How did the X400 work out, and did you sort why it came loose? Did you use it with the laser on, and did it manage to keep its zero?I used the X300 Ultra while Arclight ran a X400.
Haley's so smooth he practically glides, but I never once felt like anyone was being patronized in the course I took with him, despite my class being full of a lot of relative novices (myself included). He seems like a genuinely good guy.As I said, I expected to be working around a big ego but, while he was certainly "self-confident" (as one classmate put it), he was one of the most genuine, committed teachers I've ever dealt with.
As a weapon light, it worked quite well -- good throw (clearly visible on the walkback where it did better than I expected, well beyond most pistol engagement range for most people) and with enough spread to make it easy to pick out your target and what's around it. I haven't use the laser much, but I selected the X400 so I'd have the laser option for home defense (accepting that my sight picture may be lousy at 3:30 AM). I've used it at the range and it works fine with relatively gentle use, but someone with more experience could opine more definitively than I. I do very much like the selector switch so I can control whether it's light, light/laser, laser or OFF. Especially since I use the DG Switch on it, being able to turn it off is nice when you don't want to be flashing things inadvertently (the double-edged sword of a pressure switch).
The only real flaw I found in the X400 is the mount. Haley agreed and pointed out he Lock-Tites everything anyway, including his X400 at home.... which I should have done since the X400 decided it didn't want to play anymore after about 500 rounds or so and jumped off the gun. A couple of observations there:
- Clearly a shortcoming of the screw-on mount, and rectified in the slide-on lock of the X300U and other WMLs.
- Probably not likely to be a problem under *normal* use, since you're not likely to shoot hundreds of rounds IRL but...
- Some Lock-Tite would probably solve this, and I plan to find out.
Interestingly, I found that cranking the screw mount down too tightly on the Gen4 G17 caused the slide friction to increase (bad), so I intentionally backed it off a bit to "snug" from "crushingly tight", which I'm sure contributed to the failure. It's my understanding that tight WMLs on previous generation Glocks had the opposite effect on the slide, so this surprised me. I'm no expert here, however, so do further research before making a decision based on that observation. My sample size is one.
All told, I'm happy with the X400, with the reservation being that it needs to be secured carefully and checked frequently during heavy use. As a light and laser, it was a solid performer and the mount problems are unlikely to manifest in self-defense use if you set it up properly.
I agree, and this is a big endorsement of an instructor. That goes a long way in my book.
"The nation that will insist on drawing a broad line of demarcation between the fighting man and the thinking man is liable to have its fighting done by fools and its thinking done by cowards." - Sir William Francis Butler