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Posted: 6/5/2009 5:16:18 PM EDT
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Just got a new M-4 want to put a light on it.
Please show pics and make recommendations of models etc. |
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The M4 is a little hard to put tac lights on, especially if you want to keep it field strippable.
IMHO the best (as in most practical) way to do it, is the FAB Defense quad rail. Tactical Shotgunner sell them. They are a great place to get stuff from, and they shoot with the products they sell, so they have great first hand knowledge of their stuff! 
http://www.tacticalshotgunner.com/benelli-polymer-rail-system-p-217.html Personally? I put a piece of picatinny rail onto the front handguard hanger, so the light sits just ahead of my off-hand thumb: Here are some pics I took from an old thread: 
It was a little bit of a chore, but its extremely strong, and it does not interfere with stripping the gun at all!
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The M4 is a little hard to put tac lights on, especially if you want to keep it field strippable. IMHO the best (as in most practical) way to do it, is the FAB Defense quad rail. Tactical Shotgunner sell them. They are a great place to get stuff from, and they shoot with the products they sell, so they have great first hand knowledge of their stuff!
http://www.tacticalshotgunner.com/benelli-polymer-rail-system-p-217.html Personally? I put a piece of picatinny rail onto the front handguard hanger, so the light sits just ahead of my off-hand thumb: Here are some pics I took from an old thread: http://img14.imageshack.us/img14/9296/t11f.jpg http://img16.imageshack.us/img16/2737/img0255j.jpg http://img410.imageshack.us/img410/3580/img0256q.jpg It was a little bit of a chore, but its extremely strong, and it does not interfere with stripping the gun at all! One of the coolest looking M4s I've seen! Great job! You should post a thread on how you did that. |
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They aren't kidding about the difficulty you will encounter to install a weapon light. You have to be very careful because the M4 is heavy to begin with. So adding a pound of light is not a good plan. Replacing the magazine tube with a Titanium unit will save you 5 ounces of weight off the front end of the weapon. This doesn't sound like a huge deal, but the overall goal is to attempt to break even in added weight.
For this reason, I recommend using a Surefire X300 for the M4. It'll only add 3.4 ounces. However, I would recommend a LaRue mount to toughen it up. The light output is plenty for a Shotgun. Here is a shot of an X300 in a dark garage. The garage door is approximately 50 feet away. 
The activation system and the mounting solution is where things get difficult. I've used several mounts on my M4. I'll show some of the problems with a few. Here is the Surefire M80. This has a remote XT07 switch present. The trouble is, they only make a 7" cable length. FAIL. 
Here is what I dislike about the M80. 
See how the cable crowds your hand? I have the LaRue mount pushed further forward than I like and it still crowds my hand. This is unacceptable. 
So that is where I am now. I'm looking for methods to move the light upward so it is away from the handguard area. I'm leaning towards using this offset mount. My concern is it will be too high and obstruct the field of view over the top of the weapon. I've also considered a simple 45 degree angle mount, that might be enough to elevate the cable housing away from the handguard, but I'm not sure if there will be enough clearance for the light itself against the rails system. 
I considered running a Sidearmor mount in tandem with the M80 in order to get their higher side rail mount. That is quite a weight penalty though at around 9 additional ounces. For now, I think I'm going to run the X300 on the left side, and activate it with my support thumb via the rear switches. Other options are just too Quasimodo, so I'm going to send back the tape switches. You can activate the rocker switch with your support thumb, and even press it forward for momentary light. The momentary isn't as tactile as I would like though. |
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The M4 is a little hard to put tac lights on, especially if you want to keep it field strippable. IMHO the best (as in most practical) way to do it, is the FAB Defense quad rail. Tactical Shotgunner sell them. They are a great place to get stuff from, and they shoot with the products they sell, so they have great first hand knowledge of their stuff!
