Good morning, been awhile since I had anything to say around here. Today I want to go over the BEAMSHOT Tactical GB800M Green Laser Sight. I have used in combat green and red lasers both and I definitely think they have some value. I think this unit is pretty good especially considering the price tag.

Ok, before we get into the specifics of the BEAMSHOT GB800M let’s just talk lasers in general a minute. They have more than one use. Along with being a fast sighting system we used to use them when two patrols were going to cross each other in the desert. We had our satellite trackers but when 2 units got close we would always flash the lasers at each other quick to identify ourselves to each other. If you thought somebody was there, just laser them quick and wait for a beam back. It worked well. We also used to use them at night to keep a good stand off distance from Iraqi civilians. To keep them back a comfortable distance just laser them at their feet and the ones out to do you no harm wouldn’t come any closer.  Additionally green lasers worked a hundred times better than red. With all the sand in the air the green would lite up like a giant light sabre. You could easily see and use it. I don’t remember the type I used…it was large like a 3 cell CR123A light and it was SUPER bright. I loved that thing. During our quiet times I used to sit and slam Canadian Mist and run cars off MSR Tampa with it. The road was over a mile away and when you lased Hadji in his car, he went for the side of the road to stop like there was about to be no tomorrow. Right or wrong that amused me then. So I tried to keep that laser and “battle loss” it…sadly when I told the supply guy that, he knew me well enough to not believe it. Also he told me the gov paid 5400$ a piece for those units. So right then I remembered where it was. That unit never had a problem with the cold either, a lot of the other models guys used did have trouble working in the cold. Let’s get to the BEAMSHOT GB800M specifics.

So they sell this BEAMSHOT GB800M for about 80$ on the Sportsmans Guide and I bought two. http://www.sportsmansguide.com/net/cb/cb.aspx?a=606306  One for my favorite M-4’ish and one for my 10 inch Sig 516. I do think you get your moneys worth.

The mount is solid, I did order an extra bolt and nut for each mount. There are 3 holes for them, if one is good then 2 is better. You could even use 3 if you alternated them. One is probably good enough but better safe than sorry.

I like the rubber cover it has to keep dirt out of the adjustment screws and also protects the unit a bit. Good idea I think. The adjustments are firm and smooth. I have had no problems with either holding a zero. It runs on one commonly available CR123A battery. (included)

It comes with a very sturdy clickie switch and a pressure switch too. I think the pressure switch is decent. Sometimes I just don’t trust them, in this case it seems pretty well constructed. If you run your wires close to your weapon and wrap them in tape for added protection I think it will be fine under field conditions. In my experience they will always need replaced though so I would get a couple extra. Call BEAMSHOT and they will help you. They did me. I used the pressure on the RRA Carbine but not on the Sig, I used the clickie switch. I can reach the clickie with my pointer finger on the Sig.

So wrapping up the pro’s I think the unit is well constructed and tough. I think the switches are pretty good and I expect long service life from it. For $80 I just don’t see much room to complain. A good laser I think.

Now the con’s before the cold weather test. They claim 50 yards visibility outside in the daylight. That is way off here for me now. Not even close. I will have to wait for warmer weather to see if it does better without snow glare. Right now the glare has me at 12 feet for maybe being useful outside and by 17 feet the green dot is gone. Nothing I can do up here in the tundra for now. Will just have to wait for better days but in snow, forget it outside. Indoors as expected it is fine even battling my 600 lumen Streamlight weapon light it still shows itself well indoors.

I’m gonna freeze this BEAMSHOT GB800M a few hours and see what happens. It is 2 degrees right now without wind chill. I figure 3 hours outside and it should be sufficiently frozen to test it in the cold. Most of our lasers in the desert would have been useless way before this test was over, so I think this will accurately tell us what she’ll do in the cold.

Ok, 3 hours of temps that ended up dipping below zero and the BEAMSHOT GB800M was going strong the whole time. I went and checked it every hour in case it did fail so I knew when it gave up. Glad to say it never gave up or even flickered. 100% pass on the cold test.

Summary: This BEAMSHOT GB800M is a winner all the way across the board. It’s bright enough to stand out against my 600 lumen weapon lights indoors. It doesn’t battle snow glare but I don’t know that anything else would anyway. The unit is well made, mounts up solid, has a rubber protective cover and a choice of good switches. For $80 there is absolutely nothing to complain about. I will probably get a couple more. Thanks for reading and train often.

By: Cary Kieffer

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Cary Kieffer

USMC Infantry/Combat Veteran/MUESOC/Sniper School - Med Retired LEO w/ 8yrs on job before Iraq wounds caught up with me.

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