Small Arms Review Article on Laser Grips

7/29/2019 Small Arms Review Article on Laser Grips

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30 The Small Arms Review - Vol. 8 No.7 - April, 2005

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Fifteen years ago, weapon mountedlaser aiming devices were quite different

than they are today. Around that time frame,

I had an older laser-sighting unit. It wasextremely expensive, very large and it was

powerful enough to burn out one of my se-

curity cameras that I just couldnt avoid aim-ing it at on a regular basis. As a toy it

was great fun. Unfortunately, as a weaponsight, it didnt have much practical use.

In the early to mid 1990s, technology

had finally evolved and allowed for smaller

units that had the potential to be mountedon pistols, rifles and shotguns in a relatively

smaller package when compared to the early

units. They were usually combined withpressure sensitive switches that were stuck,

glued, taped or tied to the gun allowing the

operator to activate it simply by handlingthe gun in its regular manner. Most of them

were mounted with a type of improvised

scope or flashlight mount, holding the laserparallel to the barrel in the case of rifles

and shotguns. Some of the companies mar-

keting them for pistols made special mountsthat attached to the trigger guard and held

the unit under the frame, parallel to the bar-

rel.Things had come a long way from the

bulky and cumbersome lasers of the past

but unfortunately there were still plenty ofdownsides that made these units somewhat

impractical. The pigtail style wires that ledfrom the laser unit to the pressure switchwere easily caught and tangled on things,

and the glues and tapes used to mount theswitches commonly became weak, causing

the switch to move or end up falling off,

dangling by the cord. The other downsidewas the extra room necessary to holster any-

thing fitted with one of these laser sights.

The handguns would no longer fit in theirstandard issue holsters due to the extra space

necessary under the receiver, in front of thetrigger-guard. To rectify this, special hol-sters were manufactured but were regarded

Right: The LG-525 Lasergrip from

Crimson Trace Corporation installed

on the authors AR-15 variant. (A)

Pressure sensitive actuation switch.

(B) Windage adjustment screw. (C)

Elevation adjustment screw) (D) Lo-

cation where laser is emitted from.


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31The Small Arms Review - Vol. 8 No.7 - April, 2005


as boxy and bulky compared to the stan-dard holsters.

Fast forward to 2004. I was contacted

by Crimson Trace Corporation and asked

if I was familiar with their new line of La-sergrips. When I explained that it had been

years since I had seen the latest in laser aim-ing systems, they asked if they could send a

few units for T&E, and asked what firearms

I had to host them. We decided upon anearly Colt 1911, and another special

project they had in the works. We decided

that this latest addition to their lineup would

be of great interest to the readers of SAR,and they would send a test sample as soon

as it was ready. A week later I received a

package from them. Upon opening it, I was

quite sure a mistake had been made becausethere was nothing in the package except a

pair of 1911 wrap-around grips, similar tothe Pachmayr Signature Series grips it al-

ready sported.

Upon closer examination, I realizedthat the laser was actually contained inside

these grips as well as the battery necessary

to power it. I immediately removed the

Pachmayr grips and replaced them with theLasergrips. I switched the power switch to

on and in gripping the pistol in a normal

aiming manner the laser turned on and

stayed on as long as I maintained this natu-ral grip. As soon as the grip was loosened

the laser turned off. These particular gripshave a pressure sensitive switch directly

under the trigger-guard. This switch is ac-

tivated with the center of the middle fingerof the shooter.

After reading the instructions, I ad-

justed the laser for windage and elevation

Above: The same laser from the same distance in the same lighting. On the left the dot is pointed at a paper B-27 target.

On the right, the dot is aimed at a standard automobile license plate. Using a target made of reflective material greatly

increases the visibility of the dot and it is extremely apparent when using a laser in direct sunlight


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and lined up the dot with the iron sights.

This is done with an extremely small Allen

wrench and was accomplished in well un-

der 30 seconds. The tiny adjustment screwsare located on the portion of the grips where

the laser is actually emitted from, in this case

the upper-right corner, immediately abovethe trigger finger of a right handed shooter.

The adjustment screws are very small and

are well protected from any unintentionaladjustment.

