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Had a most humbling experience tonight. I keep reading how one needs to practice low light shooting but had my doubts. I normally shoot my snubbie using a point and shooting. Even when moving at a brisk walk or jog I have no problem keeping most of my shots on a paper plate at ranges up to 5 to 7 yards so I didn't think night shooting would be that big a dial, until tonight.

After dark tonight I took a paper plate down into my field attaching it to one of my target holders. Back up 5 to 7 yards and fired a cylinder one handed like I normally do. Had no problem seeing the white plate but my gun's sights were completely invisible, but no big deal since I point shoot --- NOT! NO HITS!!

I reloaded and fired another cylinder, this time using my flash light held in my off hand. I could now see an outline of my front sight and this time I got a more normal palm sized group when using my sights.

I guess I really do need to practice some night shooting. Just need to decide what my neighbors will think. Shooting is pretty normal out here but not at night. At least it would seem that no one called the cops tonight.

The first time I tried shooting in the dark was when I finally realized how that old saying became an old saying: "taking a shot in the dark".

That is why my defensive handguns have night sights and there is a small flashlight on the night stand beside my gun as I lay in bed and type this.

The range I get to the most often is at Bass Pro. It's not really "low" light, but I do turn the light off in my lane and shoot at 3 and 7 yards. If I'm at home I'll have a light and it will probably be attached to my gun. I don't generally carry a flashlight with me, so if I'm away from the house I'll be totally relying on the night sights and or point shooting.

C-dub wrote:It's not really "low" light, but I do turn the light off in my lane and shoot at 3 and 7 yards.

I am talking about when I was in a class and ALL the lights in the range were turned off. It was darn near pitch black, could barely see the faint shadow of the target at 5 yards and certainly could not see the gun AT ALL.

If 100 shots were taken by 10 students, well over half missed the torso target entirely.

First we shot with no illumination. Then we shot using various flashlight techniques. Then we shot with night sights but no flashlight. Then we shot with night sights and flash lights. The lessons learned were compelling -- I've always had night sights and flashlights . . .

"Taking a shot in the dark" means just that. High probability of being totally off the mark.

It was certainly a learning experience for me. I'll be using this to guide any future defensive purchases. Hard heads like me just have to experience it to believe it

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wharvey wrote:After dark tonight I took a paper plate down into my field attaching it to one of my target holders. Back up 5 to 7 yards and fired a cylinder one handed like I normally do. Had no problem seeing the white plate but my gun's sights were completely invisible, but no big deal since I point shoot

That would be true if you were actually point shooting. This shows your technique does use some visual index even if it's not a classic sight picture. It's good you find out now instead of during a criminal attack at O-dark-30. Props for testing your technique and sharing your lessons learned with others.