The CT laser arrived today, My observations:
The CT laser arrived today, My observations:
Quality - high but did have issues installing it.
This did fit the PF9 grip and trigger guard very tight, it was not easy to get on. It required a lot of fiddling to get lined up just right before I could get it to snap in place, this was the first part that had to go around the trigger guard.
The other part that clamps on with the 2 screws on the opposite side of the trigger guard went on fine except I had a lot of trouble getting the second or lower of the 2 screws to catch the threads and screw down.
I first removed the mating plastic piece and inspected the screws to see if one had bad threads. Screws seem OK. Swapping the screws did not help. Next I tried the screws without the other plastic mating section to see if the lower screw would find the threads and screw in. After more twiddling and a little force, got it screwed in.
I put the plastic mating piece back on, screwed down the top screw and clamped the plastic mating piece down with my fingers as hard as I could and then inserted the screw and put a good bit of force on it as I slowly turned the tiny Allen screw. This time the threads caught and it screwed in.
After I finally got it together I reminded myself not to go to tight on final torque.
So any one who buys one of these, when you go to install it, just work slowly and keep going until to goes together. Once you get everything lined up just right, it will snap into place but you will need to fiddle with it, get it lined up just right and you will need to apply some pressure in just the right way.
I am older with kinda large sausage fingers and my dexterity is not what it used to be.
If that is you too, just go slow and work at it and it will go together. It will be tight because that is how it needs to be to not move while firing the gun.
Next up, how does this effect finger insertion and grip:
If you have larger fingers this is going to have a negative effect on your finger insertion and grip. See attached photos at bottom of trigger guard and trigger.
It works like this, while pulling the gun from your holster your finger is finding where it should be, and inserting into the trigger guard to find its place on the trigger.
The CT laser makes this harder if you got fat fingers, and I do have fat fingers and this is noticeable and a negative for me.
With the PF9 finger guard and trigger it was "just big enough" so I could insert my finger with no problem.
Not big enough any more, I have to work at this and move the trigger back taking up the pre-travel a bit, inserting my finger, it is just not as easy as it was. After my finger is in there it is not an issue.
It is just "not the same" as it was. After working on this, doing a little practice with a snap cap and during laser alignment I came to the conclusion I could deal with it.
Final solution, I was planing on a Northwood trigger some day, now this has become a more important thing and needs to happen sooner as I understand the Northwood trigger gives a bit more room due to less hook on the lower part of the trigger.
Laser alignment and adjustment:
My CT laser only needed a tiny bit of adjustment to be well aligned with my sites. I clamped the PF9 in a small milling vice setting on a table and pointed it across the room at a 1" grid target.
Having it in this vice allowed for me to take my time aligning the sites with the lines on the target then activating the laser and checking alignment.
Less then a 1/4 turn was needed on the screws to align the laser with the site center line.
At 6 to 10 ft the laser is low, about 1" or so. At 20 ft it is a bit low, maybe 1/8 inch.
Of course final alignment will need to take place at the range but specially for the close 6 to 10 ft range, 1" up, down or side to side is not going to matter as this will not take my shot placement out of center mass.
While I have not actually fired the gun yet, I did do a lot of snap cap practice, at 6 to 10 ft and farther as in 20 ft, one handed and with 2 hands.
I found I could not pull the trigger without jerking to the right about 1 to 1.5 inches during trigger break, as seen on the target via the laser dot.
Now with snap cap practice, I could not determine how far right, if any the actual shot would go, as lock time and actually firing the gun and the time it takes for the bullet to exit the gun verses the guns reaction to the trigger breaking and firing would all come into play.
I found the gun would jerk to the right just after the trigger broke no matter what I did with single handed practice.
At 10 ft or less it did not take me off target much, certainly not enough to miss center mass on an adversary at that range.
Moving to a 2 handed hold I was able to stabilize the gun enough to eliminate 90% of the right side jerk movement when the trigger broke.
