Don’t Cast Needless Shadows with Weapon-mounted Lights
Oleg Volk 07.14.15
Rifle–check. Pistol–check. Multi-mode green laser and light combo on each–check. Unobstructed light pattern–yes, but only from the pistol laser. The barrel occludes part of the light beam, casting a shadow up, exactly the wrong direction for the weapon that’s usually pointed slightly low to avoid covering innocent people.
With bullpups, like this Tavor, effective light mounting is a lot easier.
Take one X5L RS, place the remote switch wherever it is handy for activation and you are set.
If laser isn’t required, replace the factory forend with Gearhead Works “Scout” and dispense with external cables entirely.
For the conventional rifles, especially M4 carbines with short forends, the problem of light occlusion remains. My solution came from Strike Industries: a cantilevered extension rail that placed the light closer to the front.
X5L on a Sub2000mk2 carbine. Forward placement of lights on guns with muzzle brakes has to be done with care, left the light itself or the activating hand suffers blast damage. In this instance, the relatively mild 9mm muzzle blast is further redirected by a linear compensator. On X5L, the laser is placed near the base, so the mount positions it even with the muzzle height-wise and less than one inch off to the side. The light is placed far enough forward and to the side to avoid lighting up the muzzle device.
Because Sub2000mk2 is quite compact, the user can activate the laser directly with the support hand.
Dual on-off membrane switches allow activation with either thumb or forefinger. For guns with short forends and long barrels, the remote switch version remains preferable. Either way, the goal of lighting up the target rather than your own barrel will be achieved.