This particular 1911 became my newtoy for the next week, and I continuouslyhanded it to everyone who darkened my

doorstep. Their surprised responses illus-

trated two things to me. First, I was not theonly one who has fallen off the technol-

ogy wagon in regards to laser aiming de-

vices. Second, Crimson Trace has devel-oped something far superior to all the pre-

vious laser aiming devices that were so com-

mon just 10 short years ago.Whenever someone new is handling

the 1911, the first question asked is always

about the location of the laser. This is be-

cause it is so small and compact that noth-ing resembling the lasers point of emission

is immediately obvious. The second ques-tion is usually about the location of the pres-

sure sensitive switch. Unlike older switches,

there is no click to feel when you turn thedevice on. There are no wires, anywhere,

to be tangled or pulled free from the

weapon. Everything is completely internaland unless the firearm is inspected very

close, no one would suspect the grips are

anything other than custom wrap-aroundstyle grips. On the lower left side of the

grip, there is a master switch allowing theuser to turn the unit completely off. Thissaves battery life when the gun is being used

when the laser is not required or desired.

A few weeks after I received the 1911grips, a second package arrived from Crim-

son Trace Corporation. Knowing this would

probably be the new special project I wasinformed of, I was anxious to get to work.

This latest product is the LG-525 and is

designed for the AR-15/M16 weapons fam-

Above, left: LG-401 Lasergrips for

the 1911 pistol. (A) Point the laser

is emitted from. (B) Pressure sensi-

tive actuation switch. (C) Master

on/off switch.

Below, left: The location the laser is

emitted from is above the trigger

finger, on the right side of the gun.


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ily. Just like the grips for the 1911, thereare no wires, pigtails or double-faced tape

necessary for this laser sight. The pistol

grip contains the batteries, master switchand pressure sensitive activation switch.

Due to the design of the AR-15/M16, the

laser can not be emitted from the grip itselfbecause regardless of the placement, it

would be obscured by the magazine, which

is directly in front of the pistol grip, or bythe arm of the shooter holding on to the front

handguard. To remedy this situation, the

laser is mounted to the carry handle. It istightly secured by a spring-loaded, locking

lever that is secured to the handle. The

spring tension holding the laser to the carryhandle is extremely heavy. Combined with

the low-profile button that must be de-pressed before the lever can be disengaged,there is almost no chance of the aiming de-

vice becoming unintentionally dislodged.

The laser is connected to the pistol gripby a thin, flat plastic strip that runs flush to

the receiver. All wires are contained inside

this strip and there is nothing to become

caught or tangled on ei-ther vegetation or web

gear. Just like the 1911

Lasergrips, the pressure-activated switch is di-

rectly below the trigger-

guard and is depressedwith the shooters middle

finger during a normal

trigger hold. The laser isadjusted for windage and

elevation in the same

manner as well, with atiny Allen wrench.

Due to the fact that

the upper and lower re-ceiver must be separated

for regular cleaning andmaintainance, the lasermust be periodically re-

moved from the carry

handle. This would regularly necessitate anew sight-in, but Crimson Trace Corpora-

tion solved this problem with a simple de-

vice mounted in the hole in the center of

the carry handle. It is a small, steel block

that the laser slides tight against before it is

secured in place with the locking lever. Theblock remains in place during maintainance

Left: A view from the rear of the rifle shows the point where

the laser attaches to the carry handle. It does not interfere with

the iron sights and they can be used completely independent to

the laser.


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and when the rifle is reassembled, the laser

slides tight against the block placing it inthe same position it was in during the origi-

nal sight-in and any previous use. The au-

thor found this method extremely reliableand simple to use. Disassembly and reas-

sembly on several occasions held the same

point of impact with no adjustments to thelaser after the initial sight-in.

Sighting in a firearm with a laser sight

can be as simple as firing one shot. Merelyhold the rifle on target using the iron sights

and fire one shot. Hold the rifle at the same

point of aim, and adjust the laser dot so it isdirectly over the bullet hole while holding

the rifle steady. Thats it. This task is made

easier with the assistance of a locking riflerest, but can still easily be accomplished

with the help of a shooting buddy to turn

the adjustment screws while you hold therifle steady.

Bright sunlight has never been a friend

to the user of a laser. The dot is very hardto pick up with the naked eye in direct sun-

light and a laser is best suited for indoor,

artificial light or low light situations. Add-ing a reflective surface to the equation can

change everything though. The first oppor-

tunity to sight-in the LG525 sight was justafter noontime on a bright, sunny day. We

went to a range that had indoor facilities as

well as several outdoor ranges. This way ifthe sun was too bright outside to see the

laser dot, the indoor facilities could be used

as a standby. Because of their highly re-

flective finish, several old, expired, auto-mobile license plates were gathered and

brought to the range as potential targets.

