billclo said:
Do you or your friend have any experience with these lights mounted on rifles? Reason I ask is that way back in the day I attached a Surefire 9-Volt light to my rifle. Because it didn't have the shock isolated bezel and the batteries moved back and forth with recoil, the light died in short order.
I'm now using a 9-V weapon light on my rifles, but the real drag is the cost of obtaining the required shock isolated 3-CR123 battery packs = $16 each last time I got some. I'd love to replace these older lights with something in LED and that uses regular CR123 batteries w/o a lot of hassle. But they have to be able to survive being attached to the rifle barrel as this is the way I use them now.
Of course lighter weight of some of the mentioned units is desireable as well - my current unit with mount is 9oz.
G and R Tactical that Paulosantos mentioned above, and Brightflashlights.com are two shops I would call to verify these lights for your use. They also can answer Rmcdermid's question if you can upgrade Pentagon Xenons to LED's with a lamp swap.
I shopped for lights last winter and spoke with Kevin at Brightflashlights.com
http://www.ar15.com/forums/forum.html?b=2&f=142
He is very knowledgeable about these lights and can point you in the right direction.
Pentagons have an advantage in they were designed up front with battery isolation. They are ready to go without having to buy a shock isolated bezel. He liked the Pentagon line since they came with battery isolation, and felt their LED models were solid all around choices because of the extra battery life.
Also the lights designed for pistols like the X300 and TLR-1 work well mounted on AR railed forends. That's my next purchase is a handgun mountable light that I can use on a carbine also.
The G2 or 6P with the Z32 bezel made a good light for an AR. Without the Z32 bezel, recoil or dropping the light like I did will likely break the filament. The 6P or Z2 LED's are AR ready as is due to the LED's. The G2 LED and mount sounds like a very economical choice. I plan to mount one to my current build project. However, I'm not a high speed low drag flashlight operator so I would welcome opinions from LE officers, and soldiers, and dealers who are familiar with the lights in rough conditions when I'm shopping.
He also mentioned heavier hitting calibers like 308 or 12 gauge light options are different than a softer recoiling 5.56 AR, so shop accordingly.
I'd call the two dealers above and visit with them. Both have package deals, and seem to know their products. Brightflashlights has an Industry Forum on Ar15.com. They offered me discount pricing and package deals on Surefire and Pentagon.