INFORCE Blog

Title image by Michael Bordon, After Action AZ Photography via an article by Michael Mills.

The M1911 is a timeless piece of American ingenuity and engineering. The design of this semi-automatic pistol, which predates even the iconic M1 Garand by a couple of decades, has been proven to be reliable, accurate, and ergonomic. The same pistol wielded by the US Marines during the Iraq War would be completely familiar to the blue-shirted American troops in the Philippines at the turn of the 20^th century.

The functional, efficient design of the classic M1911 has remained unchanged until now. Springfield Armory, itself immersed in American tradition, has added a few bells and whistles to the M1911 to bring this beloved handgun into the modern era.

The Operator™ 1911 maintains the classic functionality of its World War-era predecessor with the same dependable single-action firing mechanism while featuring several practical and ergonomic add-ons that enhance how the Operator™ feels and shoots.

G10 grips from the renowned manufacturer VZ give the Operator™ an aggressive, stippled surface as well as a groove that conforms to the natural placement of the thumb which helps shooters lock their hands to the gun. These grips are made of an extremely durable composite of glass cloth and epoxy resin, highly resistant to wear and tear and built for rugged environments.

Springfield did far more than upgrade the M1911’s aesthetics. The Operator™ now features an ambidextrous safety, a feature left-handed shooters have been clamoring about for decades. It also features a stainless-steel forged match-grade 5” barrel and a 4.5lb trigger ensuring the smooth, responsive trigger break 1911s are known for as well as shots with pinpoint accuracy.

Image: Michael Bordon, After Action AZ Photography

What truly sets this apart from other 1911s though is the addition of an accessory rail. Previously, the 1911 platform was infamous for being difficult to accessorize. While the Recover Tactical Rail was a fine stop-gap solution, the Operator™ and its integrated rail gives shooters the ability to mount lasers and tactical lights without sacrificing the 1911’s weight or sleek profile with a larger grip.

Pistol-mounted lights such as the INFORCE WILD1 and WILD2 fit like gloves on the Operator’s™ accessory rail. With its powerful 25,000 candela beam and 1,000 Lumen output, the WILD2 functions as a powerful flashlight or as a low-light aiming device. Perfect for low-light shooting in the dark rooms and ideal for home defense, the Operator™ and INFORCE WILD series of lights are a match made in heaven.

With options for those who favor either accuracy or power, the Operator™ is available in both 9mm and .45 ACP and comes with a pair of 9+1 or 8+1 magazines respectively.

With its sleek style, performance-grade parts and modularity, the Operator™ is the 1911 of the future. Combined with the INFORCE WILD series for unparalleled illumination, this pistol-light combo is a must for any discerning home defense or tactical shooter who favors the ease of use and smooth trigger action of the 1911 platform.

Here at INFORCE, we have talked extensively about the advantages of tactical flashlights. They’re great for quick target acquisition, low-light visibility, and for distracting opponents. However, there are some nuances to consider when buying and using tactical lights for the first time.

While weapon-mounted flashlights like the INFORCE WML are excellent for fighting with shotguns and rifles, they do not always provide a perfectly round beam like one would expect with a handheld light or a pistol-mounted light.

This is because pistol-mounted lights and handhelds almost always have the head of a flashlight either clear or flush with the muzzle of the weapon. This is rarely the case with a rifle-mounted light. If you’ve never used one before, you should be aware of the silhouette caused by mounting a light on your rifle’s picatinny rail. Depending on the length of your barrel and where your flashlight is mounted, your beam will have some kind of distortion. The more “gun” there is forward of your beam, the more shadow you will have. Knowing this, it’s best to mount your flashlight as close to the tip of your weapon as possible.

This shadow of your barrel can be used as a reference point for your point of impact. It’s good to train on a low light range to determine where exactly that point would be. If you memorize that sweet spot, you can fire from the hip at short ranges with your light instead of a red dot, which would be especially useful since low light fights indoors are fought at close range anyway.

It’s also great to train in the darkness since it could lead to potential setbacks or advantages unique to your own weapon light setup. For example, in my own setup, I mounted my weapon light on the right side of my rifle, illuminating the iron sights for a close-range kill. Some first-time users might realize that using a tactical flashlight as a grip might not be a good idea since they tend to heat up rather quickly.

