lanyards and others attachments for lights

[black bear 84]

LANYARDS AND OTHERS ATTACHMENTS FOR LIGHTS

When a flashlight is used with a pistol, there comes a time when the flashlight should be put away (or let go of) to use your hand to open doors, change magazines, etc.

Lanyards, (as pioneered by Surefire), are a way to keep the light handy out of the way while you perform the reload or open the door.
But they are others systems that work just as well or better, and are what I will explore in this short post, and hopefully leave the door open for some of the members to come up with ideas that will help in improving the use of the light with the pistol.

One of the most recent ones and a great idea is the Thunder Ranch system of the Tiger ring, marketed with one of the Streamlights T-2 in LED form. It is a great system to operate a light.
The picture shows my home-brewed Tiger rings placed on a Streamlight TL-3 and in a Surefire C-3, two of my favorites lights to use with my .45 because of the 200 lumens they output (the C-3 has the P-91 lamp).
I am a contrary old man that is set to have 200 lumens as a minimum for his ideal tactical light. I acknowledge that many others are happy with their 65 lumens lights, but for me a truly blinding light starts at 200 lumens and up.




The Tiger rings placed on your thumb will, with a quick flip of the hand, place your light out of the way on the back of you hand, and after the magazine change, another quick flip will replace it in its proper position.
I like it better than the lanyard for many situations.

The Surefire attachment on the end of the lanyard is like a carabineer clip; it has opened for me a number of times, and for that reason I recommend that the attachment should be done directly to the lanyard thru the ring, as shown on this picture of the Surefire M-6.



For use with the bigger Police lights, I have come out with a Quick Detach Sling Swivel that I have supplied to some of the customers that have bought my MAG 951 II Megalight.
That swivel can be used in a number of ways, one of them being with a sling that goes across your body and maintains the light at the side of your body. It can be just let go of your hand and will be at your side ready to be grasped again in a split second. The length of the sling is adjusted so when your hand closes on the light, your finger will be on the switch.


Another variation is a short lanyard, attached either to the swivel or to the small nub for the swivel. Such nubs come in handy sometimes to break glass (or even noses).
Short straps for hanging can be also attached to spare swivels to be quickly replaced for when the lights is going to be stored hanging from a nail by the wall.

One system I came up with years ago is to use when hunting (but can be also adapted to your tactical games) is a baseball cap with a Velcro sewn on top and the matching female Velcro stuck to the light. When is time to put the light away, but having it still provide illumination to the target area, you just place it on the top pf your head to be held by the Velcro.

I just walk the woods in route to my tree stand with such arrangement that leaves my two hands to hold my rifle at the ready; handy when loading the gun as the light is directed to where I am looking.

Here is a picture to illustrate the system.




If some of the members have ideas, they are welcome to post them here so we all can benefit from them, anything that can be made the use of a flashlight friendlier and better adapted to be use with the pistol will be really appreciated.

Regards,
Black bear