www.crimsontrace.com

Suggested Retail Price: $279.00

The Good	The Bad	The Ugly	Our Rating
The LG-850 for Glock Gen 4 pistols is easy to install, easy to use, and foolproof.	She now wants the Glock 26 Gen 4 compatible model…	We’re gonna have to buy the Glock 31 in for evaluation. That with Lasergrips and Lightguard make a compelling nightstand gun.	Four Nuns! Simply put, it’s hard to find any fault with this setup.

The Crimson Trace LG-850 Lasergrip for Glock full sized and compact models is designed specifically to play nicely with others. With it’s rear-of-frame-mount and backstrap pressure pad activation switch, it is designed to complement the Crimson Trace Lightguard which we covered in an earlier review. As the Lightguard features a front activation switch, using both units concurrently is an option. Of course, all this stuff is mounted below frame level so it does not interfere with your personal choice of iron sights either.

The rear mounted pressure activation pad is reliable and consistent. We had no problems with intermittent activation with any sort of normal grip. The nice thing about placement on the back of the back strap is that there is virtually no chance of holster interference with the switch. On occasion, with side mounted switches, we’ve had some trouble with certain holsters activating lasers while the gun is holstered. None of that here.

A noticeable difference with the Glock Gen 4 models is the design of the side panels where the batteries are housed. More angular in design, they are placed low enough that your firing hand thumb and trigger finger ride well above them, preventing an real change in the perceived trigger reach. While the middle of the grip is wider due to the panels, we found very little change in trigger finger placement.

Features

• Rear activation pressure pad
• Master On / Off switch
• Battery life: 4+ hours
• Windage and elevation adjustments
• 3 year warranty
• Dot size: Approximately 1/2” at 50 feet

Clap on, clap off

Well, not quite, but one of the things we like about the Crimson Trace LG-850 lasergrip is the Master On/Off switch design. The master switch completely disables or re-enables the grip sensitive pressure pad switch. This is particularly useful for general practice, plinking, competitions, or any other shooting situation where you don’t want the laser to operate and burn down your batteries. It is operated with a pressure switch on the back strap that is protected by a small circular ridge. This makes it very unlikely that you will power the unit on or off inadvertently. Simply hold the button in for a moment and the laser is disables. Repeat to re-enable the laser. It’s easy to operate and we had no issues with accidental activation – you have to be pretty intentional about turning it on or off.

Installation

Installation of the Crimson Trace LG-850 Lasergrips on our Glock 17Gen 4 and Glock 31 Gen 4 was a snap. We used only one tool, which was included, made no trips to Wal-Mart for batteries, and had no parts left over when all was said and done.

All in all a successful project.

Closing arguments

Installing the Crimson Trace LG-850 Lasergrips on a carry gun is a no-brainer. There is no interference with a holster, and depending on how you adjust the laser relative to iron sights, there is no distraction of the laser dot when using iron sights. We preferred setting the dot low enough that it was covered by the front sight when they were perfectly aligned.

Where the Crimson Trace LG-850 Lasergrips really shinse is in combination with the Crimson Trace Lightguard. These two accessories, mounted on a pistol with good night sights, make a fantastic home defense gun. No switches, levers, or gimmicks to worry about. Just grip the gun and you’ve got light and laser with the option of using tradition iron sights.

Check out other My Gun Culture product reviews here!

Admit it. You’ve already got the Activia jingle going in your head.

Or at least you’re wondering why a perennial hottie like Jamie Lee Curtis is now hawking butt modulating yogurt.

Or what happens when bullets strike Bifidus Regularis bacteria – gajillions of them?

Or whether ammunition has occasional irregularity?

Or whether prune flavored yogurt has a messier ballistic aftermath than something fruitier – like strawberry mango tropi-blend with guava-kiwi-pomegranate concentrate?

Or if premium ammunition is worth the cost in terms of facilitating intestinal transit?

