Putting a light on an SBR

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L1A1Rocker
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Putting a light on an SBR

Post by L1A1Rocker »

I always had the idea that I'd put a light on the SBRs eventually. Well, I've been looking at it seriously for the last several months. I'm a very thrifty person by nature but understand that quality sometimes costs. I spent 80 bucks on a surefire P2 (or Z2) to go with my carry gun back in the late 90's. Why it is, today in this time of revolutionary superbright wonder lights a good light costs MORE than that is beyond me. They are either super cheep throw away junk, or they are budget busters.

My other problem was how to mount it. A friend of mine has a good setup where you just push the button on the back of the light with your thumb. That won't work for my super short SBR. Mounting the light where I could hit the rear button put the front of the light right next to the muzzle brake. Not good. So I needed to use a remote pressure switch. But where to mount the switch? The obvious choice is on of the hand grips. But that means the light comes on every time you grip the rifle - even in daylight. Not an ideal situation.

Well, after months of aggravation looking at lights on Amazon I found something that looked promising. It was a fairly new listing with just 3 reviews. It came with a remote pressure switch, one 18650 battery and charger. AND, it was only 26 bucks. It claimed 600 Lumens and was only on or off, no 3 or 5 light modes that cause problems for a gun mounted light. I gave a bit of trust to the ad because the battery capability was not an exaggeration (as many tend to be) listing the mAh at 2600.

Stock photo:

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I already had a light mount to put the light on the rail. But again, how and where to mount the remote? I decided I wanted it on the hand guard in-between the rails accessible with my left thumb. This way I wouldn't inadvertently activate the light simply by grabbing the grip. The only problem with this was where I wanted to mount it there were large vent holes. Glad I have a lathe. . .

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I needed something that would match the contour of the O.D. of the hand guard, and then a backing plate that would match the contour of the I.D. of the hand guard. Fortunately I had some aluminum tubing that was very close to both those needs on hand. After just a bit of trimming I had the contours I needed.

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Then I sectioned off a peace with the band saw.
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Now a flat surface so the stickum will stick.

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Next was holes, threading, countersinking, paint, and screw it together.

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Next was to stick it on. The light is mounted with a quick attach do-hicky, so I did not use double sided tape to put the remote on.

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And there it is.

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And the light on the other side.

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I've got some room to move the switch back a bit. I put it where it seemed right just mounting the rifle to my shoulder. But you know how things shift a bit when you're actually shooting. But, I'll see how it works. If it's good, and the light holds up to shooting, I'll do this all again for the other SBR.

Thanks for viewing.
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smustian
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Re: Putting a light on an SBR

Post by smustian »

Looks nice. Much better than the black tie zip ties I use.
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bangbangping
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Re: Putting a light on an SBR

Post by bangbangping »

Thanks for sharing, and good work on the remote mount. The single mode is nice and hard to find these days. Can't believe it didn't come with a 12000 mAh battery, though. :lol:

Can you tell whether it actually uses the CREE XM-L T6? I've bought literally dozens of cheapish 18650 lights over the past few years. As far as misrepresentation goes, lying about the LED is a close second behind exaggerating battery capacity.

Please follow up on how it holds up to shooting.

Edit: Just looked it up on Amazon. $79.99. :shock: camelcamelcamel says the price jumped three days ago.
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L1A1Rocker
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Re: Putting a light on an SBR

Post by L1A1Rocker »

bangbangping wrote:Thanks for sharing, and good work on the remote mount. The single mode is nice and hard to find these days. Can't believe it didn't come with a 12000 mAh battery, though. :lol:

Can you tell whether it actually uses the CREE XM-L T6? I've bought literally dozens of cheapish 18650 lights over the past few years. As far as misrepresentation goes, lying about the LED is a close second behind exaggerating battery capacity.

Please follow up on how it holds up to shooting.

Edit: Just looked it up on Amazon. $79.99. :shock: camelcamelcamel says the price jumped three days ago.
Holey crap that's a big jump! Sorry guys, I thought I was on to a real good value here. :(

I have not disassembled the head so I cannot be for sure. I can tell with a magnifying glass that the LED is mounted on a white board, so it seems that it may be a CREE. All the knock-off CREEs I've seen have been mounted on a brown or beige board.
jwb47
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Re: Putting a light on an SBR

Post by jwb47 »

thats some pretty nice red neck enginnering you did . I like it.
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L1A1Rocker
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Re: Putting a light on an SBR

Post by L1A1Rocker »

jwb47 wrote:thats some pretty nice red neck enginnering you did . I like it.
Thanks
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