In addition to your light, there may be other attachments on your rifle like optics, bipods, slings, canted mounts and lasers. Of these attachments, the sling might be the most problematic. Picture this: You heard something in the dark and you grab your rifle from its rack. You know that if you turn on your light prematurely, you might reveal your own position. You know the layout of your own home, so you creep out into the hallway where you heard the sound, and then you turn on your rifle and see nothing but a faint white ring where your flashlight head should be.

You realize that in your haste to arm yourself and respond to a potential threat, your sling has wrapped around your flashlight. Not only are you still blind but whoever is in the room can see the ring illuminating you.

The solution to this problem is simple: use a one-point sling. This modern design is unobstructive and allows for quick transitions between your rifle and sidearm, especially valuable for competition shooters and law enforcement professionals.

Firing your weapon from behind cover with a flashlight might prove to be another challenge. A well-trained shooter will know that the less exposed you are, the less chance the enemy will have of hitting you. This is common sense. Knowing this, shooters who engage from behind cover only expose the muzzles of their rifles and not much else. When most of this training is done in the daylight, there is a tendency to forget the flashlight. If only the muzzle of a rifle is exposed from behind cover, then the flashlight’s beam is still hitting your cover and shining right back at you. This is especially problematic when taking cover behind cylindrical objects such as columns one sees in parking lots. When using a rifle-mounted light, it’s best to extend your barrel further than normal to accommodate your attachment. Also, it would be good to remember that right-mounted lights are at a disadvantage when leaning out of cover on the left, while the opposite is true for lights mounted on the left.

When using a pistol with a handheld light, the FBI technique is best used for shooting from behind cover. Not only does it direct threats to a point of light far away from your own body, but the light will be clear of any obstructions and shadows, giving you a clear line of sight.

For more information on tactical flashlights, consider reading about the practical uses of flashlights for self-defense.

On April 30, 1980, at 11:25am, six Arab-Iranian terrorists broke into the Iranian Embassy at 16 Princes Gate in London and took 26 Iranian Embassy employees hostage. The terrorists demanded the release of 91 prisoners being held by Iran in their home region of Khuzestan. If their demands were not met by the afternoon of May 1^st, they threatened to blow up the embassy and everyone inside it.

Not many governments at the time had a dedicated counter-terrorist force, but the British government was an exception, and they responded by sending in the venerable Special Air Service. The pride of the British Army, this black op unit specializes in covert reconnaissance, hostage rescue, and unconventional warfare.

SAS operators were divided into two teams: Red and Blue. While Blue Team breached the ground floor of the building, Red Team would abseil from the roof, and it was important that both teams would enter the building at the same time so the terrorists wouldn’t have time to respond. Speed and aggression were essential components of SAS doctrine. One of the unit’s founders, Lt. Col. Paddy Mayne, said “When you enter a room full of armed men, shoot the first person who makes a move, hostile or otherwise. He has started to think and is therefore dangerous.”

While this sort of “guns blazing” approach to room clearing is no longer considered popular (or sane) in modern tactical shooting, it might help explain SAS’s interesting choice of gear. In the 1980s, weapon modifications such as red dot optics and weapon mounted flashlights were barely considered by conventional armies. SAS was, for the most part, trained to fight in enclosed spaces in the dark, and their weapons highlighted their mission.

Unlike the rest of the British Army, which at the time was using the L1A1 SLR service rifle, SAS utilized the MP5 submachine gun for its size and accuracy. Specifically modified for low light operations, SAS modified its MP5s to include a top-mounted flashlight, which conveniently doubled as an aiming device.

Notice how the flashlight sits in place of an optic on the submachine gun’s mount. This might seem counterintuitive at first, but there is, in fact, a method behind the madness. SAS operators were mostly trained to shoot with gas masks, and utilizing the iron sights on any weapon while wearing a mask is far from optimal. Since there were no truly convenient red dots or reflex scopes at the time, SAS commandos would use the variable beam focus on their lights to double as both a light source as well as an aiming reference point. On these old “Laser Products” flashlights, the adjustable bezel could adjust the throw on the beam, making it suitable for either a wide area or a small, focused spot depending on the situation. This made it easier for SAS operators to shoot with reasonable accuracy from the hip while also maintaining spatial awareness, which was already difficult due to their gas masks.

