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Laser on Pistol

Fazor

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Sep 22, 2009
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Hey guys. Just curious as to what you all think the best mW for a Green pistol laser would be to shoot at the range. I have a 5mw one from amazon, and it's not bright enough to see in the daytime. I could get a 10mW, or a 30mW, or a 50mW.... or possibly more.

But I do want to be as safe as possible. I don't think I'd want to go 50mw or more. Mostly I'd be shooting paper which is no problem with reflections, but at 50 yards away there are plastic swingers and at 100 yards away there are metal ones that are painted yellow and orange.

I'm kinda concerned with reflections and definitely don't want to hurt anyone, but I'm not sure if I'm being over-cautious.

Anyway, I'm just curious what you guys might think the brightest (but still safe enough) power would be.

Thanks.
 





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something between 10-30mW should be good enough since all you want to see is the dot, unless you also need to see the beam. Also depends on what type of sight you are using, if you are using a normal scope (the one you have to look through the lens, the dot can be magnified and you have more chances of eye damage since you wont be using glasses. I have seen many types of laser add ons for guns and rifles with different sights and 30mW was the max I have seen.
 
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Id go with 30mW. Its bright enough to be seen in daylight but not to bright to be unsafe. It would be unsafe if you're using it inside without goggles but for what you are using it for you should be good without goggles.
 
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If you find a laser at above 5mW that mounts to a pistol please tell me, I'd love one too. 5mW is not very visible on certain surfaces in the daytime, that's for sure. All I ever find are 5mW ones
 
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First off, if the laser you have is a cheap one off Amazon there is a pretty large chance that its significantly higher output than the stated 5mW.

For that application, you are pointing the beam down range at painted surfaces in the daylight so I would guess 50-100mW should be enough. The lower the output you use the more difficult it will be to see and you don't want to end up with a laser that isn't powerful enough to be useful. But you don't have to worry about reflections IMO. Even if a surface is reflectively painted at that range the reflection should be scattered enough not to be even close to damagingly bright. Also, its on a gun so you do not have worry about actually hitting someone in the face since you wouldn't point a gun at someone anyway. You would just need to make sure that your reflex to turn on the safety would also include turning off the laser before moving the gun away from pointing down range.

I am on a trip for the next couple days but when I get back I would not mind doing a little testing of my own to see if my 90mW 532nm is enough. I suspect that even that may not be enough in full sun to be useful for target purposes.

Another thing to keep in mind, 532nm lasers are a type of laser called DPSS which means they use carefully aligned crystals to convert infrared into the green that you see. This means that they are far more sensitive to shock than a diode laser. There is a new laser that was recently released that is 520nm and its a diode so it is far more sturdy against shock that you may experience from recoil on a gun. The thing about the 520nm is you would have to have someone custom build one for you so it would be significantly more expensive than the common 532nm lasers. I don't know for sure that a 532nm DPSS would not hold up well mounted on a gun since I have never actually tested it and it likely varies per brand of laser.
 
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My 532nm still works well after the shock of quite a few rounds. I am most interested in finding a green gun sight over 5mW, I can't find one for sale anywhere. I don't think they exist outside the military. I suspect one would have to be custom made. Here's the one I have now:

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this laser looks like it could be over 5mW, but it isn't. the picture was an exposure and the bathroom was actually slightly dim
 
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Did you edit that in? cause i swear it wasn't there
 
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Oh okay and yea im quick:D I found these
but it looks really sketchy...

and this one too but its pretty expensive
 
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looks sketchy indeed, though the price is less than I paid for the one I posted pics of. anything that mounts on a gun or bow tends to be way overpriced compared to regular versions of the item, like my sight cost $240. A 5mW green pointer for $240? compared that to this, the highest quality 5mW pen pointer I know of:Optotronics Product Details

Maybe those are legit, but they look like they would either not fit on my picatinny rail, or protrude even more awkwardly than my lasermax genesis does
 
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Shaken.......I spot a round in the chamber.......tsk tsk

You should know better buddy :na:

Safety first :beer:

(joking i am sure you treat your gun like a......never mind it is a loaded weapon. i bet you treat it with all caution)

EDIT: i know i asked you about you PX4 before but have you ever shot a M9? if so how does it compare. those are the two i really like and want to buy. need to find a range that has both for rental so i can test them side by side. would be sick to have a laser sight when testing them.....weaver rail mount my 1.5W 445nm :crackup:
 
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I do keep it loaded and chambered, otherwise it's a paperweight, but I don't have children or irresponsible people around. I don't go around brandishing it. I thought a nice shiny hollow point would look good in the pic, and as the slide is back, technically there isnt a round chambered, though it would be if I were to hit the slide release:na:

I have unfortunately never shot the M9. interestingly those cost more than the px4, though maybe it's because of the entire gun being metal, and the fame associated with the M9

As far as having a 1.5W 445nm as a gun sight, I had an idea. put a focus-able one on a shotgun, and adjust the focus to match the spread of the shot approximately, that way you could judge the shot pattern at different distances with the sight. cool idea huh? wonder if it could work. hmmmm, anyone have a shotgun?
 
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i know you can put the 501b host on a weaver rail, they mount them on ARs all the time, question is; is there enough room on a pistol? i like the M9 and the idea it is the AK47 of pistols, throw it in the snow, dirt, mud, water and it will still fire. they tested 1000 mags through it and not one jam.....thats 15,000 rounds :drool:

Im sure we can find a weaver mount for any laser, granted its small enough so to the OP there is always that option
 




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