http://www.tacticalshotgunner.com/benelli-polymer-rail-system-p-217.html Personally? I put a piece of picatinny rail onto the front handguard hanger, so the light sits just ahead of my off-hand thumb: Here are some pics I took from an old thread: http://img14.imageshack.us/img14/9296/t11f.jpg http://img16.imageshack.us/img16/2737/img0255j.jpg http://img410.imageshack.us/img410/3580/img0256q.jpg It was a little bit of a chore, but its extremely strong, and it does not interfere with stripping the gun at all! One of the coolest looking M4s I've seen! Great job! You should post a thread on how you did that. Thank you. Im very happy with how it turned out
Its not the easiest mod, and I'm not sure how many people would want to drill into an 800+ dollar barrel. Basically what you do, is get a 1 slot piece of picatinny rail with a countersunk screw hole (I used a Mesa Tactical rail I had laying around, and cut it down), then round off the under-side of it. The handguard hanger is 32mm in diameter, so I used a piece of 30mm pipe with 2 layers of sandpaper wrapped around it. This will get you to about 31.5mm, which is good, since it puts the pressure on the outside edges of the rail (so it wont rotate) Drill the hole in the handguard hanger, and to attach the picatinny rail, i used high strength steel epoxy, and a "furnature leg" adjuster. You need to drill the hole to be the same diameter as the furniture leg threaded stud. As well, you may need to open up the hole in the picatinny rail. One of those steel threaded inserts with spikes on the bottom, so you can put adjustable screw legs in. 
It was eiher 10-32 of 8-32 screw pitch. Then cut off the little legs of the furniture leg stud, and cut it so only a strip as wide as the threaded center remains. You also have to cut a little off the top of the threaded stud, so it doesn't interfere with the screw. Once its cut, you have to file the CRAP out of the bottom, and try to round it out, since it will fit inside the handguard hanger, it needs to be very thin in order to not hit the magazine tube. This is really only there to hold things together until the epoxy cures. Once its all figured out and test fitted, then put a little epoxy on the screw, and a little on the underside of the picatinny rail, and screw it on. Clean off excess epoxy that uzed out, and wait for 24 hours for it to cure. |
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I am holding off on this until a good product hits the market. I wager, that an EFFECTIVE handguard system with rails (proper 1913, and won't bind like the SF M80, etc. etc.) is about 4-9 months out. I will not respond to PM's reguarding this. you could get a Brugger and Thomet unit, if you want to spend like 4-500 dollars  
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I am holding off on this until a good product hits the market. I wager, that an EFFECTIVE handguard system with rails (proper 1913, and won't bind like the SF M80, etc. etc.) is about 4-9 months out. I will not respond to PM's reguarding this. you could get a Brugger and Thomet unit, if you want to spend like 4-500 dollars More like $300, and they allow gasses to blast right out of the handguard area. Not my thing. I will wait until some good product hits the market. |
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I am holding off on this until a good product hits the market. I wager, that an EFFECTIVE handguard system with rails (proper 1913, and won't bind like the SF M80, etc. etc.) is about 4-9 months out. I will not respond to PM's reguarding this. you could get a Brugger and Thomet unit, if you want to spend like 4-500 dollars More like $300, and they allow gasses to blast right out of the handguard area. Not my thing. I will wait until some good product hits the market. sheesh, you guys get em next to free in the USA
500 bucks if your lucky up here. It was more of a joke too 
They need a heat shield in their or something. |
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when I was considering mounting a light on my M2 this was on of the options I liked:
nordic clamp mount |
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Problem with barrel clamps on the M4, is that first off, the magazine tube is very thin, so even relatively slight pressure will hinder feeding. Second off, the barrel is contoured to a smaller diameter right before the 5-round magazine tube ends, then it gets bigger.
