If you were LE or military, then taxpayer $$$ would buy your gear and you wouldn't have to spend your own. Of course, a lot of this sort of gear is priced as if someone were spending OPM (other peoples' money) to buy it... .
Number one thing I hate about most 'reasonably priced' light outfits for pumpguns is the stupid curly cords they use for the pressure switch. I don't like dangly bits on working guns, and my #1 dislike is curly cords for pressure switches. If you like'em tho, go for it wide open... .
Next thing I dislike is having the light on the gun in some fashion where it requires removing hardware to get rid of the light if it isn't needed. For something so simple I don't want to have to have a toolkit around. Snap on/ snap off works for me, that way i can run the gun in daylight for practice without beating up the light. Lotso folks tell me all time I should buy a GOOD light like a SureFire and then not have to WORRY so much about beating up light in practice that way.
Well, guess what SureFire says:
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http://www.surefire.com/maxexp/main/co_disp/displ/carfnbr/0/prrfnbr/863
Housing Plug
To extend the lamp and battery life of your SureFire Integrated Forend Shotgun WeaponLight, SureFire suggests removing the bezel and body assembly during extended daylight live-fire practice. The Housing Plug screws into the Shotgun WeaponLight housing to prevent dirt or other contaminants from entering the empty battery cavity.
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Shotguns recoil a bunch and are hard on anything attached to them, sometimes including shooters. I'd much rather be able to easily take off the light when I don't really need it than beat it up unnecessarily with daylight live fire practice no matter what quality or cost the gear is is. BTW, I have SureFire fore-ends on several 870s and on my Benelli M1S90. They work fine, I don't like them on 870s much because the light housing takes up so much hand room on the fore-end there's little room for a good grip with the weak hand. One more thing to think about... .
What I wound up using are Streamlight M3s. They fit a standard type mount which is available for and installs easily on shotguns, carbines and comes from the factory on pistols made with light rails. Around here we use them on Glock 19s, AR-15s and 870s. Were I doing it over again I would spend the extra and get M3Xs (with shock suppression system) for the shotguns, but they weren't on the market when i bought so we will wear out what we have before buying something different.
M3s are about $120, the M3X is about $160. Mounts are about $15 for most shotguns.
I would like to see a reasonably simple and reasonably inexpensive LED combat light that was easily mountable and detachable. New generation LEDs put out plenty of light for interior goblin control and are about as shock resistant as any light source available. They are easy on batteries too. I don't doubt that something like this is in the works, if not already available. The state of the art is after all a constantly moving target. No doubt other developments which are perfectly suitable have been adopted by others at an even lower cost- please chime in if you have such a setup.
lpl/nc
