I think the idea's good enough to sell to a bunch of folks at gun shows, if nothing else
Kinda like the shotgun magtube light that someone here rigged up a couple days back, and if simple/LED, it's gotta be cheaper than some of the "Tac-Lights" out there now.
A small (short life) battery-stack could easily power a sufficiently bright LED to illuminate a small room/hallway, if your eyes are already adjusted to darkness. Instead of a reflector, why not use a small fresnel lens for a diffuser? That would be very short, and give very good dispersion or focus (depending on the design).
Yeah, battery's short lived, but I always get a kick out of folks who complain they might forget to change the battery after use, but never worry about forgetting to reload the gun after shooting it
. Remember, your life depends on the batteries in your smoke/carbon monoxide detector every night. Batteries are plenty reliable nowadays, provided you
test them twice a year (you practice more often than
that, right
).
Keychain lights are very popular because they
are good enough for illuminating small areas, so putting one on a gun
would add some utility. Might be better than Tritium sights for seeing beyond your barrel in the dark, too (don't flame me, bro!
). And there is something to be said for aiming with both hands when you're sleepy/adrenalined
.
The only missing piece is an easy way to turn it on quickly. Accelerometer switch perhaps? Lights up the second you grab the gun, and stays on for five minutes after it stops moving? Or even simpler, rest the gun on a magnetized stand (or stick a magnet w/ lanyard to the slide) that keeps the lightswitch in the "off" position until the gun is moved a couple inches away.
But the real money, the height of innovation, would be in the guide-rod CAMERA!! Laugh now, I'll bet the tech will be here within 5 years...(actually, it may already be here, look up Eyeborg sometime. Guy put a camera in his false-eye;
http://www.eyeborgblog.com/ off topic, but
very cool super-science!)
d
you know who to send the royalties to when you hit it big...
TCB