Actually firing the gun at the range will tell the real story.
Further observations:
Being 59 yrs old and needing reading glasses causes my sights to be blurry while aiming.
The thing I'm shooting at, the target will be clear and the gun sights will be blurry without my glasses.
With my glasses the sights will be clear the the target will be blurry, but to a lesser degree then the other way. This means the target will be a little blurry and the sights will be clear.
Before the CT laser I thought, if I have time to put on my glasses before I have to engage in a gun fight or shoot in a self defense situation, I would as I thought I might get better shot placement.
While practicing with the laser something interesting became apparent. That is/was how much my vision is slowing me down in a pull and shoot situation.
Whale practicing with snap caps and not using the laser I would always be taking a little extra time to adjust my aim aligning the sites and the target.
If the target is very close of even point blank right in front of me there would be no time taken as it would be un-holster gun, bring it up and fire.
If however the target is 10 ft or farther away I was naturally taking time to align the blurry sites and target before I could fire.
I never really noticed this or thought about it until now because I never had the laser to activate and compare it to.
With the laser it seems I can align the gun for a shot and fire quicker as there is no need at all to squint at the blurry sights and try to align them before firing.
Pull gun bring it up, laser activates, point gun naturally in target direction, while simultaneously aligning laser dot with desired bullet impact point and smoothly squeeze trigger.
I could easily do this faster as I could concentrate my eyes totally on target and not take any extra time trying to focus on the gun sights.
I think a close in defense situation under 10 ft would not be a big difference but anything over 10 ft, I can see a significant reduction in time to acquire target and fire. This would be with one hand or 2, but if farther distance, a 2 hand hold would definitely be desirable for control and quicker second shot followup.
Over all, I can say I wish I would have bought this Laser a long time ago.
I will certainly require practice but already I can see myself acquiring my target without the disadvantage of the extra time required to align blurry sights in order to shoot.
Most encounters are said to be very close or point blank, during such an encounter if the need to shoot quickly would arise, I feel I could pull ad fire quickly as I would not need to bring the gun up as far to align it with target before squeezing the trigger.
In a situation where I had to fire beyond 10 ft, the laser is going to be a huge advantage cutting off significant time before I could get off an accurate shot.
An interesting point about the laser, I have heard people mention sight radius regarding certain guns and how it can effect accuracy.
The PF9 has one of the shortest sight radius of any pistol out there. With the laser the sight radius extends from the gun to the target.
Live fire practice will tell the whole story, looking forward to that.
The PF9 with CT laser fits my pocket holster perfectly, just a bit more snug.
I notice no difference in the way the PF9 with CT laser in the pocket holster fits "in" my pocket.
If you like the idea of a laser for your PF9, I hope all this can help you decide.
If you are older and need reading glasses, notice the time it takes you to line up for a shot when your target is 10 ft or more away. Do you spend any time trying to focus on blurry sights before you feel you can squeeze the trigger and take the shot?
What if you only had to look at your target and just bring the gun up naturally with eyes and focus only on your target, how much time would this save you? Could that fraction of a second ever save your life? If the answer is yes, what is that worth?
When I consider the answer to that question, it makes me wish I had bought this laser a long time ago.
Consider the effects of the laser at night! I was just out to walk my dogs in my dark yard. We have cougars in the area, one was just caught and shot in a local residents garage, yes INSIDE the garage. If I was out walking my dogs at night and suddenly noticed we were being stalked by a cougar, I would have to be pretty close in order to take a shot. With the laser it seems I could take a farther shot and not need to wait until the cougar was closer due to not being able to see the sights.
Conclusion, this CT laser makes my PF9 a very much more effective weapon at 10 ft or more and in low light.
These are simply my observation and are not meant to be the last word on the subject, I post this in hope it can help others decide if a CT laser might be for them.
Update: just ordered a Northwood trigger.
Robert
