I never used a flashlight in competition until I went to an IDPA match and it was an eye opening experience. I’m going to show you three different ways to use a flashlight in competition.
The First step is gripping the flashlight properly. I’m going to make a V with my fingers and insert the flashlight in between my middle and ring finger. This is going to allow me to grip magazines, turn doors, do whatever I need to do while still being able to use the flashlight.
For this demonstration I’m going to use a blue training gun and the first example is simply one handed shooting. Shine the flashlight on the back of the gun and the target, and the benefit is you have a lot of control over the flashlight.
The down side is I’m only shooting one handed so I’m going to be slower and less accurate.
The next technique is two-handed flashlight use. I’m going to depress the on-off button with this portion of my hand then I am going to bring up my support hand, with the flashlight, to the gun and extend out.
The benefit of this position is I have more support from my weak hand for my strong hand, and that means I will be able to shoot more accurately and faster. The down side is I have to be very careful of my magazine release bottom. If I hit that with my flashlight all my ammo is going on the floor.
For this third and final technique, I like this one a better because I have smaller hands. Instead of depressing the on-off button with my support hand, I’m actually going to bring it to the front of the gun like so.
Because I have the flashlight pressed against my strong hand fingers, my grip is actually stronger with my weak hand, and I’m able to control recoil much better. I like this technique best of all three.
This is my target from earlier at the range and I’m very happy with it, I had a few shots outside of the center because one of the techniques isn’t very comfortable for me. Figure out what works best for you.