But enough of that. After seeing the Activia commercial for the 3,012th time, and listening to its claims of being able to handle the toughest of bowels, we had to ask some questions.

Can prunes handle Hornady Critical Defense pills?

Can Activia regulate the performance of high velocity 9mm and .40 S&W expanding ammunition?

Is the explosion caused by bullets hitting prune yogurt similar to that caused by prune yogurt hitting your bowels?

These are important questions and we aimed to find out.

If you hadn’t figured it out already, we stocked up on Prune Flavored Activia and headed to the range with a few boxes of both Hornady Critical Defense and Hornady Critical Duty ammo. Jamie Lee Curtis did not attend as ballistic testing is not covered in her endorsement contract.

What caliber is appropriate for prune yogurt? We had no idea, so we went with two common self-defense calibers – 9mm and .40 Smith & Wesson. Not knowing how tough of a barrier prune flavored Activia is, we tried both Hornady Critical Defense, designed for civilian self defense use, and Hornady Critical Duty, designed to penetrate tougher bowels barriers, yet still expand.

Here’s what we learned.

Shooting yogurt makes everyone at the range laugh like kindergartners with a whoopee cushion.

Expansion was not an issue. The yogurt expanded all over the range, and some counties of 3 bordering states.

When shooting yogurt, bring lots of wet wipes.

If you get into a running gunfight in a health food store, no worries about evil d00dz taking cover behind the Activia display – you can shoot right through it.

Today we hope to answer many pressing questions:

What happens when you shoot a bullet at a huge pile of B.S.?

If the B.S. is laid on really thick, will it clog up a hollowpoint bullet and prevent it from expanding?

Is shooting at a pile of B.S. kind of like squashing a pregnant spider? Does it just create millions of little piles of B.S.?

You guessed it! It’s time for another episode of Will It Expand, featuring Hornady Critical Defense and Critical Duty ammunition. If you haven’t figured it out already, the goal this week is to shoot a huge pile of B.S. To find some suitable B.S., we didn’t have to go far as our corner grocery store carries The New York Times.

What more appropriate pile of B.S. is there than The New York Times?

Once a bastion of journalistic integrity, The New York Times is currently out-subscribed by The National Enquirer – although that may be more of a reflection on today’s readers and the popularity of “The Kardashian Kapers” than the quality of either publication.

Back to the important stuff. What happens when you shoot B.S.? Given the formidable amounts of B.S. in even a weekday issue of The New York Times, we elected to go with the heavy stuff – Hornady Critical Duty. The Critical Duty line features a heavier projectile and a separate InterLock crimp band that helps prevent bullet jacket and core separation when tough barriers – like huge piles of B.S. – are encountered.

For our test, we donned heavy duty eye protection – in this case the ESS CrossBow Eyeshields. Who knows what happens when a high velocity projectile, fired from a southern state, hit’s a huge pile of B.S. from New York City? It could be like some ballistic matter / anti-matter reaction that would cause the earth to wobble on its axis and Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel to issue concealed carry permits free with every library card. Or worse.

We tried the B.S. Bang Theory with two different loads: Hornady Critical Duty 9mm +P 135 grain and Hornady Critical Duty .40 S&W 175 grain. For maximum velocity, we used full size guns – a Glock 17 Gen 4 and a Beretta PX4 Storm.

What did we learn?

As you can see, the Hornady 9mm Critical Duty load performed better. We think that the extra velocity (clocked around 1,172 feet per second on our Shooting Chrony) helped cut through the B.S.

The .40 S&W load struggled a little more. Perhaps the extra diameter of the .40 caliber projectile caused more surface area to impact the B.S. and slow down expansion?

B.S. is a tough target – as shown by the abuse these bullets took going through it.

This may be the very first time that The New York Times has been to a shooting range.

What’s next? Stay tuned and find out.

And, as always, if you have suggestions for our Will It Expand series, just comment here or visit us on Facebook.

And all for the low price of $19.95.

