Foremost among the skills required of any handgunner is sight alignment coupled with trigger control. While both are also a prerequisite for rifle shooters, it is the matter of sight alignment, coupled with short sight radius of handguns, that initially frustrates beginning (and aging) pistolieros. Recently I attended an Alaskan concealed handgun carry course and was introduced to a new form of handgun sighting devise.

CTC, Crimson Trace Corporation, offers handgun grips for virtually any handgun with a tiny, battery operated laser light contained completely within the grip. A small, unobtrusive button switch operates the light when the pistol or revolver is grasped. The laser, adjustable for windage and elevation with a minute Allen wrench, projects an extremely bright, highly visible red dot upon the target, indicating the bullet’s impact. Even in bright sun light the dot is visible at normal handgun range, and by twilight the dot is visible on a target well past 200 yards.

Under normal circumstances the light is adjusted to place the bullet to the same point of impact as the sights, so if your sight picture is correct a red dot is visible, superposed on the target, centered and level with the top of the front sight. The company claims the new technology is meant to supplement fixed sights when firing on the move, in defensive and low-light situations. Under high-stress situations our natural reaction is to focus on the threat and under these situations a laser can make all the difference. I also find the new devise a great teaching aid as well as an inexpensive means of practicing point shooting and dry firing. It offers positive proof exactly where your bullet would impact when the firing pin falls.