The Great Mississippi Squirrel Shoot-Out won’t rank anywhere near the most successful hunting trips I’ve ever taken, but it is another one that’s expanded - again- my thinking about the usefulness of lasers on handguns.
Lasers on handguns (or rifles, or shotguns) are terrific in a variety of situations, ranging from simple dry fire training to full-on nighttime competition and law enforcement.
Until this week, I’d never considered them for hunting situation.
No more.
They will work for hunting- although I will never suggest they’re a replacement for learning how to use your “regular” sights. But for this test, we only used lasers. In fact, they were mounted on the rails between our front and rear sights. The lasers weren’t just an option, they were the only option.
Despite a lack of cooperation from either the weather or the local squirrel population, we used those lasers to put protein in the pressure cooker.
Learning to trust the laser without a sight took some adjustment, but it was a confidence booster to know that Smith & Wesson’s legendary pro shooter Jerry Miculek had verified the accuracy of each of our guns before we took them and headed into the field.
Mounted on Smith & Wesson Model SW22 Victory pistols and Browning Buck Marks, the Crimson Trace Rail Master lasers looked a bit ungainly, but they worked when looking in the deep woods and palmetto thickets of High Ground, the hunting camp that graciously hosted us.
Lasers on guns these days aren’t anything new. You see them on everything from pocket pistols to long-distance rifles. The fact they’re so ubiquitous in itself validates their usefulness.
The idea of lasers on firearms is nothing new.
In low-light situations, lasers have helped competition shooters and saved the lives of law enforcement officers. So why not in the deep woods and marginal light situations of early morning and late afternoon hunting?
That’s the premise Crimson Trace invited us to try in the Mississippi woods.
From what I saw, they were another useful- and legal- tool for more accurate shooting, meaning more humane taking of animals. Granted, they’re not going to offer much of an advantage in bright light conditions, but that’s not when it’s most difficult to make accurate shots. And hunters, if they decide to add them to their tool set, will need to determine whether the red or green lasers are best for them.
But their addition to your hunting gun might make you a better shooter whether you choose to use them in the field or not. A laser, when trained on a target, will quickly help you determine if you need to work on your shooting skills. At 20-25 yards, it’s easy to see if your trigger technique needs work.
It’s something worth considering- after verifying it’s legality where you hunt.
--Jim Shepherd