I just got in a TLR1 HL for my carbine, its a bit of a floodlight and makes a barrel shadow on the wall.  Is this not focused enough for carbine use and is intended for a handgun?

Where do you have it mounted?

Bottom of MOE handguard right below the swivel.

I run one on my carbine and it works fine.  Not sure what you mean on the floodlight, mine has great reach.

I recently did a nighttime comparision between the 300 lumen TLR-1 & the 630 lumen TLR-1 HL.
HL had slightly longer throw but had much more of a wider lighting effect at distance instead of the TLR-1's hotspot/spotlight w/weaker peripheral spill.
I have the HL on all my carbines, it does what I want it to do w/o breaking the bank.
Tomac

Thanks  I think I picked right.  This thing lights up a wide swath of back yard  and strobes too.  Indoors it lights a whole room up.

I use the Magpul Scout Mount for the HL on my MOE handguard so the barrel shadow is at 7:30 instead of 12 o'clock:

Tomac

I mounted a TLR-1 300lumen to my HK P30S since my APL 200Lumen wouldn't stay on my rail.

I picked it for the longer runtime. I'm poor and every dollar counts.

I`m amazed that they are rated for firearms usage.  after taking apart it sure looks fragile .

The TLR or APL is fragile? I dont have any experience with the APL but the TLRs seem well built to me.

I assume you are talking about the APL being fragile.  My department issues the TLR for officers and they have held up incredibly well.

You want some shadow at 12 o'clock.   It helps a great deal with visibility once you start shooting.  You don't want your light reflecting off the muzzle gasses in your line of sight.

Sounds good, but is there a problem w/heat transference to anything you have mounted down there?
Tomac

Did you take yours apart? I think the APL is better made except for its mounting system.   falling off rails while shooting or falling off when little force is applied .

also APL is rated I think 22Meters and the TLR is just a few feet.



What does Pat say about the streamlight TLR-1 led series.

Im sure he seen a shit load of them in the last few years

I ran a 2 carbine class with a TLR-1 on a Magpul Rail Light mount.  The day after the class I took it off and ordered a hand held light and mounted it in the Magpul mount.  Unless you only ever plan on using the light indoors for home defense, I'd want something with a bit more throw.  Trying to engage a target a 100 yards in the dark wasn't very easy with the TLR-1.  Also, I found the switch on the TLR-1s, and I'm sure X300 would be the same, to be "clunky" to turn on and off while on my rifle.  I turned it on by accident more than a few times during the class as well.  I'm sure some use tape switches, but I'm not in that boat.  

I agree with the instructor's view on tape switches.  It tethers your hand to where the switch is preventing moving it if you need the light on but have to shoot from an unconventional stance or position.  Also, that cord getting caught on something might totally disable if severed or damaged enough.    

If you don't want to break the bank, check out light from a company called ThruNite.  They're only available on Amazon, or their website.  I just got their TN12 in today, and for $49.99 it's pretty damn impressive.  1050 lumens out of a 2 cell light.  I have a Streamlight Pro TAC HL3 that's 1100 lumens but it takes 3 cells and even though I got it for a good deal it was almost twice as much.  The ThruNite was very comparable to the beam on the Streamlight.  Just the Streamlight's throw was a bit further.  I'll probably get their TN11s to mount to a weapon to see how it works out and if it can withstand the recoil.

I've lock on my Inforce APL a few times when I wanted just to flash.

I`d rather use a handheld flashlight on cabines and had good luck with  the old G2.  Bought a fury P2X to replace my G2 but  decided I will carry it in my pocket along with my new SRT 5 by Nitecore.750 lumen

Nitecore aint as tuff as my surefire E2 Defender but is pretty close to it.

BTW The box that came with my P2X Fury states not for weapons use. But Pat says he hasn't had any problems using it.

I bought the IWC Thorntail 1913 Offset Adaptive Light Mount for my Streamlight TLR-1 HL's, and it fixed the problem I had with the slight barrel shadow.

http://www.impactweaponscomponents.com/product/thorntail-1913-offset-adaptive-light-mount/

Courtesy Primary Arms

Courtesy thefirearmblog