This solved the problem completely as thedot was clearly visible at 50 yards, even in

direct sunlight. On every subsequent out-

ing with the Lasergrips, a few old licenseplates were thrown in the range bag. Stan-

dard rifle targets made of highly reflective

material can be purchased for use with la-

ser sights but none were locally availableto the author.

The immediate advantages of using a

laser sight include the ability to acquire thetarget extremely fast, and giving the opera-

tor the option of holding the firearm in a

different position because the standard

sights are no longer necessary. The laserdot shows the shooter the projected point

of the bullets impact regardless of themethod in which the firearm is held. Both

eyes can stay open and focused on the tar-

get unlike the use of iron sights.Typically expressed potential draw-

backs to using a laser sighting system in-

clude the ability of the target to see the

position of the shooter. This is addressedby Crimson Trace Corporation by the use

of their pressure sensitive switches. When

the master switch is on, slight pressure tothe grip turns the laser on, and simply by

releasing the pressure on the grip after fir-

ing, the laser is turned back off just as fast.

In situations where the use of a laser sightis not necessary or desirable, the master

switch can be turned off and the laser doesnot function regardless of the pressure on

the grip. Another potential problem the

author discovered is the dot quickly illus-trates the unsteadiness of the shooter. You

can tell all the stories you want to your

shooting buddies, but that shaking, ever-moving dot downrange tells a completely

different story. That is one problem you

will have to work on with practice, as there

is nothing Crimson Trace Corporation can

do for you on this front.The maximum range of the Lasergrips

as tested, far surpasses the effective rangeof the firearms that they were installed on.

Under low light conditions the dot can be

seen for several hundred yards and neitherthe authors .45ACP Colt 1911 pistol nor

the authors 9x19mm AR15 SBR are effec-

tive at that range (nor is the author with thosefirearms). The 5mW, 633nm diode used in

Lasergrips provides the brightest beam and

Lasergrips Specifications

Model(s) Tested LG-401 Colt 1911

LG-525 AR-15 / M16

Laser Type Class IIIa visible laser diode

Peak Power 5mW

Wavelength 633nm

Beam Color Red

Beam Size App. 0.5 inches at 50 feet

Battery Type (2) CR2032 lithium cells

Battery Life Over 4 hours continuous(5 Year shelf life)

MSRP LG-401 $329.00LG-525 $399.00


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maximum output currently allowed by fed-

eral law.Crimson Trace Corporation uses a

Class IIIa diode, which is regulated by the

FDA. The FDA has classified the Class IIIadiode as non-hazardous to the eye under

momentary exposure. It is believed that the

natural reflex for the eye to blink underbright light would occur faster than any

damage could be done with this class of la-

ser should it actually cross the path of vi-sion. The author believes that the key to

this safety warning is in the phrase mo-

mentary exposure and every effort shouldbe made to never allow the beam to shine

in anyones eyes regardless of whether it is

mounted on a firearm, or not.Lasergrips are shipped with a tiny .028-

inch Allen wrench for sight adjustment, a

special cleaning swab and an informativeowners manual. All Lasergrips are backed

with a 3-year warranty from the point of

purchase. The Crimson Trace Corporationwebsite is full of information regarding their

products and contains photos, videos, a cus-

tomer service area and a forum area. Theycan be visited on line at:

www.crimsontrace.com

Summary

Laser sighting systems have evolvedgreatly in the last 20 years. Technology and

innovation have brought these once heavy

and cumbersome devices to the point where

they are tiny, light and useful. Somethingthat used to be viewed as an exotic gad-

get now has an obvious place in both the

practical and tactical categories. TheCrimson Trace Lasergrips evaluated by

Small Arms Review are both comfortable

and attractive. They are simple to installand use, and require a minimal amount of

maintainance or special handling. The bat-

teries are common and available at mostphoto shops and department stores. This

author can absolutely recommend Crimson

Trace Corporations Lasergrips for any en-thusiast who is fortunate enough to own one

of the many firearms they are manufacturedfor.

For more information:

Crimson Trace Corporation

Dept. SAR

8089 SW Cirrus DriveBeaverton, OR 97008

(800) 442-2406

www.crimsontrace.com

Small Arms Review Article on Laser Grips

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