the time “during hours of darkness or diminished light”.
Even the layman can clearly see that if you are called upon to defend your life from an violent attack the chances are fifty-fifty that it is either going to be dark or you’ll be somewhere the light is less than optimal. The bold truth is that scant few gun carriers will actually train or practice in the dark. Even most law enforcement agencies will rarely conduct training in the dark. More often agencies will ‘simulate’ darkness by having officers wear welding goggles. A representative from one agency explained to me that they didn’t conduct training at night because people in the adjacent area could hear the gunfire after dark and complained!
Just recently as a part of our Student of the Gun TV taping, we took the crew out to the range and conducted some night fire training. What I would like to do in the next page or two is touch on a few items or areas of consideration that would never occur to most people who have not had the opportunity to train or practice in low light conditions.
Lights: Too Bright, Not Bright Enough
Whether you use a weapon mounted light or handheld light, you really don’t get a true feel for their actual capabilities until you take them out to a live-fire range. Though there is no specific formula that is universally accepted, one trainer offered that you need 2 Lumen of light for every foot you wish to see clearly in complete darkness. (When we say “see clearly” we mean positively identify a threat.) By that standard, a 100 Lumen light is good for fifty feet. Considering that most gunfights don’t take place at distances beyond seven to ten yards, a 100 Lumen light is not too bad.
For practical self-defense use, I would offer that a 100 Lumen light should be the starting point or minimum. Do what you like, that is my personal cut off. Keep in mind, you are responsible for every round you fire. You must be absolutely sure that what you are shooting at is a legitimate threat. Lower powered lights are easier on batteries and work well for utility chores.
During the aforementioned range session, I had a chance to work with a new weapon-mounted light that put out a whopping 650 Lumen. ‘Great!’ you say, the more the better. Yes, a 650 Lumen light will let you distinguish targets beyond a hundred yards and that is a positive. I realized just how bright it was when I activated the light to test it while aimed at the ground by my feet. The light-colored sand reflected so much light back up that I was temporarily blinded. My dilated pupils were shocked and constricted. If you were to ‘bounce’ a 200 to 300 Lumen light off of an interior wall in your house a similar blinding issue could occur. Lesson learned.
Ammo Matters
When the majority of gun owners consider ammunition, their primary focus is the the bullet or projectile. Controlled expansion is for self-defense, full metal jacket is for practice. Checking the price tags, some folks will rationalize that ‘a bullet is a bullet’ and ‘they all make holes’. These shoppers will save a few bucks by purchasing full metal jacket ammunition for all their gun carrying chores; including self-defense.
Ammunition is more than just a bullet. You need to consider the primer, powder, and casing. When it comes to night fire, the type or grade of propellant can make a big difference. When you shoot on a sunny day you will rarely notice the muzzle flash from your gun. Your pupils are either constricted or protected with tinted glasses. Unless you are using black powder or a similar substitute, rarely will you notice any gun smoke. What little smoke there may be dissipates quickly.
Turn out the lights and this becomes a different story all together. The bright flash that you never noticed during the day can be distracting and a bit unnerving if you’ve never experienced it. Full metal jacket practice ammunition uses less expensive powder to keep the cost of the ammo down. The gray cloud of gun smoke that you never noticed is now illuminated by your white tactical light. Again this can be a bit disconcerting to the novice.
While the flash and smoke might not seem that big of a concern to you, they are definitely a bit of a handicap in seeing your threat clearly. If you are engaged in a gunfight in the dark, you are already having a ‘bad day’, why make things tougher on yourself because you loaded ‘cheap’ ammo in your gun?
Color, Shadow and Depth Perception
One of the biggest problems I personally have with the ‘welding goggles’ fix is that all you are doing is shading the shooter’s eyes. The outside world is still lit up and flashlights are useless. Welding goggles don’t give you the deep shadows and depth perception issues that are encountered in actual low-light scenarios.
The human eye needs ample light to discern color. Red, brown or blue all become varied shades of grey when the lights go out. Big deal you say? If you are a police officer and the ‘suspect’ is reported to be wearing a red shirt, can you determine color without ample white light?
When the shooter does encounter the hard shadows and depth perception issues associated with actual low-light situations, they have a tendency to focus on the threat by looking over the gun or unconsciously dipping the gun out of their field of view. This reaction by the shooter naturally causes rounds to strike low or miss the target entirely.
It is during this aforementioned situation that you realize the value of a lighted aiming point. Lasers, red dots optics and Tritium sights are all excellent options when looking for a solid reference point in the mix of bright artificial light and dark shadows.
Parting Shots
Yes, it is arguably difficult to find a range that will allow you to train after dark or in low-light situations. Difficult, however, is not impossible. If you have the opportunity to attend an advanced training course that includes low-light shooting I would highly recommend it. As with all life-saving skills, the first time you use the skill it should be on the training range, not the real world.
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Paul Markel
I practice in my house a lot, many times I wake up at 2, 3 or 4 am, for practice I take my “bat gear” and to a drill. Because the 250 plus lumen lights blinded me I have gone to an 85 Lumen Surefire “Backup”. It is close to too bright too, however the 45 lumen Coleman just was not enough to go from bedroom through the living room into the dining room.
This all is based on hearing a noise and going from sleep to combat mode in 3 seconds or less. I can use a higher lumen light if I have been awake a while, say after going to the restroom.
Just my personal experience in my house, your mileage will vary.
The22Man, great advice. I am a big supporter of running drills in my home for all types of emergencies for myself and for my family. There is something to be said for preparedness.
I really enjoyed this article as well because it does address many issues that a lot of shooters don’t really consider.
I have a Crimson Trace LightGuard on my Glock 22 home defense weapon. I don’t exactly recall the lumen rating, somewhere around 100 lumens I think; it seems about right for inside my home. Any brighter would be blinding to me. (Though the center of the beam is a bit below the point of aim.) I also have tritium night sights, but I’m not pulling the trigger on a target I cannot POSITIVELY IDENTIFY.
Good article. Thanks.
190 lumens is what my weapon(handgun) light advertises. Never had any problems blinding myself while performing my regular room clearing drills. One time I asked my brother to turn the strobe feature on at me in a pitch black room and wow was it disorienting! There is no such thing as cheating in a gunfight, but strobing someone in the face with 190 lumens at night would totally be cheating under non life threatening circumstances haha BAD GUYS BEWARE
Good article thanks for the info.
After the first time I had to qualify in low light/no light, I ran out and put night sight on my handgun the next day. There is no way putting on a welding goggle even comes close to reality. Your eye is seeing the light reflected off you target. Light has different wavelengths across the light spectrum. So your red and blue stobe lights make a static target jump all over the place. Light from a fire or flare also throws shadows and makes a target dance. The light could be behind your target which adds another problem. I have night sights, laser and light because there is no such thing as a fair fight if someone is trying to kill you.