Rifle mounted hunting light

Hi all, i'm new here, from the UK and i'm looking for a new torch to mount to my rifle to allow me to go lamping at night. I have got a 2D maglite, but it simply isnt upto the job, although mounts are available on ebay!

My requirements:

Must be able to fit into a readily available scope mount like this one.
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/TORCH-LASER-M...Hunting_ShootingSports_ET&hash=item3a6355cc1b

Must be very bright, with a straight beam that travels approx 100-150 yards

Must be available in the UK (i think most people on here are American?)

Minimum light spill, so as not to spook any other quarry around me

Ideally a pressure switch to operate it that i can mount to the stock of the rifle. Not sure how feasible this is?

Battery life not too important, but a good 3 hours would be nice.

Must be failry small (i.e. similar size to AA maglite)

Price, maybe upto £50?

What would you recommend?

Thanks in advance, i know you'll all help me on my quest!

Welcome to CPF Cooper. Please let me know the Rifle to wish to attach the light to, and I may be able to help you better. As far as availability in the UK, once you get recommendations, check out the Marketplace. There alot of UK and Aussie members on here as well. Again, let us know the rifle you intend to attach this too, and we'll get you on the right path.

First light that comes to my mind: 4Sevens Maelstrom
But it's way over 50 £.

Great throw 100-150 yards, rifle mount, Mini-mag size, 50 £ and 3+ hours runtime is pretty demanding, i haven't seen any light in that class, sorry

What kind of spot do you want? A very tight spot, or a larger spot?

How 'bout Quark Turbo with 18650 body? Close to 50£ (but little over), couple of hours on turbo, compact. No remote switch, I think. Nice little thrower.

The rifle in question is an Air Arms S410.

I will be shooting at upto 60 yards and i want the light to be very bright so i can actually see what i'm shooting! Lol

The beam pattern needs to be pretty tight, but not laser beam tight. The maglight beam is fine when on spot.

Maybe 3 hours was a little demanding. I just dont wanna be changing batteries every day.

That light looks good, but it doesnt have a pressure switch, which is a big no no, as i want to be able to aim my gun, then turn on the light when i'm somewhere near the target.

3 hours of runtime will be highly unlikely on whatever you get. 100-150 yds is also a real stretch for just about any light, but it also depends on your scope and shooting conditions. I wouldn't count on my Lumintop TD15 XPG to work all that well at that distance, and it's near the top of it's class in throw numbers.

Perhaps a Solarforce with an R2 drop in will work well. I've heard they are quite good for the money, and you should be able to get a 2xCR123 version with about 200 lumens and a nice tight beam. Probably not gonna reach 100 yds, but as mentioned, you may be asking for more performance than current technology can provide at your price. I think they are running about $35 US right now, so they should be well inside your budget.

Cooper_GTI said:

Must be very bright, with a straight beam that travels approx 100-150 yards

Click to expand...

You should have no trouble finding a 'straight beam', I think you would have to pay a lot more for a curved beam, either that or you would need a singularity to bend the light around ;-)

Sorry couldn't resist.

I'll try and give a serious answer in a few minutes....

Cooper_GTI said:

The rifle in question is an Air Arms S410.

I will be shooting at upto 60 yards and i want the light to be very bright so i can actually see what i'm shooting! Lol

The beam pattern needs to be pretty tight, but not laser beam tight. The maglight beam is fine when on spot.

Maybe 3 hours was a little demanding. I just dont wanna be changing batteries every day.

That light looks good, but it doesnt have a pressure switch, which is a big no no, as i want to be able to aim my gun, then turn on the light when i'm somewhere near the target.

Click to expand...

This is my rabbiting setup although now I have a three-way barrel mounted picatinny rail instead of the one-way pictured. I have a red and white torch mounted on this now and generally use the red one on permanently. The red one is from DX and the other torch bought from sporting-kent on ebay http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/LAMPING-KIT-U...Hunting_ShootingSports_ET&hash=item3cb6981a47

I now don't use the pressure switch as I don't want to have to worry about holding it when aiming.

The alignment of the beam is excellent using the metal barrel mount and a scope ring to hold the torch. Enough beam for the range I am happy to shoot, and the red one doesn't spook the prey at all.

I use either a Surefire G2 or 9P on my rifle. They both illuminate plenty good out to 200 yards, but my scope also does really well with minimal light.

I have a mount from LaRue, but I know alot of guys make due with 1" scope rings.

Double post

That lamping kit on ebay looks ideal.

Is it a close spot at 30-40 yards?

I'm just about to click "buy it now"!

Cooper_GTI said:

That lamping kit on ebay looks ideal.

Is it a close spot at 30-40 yards?

I'm just about to click "buy it now"!

Click to expand...

I found the beam divergence seemed to very closely match the scope's field of view at 3-4 x magnification, so whatever range the spot was filling the scope's view. I mounted it so far forward on the rifle to prevent the spill from illuminating me and the rifle; if it were mounted on the scope half the rifle would be lit up in the spill light.

My scope is not a night time scope being only a 40mm objective, but with night adapted vision this good enough for any shot I would take.

If this is a recreational rifle, I would suggest getting a Surefire G2 on ebay which sells for around $35, find a seller who will ship USPS First class as that would be the cheapest, then go onto dealextreme and get the D26 R2 drop in for about $10(get single mode), it'll get you plenty of throw in an extremely light weight light.

I have a Ruger 10-22 that I use for racoons at night. It has a UTG quad rail bolted to it.
An NC-Star 3-9x40 illuminated reticle scope on top, a LG-04 red 5mw laser on the bottom, a SolarForce L2 on each side. Left side has red drop-in led, right side has R2 with a lens for max throw. Each light has a tape switch from DX attached to a UTG vertical foregrip. A side folding stock makes it easier to carry in the car. Add two 30 rd magazines to it and it weighs a little over 10 pounds! Gruesome looking .22 though.

The L2's use a 18650 for long runtime and are adaptable for use with lenses for throw easily, fit one inch scope rings, and are decent quality. Mine are several years old and
not treated particularly gently and still work great.