The tactics and equipment used by the Special Air Service remain relevant in a modern home defense scenario. In a situation such as a home invasion, a homeowner will most likely be forced to engage threats in the dark and will have to maintain situational awareness while using his flashlight. With an Inforce WML and its 10,000 Candelas of beam intensity, a shooter is guaranteed to get a bright, solid illuminated area that can be used as a point of aim. In close quarters combat, pinpoint accuracy is not as important as it is when hunting or precision marksmanship, and if a shooter trains enough with his weapon and familiarizes himself with his shot placement when using the WML as an aiming point, shooting from the hip becomes a viable tactic for close quarters engagements.

For those who use night vision, the WML White/IR comes equipped with an invisible infrared beam perfect for illuminating pitch black areas while also providing the same targeting benefits as its white light brother. Aiming with a night vision device over one eye, especially in the dark, is difficult and awkward and the WML White/IR offers a solution.

The hostage crisis at the Iranian Embassy lasted for 6 days, but it took SAS just 17 minutes to take out the terrorists and secure the hostages. Suffering only one injury during the assault, the Iranian Embassy hostage crisis remains one of the most stellar examples for a well-conducted counterterrorist operation in the world today.

“Crime and vice generally require darkness for prowling,” said Mahatma Gandhi. “They disappear when light plays on them.” These words have always been true for criminals since the dawn of civilization. Even though Gandhi was shot with a Beretta M1934 in broad daylight, most shootings tend to occur under the cover of darkness. 

Therefore, it should follow that after the invention of the flashlight, people who carried every day would have the forethought to strap a light onto their pistols. However, we cannot discuss how the modern pistol light rose in popularity without discussing how its predecessors failed. In 1911, George A. Seely invented the first hand-held battery-operated pistol/light combo. It was given the practical but unimaginative name “Night Sight for Firearms.” A technological marvel for its time, its recoil dampening system allowed a flashlight to be mounted to the frame of a revolver without breaking when it was fired. 

Regardless of how practical Mr. Seely thought this was, his invention was not widely adopted by the general public. This was probably because the light was never mass produced and would have been made by hand for every order, making it expensive and impractical. 

Flashlights eventually came into mass production, becoming sturdier and brighter. Certain people once again saw the practicality of using them with pistols. This especially became true during the Vietnam War, when American GIs and Marines had to play a deadly game of cat and mouse with the Viet Cong in their deep, dark tunnel networks with low ceilings. The Americans deployed tunnel rats to smoke the VC out of their hidey holes. These men, typically 5’5” or shorter, were trained to crawl into the darkness of enemy tunnels and engage the enemy with only a knife, pistol and flashlight.

Most times, the M1911 was used in tandem with an angle-headed flashlight for these underground operations. Unfortunately, not only did this loadout leave the tunnel rat with no free hands, but the M1911’s high caliber round was ear-shattering in the confined spaces of a VC tunnel.

When a unit had the resources, it could use a purpose-built .38 special revolver with a suppressor and flashlight. The idea was sound, but the execution was sloppy. This “tunnel rat special” revolver had its light mounted on the top of the weapon, eliminating its iron sights. While this was fine for the job it was meant to do, since tunnel rats would engage VC at arms-length distance, it would be absolutely useless outside of this one specific task. Once again – not something the civilian market would need.

It took several decades until the pistol flashlight took the form we see today. In 1996, Heckler & Koch released the Mark 23 MOD 0 pistol, otherwise known as the SOCOM. This 9.6 inch long handgun was suppressor-ready and equipped with a flashlight/laser combo called the Laser Aiming Module or LAM. With all its attachments, however, it tipped the scales at 5 lbs. The LAM was a well-conceived idea, but its proprietary rail rendered it useless to any weapon but the Mark 23 itself.

Picatinny rails, standardized the year before the SOCOM pistol was released, eliminated the problem of proprietary attachments forever. When the rails hit the civilian market in the mid-2000s, every company that produced firearms or firearms attachments recognized the diversity the picatinny rail offered. Some of the top pistols of the 2010s were the Sig Sauer P320, the Smith & Wesson M&P, and the VP40 – all of which were designed with integrated rail systems for underbarrel attachments.

The Picatinny made it possible for a firearms owner to mount a weapon light or laser on any compatible firearm, remove it, and mount it to any other railed firearm regardless of manufacturer if he changed his mind. This had massive appeal to consumers worldwide.

