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Posted: 1/29/2010 1:09:53 PM EDT
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Hey guys, I usually hang out around the ARFcom technical discussion and industry boards....but I've recently been shopping for flashlight to mount up on my KAC SR-15..it recently replaced my 6920 as my "go to" carbine in a bad situation. The 6920 never wore a light b/c I have a TLR-1 on my G19 for lighted defense. But, given the situation surrounding last summer(yotes' have been camping near my house...I was hearing them every night for months during the summer) I'd like to mount a light up on my KAC for use spotting coyotes and also as a backup lighted HD weapon.
That being said...I don't want to spend TON on a light as it will spend the vast majority of it's life in my gun safe and being used to spot coyotes in the fields surround my house. I've been attempting to stay in the $100-$180 range including a mount. The two lights that I've spending the most time looking at are the Surefire G2 LED and the 9P. I like the G2 for what I've read and heard about it...but the plastic body kind of turns me off and the 80 lumens might not be enough for spotting animals at ranges around 100yds. The 9P looks much more promising for an outdoors use light...but does it have the durability to survive occasional 5.56 recoil? I do intend to eliminate the coyote problem before one of them eats my little Daschund. Do you guys have an recommendations either along the lines of the lights I've been looking at or others to consider? Thanks for the input!!! -D2V |
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I'm a huge surefire fan, but neither of those will put out enough throw/lumens for spotting varmints out to 100yds enough to take a good shot IMHO. I'll tell ya what I'm dying to get my hands on that is in your price range is the Jetbeam M1X. I have the Jetbeam Military and it kicks butt and has great throw, 225 lumens, lots of modes. and I've read reviews and seen videos and the M1X will totally throw out to that distance and light 'em up even beyond! I think you can pick those up for about $145 (check out bugoutgearusa.com) so that would leave enough for a mount. Nice thing is you can take it off the mount and use it as a hand held spot when you want to.
I love surefires and I have a Surefire M951 with the 120lumen bulb in it on my AR and I don't think it would light up coyotes at 100yds. I got a jetbeam and the quality is fantastic for the price. I think that is what you're looking for. Good luck. ETA: the Jetbeam M1X is rated at 700LED lumens, which is equivalent 450 Torch lumens and if you youtube it you will see it will throw out to 100yds) |
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Quoted:
I'm a huge surefire fan, but neither of those will put out enough throw/lumens for spotting varmints out to 100yds enough to take a good shot IMHO. I'll tell ya what I'm dying to get my hands on that is in your price range is the Jetbeam M1X. I have the Jetbeam Military and it kicks butt and has great throw, 225 lumens, lots of modes. and I've read reviews and seen videos and the M1X will totally throw out to that distance and light 'em up even beyond! I think you can pick those up for about $145 (check out bugoutgearusa.com) so that would leave enough for a mount. Nice thing is you can take it off the mount and use it as a hand held spot when you want to. I love surefires and I have a Surefire M951 with the 120lumen bulb in it on my AR and I don't think it would light up coyotes at 100yds. I got a jetbeam and the quality is fantastic for the price. I think that is what you're looking for. Good luck. ETA: the Jetbeam M1X is rated at 700LED lumens, which is equivalent 450 Torch lumens and if you youtube it you will see it will throw out to 100yds) The JetBeam M1X would be a hell of big and heavy light to mount on an AR though. If you wanted to though, you could probably do it with 1" rings (don't mark my words though because I dont' know the body tube size for sure). You might have an issue with the size of the head/bezel being too large to work mounted. Although, if you're going with a light the size of the M1X, you might want to look at the JetBeam M2S. That baby puts out roughly 1000 emitter lumens (750 torch lumens)! 
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This is the light I choseElzetta ZFL-M60
I am new to the weapon light idea, and this light seems to offer the most of your money. I picked the light with the Moentary/rotary adjust switch. These guys are American made(which was very important to me), and very quality/service oriented. I did tons of research on them, and could find little to no, negative on them. My undertanding is these can throw light, well over 335' Good luck! |
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Thanks for the input guys!
I don't plan on shooting any 'yotes at 100yds with my SR-15...I'm going to bait them ~35yds from my back deck in an open area behind my house. What I WOULD like to do is be able to SEE them at that distance. My 3-cell "D" maglite (the most expensive flashlight I currently own...I do like my Maglights for general purpose) barely lights them up at that distance. I can hear them yipping near my house at night but don't have anything focused/powerful enough to light them up. I kind of want to stick with Surefire only because of the known quality...the Elzetta does look like a good choice though..I am going to look a little farther into them. I'm not necessary only shopping one brand...but knowing next to NOTHING about flashlights I want to make sure I get something that will hold up for a while. My main concern is having a light that can endure at least infrequent use while firing my rifle...once I bait the 'yotes in (roughly 35 yds)...I'd like to able to light them up and put them down. The tapeswitch thing doesn't concern me much because I normally ride my hand near the very end of the rail so it would be near the rear-mounted switch anyways. -D2V |
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Yeah, AR_Shorty is right, the M1X may be a bit much for your purposes on an AR, but I know I've seen them mounted somewhere..........
Check out the Jetbeam RRT-1 instead, I know that one can be mounted on an AR. And its like 250lumens. With jetbeam you get a lot for your money. If you wanna stick with surefire, for your budget/purposes you will definitely want a replacement bulb on the ones you mentioned. But you could definitely pick up a light, mount, and bulb between $100-$180 good luck. |
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Update:
I ended up buying a 6PLED NIB from OpticsPlanet. They included an extra two SureFire 123A batteries and free shipping. So, for $89 I was sold. I ordered a Larue offset mount for it so I should be in business. I'm hoping to like the new setup...and that the LED model will take the recoil of the rifle a little better than the incandescent model. If the LED does fail then I can look into a Malkoff(sp?) for a little more output. 
Now if I had just paid a little more attention I could have bought the 6PLED and mount from Larue together for $20 less than what I paid for them seperately. 
Thanks again for the input guys!! -D2V |
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