So if you put a clamp on, loose enough o not hinder shell feeding, the clamp WILL move around on you. Even with the limiter extension in place, it can still move back and forth about 1/4 inch or so... Plus, it doesn't allow you to field strip the gun. I dont know if thats a big deal or not to most people, but I really wanted to keep my gun field-strippable. |
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What about these from Mesa Tac? Pretty sure they are one in the same and TS says they will work on the M4.
http://www.tacticalshotgunner.com/mesa-tactical-magazine-clamp-rail-for-tactical-shotguns-p-47.html http://www.tacticalshotgunner.com/mesa-tactical-magazine-clamp-with-optional-rails-and-sling-swive-p-147.html 
I just want a way to mount a sure fire x300 clean and simple. |
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The M4 is a little hard to put tac lights on, especially if you want to keep it field strippable. IMHO the best (as in most practical) way to do it, is the FAB Defense quad rail. Tactical Shotgunner sell them. They are a great place to get stuff from, and they shoot with the products they sell, so they have great first hand knowledge of their stuff!
http://www.tacticalshotgunner.com/benelli-polymer-rail-system-p-217.html Personally? I put a piece of picatinny rail onto the front handguard hanger, so the light sits just ahead of my off-hand thumb: Here are some pics I took from an old thread: http://img14.imageshack.us/img14/9296/t11f.jpg http://img16.imageshack.us/img16/2737/img0255j.jpg http://img410.imageshack.us/img410/3580/img0256q.jpg It was a little bit of a chore, but its extremely strong, and it does not interfere with stripping the gun at all! One of the coolest looking M4s I've seen! Great job! You should post a thread on how you did that. Thank you. Im very happy with how it turned out
Its not the easiest mod, and I'm not sure how many people would want to drill into an 800+ dollar barrel. Basically what you do, is get a 1 slot piece of picatinny rail with a countersunk screw hole (I used a Mesa Tactical rail I had laying around, and cut it down), then round off the under-side of it. The handguard hanger is 32mm in diameter, so I used a piece of 30mm pipe with 2 layers of sandpaper wrapped around it. This will get you to about 31.5mm, which is good, since it puts the pressure on the outside edges of the rail (so it wont rotate) Drill the hole in the handguard hanger, and to attach the picatinny rail, i used high strength steel epoxy, and a "furnature leg" adjuster. You need to drill the hole to be the same diameter as the furniture leg threaded stud. As well, you may need to open up the hole in the picatinny rail. One of those steel threaded inserts with spikes on the bottom, so you can put adjustable screw legs in. http://www.toolstation.com/images/library/stock/webbig/41724.jpg It was eiher 10-32 of 8-32 screw pitch. Then cut off the little legs of the furniture leg stud, and cut it so only a strip as wide as the threaded center remains. You also have to cut a little off the top of the threaded stud, so it doesn't interfere with the screw. Once its cut, you have to file the CRAP out of the bottom, and try to round it out, since it will fit inside the handguard hanger, it needs to be very thin in order to not hit the magazine tube. This is really only there to hold things together until the epoxy cures. Once its all figured out and test fitted, then put a little epoxy on the screw, and a little on the underside of the picatinny rail, and screw it on. Clean off excess epoxy that uzed out, and wait for 24 hours for it to cure. Dammit! I thought you were gonna say crazy glue or something. Thanks for the info. It's WAY above my skill level!
J |
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What about these from Mesa Tac? Pretty sure they are one in the same and TS says they will work on the M4. http://www.tacticalshotgunner.com/mesa-tactical-magazine-clamp-rail-for-tactical-shotguns-p-47.html http://www.tacticalshotgunner.com/mesa-tactical-magazine-clamp-with-optional-rails-and-sling-swive-p-147.html http://www.tacticalshotgunner.com/images/products/other-accessories/remington/mesa_tactical_90810_06.jpg I just want a way to mount a sure fire x300 clean and simple. That's the one I had. Very well made unit FWIW. Like I said, in order to have it NOT squish the magazine tube, you need it to be very loosely tightened down. or, you can put it in front of the limiter extension, since the barrel starts to get thicker, and the limiter provides a backwards stop, it should sit nice and solid. I tried this, and it was a decent fit, but I was using a light with no tape switch, so it was too far forwards... So unless you use a tape switch, its a little far forwards. ETA Quoted:
*Snip* Dammit! I thought you were gonna say crazy glue or something. Thanks for the info. It's WAY above my skill level!