One of those neat inventions I found at the NRA Annual Meeting was Handgun Hangers by Gun Storage Solutions. These amazingly simple devices help make efficient use of the space in your gun safe while protecting your guns from gun-safe-bumper-car abuse.

As you can see from the photo, I had a problem. I was not hung. Knowing that you have a problem is the first step to recovery, so I stopped by the Gun Storage Solutions booth and boldy informed the young ladies working there that I had a problem. I was not hung, and I was miserable as a result.

After a quick diagnosis, the folks at Gun Storage Solutions offered a treatment regimen. And it didn’t even require little blue pills.

Having tested most of the available configurations, my preference would be to do the whole setup with the Original Handgun Hangers. I would hang all pistols below the shelf and use the shelf tops for magazine storage as in the first picture.

All in all, hats off to the folks at Gun Storage Solutions for creating a simple and flexible system to organize your guns.

A side note – my particular safe has very little space between the inside main door panel and the front edges of the shelves. This means that I have not been able to find a inside-the-door handgun mount solution. The Handgun Hanger method overcomes that challenge.

It feels much better to be hung.

Dang. We’re starting to become fans of this Buffalo Bore stuff. We were pleasantly surprised with the results of our test with an uber-velocity, light weight 9mm load. Now we’ve been pleasantly surprised with, of all things, a .380 ACP load.

We recently tried a similar load from Doubletap Ammunition and were a bit perplexed by the lower than expected velocity out of a Ruger LCP.

So we persevered on our quest for a fast and reliable expander out of a short barrel .380 ACP. Le Petit Canon’s are all the rage nowadays you know.

The Buffalo Bore load features an 80 grain Barnes TAC-XP Projectile that hums along at 1,275 feet per second from a test-length barrel. Buffalo Bore goes to great efforts to publish expected ‘real world’ velocities for each of their loads. For the this .380 load, Barnes claims the following performance:

1231 — fps – Browning Double Action-3.75 inch barrel

1235 — fps – Walther PPK-3.5 inch barrel – (faster than longer barrel above, no typo)

1130 — fps – Kel Tec P3AT-2.75 inch barrel

1136 — fps – Kahr P380-2.75 inch barrel

Fortunately, we own a Walther PPK/S and a Ruger LCP, which offers an equivalent barrel length to the Kel Tec P3AT with its 2.75 inch barrel, so we’ll be able to compare actual velocities in the swamp to factory claims.

How did it do with our guns? At 15 feet from the muzzle, we clocked the following:

Ruger LCP: 1,107 feet per second

Walther PPK/S: 1,177 feet per second

Given the chrony was 15 feet downrange, these loads came in right about on target per the specs.

We did some basic expansion testing that involved shooting through two very heavy layers of leather and several layers of cotton fabric. After all this, our little .380 ACP loads still managed to fully expand 3 out of 4 times.

One interesting ‘heads up’ to note if you purchase this round. The cases have a very slight, but visible bulge. According to Buffalo Bore, this is normal given the high charge and longer length of the Barnes TAC-XP projectile.

“The all copper, long-for-weight, Barnes bullet is so long that when seated to an OAL of .940 to .950 inch, the base of the bullet will make a slight bulge in the case, but this DOES NOT affect feeding or chambering as the bulge is not pronounced enough to cause any problems, but in order to avoid endless emails, I’m mentioning it here.”

We experienced no feeding or chambering problems with either the Walther PPK or Ruger LCP.

Impressive ammo.

Buffalo not included.

A long time ago, in a swamp far, far away, we buried a ZCORR Zero Corrosion Products Vacuum Pistol Bag.

When we originally buried the ultimate survival kit, the water table was normal, and the bag and its contents were buried about 2 feet deep in damp swamp mud. Did we say swamp? Sorry, we mean scenic wetlands. Since that time, we’ve had a lot of rain, and when we went to recover the goods, we found that the water table had risen and the bag was fully immersed in water. For how long, we don’t really know.

Ewww.

