outfitting yourself/your gun for night time

[dfwmtx]

I'd like the opinion of the Gun Counter forum folks on this one.

[arctictom]

I use my dog , shotgun, rifle, hand gun depending on what I hear, or see. It is very difficult to get to my house, or in to my house , with out making lots of noise and or being quite visible.
Moose travel through often and they make a very distinctive sound, cars coming up the driveway announce them selves . This is not really an issue for me , night time illumination consists of a flashlight or a light switch.

[Aglifter]

Er... Light mounted on a shotgun, if I have to clear my house for some reason, letting my dog clear the rooms before I enter... Preferably, just waiting for the police to arrive and take care of it...

[Netpackrat]

As long as my wife is still in the bedroom with me, anything moving around in the house that is larger/taller than a cat is going to be collecting buckshot.

[cu74]

Too many flashlight/laser/dog options for me. Why do we have to make everything so complicated? NVGs - give me a break. The alarm wakes me in the middle of the night, my adrenalin level peaks, and I'm looking for NVGs instead of a firearm? I don't think so.

When I roll out of bed and come up with the revolver, I have enough light to see. It's only three steps to the 12 gauge pump. The only illumination I plan to have the bad dude see will be coming from the business end of the revolver or the shotgun.

Full disclosure here - we don't have a total-darkness house. There are lots of 7-watt night-lights throughout (stairs, hallway, all bathrooms) plus over-the-cabinet lights in the kitchen. Moreover, our alarm system turns on floodlights outside the house and we typically don't have the blinds drawn at night (probably not an option if you live in town, but lots of indirect light here in the boondocks.)

[Combat Controller]

Depends on what I am doing. My days of sneaking and peeking are over, so I would hazard that a flashlight may be used, or not. NVG is a little over the top, even for me.

[Mud_Dog]

If I'm just in my house my handgun or shotgun would do, my night vision is pretty good when I wake up after a "bump."

I mean, if we're talking military wise I'd go with an NVG(AN/PVS-14 preferably) and an IR laser(the PEC-2 has a spotlight ability too).

[mekender]

parachute flares work too...

[Denis]

Hmm. I suppose - purely theoretically speaking - that I would have pants, a torch (flashlight) near the bed, and a revolver and a shotgun (12 gauge 4mm /no.1 Birdshot, and/or slugs) within hand's reach. If the handgun goes walkabout, the torch goes too. Light-emitting devices attached to a firearm are prohibited here, so those options don't apply.

However, since keeping loaded firearms near one's bed is also frowned upon here, I suppose I'd better call the police and take my chances cowering under the bed...

[Whirlibird]

On my belt at the moment is a Surefire 6P with the 3Watt LED conversion head on it. A Poly-Stinger is on the other side. They match up nicely with the 1911 and I've used them enough to be very comfortable with them.
There's another standard 6P in my pocket also.
I like a lot of light.

However for long building searches, warrant service and such, I change out belts/guns to my Glock 21 and the attached Streamlight TLR-1. The same light resides on the home-def G-20. I change out because I end up changing hands so much that it only makes sense, there's a Laser-Aim guide rod laser installed in the 21 also, just in case.

The AR has a CAA double rail mount on the bottom of the handguard that a standard TLR-1 is normally on. Decent red-dot sight in/on a forward carry handle mount. Can't bring myself to spend the kind of cash for an EoTech or ACOG, for that kind of money I can get another gun, a bunch of ammo or a whole bunch of vittles.

The Ithaca 37 in the patrol car as well as the less-lethal Mossy 500 have Meprolight Tritium beads on them. Haven't outfitted them with light rails yet, not in the budget, mine or the departments.