J Its not as bad as it seems
The hardest part was getting the contour on the underside of the picatinny rail, but you can get many picatinny rails that are profiled for a circular handguard already, so its got a curve to it. Other than that, all it took was a little time, and making sure everything worked good before I put the epoxy on. im pretty sure you could JUST epoxy a piece of rail on, although im not sure how much of a beating it could take. That said, the steel epoxy I used, once its cured..... that shit is permanent. I epoxied another piece of rail to a piece of steel bracket, and I unscrewed it later to try and get the rail off, and It didn't come off even while hammering on it in a vice!
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| I have a surefire m80 on mine, and a titanium tube on its way. I personally will mount my surefire x200 on the left side rail, towards the front, where it will naturally be in reach of my thumb. It doesn't seem to be too difficult of a problem to me. Don't worry, I am sure there will be many more options out there for the m4 in the near future, I know I have spoken with the guys at carriercomp, and they have a whole slew of parts planed. Also, just an FYI, I have not had any problems with my surefire m80 that I have heard about on the interweb. I am going to guess it is a gun by gun thing so mod at your own risk. |
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I have a surefire m80 on mine, and a titanium tube on its way. I personally will mount my surefire x200 on the left side rail, towards the front, where it will naturally be in reach of my thumb. It doesn't seem to be too difficult of a problem to me. Don't worry, I am sure there will be many more options out there for the m4 in the near future, I know I have spoken with the guys at carriercomp, and they have a whole slew of parts planed. Also, just an FYI, I have not had any problems with my surefire m80 that I have heard about on the interweb. I am going to guess it is a gun by gun thing so mod at your own risk. What are some of the problems people are experiencing with the M80??? I've got one sitting on my counter waiting for the shotgun to come home....... |
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That painted black barrel looks good.
I got a slue of parts coming for a new lighting project for my M4. I'm going out on a limb and I'm modifying the pistol grip stock to have the momentary switch to a Surefire Scout Light placed on the left side of the pistol grip beneath the rubberized grip. I'm going to mill out 0.10" off the pistol grip so the switch will sit in a pocket. The rubber grip will then slide over the top of it. This is going to be a very clean install. The momentary lighting will be controlled by my strong hand. This allows you to load the weapon, or open doors and still have momentary control over the light. The rubberized grip simply pulls off of the stock. There is a hollow cavity inside the pistol grip that you can stash small spare parts for the weapon if you wanted. Stuff them into a small plastic bag with a couple cotton balls and it'll keep the spare parts from rattling. I'm cutting a wiring channel through the stock to keep the exposed wire discreet. The wire will be glued into the channel, then the stock is going to be painted. I ordered a SideArmor top rail. I'm not happy that they use a similar out of spec picatinny rail as Benelli, but I don't have plans on mounting an optic anyway. The benefits of this rail system over the M80 (which I had but returned) is you get to use the factory handguards. You avoid any function issues that may be present with the M80 and you get to mount the light higher up so nothing interferes with your hand placement on the handguard. The exposed wire near the rear sight will be covered over with one of those Rainier Arms textured Pmag stickers. That'll protect the wire and keep it tight against the receiver. I ordered a Surefire tape switch in both 18" and 40". Idiots at Surefire don't make a length in between these two lengths. I'll try to make the 18" work, but if I can't, I have some ideas on where to discretely hide the extra wire of the 40". I tried mounting my X300 on the front left side and activating it with my thumb also. I found the switch was easy to activate on Constant on, but turning it off was slow. The momentary on feature was difficult to use. |
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Duct tape. No, im not kidding. I've seen duct tape on several M4s and I heard it works great. Cheap Durable You can place the light ANYWHERE on the weapon. If you dont like that spot, you can change it in a few seconds. Removal is a snap Does not intefere with field stripping No chance of breaking what you attached it to if you happen to strike it on something hard. |
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