Cheap light mount for 870

[AustinMike]

I picked up an ol' 870 Wingmaster police riot gun and want to mount a flashlight on it. Has anybody used this Streamlight rail mount? http://www.opticsplanet.net/streamli...unt-69906.html I like the idea, but it looks like it would defeat the ratcheting of the end cap and cause it to loosen. Any thoughts? I don't have an extended mag tube and don't plan on putting one on, so I'm looking for something to attach to the barrel or like this one attaches. I'll probably be going with an inexpensive light like a Surefire G2.

[liliysdad]

I have this adapter, and it works great. However, I do have an extended mag tube. I do not see that this would be a good option for a standard mag tube, as you would lose the use of the detent ball.

[RoscoeC]

I have a sling adapter between my magazine and tube extension, so I opted for this arrangement:

Choate Machine and Tool

I put a G2 in an extra scope ring on it for a poor man's tactical light. Worked out very nicely.

[AustinMike]

Thanks, ya'll. That makes sense about the Streamlight adapter working with the mag extension. As long as the extension is clamped to the barrel, nothing should move. Bolting on a piece of rail to the forend is an interesting idea too.

[Teufelhunden]

I'll probably be going with an inexpensive light like a Surefire G2.

Be aware that the G2 is a great light, but it is not designed to withstand recoil as it doesn't have a recoil dampening lamp assembly. Buying such an assembly for the G2 would put you in the price range for a better flashlight. I personally have an Inova T3 on my shotgun. It's an LED flashlight, so there is no filament to break under recoil. The end-cap loosened under recoil the first time I shot it, but a drop of Blue Loc-Tite solved that problem. The T3 is more of a thrower than a wide-spill beam light, so some folks have mentioned that it contributed to tunnel vision when on the range. My experience has been that it puts out enough (80) lumens to give you enough light bouncing off of interior walls to light the room, so you will have enough light for your peripheral vision to pick up movement of other threats. There are a multitude of cheaper flashlights that will serve the same function, and will withstand recoil based on their design. Between my Inovas and my Gladius, I'm definitely drifting away from incandescent lights towards LED's. Check out The candlepowerforums for more info if you need it.

On to the 'mounting solution'. I've tried a couple of cheaper methods as buying a Surefire forend will likely cost more than the shotgun. First, I tried this forend with 1913 rail which gives you a common platform for a variety of mounting options. Once I had that in place, I got a couple of Leupold 1" scope rings and clamped my T3 in place as such:

Placed in such a manner, I could press the tailcap switch with the knuckle of my index finger with minimal effort. The mount stayed in place (again with loc-tite on the scope rings), it was solid and cheap. My only problem with it was how much it hung down from the rest of the gun. Back to the drawing board.

Solution #2 was to try mounting clamps that are essentially re-sized magazine tube clamps. (A search of Midway's website for 'TacStar' will yield all of their available sizes.) I bought two and clamped my T3 to the barrel, off-set just enough to overlap the pump by about 1", which put the switch right in front of the end of my thumb when gripping the gun. Though the clamps were well made, clamped as advertised, and placed the light in a good low-profile place, the problem I ran into was that under recoil, the whole light assembly's inertia held it in place long enough to slide just a bit towards the muzzle. After about 10 2 3/4" buckshot shells, the clamps were up against the front sight's ramp, stopping their movement, and I could tell the light had been starting to slide foward within, even though the clamps were tightened to right before they began to bend and were loc-tite'd in place. The light ended up about 2" foward of where it had been mounted with the switch out of reach. Back to the drawing board.

Solution #3 was based on the learned concept that a mount that depended on friction to be held in place just wasn't going to beat shotgun recoil. I went back to my original design, but modified it. One of the drawbacks of the original design was that it was fixed, so even if I didn't need the light, I was stuck with it. This was easily fixed by purchasing a CAA Light/Laser mount. I slid the light into place, locked it in, and velcro'ed the tape switch in place. In the event I don't need the light, I can easily slide it off the rails. This is what is still on my gun now:



Hopefully this walkthrough will save you some time and effort!

-Teuf

[AustinMike]

Teuf, that is very helpful, thanks! I found this mount in my searching and may try it. I'd still like to attempt a barrel mounted setup because I prefer to keep as tight as a setup as possible. I don't have a mag extension and I'd like the light to be in front of the forend, directly under the barrel. I'm wondering if an Inova X5 or T2 LED light in the lower hole of this mount would work. I had concerns about a Tacstar mount sliding and you have confirmed this will be a problem. This mount has more surface area, and attaches on both sides with enough screws to torque it down. It's cheap enough to try anyway.

-Mike

[CALNRA]

if you are gonna use a cheap light mount, consider an LED light. The reason is that the incandescent lights such as the G2 will NOT stand up to the repeated recoil of a shotgun. A M2 style shock-isolated bezel is a must if you want to put the light on a 12-gauge shotty.

http://lighthound.com/index.asp?Page...OD&ProdID=1622

I found this mount to be decent and cheap solution to mounting a light on a 870.

[liliysdad]

Really? Tell that to my Streamlight Scorpion, which has a notoriously bad bulb engagement design. It lasted for over 1k rounds, and a year riding in my patrol car, before I took it off the gun, and put it on my belt. Still on the same bulb after those 1k rds of 95% buck and slugs.

My G2 can vouch as well, as it sepnt roughly 6 months on the same gun after the Streamlight, and had close to 500 rds experience, and still worked fine when I pulled it off as well. The G2 is still running like a top.

[CALNRA]

really. Unless you use a specifically designed mount (surefire fore-end, etc), clamping a light to a barrel subjects the light to fore-aft as well as lateral recoil. Just because you had the tax payers give you an expensive foreend doesn't mean eveyone else will have the same experience with a more economically oriented method.

I have wore out P-series lamps on my 870 as well as my 500. So just speaking from experience.

[liliysdad]

I dont even know what you just said. The Taxpayers bought me what and where?

I run a Pentagon X2HA on my 870 now. However, I ran both a Streamlight Scorpion and a Surefire G2 on before theis, and the lackof shcok isolation was never an issue. The Streamlight has a weak bulb retention design, and it withstood over 1000 rounds of full bore buck and slugs, as well as bouncing around in the rack of my patrol car.


Just ot clear it up, I bought all the lights mentioned, not the taxpayers...I think.....

[AustinMike]

I'm definitely going to go with an LED light, I think an Inova X or T series. Haven't decided on the mount yet. I like the idea of having the light under the barrel in a clamp for the "cleanest" setup. Alternatively, I'm looking at the forends with built-in rails. As far as barrel clamps go, I'm concerned about the sight bead being completely obscured by a mount. The barrel I have just has the bead directly on the barrel, but I've added a Tru Glow II that provides a little additional height. Does anybody have one of these Leaper / UTG barrel mounts and if so, how high does the top clamp come up on the barrel? Does it render the front sight useless?



Thanks,

Mike

[shappy0869]

Someone told me that if you use that mount in between your barrel and mag extension it will pull your mag extension up when you tighten it, and perhaps bend or strip the threads.

[AustinMike]

Thanks for all the input, ya'll. I ended up piecing together a fairly cheap solution with things I found on ebay while I had the time to search over the holidays. Found a new forend with rails for about $25 delivered and got a Viking mount locally for about $20. Invova T3 was about $50 delivered. It feels really solid. I'll take it out soon and blast some shells through to see if anything shakes loose.