Weapons light

[Buck91]

Since I've been out of the flashlight world for a while I figured I'd post up here see what people have to say. What I'm looking for is a rail mounted weapons light for use on a suburban home defense weapon. It will be mounted under a 12ga pump action and maybe eventually switched to a mid size autoloading pistol. The only use it will see while mounted to the 12ga would be actual defensive use in-home and typically with some level of ambient light. If/when it gets switched to a pistol I would probably occasionally leave it on for range time to get to know the feel.

Other than that my main requirements aren't too complex.
1. Lithium primaries since it will see long periods of storage
2. Bright enough, but I won't be sweeping a field for animals (2 or 4 legged) either
3. 1 mode. Hit the switch and get full brightness
4. Can handle 12ga recoil for at least a reasonable number of rounds. Like I said this won't be seeing thousands of 12ga rounds while mounted
5. Price Price Price

No runtime requierments, size does't matter a whole lot but I'm thinking 2 cr123 would be about as large as I'd go and I think either LED or a sufficiently durable incan would work in this application. But I do want to minimize pricing. Under $50 would definately be prefered unless I can find something even more reasonable. So in other words, despite how nice a Surefire anything would be I just don't see that happening right now.

 

[Buck91]

I did see this thread down the page which offers some nice options if I wanted a more traditional light to mount with an adaptor, and that is a real option. But what would you guys recommend for a rail mount light?

 

[ObsceneJesster]

I like EoTech. They are pricey but worth the money. Being capable of getting dunked 70 feet in salt water should tell you they're reliable. If they're good enough for the Seals then they're good enough for me.

 

[Lobstradomus]

The Surefire X and Streamlight TLR series lights are probably the most common rifle/pistol capable weapon lights around. The Streamlight TLR-1 and Surefire X300 are the standard base models, the TLR-2 and X400 incorporate a laser while the HL and Ultra kick the output up to 500+ lumens. While I still don't see how deep sea testing equates to reliability or toughness, if being water proof is very important in your decision then ObsceneJesster is right on with the Insight M3X recommendation (-IIRC EOTech doesn't have anything to do with the lights as they are made by Insight who is another subsidiary of L3 Communications like EOTech.) The Streamlight TLR series is only IPX7 rated and was not tested below 1 meter deep and the Surefire lights are only weatherproof and are not recommended or rated for full submersion.

For your emphasis on cost I would suggest the standard TLR-1, it is one of the most inexpensive quality weapon lights out and has just been upgraded to 300 lumens.

 

[ObsceneJesster]

I understand that the deep sea testing really won't apply to the normal person but that tells me how solid and tight the construction is. They were designed for the military and designed to withstand years of rolling through sand, mud and water. Sorry but I just don't think the Streamlight could withstand being dragged through sand, mud and water for too long. In the end, the Streamlight is a good light for the average citizen. I'm sure it wouldn't pose a problem. If I had to choose one to last me through the end of days then it would be WL1-AA for it's build quality and the fact it can run off of AA batteries.[h=2][/h]

 

[Lobstradomus]

I understand that the deep sea testing really won't apply to the normal person but that tells me how solid and tight the construction is. They were designed for the military and designed to withstand years of rolling through sand, mud and water. Sorry but I just don't think the Streamlight could withstand being dragged through sand, mud and water for too long. In the end, the Streamlight is a good light for the average citizen. I'm sure it wouldn't pose a problem. If I had to choose one to last me through the end of days then it would be WL1-AA for it's build quality and the fact it can run off of AA batteries.

I can understand how being waterproof to such depths would be a sign of tight tolerances and some good O-rings but how that relates to shock proofing, thermal management, driver efficiency, stress testing, etc. I don't know. I do know that Surefire has always designed their lights with the military and police foremost in their minds -just look at how many M951 lights are in use with our armed forces. As to the Streamlight you may be right about it not standing up to the same amounts of rough abuse as Surefire or Insight, but it can certainly handle the occasional drop onto concrete, usage in rain/inclement conditions and just about any other hardships it is likely to experience from regular civilian to LEO use and at a very competitive price point.

I have been talking about the much older M3X and M6X series lights which were built for and tested at the depths you mentioned before. I don't think the WL1-AA has been tested to those extremes, in fact it was only rated at a 1m submersion depth for 5 minutes. That said, for a strictly AA based rail mountable weapon light I don't know of anything else that can can contend with it.

 

[nzlux]

you can get armytek predator with the xpg led for $78 or something, thats 50 meter waterproof and 10 meter shock proof. double o rings everywhere and backup of critical electrical circuits
i recently got one to go on my possum shooting gun and its sweet, its hard to appreciate how diverse it can be till you have a play with one. ill also have it with me when im away hunting in the middle of nowhere, i cant risk have something i may need to rely on breaking on me

 

[Buck91]

Some good suggestions here, the gentleman who processed my purchase today suggested the SL TLR as well, although I'll tell you what I'm realy tempted to go with a PolyTac LED mounted using Elzetta barrel and mag tube mount and getting a seperate dedicated weapon mounted light for a handgun in the future.

 

[ObsceneJesster]

Some good suggestions here, the gentleman who processed my purchase today suggested the SL TLR as well, although I'll tell you what I'm realy tempted to go with a PolyTac LED mounted using Elzetta barrel and mag tube mount and getting a separate dedicated weapon mounted light for a handgun in the future.

That's exactly what I did man. I got the Elzetta mount with PolyTac combo for about $65 shipped.

Here is what it looks like on my 590A1:

 

[Buck91]

Well no pics, but I'll snap some when my hong kong order arrives. Ended up doing two things. First I picked up a clamp on picatinny rail from Amazon. Title states its a barrel clamp but reviews state it works perfect on the mag tube; excellent. Then on the high praises of a coworker I picked up the Nc star light, though I'm doubtful it'll leave me happy its worth a try and can always get tosses down to a plinker. In any case I also picked up a 1" flashlight rail mount from UTG for a slimmer profile, but now I must choose. Seems those Solarforce L2 lights are pretty popular with the tac crowd as well and about the same price. I suspect that while the body (and maybe even the switches) are plenty high quality the chinese P60 LED drop ins are about the same par as the one in my Ultrafire, and that switches modes with a good whack of the head. So in other words I spent a couple extra bucks but unless a nice SF drops in my lap will likely do the SL still.

O.Jester, how many rounds have you put down range with that set up? Any problems with the streamlight yet?

 

[ObsceneJesster]

I've put around 75 rounds down range with the light on. Haven't had a problem yet. It hasn't moved either. I also have been using the lights beam as a point of aim. At 10 feet, the pattern of 00 Buck will cover the area in which the beam was shining on. Perfect for home defense in my opinion. It acts as a short range laser for scatter shot.

Sent from my SGH-T999 using Tapatalk 2

 

[Buck91]

Good to here, Jester. Still probably going to go that route, though I'd like to find a nice picatinny mount for a smaller light like my Fenix L1Tv2.0. Anybody have any recommendations?

 

[rikinwyoming]

I like surefire military lights, never let me down in the marines or civilian life.... just my two cents

 

[Novan3]

 

[Novan3]