870 aftermarket idea

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357wheelgunner

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Everyone is familiar with surefire's forend weapon light, and we all know about small surefire flashlights (most of us probably have one in our pocket now).

Why won't someone make a forend with a clamp to hold a pocket flashlight on it, within easy reach? This would save a lot of money, and serve the purpose of the $200 dedicated forend. I wonder how often a person really needs a light on their shotgun. I can think of 3 times in my life, and I did fine with a Glock 31 and a surefire Z2, both of which have more than one use. The need is there, but there are more economical ways to do it


Anyone else think this would be a good idea?
 
Its always better to have a Surefire and not need it, then need it one day and not have it.

SF has the best light system for the 870 that I have seen to date. Andrew Wyatt has a setup similar to what you mentioned on his Mossy.
 
Someone has created a flexible, removable, affordable flashlight mounting system ..... its called duct tape :)

Spinner
 
I asked that very same question to the very nice fellow who probably molds more OEM and replacement shotgun stocks and forends than anyone else in the country, several years ago.

He told me the problem was patents. So he started making attachments that bolted on to magazine extensions, or with rings that went under magazine caps, to hold flashlights that attach to Picatinny type rails.

But nothing says you can't mount a piece of Weaver type rail in the appropriate place on your own fore-end. Just don't forget to use a stop screw or two to keep the light attachment from being pushed off the rail to the back, if you use an M3 type light. A Weaver style scope ring will do to mount 'regular' 1" tube lights, or any size light you can adapt (there's 30mm rings too). But you need to either use an LED type light, or a shock mounted bulb, to keep the light running for any appreciable time on the gun.

Happy experimenting,

lpl/nc
 
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You can also drill a few holes into your forend and mount a small picatinny rail. Mount the flashlight on that when you need it and take it off when you dont.
 
Actually, I think a fore arm with a moulded in recess to hold a popular brand flash light would be great.

Some people don't want to spend the money on a Surefire, and some people think the clamp-on attachments are kind of Mickey Mouse.

An inexpensive synthetic fore arm with a trough-like recess in the bottom front and with a simple, quick detachable light might be a good seller.
 
I've one of the setups that uses a Mini Maglite. Works OK for maybe 6-8 shots, then the bulb goes south. Pity....
 
Long-winded preface: Not to intentionally hijack another's thread, but in my search for alternatives to the prohibitively-expensive Surefire forearm light-mount system, I found this one, among others, and have yet to see my idea mentioned, so here goes:

Does anybody make a light mount that fits INSIDE the extended magazine tube, or is that just silly?

If not, and you do, and make a million with my idea, you owe me, Buster. (Remember, I have a shotgun...but it doesn't have a light yet, so maybe we can work together...)
 
No one makes a light to fit inside an extended magazine for several reasons.

First, this would reduce the capacity by several rounds. You'd need room for both the light and the spring and follower, which would meant the "extension" might not hold any shells at all.

Second, all extension tubes are closed on the end to retain the spring, so there's no way easy way to install the light.

One idea, I seem to recall from years ago was a magazine cap for a standard magazine that had a light on the front.
This looked like an extension, but was a flash light.
This might sell, but would limit the gun to it's original 4 or 5 shot tube, and no extended capacity would be possible.

I still think the most marketable idea for the price would be a more or less standard fore end with a molded-in trough with a clamp that would fit a popular brand of light.

This would allow using an extension, but would be much cheaper than the much more expensive fore end-light units.
When the light wasn't needed, you could just remove it.
 
Griff,

Your idea isn't silly, there are good bright Luxeon LED lights these days not much longer than a single shotgun shell that use one CR123A battery ( see http://www.amondotech.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWPROD&ProdID=940 ). There really isn't any reason someone couldn't make a magazine extension that sacrificed one round in order to incorporate such a light if they wanted to, the technology is available.

But why not just mount the light ON the magazine extension, and have the best of both worlds? This bracket will let you do it easily, and remove the light easily as well, either for practice when you don't want to pound the light or to mount it on another firearm with a light rail. This one fits usual aftermarket extensions, I have them on 870s and on my FN Police Shotgun 5-shot with a 2-shot Tacstar extension.

http://www.opticsplanet.net/streamlight-12ga-extended-mag-tube-tactical-mount-69901.html

And there's one for Mossbergs too:

http://www.opticsplanet.net/streamlight-mossberg-500-tactical-mount-69908.html

With a mount like this in place you have a number of options for lights to install on it- from a $29.99 LED light from CDNN to a $50 Ombu Z-5 halogen to a $100 Streamlight M3 halogen and up in price from there, plus a number of cobble-your-own-from-available-parts options as well.

Or if you don't have or want a magazine extension, you can use this one on 870s and perhaps other makes/models with magazine caps also:

http://www.opticsplanet.net/streamlight-rem-870-tactical-mount-69906.html

Or this one, made for ARs but perhaps useful to bolt onto the fore-ends of semiauto shotguns as well:

http://www.opticsplanet.net/streamlight-m16-ar15-tactical-mount-69902.html

I've been using these for several years now and have been happy with them. These are the mounts I referred to in my earlier post on this thread, Mr. Davis (of SpeedFeed) sent me a couple of samples just as these were going into production as a result of my phone call, and I have been using them ever since.

hth,

lpl/nc
 
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I hate to tell you guys this, but the Surefire foreend is pretty much exactly what you are talking about.
It is a molded plastic forend with a flashlight screwed into it. The main difference between what you are talking about and the Surefire is that the Surefire has a built in switch. If you have never seen the Surefire up close it is nothing more than a flashlight with the tailcap removed. When it screws into the plastic foreend, the switch on the foreend triggers the light remotely just like a tailcap switch would.
That is one of the genius things behind Surefire: you can mix and match parts to make the light suit your needs. Different tailcaps, different heads, different bulbs, different filters, different switching arangements. Again, in this case they took a flashlight, removed the tailcap, and screw it into the foreend which has it's own switch.
A picture is worth a thousand words: http://www.surefire.com/maxexp/main.pl?pgm=co_disp&func=displ&sesent=00&carfnbr=124
And, when the light isn't needed, you can just remove it.
 
