Best ways to mount light to bolt action?

I mounted a flashlight to a bow before. The vibration would kill the bulb. Taping to barrel might do the same.

WrongHanded said:

This will likely be the best single sentence I read all day. I don't even care if it isn't true.

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I want to hear the whole story!

Bcwitt said:

I mounted a flashlight to a bow before. The vibration would kill the bulb. Taping to barrel might do the same.

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But with LED lights, its a none issue anymore. I have 7 weapons with ligths on them, All but one is LED and never had an issue with the bulbs messing up. The one that is not a LED is a mag light and the bulb on that has never broke. Its over 10 years old.

mondocomputerman said:

I want to hear the whole story!

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We had had that tiger skin rug since before I was born. My father killed it in Sumatra in 1938, when he was under contract to Shell Oil Company. It was one of his favorite stories -- how he had hired a Malay guide who built a shooting platform in a teak tree, then staked a goat out near the foot of the tree.

He had Dad tape a flashlight to the barrel of his rifle and helped him climb up into the tree.

"And just before he climbed down, he gave me a hard look and said something that was like a cold hand closing around my heart, 'Many time, Tuan, you think you hear the tiger. But when the tiger come, you know.'"

"I couldn't relax. The bugs were all over me, and I was sweating like a pig. Every five minutes or so, I'd suddenly get cold chills and start to imagine a tiger coming up from behind me.

"It was like that all night. And then, about three o'clock in the morning, it got suddenly quiet. Even the bugs stopped humming. I couldn't see a damned thing, but I switched on my flashlight, and there he was, looking up at me, his eyes glowing like lanterns."

* * *

Have you ever come awake suddenly? It was just like that. Without any transition between sleeping and waking, I found myself staring wide-eyed at the stars. A strange, cold feeling like ice water was coursing through my bowels. I shook Harrison, my radio-telephone operator..

"Alert the perimeter. Full stand-to."

He was logy with sleep, and I had to repeat it. Lieutenant Brooks, the artillery forward observer, was stirring in his poncho liner.

"Fire DEFCONs at my command. Request time of flight."

He pulled the microphone toward himself and began to speak softly. Harrison was fully awake now, cranking the TA-312 telephone.

"First and second platoons on stand-to. Third platoon hasn't reported yet."

"Keep on them. And check the LPs."

He picked up the TA-1 sound-powered telephone that connected us with the three listening posts and began calling. I unclipped the radio handset, keyed it, and called battalion.

"Top Castle 30, this is Ugly Ambush 6. I have movement. Get me a heavy fire team and a Spooky."

A heavy fire team was three armed helicopters, one with a searchlight for night work. Spooky was a C-130 with Gatling guns and a 105mm howitzer firing out the port side. The pilot would circle, pointing the left wing at the target, saturating it with fire.

The battalion Tactical Operations Center replied, "Ambush 6, 30. What's your situation?"

"Movement on the perimeter. Get me that fire team and alert the Air Force. I'm going to need a Spooky."

Harrison was tugging at my arm. "Captain, the LPs say there's nothing out there."

"Tell them to prepare to blow their claymores and come back into the perimeter. They'll have ten seconds from my command ... and get me a report from third platoon."

"But there's nothing out there!"

I paused, listening for a moment. It was absolutely silent, no sound at all, not even from the insects that sang continuously. I felt a strange sensation and realized that the hair on the back of my neck and forearms was standing erect.

"There's something out there," I said. Even to my own ears, my voice sounded strange, unnaturally low, coming from deep in the throat. "Get that report from third platoon."

I turned to Brooks. "Is the artillery ready?"

"Bravo Battery is up," he said. "Time of flight is 23 seconds."

"Tell them to stand by." I turned back to Harrison. "Tell the platoons I'm going to have the LPs blow their claymores and come in. They're to open fire as soon as the LPs enter the perimeter."

He nodded. "Third platoon reports all up."

"Have them unsafety the .50s now." -- we had the .50 caliber Browning machine guns dug in, with an Armored Personnel Carrier parked over the top of each gun pit, providing overhead protection. The .50s were double-loaded, with an empty cartridge case jammed between the butterfly triggers and the recoil buffer for safety.

"Ugly Ambush 6, this is Top Castle 6. What have you got?" That was the battalion commander.

"Castle 6, Ambush 6. Right now, just movement."

"How serious?"

"Remember First ARVN?"

There was a long pause. The First ARVN Infantry Regiment had lost a battalion three nights previously, overrun by a sapper attack.

"We've got a Heavy Fire Team lifting off in about five minutes. Spooky is already airborne and headed for your location."

"Thanks, 6." I picked up the TA-1. "LP, stand by."

They came on the line in order, each one reporting readiness. I glanced over at Brooks. He had his microphone in his hand. Harrison was holding the TA-312 handset to his ear.

"Blow claymores at my command. You've got ten seconds to get back to the perimeter."

One after the other, the listening posts acknowledged. At the same time, I could hear Harrison informing the platoon leaders that the LPs would be coming in in a few seconds.

"Get ready ... blow claymores!" I whirled and pointed at Brooks. "Fire!"

I didn't hear him repeat the command -- the sound of the claymores smothered his words. With my ears still ringing, I could hear the thrashing in the brush as six men came running back to the relative safety of the perimeter. There was a sudden fluttering in the air as something passed over head, and then the first platoon opened fire, the .50s incredibly loud as they hammered out their first bursts.

The entire jungle heaved as the defensive concentrations of artillery landed. All the platoons were firing now, and from somewhere out there someone was screaming, a thin, unending scream. Green tracers came back through the perimeter, and there was a sudden WHOOSH! as a rocket-propelled grenade, fired from in front of the second platoon went completely over the perimeter and exploded on the other side.

* * *

Colonel Gibson came out the next morning, his little OH-6 helicopter picking its way down through the shattered trees. We walked along the single roll of concertina wire in front of the perimeter and counted the bodies -- thirty-four, all tangled in the wire. Inside the wire lay five or six more sappers, dressed in black loin cloths, their skin thickly coated with grease, the garlands of Chinese hand grenades still unexploded around their waists. More bodies -- many more -- lay on the far side of the wire.

"Your people did a good job." He nudged one of the sapper bodies with his boot. "Who heard these people coming in?"

"They didn't. Nobody heard anything."

He looked at me sharply. "But you reported that you had movement. Somebody must have heard them."

"No. The first sign we had was when they returned our fire."

He seemed disturbed by that. "How did you know they were there?"

I shrugged. "I can't explain it. But the bugs had stopped singing and I knew the tiger had come."

Awesome story

Best ways to mount light to bolt action?

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Duct tape, works great killing tigers

Duct tape..............................you know someone will try it. LOL

If you care about the finish of your rifle, don't use duct tape. Otherwise this is the fastest and cheapest way to mount a light.

Otherwise there are plenty of mounts that will add a light to pretty much any firearm. Without knowing the model and what your scope is, it is pretty hard to make suggestions.