What do I need?

Hello everyone. I am a coyote hunter and need to find a small light that I can mount on top of my scope that will allow me to see well out to 50-75 yards. Is there such a light? I don't want to spend several hundred dollars and was hoping to get by with something under $100. I would like to have a small light that would mount right onto the scope but I am having a hard time finding a mounting bracket that will mount onto a 1" scope and then hold a flashlight too. I do not want a big spotlight but more like a small 4-6" handheld light. Most of my hunting is in the 50 yard range but would like to be able to see the eyes shining back at me at 75-100 yards. Any ideas for a newbie? Any help would be much appreciated.
Also, who has the best deals on these lights?

What kind of rifle are you putting this light on?

I don't think you will find a set of scope mounts that also hold a light.

If you have a straight taper barrel, you can always use a barrel clamp in conjunction with something like a Surefire G2 (~$35-40). Lamps with greater output are available for $15-20 for that light in case the stock output isn't enough.

How worried about battery time are you?

Look on ebay... there is a mount for a scope with picatiny rails on top, left, and right. So you have many mounting options
I think it sells for about $25.00.
Hope it helps.

Yotekiller, Funny, I'm looking for a light for the exact same purpose today! Check out the thread I just started in the incandesent forum (2C or 2D mag mod). I don't want to carry a big search light in the field so I'm gonna do an easy mag mod today. I've tried a 6p surefire mounted to my 243 and it was only good to about 30 yards. The 2C mod sounds nice for a small spotting and shooting handheld.

DaFABRICATA said:

Look on ebay... there is a mount for a scope with picatiny rails on top, left, and right. So you have many mounting options
I think it sells for about $25.00.
Hope it helps.

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Nice find, but I would doubt the quality of the ones that I found when I just took a look.

On another forum, I read that you should have 2 lumens of output from your weaponlight for each yard that you want to have positive target recognition. A 6P being workable to 30 yards would support this formula.

Pacific Tactical has a Wolf Eyes sale on for the M90X.

http://www.pts-flashlights.com/products/product.aspx?pid=6118

Add the 9H tail cap w/ribbon switch (remote switch mounted to forearm) if you like. PTS also offers a Wolf Eyes clamp mount in the accessories section.

For a slightly lower cost alternative check out the 9v series with same accessories but lamp assemblies aren't shock mounted. This may not be an issue with some rifles.

For the CPF discount go the dealer's forum here and the first thread "CPF Specials/Discounts....."

This rig isn't for farm raiding coyotes about a four hour drive from Chicago is it?

g36pilot

I don't recommend this, and you won't find many who do. You will over-strain the scope mounts and/or be more likely to knock the scope off zero. Also, with the light mounted that far back, the barrel will be illuminated brightly and this will throw reflections/flare back into the scope.

I suggest you mount the light beneath the barrel, near the muzzle. The Wolf Eyes 6-series or 9-series are ideal and would be within your budget. Wolf Eyes do a barrel clamp for their lights, and a pressure pad switch which you can mount on the fore-end of the stock so you don't have to move your hand to work it. You can detach the light from the rifle and substitute a tailcap clickie for normal use.

PTS stock all the Wolf Eyes gear, and they offer a discount to CPF members:
http://www.pts-flashlights.com/category.aspx?uid=1

Hey, g36pilot - great minds think alike! We must both have been writing our near-identical posts at the same time!

Something that I should mention...hanging anything off of the barrel will most likey change the POI (point of impact) of the rifle. Make sure you zero the rifle with the light on and then leave it there unless you are mounting the light to a free-floated stock or forend (this will depend on your rifle).

DM51 said:

Hey, g36pilot - great minds think alike! We must both have been writing our near-identical posts at the same time!

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DM51, I concur on the great minds.

You & Hooligan covered POI and mod compatibility issues as well.

Hello everyone,
Thanks for all of the replies. I didn't know that I had received any replies because my email was sending the reply notifications into my junk mail.