Step one was to hose down the bag thoroughly before opening. We wanted to make sure that our box of macaroni and cheese did not get contaminated by swamp mud – assuming that it was still intact and dry.

When we went to open the storage bag, we were somewhat surprised to find the vacuum seal still well intact.

Here’s the status of our survival kit…

So what did we learn?

1. Jason from ZCORR is NOT a liar! We really didn’t think he was, but he just sounded so darn confident and all.
2. You can literally submerge stuff in a ZCORR Vacuum Storage Bag safely – at least for a couple of months.
3. Submerging stuff in a swamp is a pretty ridiculous thing to do, but it sure was a fun way to test out these long term storage bags.
4. We have not yet learned how many boxes of Macaroni and Cheese will fit in a larger rifle storage bag, but we’re working on that…

These storage bags are definitely a 4 Nun product!

You can buy ZCORR Storage Bags from Brownells: Vacuum Seal Storage Bags: Handgun Storage Bag

They say you can blow up a tank with a marshmallow if you can get it moving fast enough. While we’re still waiting on a civilian legal marshmallow rail gun, we’re taking a baby step in that direction by testing this load.

With all the shooting of random things we’ve done over the years, we’ve been less than impressed with the high velocity, low projectile weight theory. Light bullets at enormous speed make for spectacular water jug explosions, but when shot through something harder like clothing, leather, bone simulating materials, rocks, black eyed peas, or grape jelly, performance – and especially penetration – leaves a lot to be desired.

We’re totally violating our own self-imposed ammo rules with this test and trying a relatively lightweight 95 grain 9mm bullet at insane velocity. The Buffalo Bore 9mm +P+ round claims to launch a Barnes TAC-XP bullet at a realistic maximum of 1,550 feet per second. Buffalo Bore estimates the following expected velocities out of some common 9mm handguns:

1524 fps — Walther P88-4 inch barrel

1374 fps — Glock 19-4 inch barrel

1508 fps — Browning Hi Power MK111-4.6 inch barrel

1496 fps — Beretta 92F-4.9 inch barrel

Fortunately we’ve got a Beretta 92 so we’ll see if we can get 1,500 feet per second out of this beast. We’ll also try it out of a Glock 17 Gen 4 and a Glock 26 Gen 4 just for fun.

Velocity Matters

With all the testing we’ve done with our Will It Expand series, we’ve come to appreciate the importance of that last extra bit of velocity when it comes to expansion performance. And Buffalo Bore delivers when it comes to velocity. We set up a Shooting Chrony Beta Master at 15 feet from the muzzle and clocked the following:

Beretta 92FS: 1,420 feet per second

Glock 17 Gen 4: 1,438 feet per second

Glock 26 Gen 4: 1,358 feet per second

Considering our Chrony was 15 feet downrange, the recorded velocity came in right as advertised.

Expansion

We subjected the Buffalo Bore Barnes load to a pretty tough expansion challenge: 2 layers of heavy boot leather and several layers of cotton fabric (translation: old ratty t-shirts) in front of a dense paper wetpack bullet catcher. Of the four rounds we tested for expansion, all four expanded dramatically. Penetration was surprisingly good for a 95 grain projectile with 2 projectiles plowing about 7 inches into the dense wetpack after the leather barrier and the remaining two making it about 9 inches in.

Closing Thoughts

We were pleasantly surprised at the performance of this load. Felt recoil was shockingly light in all guns tested – especially so with the more hefty Beretta 92FS. Our wetpack was particularly dense so the 7 and 9 inch penetration post-barrier was impressive.

To be candid, we really wanted to test the 115 grain 9mm +P+ Barnes TAC-XP loads, but they are not available just yet. We’re looking forward to trying those out next.

