First off, my situation.
I’m and LEO, plain clothes investigator. I will be taking our departments rifle course this year, which is required in order to be allowed to carry/deploy a patrol rifle. I am in the process of buying a Colt 6920. The wait is on. I will need to add a light.
My anticipated uses of this rifle will be in warrant service, and as general backup. I don’t do patrol. Honestly, it will also end up being a hunting rifle (hogs, coyotes, etc.). I don’t anticipate me doing building searches, but you never know I guess.
I mentioned what to buy to the range master, he highly recommends the Colt. When I asked about lights, he was a little more vague.
So, help me out. Without naming any brands, what should someone like me look for in a light to mount on a carbine? What is important to consider? Light output? beam style spot/flood? throw? size of light itself? LED vs bulbs?
And how to most of them mount? 1" rings?
I can’t help thinking that this is going on a rifle, so I should get something that I can see at a distance.
I don’t even know what I don’t know.
So, don’t recommend a brand to me, recommend features, tell me what I need, what is nice, and what to stay away from.
Well I can tell you that I have surefire x300’s on my rifles, I find that they strike a balance between weight and light output. Plus my optics run the same batteries kinda convienent. There’s is such a thing as too many lumens, found that out the hard way. I hard a 400+lumen light on my rifle and damn near blinded myself when the light hit the interior walls of my house. Won’t make that mistake again.
Don’t have to worry about a mount With the surefire x series either.
I would recommend LED, something designed for the recoil of a rifle, and somewhere in the 120-200 lumen range is usually pretty adequate (more than that you can hit a white wall and cause temporary night vision loss). Surefire scout is a good choice, I have a surefire G2zx (200 lumen) on my rifle, and I have a streamlight polytac (120 lumen). good features…well that will depend on your comfort and needs/wants
I installed a GG&G mount on the upper handguard of my patrol carbine. The mount worked with the M3 light that fit on my Glock 22, which gave me some flexibility. I have had the M3 light for several years and I like the set up. With the advances in technology you can probably find a brighter light that will work with the mount.
I worked plain clothes for 7 years and used mine on search warrants, armed robbery calls, building searches and man hunts. I recommend attaching something to the carbine butt stock that will hold extra batteries for your light.
Like some others said, surefire scout is what I run. http://www.impactweaponscomponents.com/
Check out that site, Lots of mounting options. Proble the best light mounts you can get. Also if your buying a stock 6920, on that site you can buy iwc mount for the stock hangaurds. It mounts the light at the 12 or 1 o clock. Also when it comes to mounting a light its common practice not to mount a light at the 6 o clock cause it causes barrel shadow in from of your line of site. So mount the light in a way where its best to avoid barrel shadow and as far forward as possible. Thats why I reccomended IWC .
You’ll notice there are a lot of brands recommended even though you went out of your way to say no brand names. The reason is (to me) the number one requirement for a weapon light is that every time I hit the button/switch it lights up, a.k.a. dependability. Some brands have dependability other brands lack it. So you should very much consider including brand suggestions in your search for a light.
I hate hearing stuff like this. Folks said the same thing about 120 lumen lights back when 60 lumen incandescent bulbs were all the rage.
Between entry work and perimeter/wooded work, I find that my 250 lumen Q5 Cree drop in bulb is barely adequate on the far end of my engagement spectrum. At 100 yds, its enough for a good target ID, but barely enough for a threat ID (under magnification) if that makes sense.
I’ve shined bright white walls with this, and haven’t flashbulbed myself. If you’re leaving the light on a blank white wall for an extended period (why?) then you might get the effect. If you shine yourself dead on in a mirror, you might get it (I submit that this would be the case for anything over 60 lumens, though).
If you’re dead sure positive that you’re only doing entry work (and will never work a large perimeter, open air/wooded clears, backyards, warehouses, etc.) then you can probably get by with something in the lower power spectrum. However, you and I both know that this line of thinking is short sighted at best, dangerous at worst.
I’ve been reading reviews of Pat Rogers’ shoot-house courses. Seems like more and more folks are using the Surefire Fury (500 lumens) without negative effects. Surefire’s X300U has a similar output. Just don’t hold on safe walls and don’t shine it directly into the mirror.
Bring enough light for whatever the shift may throw your way. Not saying pack a spotlight, but a higher output light in a similarly sized package will give you more options and capability.
I prefer the M600 and M300 scout lights for carbine use, especially on something with a fixed front sight base unless you are going to drop on a FSB cut rifle length rail.
The Danger Close mount is my personal favorite for the lights if used in conjunction with a traditional rail, but I have heard good things about the GearSector mount as well.
Awesome, awesome post. People that complain about flashback from wall in confined spaces are generally people with poor light discipline. Typical example of people confusing a training issue with an equipment issue.
If you don’t anticipate doing a lot of indoor work, but know you want to do some longer range shooting in the dark, I would look for something with a tight, spot-like beam, and 200+ lumens. Typically lights like this have a very deep reflector. The reflector often has more to do with distance the beam goes than lumen numbers. I have Mag Charger with a 700 lumen aftermarket drop in I use at work, and it doesn’t throw light anywhere near as far as 200 lumen lights with deeper reflectors.
