What better place to train lowlight than in your own home. Of course there is a lot of training material regarding low light, and different opinions whether to use a handheld light, light attach the pistol, etc., but some training is better than none. What better environment to train then your castle, at your convenience. As noted in the accompanying video, you know your own house and you can invest some time in training to know main entry points, where you can see reflections, the obstacles and use this information to your advantage.
Validate on the range:
Although we would love to train live fire at night, practically speaking, this is difficult. However, you can validate your grip on the range.
It’s very difficult to train low light live fire. Most ranges do not allow movement and shutting the lights off.  However, you can train pistol manipulation and in particular shooting strong hand only and ensuring that you don’t get malfunctions. If you do get a malfunction, you can learn how to work through the malfunction as well manipulating your light source. You may learn that a malfunction is impossible or unsafe to clear with one hand using a light source. You may learn you want a pistol mounted light so you can use both hands.  Either way the operative word is “learning,” you’re actually doing and learning more on this very important skillset.
Safety
Training has to be sustainable. And to be a stainable you have to have the highest safety protocols in place. Absolutely no ammunition when training in the house.  Definitely switch on the trigger take up sensor to make sure  you are not “trigger searching,” that is, feeling for the trigger with your trigger finger, when the lights are off.  If you own a traditional SIRT 110 (having functional feature of the Glock 17/22), the lower red laser on your SIRT is activated when the trigger is fully prepped, that is, the slack of out and the trigger taken up and the trigger is pressed approximately halfway.
Our new SIRT 107 (having functional features of a Smith&Wesson M&P) has a new addition of an adjustable take up sensor where the lower red laser of the SIRT can be activated with less trigger travel. Â Either way, just make sure you keep your finger off the trigger until actually ready to shoot. Â We have anecdotally found that people are more prone to put their finger on the trigger when the lights go out. We have interface with numerous law-enforcement firearm instructors who deal with officers where lights go out and students instinctively put their finger goes on the trigger before they’re ready to shoot. Â So just be aware of this natural human tendency and mentally grind in, ALWAYS KEEP YOUR FINGER OFF THE TRIGGER UNTIL READY TO SHOOT.
Michael Seeklander executing a low light live fire drill
Where do I go from here?
Training.
Our good friend, Michael Seeklander, has a class on Low light at his American Warrior Society. If this important topic interests you, don’t hold back, jump into some training and dive deeper.
Let us know what you want to learn on this important subject?
Low Light Survey
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great video,, I’m an instructor and like doing low light drills, but to get people in this area is just about impossible. what is your suggestion to get more people involved?
Try using welding goggles (the ones used for brazing or lite welding, not arc welding) to simulate a low-light situation.
They can practice either a hand-held or gun mounted flash light manipulation
Excellent material for average civilians, which I assume is your target audience.
Life-saving instruction for civilians and those under-trained LEO’s who only get annual range qualification time. Every bit counts and what you offer is great stuff. Thanks
I am a instructor for the NRA and USCCA and the Illinois National Guard. I teach inside the home outside the home personal protection. The Sirt training guns are one of my best training aids. I enjoy your training video, Thank you Russell Chadwell Decatur il, RC FIREARMS TRAINING.
I have received some low light training but that was when I worked security on a federal site. A lot of the training I took with different instructors didn’t include any low light training. It would really be great to have this because you encounter various issues at night and it could mean the difference between life and death.
I also teach a number of defensive pistol techniques using independant and gun mounted lights while searching in low light situations. Since I have a classroom in my home, using the sirt pistol in conjunction with multiple flashlight techniques makes the training for my students very realistic. They search in low light, must use each of the 5 techniques they were shown. They then locate and address the targets placed in difficult strategic locations in a real home setting.
As a California Post Certified law enforcement instructor, I recently was contacted by a local agency to teach several of their firearms instructors. When they were introduced to these programs and they loved it. No noise, wind, hot dry ranges, rain or snow. They are now training their officers inside their headquarters with the same techniques.
The training video is a wake up call to do more practice with low light situations using your dominant hand and keeping your finger off the trigger.