Spotlights for single handed night shooting

[krankieone]

The best was to hunt pest animals around here is with a spotlight at night from a vehicle which works fine if it isn't a school night and I can get my son to come with me I've been trying to come up with a solution for the rest of the time.
I tried


but found it was ok when the grass is short but whenthere is cover there isn't enough colour definition to easily pick out animals past 60yards through the scope .
I just came up with this idea


which I'll try out later

Has anyone got any better ideas?

 

[krankieone]

Well I tried it out with mixed success it needs some work on the clamp as it is easily knocked out of register I did manage to spot a mob of roos only to have a cartridge miss feed and jam part way into the chamber.I didnt have anything to help me clear it in the jeep so decieded to call it a night.

If I can sort out the mount so it doesn't get knock out of alignment so easily the idea is probably worth persisting with as I could see targets out to about 200 yards .The extra weight on the front makes it harder to shoot offhand but should be ok with a rest.

 

[Art Eatman]

A hose clamp around the mount, maybe? Not pretty, but quite secure for that part of your rig. A piece of tape under the steel clamp saves the bluing.

The stock on my pet '06 was pretty much parallel to the barrel, so I'd just hold my Streamlight SL20 and the forearm together. (Yeah, sorta big hands.)

 

[buckshoteer]

A hose clamp around the mount, maybe? Not pretty, but quite secure for that part of your rig. A piece of tape under the steel clamp saves the bluing.

Great suggestion! I like to use the extra wide freezer tape, does not seem to leave a sticky residue as bad as duct tape.

 

[ErikO]

There are also a fair number of US states that have no indiginous kangaroo population.

Krankieone, what part of Down Under are you in?

 

[Cypress]

One method that I have tried with fairly good success was to take a handheld spotlight that plugs into a cig lighter and cut the handle off then bolt,epoxy,weld, or all of the above a piece of picatiny rail to it. You can then attach it to your scope via a scope ring or two. Add an on off switch and a power source(I used a battery in a backpack since I was walking) and your set. You even get that cool Ghostbuster feeling with the added backpack. Shot several hogs this way. Make sure the lens is shatterproof or you will be making a new one!!!

 

[krankieone]

Krankieone, what part of Down Under are you in?

about 40miles north of Melbourne.

How the heck do you tell whats way out yonder beyond the spot light when you unleash a .303 British at night??

My farm has a ridge on the north & south boundaries I know where my stock are and I only take a shot in a safe direction. Buck shot is not an option as only allowed to use centre fire rifle to shoot Roos.

People in my parts call it firehunting but there are surely other slang terms for the illegally taking game animals by aid of artificial light.

Called spotlighting here and lamping in the UK .Here it is illegal to shoot game animals (Deer etc) with a spotlight in fact it is illegal to have a torch over 4.5v or a spotlight and a firearm in your vehicle in designated deer areas

 

[Gondo]

If you spotlight anything except frogs in Missouri, USA, you get 30 days in the electric chair if you are caught.
gondo

 

[der Teufel]

A hose clamp around the mount, maybe? Not pretty, but quite secure for that part of your rig. A piece of tape under the steel clamp saves the bluing.

This solution is somewhat unique to AR-type firearms, but note the blue stuff around the light where the mount is. In this case the flashlight was slightly (about 1mm) smaller in diameter than the mount, so I wrapped about four feet of surveyor's flagging to make up the difference. I think it's better than using tape under a clamp because it's non-adhesive, and fairly weather-proof. It's pretty durable and provides good protection against scratches, etc. The clamp does an effective job of holding it in place.