Not only that, but companies like INFORCE have developed smaller, lighter, and more powerful tactical pistol lights than anything seen in the previous decades. The lights from the INFORCE Wild series are true modern pistol lights, the culmination of decades of development in the tactical flashlight world. The INFORCE Wild lights are more compact, lightweight and powerful than anything that came before them, and with Picatinny and Universal Rail mounting for maximum compatibility, they make the perfect accessories for any modern pistol and a must-have attachment for anyone who’s serious about self-defense against criminals who hide in the cover of darkness.

A flashlight can be used for more than just illumination. With enough candelas, they can be turned into viable self-defense tools. Notice how I use “candela” and not “lumen.” Lumens on a flashlight measure the amount of light, but candelas measure a light’s intensity. Take this into consideration: the average fluorescent light bulb has 2,000 lumens while an INFORCE Wild1 has 500. While anyone can stare up at a fluorescent lamp and daydream about getting out of work early, nobody would want to look directly into the lens of a Wild1, and not just because it would be attached to a pistol. A fluorescent lamp’s intensity hovers at around 130 – 140 candelas, while a Wild1 has 5,000 candelas of blinding power. 

Flashlights with high enough intensity can be used to deter any threat, including ferocious predators. For example, when hiker Jiji Oh went on what she thought was going to be a stress-relieving outdoor journey in the mountains of Steamboat Springs in Colorado, what started as a self-care journey ended up being a fight for her life. Lost in the wilderness for four days, she survived at night by scaring away predators with her flashlight. Thankfully for Jiji, she found a pair of fishermen at their “secret fishing spot” and was taken safely to civilization. 

Likewise, in Nederland, Colorado, a family dog let out of the house in the middle of the night on a bathroom break was attacked by a mountain lion. The dog’s owners were able to scare away the mountain lion by making loud noises and shining the strobe of a powerful flashlight on it. The confused mountain lion had never experienced anything like a strobe before and decided it would be better to release the dog and walk away. The dog suffered several lacerations from the attack but is otherwise fine. 

In an urban environment, your flashlight is more likely to be used against human threats rather than animal ones. Statistically speaking, the average person is more likely to find themselves knocking back a few cold ones at a bar than staring down a cougar in the wilderness. A tactical flashlight is not seen by many as a weapon, and bouncers will most likely let you pass as opposed to a guy with a pocketknife. In the same bar, you’re very likely to encounter someone drunk and belligerent. 

In a self-defense scenario, the objective is not necessarily to incapacitate your opponent, but to remove yourself from the scene as fast as you can. There is no such thing as dishonor in retreat if it means you stay alive. In the absence of pepper spray, a flashlight can be used to temporarily disorient a threat before running away. Not only would it blind your opponent, but unlike pepper spray you would not be in danger of hurting others around you – or yourself. 

Some argue that the flashlight can be used like a kubotan – a small stick, usually the size of a human palm – used by some as a self-defense keychain. The issue with this way of thinking is that many kubotan techniques require hours of training which ordinary people don’t usually have. 

According to its proponents, the kubotan is not a “gimmick” but a practical self-defense tool capable of doing everything from blocking kicks and punches to incapacitating threats by applying force to pressure points. While a trained kubotan user can execute these techniques thanks to repetition and muscle memory, an untrained man on the street would be highly likely to fumble in a life-or-death situation. In fact, the official kubotan technique manual specifically states that no one should carry a kubotan without training. 

The comparison between a tactical flashlight and a kubotan is fair since both are approximately the same size and made of durable rigid material like hard impact plastic or aircraft grade aluminum. The only real difference is the tactical flashlight helps you see in the dark. 

In its simplest form, the kubotan can be used to strike at an aggressor’s face, chest, temple, or extremities. The problem is this would require the kubotan user to get up close enough to strike his or her assailant. Once again, if your objective is to run away, getting within grappling range of your assailant is generally a bad idea. 

On the other hand, someone following you in the dead of the night will be temporarily blinded with a 12,000-candela blast from an INFORCE TFx from as far away as eight to ten feet; especially if the light is shined directly into his face. A flashlight is also a great tool for identifying who might be sneaking into your room, especially if your first reaction is to reach for your nightstand weapon. 

If your room opens and you start blasting away in complete darkness, when you turn on the lights, there will be a chance you could kill a loved one. Reaching for a flashlight first allows you to both disorient an attack and see your opponent.