Carbine Weapon Lights

[RedneckRampage]

I believe that any good fighting gun, rifle, pistol, or shotgun, should have a light attatched. My pistol has a TLR-1HL, shotgun has a Surefire 618, and my AR...nothing, yet.

I have a couple options in my head.

1. TLR-1HP. I hear they work well for distance, but they are pretty ugly.

2. TLR-1HL. This is what I have on my pistol. I put it on the AR, and it drowns out the retical on my EOTech when indoors, it's almost too bright. I like how it is compact.

3. Surefire Scout. The single battery one looks good, and I think I'd like it, but haven't tried one on a gun. I'm not sure that I need the double battery one. Surefires are expensive, but I know you get what you pay for.

4. Surefire 951/952. Found these on eBay for just Over $100. They are big, but I'm assuming they work well, I see lots of them in use. I just wish they had a drop in LED.

What would you guys recomend?

I'd like to stay with dedicated weapon lights, no regular lights in a clamp. Also want LED, and US made is a must.

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[winchester270]

I agree that lights are necessary and love the new tlr. I have just a EAG tac light on my rifle, works great, 1000 lumens for $110. But if i did it again I would go with one of these haley strategic lights.
I like the rear design of the light because it is flush fitting to the handguard and will not hook on loose brush or seat belts and get hung up.

 

[winchester270]

http://haleystrategic.com/wml/
I do not have one of these lights but I like the design because the problem I have encountered with the light on my rifle is it will get caught up in seat belts or brush on the back side between the light and the handguard. But these lights are ramped up to not get snagged and mount close to the rifle

 

[fxdc]

Just listed my MVF 515 in the parts section and ment to say.

Or OBO

 

[Garg]

Love my Sightmark lo pro combo.
http://www.sightmark.com/sm25004.html

 

[fxdc]

Kool $
But the CTC is Battle tested and approved by the Military. It's a class of its own.

 

[RedneckRampage]

I don't like vertical grips, so the CTC is out.

 

[TapRackNGo]

If you are thinking of adding NV down the road look at the Surefire 952v or 620v. They can be bought used for $150ish.

 

[The Cheese]

I'm a month late to this party, but here are a my 2¢ on it.

Personally on my AR's I much prefer regular round lights. First they are typically the cheapest option, second if ever needed you can pop it off and use as a hand held, assuming you have the tools to do so. But it also depends on what your AR set up is. If you have a quad rail, hands down I would get a WML or WMLx from Inforce for shear ergo's. After that I would go with a scout light from SureFire on a quad. For Magpul MOE furniture I would run a regular tube style tac light with a direct mount from Arson Machine or IWC. The IWC will put the light out further if that is needed for you but that also turns the set up into a better lever and could break your handguards if not careful even though I haven't heard of that happening. I like to lean towards unfailing durability and if something looks like it has the potential to break I tend not to want it. If you have a modular rail (Keymod or M-LOK), again, I dig tube lights in direct mounts (Arisaka, Noveske, Arson, IWC and a couple others). If you get a scout light, I would get the M300 with the most output you can find. I think they just dropped a newer brighter one. Or you can piece one together with parts from Arisaka Defense and Malkoff Devices. Going that route will save you a few bucks and will get you a pretty decent little light and it will be cheaper than the SF light but it can't be run on a Picatinny rail as the Arisaka tube deletes the accouterments for the pic mount. I have a Surefire M600 and I don't like how long it is relative to where the mount is. You can get more output out of an M600 but I am not sure how much I like it given the length. Plus with the scout lights you are kind of locked into where the light is placed. With a tube light in a ring mount you can get a little more positional adjustment if you need. For Tube lights, the Surefire 6PX and the G2X are good, inexpensive options. Elzetta makes great lights, but I am not really a big fan of the TIR optics that they use as the beams are very even and lack a hot spot in the center which I prefer. Lastly, if you have the coin, Lens-Light makes some killer lights with Aspheric lenses that are adjustable so you you can go from flood to wicked throw. The also make a Surefire Scout compatible light. They are expensive, but the are worth every penny if you can hack it. Plus they are Made in the USA, like SF and Elzetta. I am not a big fan of Fenix or other chinese lights. I have had a couple and still do, but the on weapons light I have, the switch failed so i had to fix the switch myself as I couldn't get replacement parts. That turned me off of them for a weapons light. for around the house/car/yard, they are fine. Still prefer the SF's.

What I am not fond of is Pistol lights on AR's. They can be nice, but they just don't hold up and I can't seem to find a good way to run them that is comfortable for my hands and wrists. Not matter what I have to contort my hand to actuate them. I have run one of these with a TLR-1 and it was ok, but still just wasn't my cup of tea. Although when running it on the ejection port side and using a thumb-over grip it was not bad at all. That mount with the WMLx and mounted on the ejection side (right handed shooter) it was actually awesome with a thumb over type grip. But I don't really like shooting that way too often so I dont rock that. Also, the SF 951 lights are boat anchors, rather bulky and long. I had several at one point then I switch them out for lighter and more compact lights. I still have a couple just because, but there are better lights out there. Also, with the 951's you'd have to buy a good LED drop in to make it worth a darn so that is an added expense ($35-60 for a quality one, I trust my chicken coop to a $10 chinese drop-in, but not my life).

Hope that might help some.