444,

The problem isn't with Surefire's availability, quality or design, it's that you practically have to have a governmental sized budget to afford them. The Surefire you linked to costs from $250- 300 each. That's an awful lot to spend for firearm accessory for a lot of people, especially if you need more than one of them for more than one firearm. There are less expensive options available, fortunately, that will work acceptably well for us plain old folks who are not government sponsored kickers and shooters. And as time goes on there will be more and better options coming down the pike, I feel sure.

I am not going to argue that Surefire stuff isn't great and wonderful and ubertacticool- it is. They broke some important ground and opened some much-needed doors, and are still making important advancements in the area of weaponlights. But most of us plain old citizens who need a white light source on a HD shotgun can't afford to spend more on the light than we did on the shotgun. And frankly there is no need to do so at this point, there are workable options that cost a fraction of Surefire prices. Note that Surefire is now coming out with rail-mounted lights of its own, and LED versions as well (X200B)- though still at Surefire type prices, unfortunately. There is simply no reason that a rail-mounted LED weaponlight has to cost $250, except that some people are willing to pay that price- and it won't be long before there is a $50 or less alternative available that will serve perfectly well for the 99.9999% of us who are not Tier One operators (or wannabees either).

8^)

lpl/nc (Ft. Bragg in the rearview mirror)
 
Thanks to everyone for sharing your experience and links. After I surf a bit, it looks like I'll have to sharpen up the 'ol crayon and get to figuring.

3 reasons I can think of off the top of my head to use the space in the mag-tube:

1. direct line of sight

2. balance

3. less dangly-bits to break off and mounting screws to work loose.

I'm guessing that Leapers or someone is working on competition for Surefire even as we slept. I already EDC an E2e, but understand that LEDs are more shock resistant and cost efficient, so will plan to use them instead of paying Surefire $75 or so for another bulb and batteries. Time to check out the clones at ChinaMart for my prototype parts shopping. Isn't supply and demand grand?

Cheers, Ya'll
 
Lee, you totally missed my point.

Someone posted something like this: "I still think the most marketable idea for the price would be a more or less standard fore end with a molded-in trough with a clamp that would fit a popular brand of light."

All I was pointing out is that what he is describing is pretty much just what a Surefire light is. Not precisely/exactly, but very similar: molded plastic forend with a flashlight screwed into it. I posted the link so anyone not familiar with them can see that it is indeed a molded plastic forend with a flashlight screwed into it.
 
444,

The 'revival post' that brought this thread back from the dead was what I was addressing- that would be post #10 from Griff:

====================
"Long-winded preface: Not to intentionally hijack another's thread, but in my search for alternatives to the prohibitively-expensive Surefire forearm light-mount system, I found this one, among others, and have yet to see my idea mentioned, so here goes:

Does anybody make a light mount that fits INSIDE the extended magazine tube, or is that just silly?

If not, and you do, and make a million with my idea, you owe me, Buster. (Remember, I have a shotgun...but it doesn't have a light yet, so maybe we can work together...)"
====================

With that in mind, a Surefire fore-end wasn't exactly what I understood the resurrected thread to be about, I'm afraid. I was attempting to address alternatives to the "prohibitively-expensive Surefire forearm light-mount system" and that's all. We're talking to two different points here...

lpl/nc
 
Dang, I was hoping I was the only person who thought about doing a shorty LED/CR123 flashlight that screwed on like a magazine cap. I better run like forrest gump to the patent office.
I think it's do-able, and I love how close it would be to the barrel's line of sight, the beam basically illuminating where the shot will go. For months I've been talking myself into, and out of, a Surefire forend. It's just hard to bring myself to put a $250 foreend on a shotty that cost me $220.
I love $urefire's products but they sure are spendy.
 
What the market needs is a $25.00 synthetic fore end that will accept an ordinary light like a Mag-Lite or other easily available flashlight.

As Lee and DoubleTapDrew said, many people can't afford or justify a $250.00 accessory for a gun that often costs LESS then the light unit.

What's needed is a cheap unit that the user can buy a commonly available light for, which snaps into the fore end.
While not as elegant or as clean a design as the Surefire, it's would be a far less costly, more readily available alternative, that would still do the job.

Cadillacs are really nice cars, but sometimes what's needed is a cheap Chevy.
 
Why doesn't somebody just mold a picatinny rail into the front 1/4 or so of an otherwise stock Remington synthetic forend?

This would be the most flexible option I can think of and should not be patent protected.


W
 
W Turner,

See Post #5 above.

And then see also http://cgi.ebay.com/Tactical-forend...4QQihZ020QQcategoryZ36258QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem . Apparently things have changed a bit since a few years ago when i talked to Mr. Davis. Unfortunately he sold SpeedFeed in the interim, and I don't know who's running the company now. So I don't know who to call to request molded-in light rails on aftermarket forearms again. But we seem to be getting there, bit by bit.

lpl/nc
 
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