I bought a TLR for my HD pistol. Took it to the range a couple of times. I'm pretty impressed with the ease of use of it

 

However I've also taken a no light training class that was flashlight oriented. I do feel somewhat comfortable using the flashlight in a HD situation but obviously I have a bajillion rounds shooting two handed versus only 250 rounds one handed with flashlight.

 

As far as I know the only "negative" to the weapon mounted is "don't use a loaded gun as a flashlight"

 

Please review for me the pros and cons of weapon mounted versus one handed flashlight shooting.

 

The point is if I decide to stay with flashlight I will sell the TRL

 

I suppose I feel 5x more confident shooting two handed with the TRL. But I keep thinking about is it better to use a flashlight to survey the situation around your family than pointing a pistol

dont have a pros and cons list for you, but you should have both. Im sure there are others like myself who have small flashlights stashed in numerous areas of their dwelling. I also have a TLR mounted on my HD pistol. 

I teach low light/no light tactics to folks that carry guns for a living. This isn't a question that can really be answered simply on the interwebs. There are many "it depends" and "what ifs" to consider when using white lights for searching, target ID, IFF, and threat processig. This is a topic that needs to be covered in depth with lots of hands on training and needs to be sustained with dry-fire and scenario based training with range practice whenever possible.

 

Easy answer - You should have both:

• A handheld for admin tasks

And

• A WML for social occasions

 

And you should have training to know when it is appropriate to use both effectively. Just because you have a WML doesn't mean you have to use it. Just because you have a handheld in your hand doesn't mean you shouldn't drop it and use the WML.

 

Here's the ultimate test for whether to have a hendheld light or a WML on a pistol for social occasions:

 

Do you shoot better with one hand on the gun or two hands?

 

If you are like 99% of the shooters out there, the answer is you shoot better with 2 hands. Use a WML whenever appropriate but be familiar with handheld techniques.

 

And don't listen to the stupid "they will shoot at the light" argument against a WML. It is rubbish and wielded like a club by the untrained followers of Ned.

I can't believe I hadn't thought of BOTH. I can use the hand held as primary and if things got psycho I'd just drop the hand held and go to two handed and flip the switch.

The spill from most weapon lights will be sufficient so you shouldn't be pointing a loaded firearm directly at anyone until you are ready to use it.

Get and practice with both.

The only "cons" of either is getting too familiar with one, and letting your comfort level with the other fall away.

Obviously, the whole "pointing a loaded flashlight at somebody" still applies