I am wanting to put the light in a Tikka 22-250 high powered rifle. This rifle has very little recoil and I am using very stout rings. Maybe mounting to the scope isn't a great idea. Anyone know where there is a mount that will mount to the sling swivels? I do not want to mount anything directly to the barrel as this could cause problems with accuracy. I will check out the wolf eyes lights since they sound like a good buy.

g36pilot, I am hunting coyotes and only about 4.5 hours away from Chicago.

Yotekiller, just checking to see if you are the same gentleman that introduced me to the crew as a COF last week while heading for the hotel. PM sent.

COF = Connoisseur Of Flashlights

And a belated welcome to the forum!

Well, that makes it interesting then. You probably couldn't mount on the barrel anyways because I am guessing it has a taper like my buddy's Tikka .30-06. I don't think there is much of a market for people adding weaponlights to bolt guns. A lof of the stuff out there is for "tactical" use (AR15 and other evil black weapons).

Do you stay in one spot while you are hunting or do you move around alot? If you remain stationary you could probably mount some sort of spotlight to a stand or something and have the light you want without mounting it on your rifle.

your Tikka has a synthetic stock, doesn't it? you can fabricate a mount, if you dont mind slight alterations to the stock. as others have said, I would not mount to the barrel. your harmonics will go to sh*t, and a rifle that wont hold POI is a lamp waiting for a shade.

also, were you affected by the Tikka recall? those were some of the most gruesome explosive falures I have seen in ten years in the small arms business...


as to mounting over the scope, there are some great mounts available for your purpose. some are even reasonably priced. PM for details.

Your set up should be very nice. The Tikka action is superb, and 22-250 is an excellent calibre with a very flat trajectory, so if you zero it for 200 yds it will be hi/lo +/-1 inch max up to 250 yds.

I'm not sure about mounting the light on the sling swivels. I think even if you could find a swivel mount, it might get in the way of your hand and be a bit clumsy. I think I would still go with a barrel mount. My guess here is that you are trying to avoid the problem of re-zeroing each time you attach the light yo the rifle / take it off. You will indeed have to re-zero, but you should only have to do it once, and make a note of what adjustment you had to make to the settings, ie 6 clicks up with the light attached (or whatever). Then as long as you mount it in the same place each time it should be consistent.

Have you thought about completing your set-up with a sound-moderator? Doesn't stop the bullet's supersonic "crack", but eliminates muzzle blast and causes far less disturbance to your quarry. You could get one for your rifle which would only add about 2 inches in length, the majority of the expansion chamber going back along the barrel if you see what I mean.

As with the light, you would need to re-zero after fitting the sound mod as this will affect the POI quite a lot.

G36, Nope that wasn't me.
My Tikka is the T3 hunter with the wood stock. The exploding barrels were limited to a small number if Tikka T3 lites that have the stainless barrels. Tikka got a bad lot of barrel material so there was a small number of these rifles that had problems. Luckily I have the blued barrel and was not apart of those few rifles.
I have looked at the scope mounted spotlights but they are too big and bulky for what I do. I hunt very thick woods with a lot of walking so I need something small and light weight - that is why I was looking into these lights. Most of my shots will be at 50 yards or less so I need a light that will be effective out to 50 yards.
Barrel mounting is out of the question for me. I am a nut for accuracy and anything mounted on my barrel will effect that. I need to find something that will either mount to the scope or the sling swivel.

DM51,

I love the Tikka, I just purchased it a couple of weeks ago. I have been using two different AR-15's that I built, one a 16" barrel and the other a 20". I also have a CZ 527 .223 which is a real shooter. Rifles and hunting are my biggest hobbies. I'm just working on getting this Tikka setup to be a mean yote killer. heh heh
I plan to get a light force 170 for when I hunt the wide open fields, having a big spot light will be manageable in that situation. Does anyone know of any kind of lights that are comparable to the light force with out the same price tag?

I've been using this light since 1978:http://www.burnhambrothers.com/product.asp?ProductID=18662
Since the battery life is very short, I always use a red-lensed headlamp to watch for eyeshine while I'm calling.
Then, when the predator is within range, I switch on the scope-mounted light and take the shot. The Burnham Brothers light is never on for more than a few seconds. Good enough for what I want.