Advice?: Setting up an AR-15 with a light

I'm looking to buy/mount a light on my AR-15. Unfortunately, I'm not a gear guy. All I know is that I prefer to buy things just once - things I am satisfied with - things that work - things that are a good value.


I once heard good things about the pentagon X3 and Larue mounts. So I searched a bit and found this gentleman who seems happy with his set up:
[FONT=&quot]http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb...t-x3-weaponlight-A-LITTLE-SOMETHING-DIFFERENT![/FONT]

Any advice or thoughts about the set up above?
Any advice or thoughts about the best way to tackle this?



I'm in the Atlanta area. I could buy all the components separately on various websites. Although I am a little concerned that (since I don't know what I am doing) I may end up buying components that are incompatible with each other. Or, I may end up having great difficulty making things fit correctly.


Thanks in advance! V/r, Dan

Pentagon light is out of business so it's going to hard to find another X3.

How much are you willing to spend on a weaponlight? you can go anywhere from $100-$500, and what's the purpose going to be? ie home defence, shooting pests on the farm etc.

Are you looking for throw or flood? Outdoors or room clearing? A balance of all?

The Surefire Scout lights are excellent, or get a 951 and drop in a Malkoff or other dropin of your choice. The 951s can be had for around $100 used.

For weapons, just buy a light made for weapons. Insight, Surefire, Streamlight, Itac.... are some.

BTW, I don't care how that Larue mount looks, and that Pentagonlight is awfully big and bloated. Sorry, its look gimmicky on that Ar15. And, bad guys are now trained to aim and shoot at the source of your light. Might want to reconsider unless it is absolute necessary.

Don't try to go cheap on a weapon light. Buy once, cry once on this topic. I suggest shopping around and find the best deal possible on a Surefire Scout M300 or M600, then mount it in the Larue quick release offset mount specifically made for the Scout models. I use the M300A in this setup and have been very pleased. The cost of the light and that specific mount (ouch) were soon forgotten, and now I have a top quality light that can be quickly moved around to any of my rifles in just a few seconds.

deadrx7conv said:

For weapons, just buy a light made for weapons. Insight, Surefire, Streamlight, Itac.... are some.

BTW, I don't care how that Larue mount looks, and that Pentagonlight is awfully big and bloated. Sorry, its look gimmicky on that Ar15. And, bad guys are now trained to aim and shoot at the source of your light. Might want to reconsider unless it is absolute necessary.

Click to expand...

We really need to find out who is training these criminals and put a stop to it. Regardless, when used correctly (ie not just standing there with the light on but quickly flashing at varying angles, preferably while moving and then changing directions,) the benefits of a weapon mounted light seem to outweigh the risks IMO. Granted I'm lucky in that I don't need to move or clear or round up kids so I can just hunker down and wait for the police to arrive but if I had to do any of that I would for damn sure still have a weapon mounted light.

I agree that set up looks very large. I think we need some more specifications on exactly what you want this set up to do. Some good questions to ask yourself; how much do you want to spend, how long do you need the light to run for your application, how much light output do you need, how do you want to turn the light on and off? This is just a start there are many things to think about when weapon mounting a light. I actually got my start with flashlights by building a weapon light for my ar-15... and since I have purchased a lot more lights and built some weapon light systems for some of my friends.

My personal opinion which may not be worth much on this topic is not to go too bulky. I have a G2/Z32/Z49 in a Vikings tactics mount and I feel that even the G2 is too bulky... I think I would like a scout light body with VME head

You can go small (M300) or BIG (M98x), but it really depends on your intended use, etc.

Here's about as big as you can get on an AR15...this is an M98x, which is essentially an M4 mounted on a weapon. This is used for long range target acquisition/counter sniper ops, but is useless for room clearing , etc. due to the back splash. This is a 12V system running on 4 CR123's



This is an M96x; In stock form, with the MN10/11 lamp, it's essentially a mounted M3. This set-up is a good mid-range weapon-light, and is the most popular with US military forces. A good balance of throw, but not too much for room clearing. You can also see the best reliable-cheap set-up mounted below it, which is a Surefire G/P series handheld (mines actually a 66x set-up, made with an A21/L60 and an older Z32), with a Malkoff Drop-in, mounted with the M78 mount. I also have an L4 mounted on my remington 870 with the smaller M79 mount for the smaller E-Series light.



The next smaller choice is the M95x, which is a 2cell/6V system, running the P60/P61 lamp assembly, or your choice of LED towers. These are decent weaponlights, and will work for most indoor room clearing app's, but you may find it lacking in "overwhelming" light at a distance, that the MN10/MN11 lamps of the M96x provide.

Here's a pic of an L4 mounted, which is essentially an M600L, but this is a little more modualr approach



Here's an actual M600 (incan) disassembled:



And Assembled:



Hope these samples help you in your quest. Unless this is for Ai-rsoft, don't go cheap!

To simplify the acquisition of a one-time buy light, you should take a look at the Elzetta weapon mount and flashlight setup. The flashlight was designed specifically to work with the Malkoff drop-ins, which is very well known and beloved by cpfers. Check it out at --> http://elzetta.com/

Also, a cheaper setup would be to get a surefire 6PL or G2L (hopefully with a Malkoff drop-in) and weapon mount and be done with it. Simple setup with great solid indestructible bodies.

Here is my AR with the Insight M3X light on it.

For a weapon light I prefer the lighter,the better and quality.You don't want too much weight on the weapon,and the light shouldn't be so cheap that it fails after a couple of rounds due to recoil shock.

Apparently a G2 with picatinny mount makes for quite a nice lightweight and cheap weaponlight.

Cypher_Aod said:

Apparently a G2 with picatinny mount makes for quite a nice lightweight and cheap weaponlight.

Click to expand...

This is probably the cheapest (yet reliable) set-up you can get.

Strange... I thought I responded to this thread... I like dedicated weapon lights... I still have an original TLR-1 that's had at least 600 rounds of 12 ga buckshot put through it and it's still running like a champ... plus it's cheap... and small...

Yup, and you can swap out emitters if you want as well and if it breaks, you won't "break" the bank replacing it either. The non metalic surface of the G2 seems to absorb recoil better than metal in a non dedicated weapons light.

Larue gear is considered among the very best manufactured.

Before you can decide on mounting options you need to decide on your configuration. Are you staying with standard hand guards or a rail system? Is your rifle Carbine length or rifle length?

There is a relatively new company that makes a very nice set of light mounts. The company is IWC, Impact Weapon Components

http://www.impactweaponscomponents.com/

I am seriously considering one of the mounts with a Klarus XT-10

Like previous posters have suggested; stay light in weight with your light and mount. A front heavy weapon is no joy to keep up and on point for any length of time. As you well know, we could be out either searching or an a perimeter position for a LONNNGGG time. You will pay the price with the larger/heavier lights. I have tried both the Surefire X300 and G2 with Malkoff drop-ins with good success. A pressure switch does not work for me, so a good clickie tailcap is essential.

Also take into consideration your potential area of operation. A big honking super-throw light setup may be a disadvantage if you spend the majority of your time in an urban environment. A deputy in a rural area may need that type of rig.

My take on this:

1) Choose wisely. Light failure on a weapon mounted light is bad juju. Brand names are your friend. Surefire and Streamlight always work. And unlike a pistol based weapon light, you cant do flashlight based work in a handheld mode as a backup.

2) get a dedicated weapon light or a G2 style mount with a quality drop in.

3) Are you room clearing or field clearing?