O-tay, Just had WMD training, and we had a scenarios in the dark, I was a little frighthend but had an AR as my "binkie"  This question has probably be asked 24 million +1 times, but I must have missed it.  I dont want to buy any new fancy hand guards and no interest in a broom handle.  I currently have the M-4 hand guards, and would love suggestions on a mounting option for a light, that will fit on with out super fancy mounts.  But ofcourse it still has to look "TAC."  You all are the best and I have made most of my AR buying decisions based on feed back from ARFCOM.  Thanks for all the great advice.

I've seen Surefire X-200's mounted on M4's attached to a single rail system on the bottom of your current handguard.

There are mounts for the handguards, mounts for the front sight base, and mounts for the barrel.  What do you think will work best for you?

I would like to mount it to the handgaurd, any idea of mounts?  I see most people have the light off to one side, is this prefferred?  Any reason why?

Not to sound stupid, but how do these rails hook onto the hand guards?  I have not held an M-16/AR-15 in over 16 years when I got out of the Military, and we didn't have all these nice gadgets when I was in.  I got my wife an Armalite Ar carbine and want to get a basic hook up for a light, nothing fancy.  

if you have a light on your handgun you may want to consider using the same light.

If you go incandescent i would suggest a 6v (60 lumen) light, its bright enough for nightime use outdoors to 25 yards and indoor without blinding you when you light up a mirror or tv screen.  a 9volt light is good if you want to clear a large building or for use outdoors.  Get the shock isolated bezel if you can although guys seem to get a lot of shots through plain old 6Ps and Zs without problems.

LEDs seem to illuminate fine for indoor use, i'm just waiting for them to be out longer before i trust them.

No tape switches as they are extra parts, can't be locked on (if you aren't into the flash dance thing) and are too easy to inadvertantly activate.  Make sure that you can activate the switch without drastic changes to your shooting grip while ensuring that it has to be a conscious decision.

A tritium front sight can be a nice thing.

If you get an opportunity to practice at night, preferbly under instruction, then take it.


my $.02.

Will a front sight mount make the barrel end heavy?  

Quoted: Will a front sight mount make the barrel end heavy?

No more so than mounting it on the front of the handguard...

Sounds good to me, the more simple it is the better, since this is for my wife.  Thanks.

What are the good front sight mounts to get?  GGG?  I dont suppose Larue makes one yet?    Is the consensus to stay away from the LEDs?  I have a TA-31 if that helps any further advice.  Thanks again.

Quoted:   Is the consensus to stay away from the LEDs?  .

LEDs are GOOD if you can get them with enough output.  Right now there are few 'tac lights' with 60 or more lumens from LEDs.