I have the majority of parts to build a rifle like this one, but I'd want to put a flashlight on it. The photo was from 2003 capture of Baghdad airport.

Lights must have been in short supply as it appears the 3rd soldier has a maglight mini taped to his aimpoint. So what would model surefire would have been appropriate if it were available?

M951

Were arms qd mounts in play in 2003 or should I go with the thumb screw mount?

I don't remember seeing any qd mounts until well after 2003.  The 951 is what you seek, and can be had cheap in the EE complete with "battle worn" look

Thank You,

Any idea when the 951 entered service?

I'm seeing 2 different heads on them?

This one which I get the feeling might be older?



or this one

For accuracy, you want the top style.

Surefire changed it ~2010.

In 2003 the majority of the lights we had were pentagon light.  Don't think they are made anymore

These were issued to us around 04-05, but we were USMC.

Pelican, still used the halogen bulbs IIRC.

I still use my M951 on my duty rifle.  Old but good.

There wasn't strictly speaking a "standard" light for conventional forces at the time that you're asking about.  

MagLites, Mini-MagLites, Pentagon, Pelican, Surefires of various stripes, etc., were and could all be found floating around.  

There is also an older variation of the Surefire M951 that would be more period appropriate:



Found this photograph on Google, the tailcap is not original.  

~Augee

Had the bright idea of Google searching the 2002 and 2003 surefire catalogs and the m951 in the catalogs are a lot different and have different tell caps than the ones I previously posted

That was fun!

http://www.louiscandell.com/pdf/fire/2002_surefire_weapons_catalog.pdf

I was in 82nd at the time.

I bought my own lite, a Surefire GII Nitrolon in OD Green, shaved down the body so it would fit inside a Weaver ring, clamped it to my KAC RAS.
I also bought a Red lens filter for it, and colored it black for use with NODs.

One of the other Squad Leaders in my Platoon bought an L60 with tape switch and an $85 Surefire IR filter.

Some of the Joes had GIIs also.

My M4 is not representative of any of the others in my Brigade at the time though if you look at the stock.

I got that from Land Warrior Test Platoon, a leftover, which later became standard.  Everyone else had Colt Fiberite telescoping stocks.

This is from February or March of 2003 out on Failaka Island in the Persian Gulf where we did endless CQB in real homes that were fully furnished.  Some Marines had been gunned down there right before we arrived.  This was before the air war even kicked off.



The only people that I saw at the time with Surefire M951s were in SOCOM, unless you bought one yourself.

ODA's used to buy those in 12s from approved local businesses.

SFODAs were issued the model M961 Surefire light in 2000/2001 to replace SOPMOD VLI light. Teams might have purchased Surefires on there own but the M961 was a SOPMOD upgrade.

I never had a rifle mounted light in 03'; 06' we had pentagons with the laser attached to it.

Our unit had 951s when I got there in 05.