Streamlight TLR-3

“Light thinks it travels faster than anything but it is wrong. No matter how fast light travels, it finds the darkness has always got there first, and is waiting for it.” ~Terry Pratchett, Reaper Man

Having recently gotten out of the military and currently on the job hunt while awaiting school to start for me in June, I wasn’t able to post on Tuesday due to a couple of job interviews. I’m still planning on posting twice a week, but sometimes things happen. Today’s review post is on the Streamlight TLR-3, my weapon mounted light of choice for my home defense pistol, the Smith and Wesson M&P40. I’m not going to get into the debate on whether or not it is better to have a weapon mounted light or a handheld flashlight as each argument has merits. What I will cover is what I consider the most important factors in selecting a weapon mounted light. Those being: durability, illumination, weight, battery life, ease of use, and price.

Durability: The unit itself is polymer with an anodized aluminum facecap. Streamlight advertises it as impact resistant and waterproof to 1 meter for 30 minutes. Obviously, as this is on my home defense pistol, I have not tested it to see how impact resistant it is, nor have I dunked it in water for 30 minutes. What I can say about it is that it has been on my M&P continuously for 4 months now, and I haven’t had a hiccup.

Illumination: The TLR-3 puts out 125 lumens, which for me, is perfectly suitable for any home defense scenario I can think of. My house is only 1,400 sq ft, and the TLR-3 is able to illuminate every room in it. It is also bright enough to disorient or ruin the night vision of a potential intruder from any self defense distance I have tried in my home. If you have a larger home, or have the need to search the property around your home, the Streamlight TLR-1, with its 300 lumens, or the Surefire X300, with its 500 lumens, may be more suitable to your needs.

Weight: Weight and size is a big reason I chose the TLR-3 over some of the larger offerings from Streamlight or Surefire. At 2.32 ounces, it weighs almost half of what the TLR-1 weighs. While a little under 2 ounces may not be much, I will take any weight savings I can find, without sacrificing function.

Battery life: The battery life is approximately 90 minutes of continuous use, which is pretty standard for lights that use a single CR2 battery.

Ease of use: The TLR-3 attaches easily to most handguns with a rail, with the exceptions being some of the H&K models, which Streamlight does make mounting kits for. I haven’t taken mine off of my M&P since I got it, and have put over 1,000 rounds through it while attached and it’s still as secure as the day I put it on. Activation is fairly standard, pushing down on the toggle with your trigger finger (right handed) allows you to to turn it on for continuous use, while pushing up allows you to flick it on and off for intermittent use.

Price: I picked mine up from Amazon for $73, which at the time was around $50-$60 less than the TLR-1’s were going for, and over $100 less than the Surefire X300’s were. That being said, price isn’t the sole reason to chose a product that you may have to rely on to save your life.

Overall opinion: I really like the TLR-3. It fulfills every aspect for a weapon mounted light that I see myself needing. I’m not an Operator or SWAT member. I don’t live in a huge house. I don’t have a lot of land or external buildings on my property that I may have to search. If you are or have any of those things, or are just more comfortable with a more powerful weapon light, the TLR-3 may not be for you. You may want to look into the TLR-1 or Streamlight X300 series. But for a suburbanite looking for a small, lightweight, weapon mounted light to protect themselves, their family, and their property with, the TLR-3 fits the bill for me.

The California Handgun Roster Discriminates Against Poor People

One of the most daunting tasks for a new resident of California, is navigating some of the most draconian gun laws in the country. There are magazine capacity laws, storage laws, transport laws, and certain cities have laws banning possession of ammunition marked as “Law Enforcement”. Probably the two most onerous laws are the “California Assault Weapon Ban”, and “The Roster of Handguns Certified For Sale”

Today I would like to share my thoughts on the roster, and specifically how the roster harms Californians of modest means. I do not plan on covering the complete history of the roster, which can be found at: http://wiki.calgunsfoundation.org/The_Safe_Handgun_List

The California Handgun Roster purports to be a safety measure to protect people from dangerous handguns, when in reality its purpose is to gradually eliminate the majority of handguns that can be sold in the state. What started with drop tests, moved to loaded chamber indicators and magazine disconnects, and finally to microstamping, a process in which the firearm imprints the identification of the firearm onto the cartridge case. As of May 2013, no handgun can be added to the roster unless it has microstamping technology, and manufacturers have to pay an annual fee to keep their handguns on the roster.

Now that we have covered the basics, how does the roster discriminate against law abiding citizens of modest means? It discriminates because it limits options. Not every person can afford to spend $500 on a gun. A person may not be able to afford a $550 Glock 19, but they might be able to afford a $300 Kel-Tec PF9. Someone might not be able to afford a $599 CZ P-01, but they can afford one of the $350 CZ clones by Tri-Star. The problem is that neither of the lower cost alternatives are on the roster, and with the new microstamping mandate by the CA DOJ, no new high value, competitively priced handguns will be made available to Californians. The result will be that as firearms fall off the roster over the years, they will not be replaced by guns that are affordable for most Californians. The elites and the government will have the guns, and we will be at their mercy.

As I close, I’d like to remind people that for many of us, the roster is a source of annoyance, as we have ways of purchasing non roster firearms that are completely within the law. However, those perfectly legal transactions often add cost to the purchase of the firearm, which defeats the purpose of a value priced gun in the first place. For others however, the roster preventing them from purchasing an affordable gun to defend themselves with, could be a matter of life or death.