I know you said not to mention brand names, but if you are looking for an example of what I mean, the Streamlight Super-Tac or the Streamlight TLR-1 HP both have very deep reflectors. I’m NOT recommending either one though. There are better options than the Super-Tac for sure, and I have no personal experience with the TLR-1 HP (although if it performs anything like the ordinary TLR-1 I use on my duty weapon, it is probably a good light.)
The best part of using a light with a deep reflector like that is even though it isn’t quite as good indoors as a floodier light, it still works well enough. The same can’t be said of a floody light outside at long distances.
If you want to go with a light similar in form to the Super-Tac, you will probably need to do the ring mount. The TLR-1 HP (or other handgun type light) could mount directly to a tiny piece of rail. LED is a must. With all the advances that have been made in LED tech, there is really no reason to go with incan anymore.
Hope that helps. If you have any follow-up questions or info, shoot away. Let us know what you end up getting!
Wichever light you go with, I would humbly suggest that you incorporate a way to make sure that you do not have an accidental light discharge.
The very first thing I did after my first nightime shoothouse simunition FOF training was switch out all my rifle lights to one in particular that has a lockout function and a momentary tail cap switch. Life became much less painful after that…
The maximum lumens are based on various opinions. I agree that too much is too much. Indoors, something that is too bright will cause a sense of momentary blindness. If you are chasing someone 50+ yards away the brighter the better.
As for mounting there are so many options. As has been stated, IWC makes some high quality mounts that will accept a 1" diameter light or direct mount to a Surefire Scout. The location is based on your preference. I like mine to be at about 9 or 10 o’clock with a push button in the light tail cap. This is easy to reach with the thumb of my support hand (I’m right handed).
What I am running on my Colt 6920 is a Magpul handguard with a IWC light mount. The light is a Surefire Scout with 200 lumens. This has a switch in the tailcap that allows momentary actuation or constant on depending on what you need. I am not LEO and it is for self defense and carbine classes. I took my time before deciding what would be best for me. Take your time before deciding what is best for you.
I always thought the term “usually pretty adequate” meant for most cases it will do the job, not that it means it is plenty and more is a bad idea. In an indoor environment, that is unfamiliar you can hit a white wall with a light and cause your pupils to dilate. Now maybe your eyes don’t work like mine, but I’ve had it happen…doesn’t last more than moment, but in a combat situation that can be enough to get you in trouble. I assume inside a strange house the chance of rounding a corner and flashing a close up white wall or mirror is possible, but hey my ability to predict the future is on the fritz with my crystal ball. In the event you are going to be outdoors, then yes more light is better, but like I said earlier I think 120-200 lumens is adequate (not saying it is the best solution to all situations but it tends to get the job done.) There are options to get more light in a package just as small, and if the OP decides he needs more light for outdoor situations I would hope he would purchase one with higher lumens.
I get a little irate at the idea that you need to have the most powerful item for all situations…seems similar to people saying should I get a 9mm or a .45 and someone saying getting the .50 cal it is guaranteed to get the job done. Get the amount of lumens you think will get the job done for what you are planning to use it for.
I can’t think of a time where I wouldn’t want more than enough light in a shoot no shoot situation. I’m more from the camp of have it and not need it than need it and not have it.
I’d mount a Surefire Hellfire on my carbine if I could power it with CR123’s.
I am a LEO. I recently had the opportunity to use a 320 lumen G2X indoors. It wasnt a “powerful” as I thought it would be (though it was a big improvement over my TLR1).
For my rifle, I want a 500 lumen P2X Fury or x300u.
Buy something bright, but I recommend getting a light mount that allows you to detach the light and use it on your pistol. Some of my people permanently attached a light to their carbine and they only saw it a few times per year. I used my M3 on my carbine, my pistol and used it when the battery in my Mag Lite went dead.
Sounds like you might as well asked what to look for in a woman:D
My experience is limited, but I say you can get a lot of advice but you still have to try out these things for yourself & see what “works” for you, which will not be what works for everyone else. I have found that pressure switches are NOT for me, I cannot get away from light AD’s, so I use only tailcap switches. I still fell like most others prefer the pressure switches, but I am constantly evolving what works best for me.
Start asking for models to try from friends & co-workers. You’ll save a lot of money if you don’t have to but it to try it.
Why?
Is this your personal preference due to your body/mind and how you like to run things, or is there a mechanical or technical reason for the scout vs. the X series preference?
Fixed front sight with a forward mounted X300 puts my thumb into a position that can cause a light ND unless wrapped behind the FSP, which is not my preference.
12:00 is the only position that I consider viable for the X300 on a carbine, due primarily to switchology.
I like 1:30 for the scout lights, and I like the DC for its simplicity. If a12:00 PEQ15 is being used I swap the light to either the 3:00 or 9:00 and may or may not run a tape switch, depends on a few considerations.
The bottom line is that I developed my preference through repetition once I settled on a configuration that met my needs for a given task. I do not consider my experience to be all inclusive, but I have seen and tried a lot of different things before I landed where I currently am, and I continue to revisit the subject.
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