CM9 with or without CT laser?

[bandrich]

I am just wondering when I purchase my CM9 should I do the Crimson Trace right away also. Or is it just a personal thing and don't really need the help of a laser. Since I am new to the dot the "I" sites not sure which way to go.

[rjt123]

That's kind of a personal call. I have the CT laser on my PM9 and PM45, and I would recommend them. They're good training tools if nothing else. Doing dry fire at home with the laser can show you some flaws to work on.

One thing to keep in mind is that you need to order a holster either with or without space for the laser. What I'm getting at is that if you buy a holster now, you would have to buy another holster later to fit the pistol with the CT laser attached. Better to decide laser/no laser first, and then get your holster.

[Longitude Zero]

To each their own. I am not in favor of laser sights except as a training tool. Reliance on the laser has a been shown to decrease a shooters reliance on what should be their focus and that is the front sight. My 2 cents.

[jocko]

if one has a laser on his gun, he should also train with the sights as much, especially in daylight. I would never totally rely on the laser but for darn sure at night the laser should prevail. BG gonna see it on him, ur gonna see it on the bg, ur not gonna see your nights on the BG, u might see the sights (maybe). There are pro and cons to each. I don't have any lasers on any of my guns but I can say without a doubt I had them on my Smith model 342 and I have never shot a more accurat J frame than with the CT laser sights, and certainly for low light, I shoot it with confideence. no bulk with the ct laser grips on my J frame either. With a laser ur aligning the laser directly on the object, where as with any sight ur aligning the front sight with the object farther away andin low light it is far more difficult to do that. IMO if one trains both ways, he has in his hands the best of both worlds..

Longtitude zero, I will raise ur two cents and add my 5 cents worth.

[JLeephoto]

Agreed that you should train to look for sights and I do most of my training with a Glock 19 with night sights. BUT, there are times when a laser may provide an advantage and CT grips are not much more expensive than outfitting with night sights so I went that route on my Kahr PM9. Plus, at the range slap a piece of duct tape over the laser to go dark if needed. The biggest down side is less holster options and most will need to be custom made. The other (very minor) issue is that the CT does take up a tiny bit of the grip area under the trigger guard.
But I'd say if you're likely go get a laser, get it now so any holsters you choose will fit.

[KMA]

I much rather have good night sights.

[dirtkicker]

I have read/heard that most self defense scenarios or apr 70-80% occur in low light situations. I have a CT laser on my CM9 just because of this reason. I practice 75% with sight shooting and the other 25% with point and shoot laser. There are a hundred instances in which you may not be able to gain your sights so why not have a laser? I think the main theme here is do not rely on them, learn to sight shoot and if you need em you got em.

My service weapon has night sights and I really can't see them as well as regular sights so if you opt to go that route make sure you can try some out first to make sure you can acquire them properly.

Just my 2 cents.

[guido4198]

To each their own. I am not in favor of laser sights except as a training tool. Reliance on the laser has a been shown to decrease a shooters reliance on what should be their focus and that is the front sight. My 2 cents.

Make it 4 cents....
My CM9 is a CCW only. Not used for "home defense". Your use may be different. That said, if I'm drawing my CM9 from it's concealed carry location, I'm NOT gonna be taking time looking for the "dot". Once again...for CCW purposes, I'm NOT drawing my handgun to "warn", to "threaten", or anything other than to fire it. If I have time to activate the laser, find the dot, get it on target...I probably don't need to be drawing my weapon in the first place.

[chuckt]

I have a laser on my bedside .45 and love it. When I bought my CM9 I immediately installed an armalaser on it and got a Hume pocket holster to fit. After a short while I found I could use the gun better without the laser so it came off. It works well and the switch is just a touch strip your fingers automatically hit on the trigger guard so it doesn't change your grip like the CT. Just didn't like it. Anybody in the market?

[Bill K]

I've got an ArmaLaser on my practice/training P3AT and believe it is a fantastic tool in that roll. I've CT LaserGrip for my Glock 26 but it is probably more often off the Glock than on the Glock. I'm not certain whether on balance a laser is a plus or a minus for SD carry - particularly daytime carry.

Front sight focus... For me up close it is strictly threat focus, point and shoot. Transition to slide indexing and then front sight focus as the distance from the target increases. There is no doubt in my mind that the majority of us are most accurate using front sight focus (What kind of former Marine would I be if I didn't believe that?) but I believe it is way slower than point shooting (Anyone remember the "John Wayne" course in basic infantry training or am I dating myself?). Up close and dirty, IMHO, we're better off not using sights or laser.

[BrewerGeorge]

I have the laser on my CM9 and I like it quite well. I use the sights primarily, though, and I honestly didn't even take much trouble lining up the laser other than putting the dot right above the sights at 25 yds. When I first got it, I started working up some trigonometry to figure out the best way to deal with the parallax from the barrel-laser bore offsets, then decided that was gilding the lily. The point of the laser is a last resort option when you can't get a conventional sight picture due to lighting or position or whatever. I figured minute-of-BG accuracy was good enough in that case.

I also use it quite a bit in the house for dry-firing, and it really helped me master that long Kahr trigger.

I did fall victim to the first holsters not fitting, though.

[TheTman]

They sure do limit your holster selection. I have one on my CW45 and really like it. I practice both with some electrical tape over the laser using the sights, and some using the laser without even eyeing the sights. I think a lot of resistance to them, is we lived with iron sights for hundreds of years, so why change now. My thinking is it's a new tool that can be utilized to get a shot off quicker. That red dot is very easy to see in low light situations. I do seem to shoot more accurately with the laser and point shooting than using the sights. The thing is it runs on batteries, and batteries do fail, and probably will at the worst time possible, so I think I'm going to change batteries every time daylight savings time comes around, like on the smoke detectors in the house, so I'll always have fairly fresh batteries. Jeff Quinn over at Gunblast is a firm believer in them, I think he has them on all his personal defense guns.
I found kind of a cool thing with a flashlight with a laser on it that mounts on a picatinny rail and comes on with a light touch as you put your finger on the trigger or along side it. Thinking about getting one for my M&P for home defense. You can see a bunch of the flashlight/laser combo's here: http://astore.amazon.com/thekahrshop...iew=&x=12&y=15
They have them for shotguns and rifles too. Any weapon that you can attach a light to one of these will fit it. Most of them are quite a bit less expensive than just a CT laser too. I thought that was kind of cool. One thing though those will REALLY limit your holster selection. Might have to take it off for daytime use then put it on at night. Anyway I thought that would be perfect for a nightime break in, you could sneak up on the BG, and hit him with the light and laser at the same time, blinding him and seeing where your shot is going to hit. Should get one for my little 20 guage youth model too, since I keep that handy by the bed.

JohnH: That is one of my Amazon stores, I just haven't added that to my personal web site yet. Hope I don't get in trouble for displaying that before I've sent my sponsorship money in, but I just got a chance to see the sponsor info this evening and I promise I'll pay up for a couple months at least and see how it goes. Been busy putting together another computer for my recording studio/practice room I'm building in the basement and haven't got on line much except to look for updates and stuff.