This is a 4 Nuns load.

www.crimsontrace.com

Suggested Retail Price: $149.00

Find the Crimson Trace Lightguard at Amazon.com

The Good	The Bad	The Ugly	Our Rating
The Crimson Trace instinctive activation feature is outstanding on this unit. No levers or stretching of the digits – it just gets turned on easily. Like Tiger Woods.	While easy to remove and reinstall, if mounting on our carry gun, you’ll need a new holster.	We’re really tempted to get yet another Glock to dedicate to a ‘nightstand’ configuration – Lightguard plus Lasergrips. Maybe a G31…	Four Nuns! This is a bright and effective light in a small package. Couldn’t be more intuitive.

We’ve used a Streamlight TLR-1 rail mounted light on a Beretta PX4 Storm as the ‘nightstand gun’ for several years now. The TLR-1 is a great piece of equipment – tough, bright, and intuitive to operate.

But now we’re spoiled.

With the new Crimson Trace Lightguard mounted on a Glock 17 Gen IV, we’ve got more light, less weight, and even simpler activation.

What’s the big deal?

The Crimson Trace Lightguard is designed to mate seamlessly with it’s respective gun model. The polymer (OK, plastic) color and texture are close to a perfect match with the Glock frame. The two halves of the Lightguard unit join together over the front and bottom of the trigger guard, and also clamp onto both sides of the Glock’s rail. Once installed, it’s solid – there’s no wobble or shake. The integral activation button is depressed with your middle finger – with no road rage gestures required.

In short, once you pick it up, it’s turned on. If only dating were that easy.

Features

• 

  The Crimson Trace Lightguard features a 100 lumen output – plenty to see, and potentially disorient

• The light is LED for long life and durability
• Approximately 2 hours of continuous operation
• Positive on/off switch to deactivate the pressure switch
• Battery type: (1) CR2 lithium
• 3 year warranty
• Compatible with the following Lasergrip models: LG-617, LG-619, LG-850, and LG-851

Installation

Installation of the Crimson Trace Lightguard on our Glock 17 Gen IV was a snap. We used only one tool, which was included, made no trips to Wal-Mart for batteries, and had no parts left over when all was said and done.

All in all a successful project.

	Crimson Trace Lightguard includes everything you need for installation in the box: battery, hex tool, lens cleaner, and directions.Note to the Crimson Trace marketing team: Clever you are, making the boxes white on for the Lightguard series. We noticed!
	The Lightguard attaches to the Glock like a clamshell which covers the trigger guard and part of the rail.The first step is to insert the battery in one half of the clamshell and fit it over the frame as shown.Hint: Make sure the activation button portion of pushed hard into place. That makes alignment of the other half of the Lightguard much easier.
	Insert the second half of the Lightguard into the lamp end of the first half and close as shown.If you experience difficulty lining the two up, don’t force things. See the hint in the previous step. It fits like a glove when everything is lined up properly.
	When both halves snap into place, insert the two included screws and tighten them down using the enclosed tool.
	That’s it!See? No parts left over.This photo shows installation with the Lightguard compatible LG-850 Lasergrips.

The light show

With 100 lumens of light, the Crimson Trace Lightguard offers plenty of instant visibility indoors. We found that the residual light splash allowed us to easily get a sight picture with standard Glock sights – no tritium. Using the light and LG-850 Lasergrips together worked quite well. As the included photo shows, the light does not tend to wash out the intensity of the red laser dot. Both light beam and laser point of aim were clearly visible.

Closing arguments

While the jury is out for us as to whether we would want to equip a carry gun this way (holsters are available) it sure makes for an impressive home defense gun setup. We still keep a hand-held flashlight on the nightstand for looking around, but for night shooting, this combination can’t be beat. Target illumination, laser sighting, and no levers, buttons, or switches to fumble with.

Nice.

Check out other My Gun Culture product reviews here!

BUY NOW: Crimson Trace Lightguard For Glock 17 19 22 23

Of course, penetration is only part of the battle. Will your 9mm ammo actually expand after penetrating heavy clothing?

On this episode of Will It Expand, we aim to find out!

As we couldn’t find any heavily dressed bad guy volunteers, we resurrected the boots, stuffed them full of old shirts, and placed them in front of our high-fallutin’ wetpack bullet catcher setup. That gives us a reasonable approximation of a heavy coat or jacket and some lighter clothing layers. And with a lot less bad attitude than your typical street thug.

