Light for tac shotgun - 600 lumen flood or greater

Just finished up with my 870 but last thing I'm wanting is a light on it. I just placed an order on the Elzetta ZSM mount but need a light now. About the only lights I have that would work are my XM warriors, however, I have other plans for them. Plus I'm wanting something that's mostly flood. I been researching the Klarus XT11 all day but wanna get some opinions. From the videos on youtube, I can't tell if that light offers great flood or not. It shows flood but I'm curious if it's a dim flood or is it pretty bright. Anyone have any experience with this light that can tell me if they would recommend it for my intended purpose of a shotgun mounted light?If not, what are some other recommendations I should look at? Like I said, I'm normally an olight enthusiast but the 4 that I have don't quite have enough spill for what I'm looking for. Thanks in advance for those who share their knowledge.

The XT-11 has been tested on shotguns and does work well. It is one of the floodier lights available. The pressure switch allows all modes to accessed easily. Just mount the switch to the pump itself and you have a great weapon mounted light. The real trick is finding a GOOD mount to use on a shotgun. I recommend a brand called Light Mount Technologies. They make some of the most secure shotgun mounts I have ever see. I used one with my departments shotgun class and we put over 200 rounds of buck and 200 slugs through our shotties in 3 days (god that was painful). But the mount held up and never slipped once.

I'm a tac shotgun instructor, and have a variety of light systems for my 870s, all based on Surefire's dedicated 618LMG forend. My favorite is this one:



It's a Titanium Malkoff VME head, with a custom Ti tube by Mirage_Man. It's the lowest profile light rig I could devise, and tough as nails. It's logged well over 5,000 rounds without a hiccup. It's currently running a Malkoff M31W for a very floody 210 lumens, on a single 3V primary. I can't imagine needing more flood lumens in a tactical shotgun light. If I do need more lumens, I could step up to an M91 XM-L for 450 lumens, but I wouldn't want to add the 2-cell tube to the forend. This is intended to be a close-range weapon, and doesn't need a long-range light.

This rig has barely more length than the drop-in itself, sticking out in front of the gun, and keeps itself out of danger of being hung up on anything that misses the barrel or magazine tube. It adds negligible weight to the front of the weapon, and has almost non-existent impact on my field of view.

I have other rigs for the same forend, up to a D36-sized light with an MCE emitter, but they are just too much additional hardware on the front of the gun.

I find the Kelvin color of the light to be very important in tactical use. A blue-white LED in intermittent use is almost as blinding to the user as to the guy at the other end, while a warm, almost incandescent beam will blind the other guy, but not the shooter.

While I am sure that you would like as much light as possible, I don't understand why you're not using one of your existing Olights...personally I have no issues with them at all. Anyway...to help out with the floodlight idea, you could simply make your own diffuser lens by going to a local office supply store and finding a report cover that has the needed amount of translucency and cut a lens to fit over the existing...just under the bezel ring.

My personal M21...this is the original SST-50 version:


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This set up is excellent for creating a "wall of light" and not have to really point it at anything in particular...just in the general direction.

This is the hall toward my front door which is unlit atm...you can make out the center of the beam which is focused on the door:



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600 lumens on a weaponlight for short range usage is possibly overkill... too easy to blind yourself with backscatter from nearby wall and other objects.

lightfooted said:

While I am sure that you would like as much light as possible, I don't understand why you're not using one of your existing Olights...personally I have no issues with them at all. Anyway...to help out with the floodlight idea, you could simply make your own diffuser lens by going to a local office supply store and finding a report cover that has the needed amount of translucency and cut a lens to fit over the existing...just under the bezel ring.

My personal M21...this is the original SST-50 version:


Uploaded with ImageShack.us

Click to expand...

That is actually an awesome suggestion. I always purchase diffusers for my lights but I never thought about making my own with some window film. Thanks for the idea. As for my olights, they are on/are going to be on other firearms. At least 3 of them are. I can't find a mount for the SR 90. But again, the amount of flood given off the M20 isn't quite enough for what I'm looking for. It's got more throw which I don't need with the shotgun. And I don't wanna just stick the diffuser on because as with all diffusers, they don't seem to stay on in all environments.

As for the lumens being to much, im not real concerned about and here's why. Though the chances of me using the weapon inside my house far outweigh the chances of using it outside my house, I fear if I go with too few of lumen that I'll regret it once I'm outdoors. I train in all the different environments that I feel I may encounter one day and that includes the dark of night. I'de like to be able to "light up the sky" if I happen to be in a CQ gunfight outdoors in the middle of darkness. Im just not quite sure if I would be satisfied with only a couple hundred lumen.

Yes, outdoors can eat up all the lumens you can throw at it.

I use a novatac storm with an extender. 120 lumens is usually enough for me.
SENT FROM MY HTC THUNDERBOLT USING TAPATALK

I ended up getting the Klarus XT2C.

Good lord son.

I have no idea what an XT2C puts out, but if it's 600 lumens you're going to regret it. My TLR-1s was almost more than I needed for inside and out.

Try not to get a light that has either all throw or all flood. This simple light has a strong beam that will throw across a yard but enough spill to light up any room in a house.

I'm not going to get into your logic because it's your opinion but if we had a comparison in real life I'd bet you'd be happy either way. Obviously the only thing that really matters is if your life is questioned, you can see the "problem".

I forget - how many lumens does the Surefire forend with their LED put out? (And I don't know how many times they have upgraded it, if any)?

And does the Malkoff "McClicky" tailcap fit on his Surefire forend bodies, so you can use it as a regular light too? (if not, why not :sigh

Search said:

Good lord son.

I have no idea what an XT2C puts out, but if it's 600 lumens you're going to regret it. My TLR-1s was almost more than I needed for inside and out.

Try not to get a light that has either all throw or all flood. This simple light has a strong beam that will throw across a yard but enough spill to light up any room in a house.

I'm not going to get into your logic because it's your opinion but if we had a comparison in real life I'd bet you'd be happy either way. Obviously the only thing that really matters is if your life is questioned, you can see the "problem".

Click to expand...

The XT-2C is a nce light and actually a good choice. If you use the matching pressure switch it can be adjusted in ouput to match the conditions easily and almost without thought.