For the ‘short barrel’ part of the equation, we used a Glock 26 Gen IV which is in for review. A great little gun that packs 10+1 rounds of 9mm and features a 3.4” barrel – perfect for our carry gun test. Shorter barrel, a little less velocity, and a good bit more stress on hollow point performance through barriers.

On the ammo side, we’re trying three different 9mm loads:

Hornady Critical Defense 9mm Luger 115 grain FTX

Cor-Bon 9mm Luger +P 115 grain JHP

Georgia Arms 9mm +P 124 grain Speer Bonded Unicore Hollow Point

Once again enduring the strange looks at the range – “Why on earth do those idiots keep shooting cowboy boots at the range dear?” – we persevered and shot the boots, dug bullets our of wet and nasty wetpack, and brought you the results. Just as a side note, it’s amazing how much wet junk mail resembles used diapers.

The results:

	The CorBon loads all expanded beautifully.With one we did have jacket / core separation, but overall they made cute little mushroom shapes.If anything, the CorBon loads expanded a tad too much and penetration was about 50% less than that of the other two loads.Chalk this up to a lighter bullet than the Georgia Arms Gold Dot and bigger expansion than the Critical Defense projectile of the same weight.
	The Georgia Arms Speer Bonded Unicore loads were solid performers through our tough, winter attired, evil d00d simulation.Out of seven rounds fired, five expanded perfectly and demonstrated excellent penetration. Two projectiles partially expanded.
	All four Hornady Critical Defense projectiles had excellent penetration.Two expanded perfectly, the third had perfectly adequate, but less photogenic expansion, and the fourth had some deformity and partial expansion.

We were somewhat surprised at the good performance turned in by all three loads out of a shorter barrel concealed carry gun. We’re waiting on a backorder of the new Hornady Critical Duty 9mm load, which is a bit heavier, and will test that against a heavier CorBon 9mm JHP load. Should be interesting.

Stay tuned…

Available at Brownells:

The BSA TW180LED Tactical Weapon Light is a nifty little piece of gear. At a direct price of $79.95 it’s budget friendly but packs a number of features. Boxed in a sturdy zipper case, it includes all the components you need to use this as either a stand alone light or a rail mounted system on a gun.

Standalone Tactical Light

As a standalone light, the BSA TW180LED operates with a tail cap switch with a positive click on and off. There is no ‘momentary’ depression mode that illuminates the light briefly. However, once the light is engaged, it features five different modes of operation – selectable by light pressure on the tail cap switch. If you want to ensure that the light turns on and off in a certain mode, just leave the light on in the desired mode for 5 seconds or more and switch it off. The next time you power the light on, it will engage in that mode. Change at any time. It does take a little getting used to.

The available modes of operation are:

The BSA TW180LED also includes a detachable lanyard and lens cleaning cloth.

Weapon Mounted Light

Included in the package are the components you need to mount the BSA TW180LED on a rifle or shotgun. The rail mount is configurable for either a 3/8” grooved receiver as found on most .22 rifles and air guns or a 5/8” Weaver style base found on centerfire rifles or handguns. A remote pressure switch with a flexible cord and tail cap replacement  rounds out the package. The pressure switch is plenty large for easy access and mounts with an included adhesive and velcro attachment.

The pressure switch operates slightly differently than the tail cap option. While the memory function and five mode operation is available, the light is only remains activated with continuous pressure on the switch – as it should. Leaving it on any mode for five seconds or more “saves” that mode for the next time the pressure switch is activated.

Closing Arguments

This is a self-contained kit – everything you need to get started including (2) CR123A batteries. The combination of battery light and high intensity illumination is great – especially since you can choose less intense modes for longer battery life. The five mode memory operation definitely requires some practice to gain confidence on how the light will come on at next activation. Once you get used to it, it’s a snap.