New for KeyMod Rails...

Since Travis put up his video featuring the Inline and the Backbone, I figured I would share my thoughts. I've had the pleasure to test and run the new backbone through its paces for awhile now. The M300 and M600 (respectively) Backbone is a brand new product that has a ton of time, labor, and thought into it. The first thing you will notice is that the finish matches Surefire's head and tail cap assemblies. The same cannot be said for other makers on the market who are producing a product that can't even compare to what you get when you buy the Backbone. The body itself is the very beauty of innovation . For me to be soon running suppressed, it was important to had the head assembly and the can clear each other. With the Backbone, the possibilities are endless for mounting not only to fit around a front sight tower, a suppressor, or even how your very hand indexes and engages the tail-cap switch. Full mil-spec anodized, RoHS complaint chem film so the light never losses connectivity after cerakoting or kryloning, this body is what every single Surefire Scout should come with. When I first got my body I noticed right off the bat the two flat washers that lay perfectly inside the Thorntail's groves and act as a flattening surface for the whole body to have a tight, even, and complete lockup. The body is lighter than the Arisaka's, does not require the end user to stretch the factory Surefire tail cap spring to contact the battery fully, and the unit once assembled just feels airtight and very robust. If you are looking at replacing your Scout body, this is the one that is the stand out winner that will stand up to anything you can throw at it.

The photos were taken quickly so forgive me for not having 4K quality Playmate centerfold photos guys.

If you're going to slam a product, at least be accurate in your claims.

1) LOL at your comment about the IWC body finish matching Surefire's. You can CLEARLY see in your potato-grade photos that the Surefire tail cap is gloss (polished, either chemically or by hand\machine) and your light body is matte. Furthermore, if you'd done your research before posting this nonsense, you'd know that Surefire has switched component finishes from gloss to matte, beadblast to satin, etc. It's IMPOSSIBLE to produce a "perfect match" unless you offered 4+ SKUs of different "black" anodize processes.
2) LOL at "ROHS compliant chem-film so the light never losses conductivity. What does this even mean? Or are you just copying IWC's spec sheet? Surefire's Scout design (along with many of their other lights) utilizes the body of the light to conduct current. If you were coat over it, with "ROHS chem-film" or Cerakote \ Krylon or anodizing, the light wouldn't work any more. This isn't rocket science.
3) You only have to stretch the spring on Malkoff heads, not Surefire. All Malkoff heads function this way. Saying otherwise is an outright fabrication.

Watching this whole situation unfold has been comical. I was really unhappy with my HSP Thorntail mount, and had been searching for a way to streamline my Scout and KMR, and stumbled on the Arisaka product line after reading about it on another forums. I started noticing "Earl Pittman", owner of IWC, began parading his product around on Arisaka's Facebook, referring to all of his products in ALL CAPS ALL THE TIME and straight hocking his stuff on Arisaka's social media accounts. It's very clear that Earl is pretty upset that someone made a better, simpler, more streamlined product than he was capable of, and decided to just outright copy it with these most recent INLINE (he even copied the Arisaka product name!) mounts and Scout bodies.

And then he has the nerve to say "patent-pending", which he'll never, ever get.

Well, if I had actually been slamming a product that I clearly have owned three of and test, researched and evaluated; this would all be another story. You can whatever you want about my review, or about me. It does not and will not even phase me a bit.


This was totally the wrong place to come and start something like this. This is an industry forum, not GD. You had not only the audacity to slam a man you know nothing about, but then call him out on a forum. Including dragging names into this, was down right grotesques. If you are gonna call a man out, please provide the proof. How do you know about his patents? So you own both bodies and can give us a review? You do realize who had a helping hand in make these products right? So if you are calling Earl out, you might as well drag Travis's name into it to. You might as well just drag my name through the mud too.

DCBILL...

1. MATCHING SUREFIRE's FINISH. Packman statement is accurate. He's witnessing what Haley Strategic and IWC worked to achieve when we compared our vast collections of past and present production Surefire Scout and E-Series lights to the finish of our THORNTAIL BACKBONE M300 or M600 Scout Replacement Bodies. Arisaka's finish is more granular and higher gloss satin like than the matte black we achieved on our bodies. As more of our products reach the field, more comparisons between Arisaka and ours will tell a similar story.

2. RoHS COMPLIANT CHEM FILM. Please take a moment to compare your Arisaka body to the photos of our THORNTAIL BACKBONE M300 or M600 Scout Replacement Bodies and Surefire's. Question, please reply. "Which body has the smallest aluminum colored contact patch?" That body's contact patch is not RoHS Chem Film plated. If it is plated and not simply raw aluminum, the mfg is not stating so. Another issue, that tiny contact patch is what the electrical current from the head to the switch passes through, completing the circuit, making the light function. Next question, "Which contact patch and body is more reliable?" A large contact patch, the same size as that inside the Head and Tailcap. A contact patch plated using an industry standard process like Surefire's, or a tiny unplated one?  If that tiny ring of bare aluminum becomes corroded, conductivity through the body is lost and the light fails. We designed and manufacture our THORNTAIL BACKBONE M300 or M600 Scout Replacement Bodies to be reliable weapons grade products used by those going in harms way who depend on the light functioning. No excuses.

3. STRETCHING. Our THORNTAIL BACKBONE M300 or M600 Scout Replacement Bodies are designed and machined as such to require no modification of any Surefire compatible products.

4. UNHAPPY WITH THORNTAIL KEYMOD OFFSET. We offer a full refund, so you can buy & try. Since launch 3years ago, that mount works perfectly if you have a Laser Aiming Module on the 12 rail and a Scout in the mount on the 9 c'lock rail. Or using that mount with a WML/WMLx or other rail attach weapon light. Or with a Scout for many people.

5. EARL POSTING. What's the big deal? I NEVER posted in Arisaka'd FB or IG pages. If you know different, PLEASE reply with a link to a post I made which you're so offended by.

It's what SM is for, and all mfg.'s are doing it; product promotion, brand awareness, lifestyle, communication, opinions, interaction, etc. Just today, I posted a comment promoting our INLINE & BACKBONE on AR15news FB Page, in the post titled, "Mega Arms introduces new KeyMod version of the Wedge Lock hand guard as well as new MKM MATEN upper." and you know what? Ben, the page owner and MEGA ARMS LIKED IT!

6. PRODUCT COPY: Our DROPWING and RADIAL Light mounts were on the market before Arisaka was a company, yet attach and perform the same function INLINE mount does. Many people asked us on our pages and forums when we would make a version of DROPWING & RADIAL for KMR KeyMod & M-LOK. We do now, and again, when you compare the two parts, there are differences, some of which Arisaka applied for a patent for.

7. PATENT. Do you work for the USPTO, on the products and claims I submitted after consultation with my attorney who works for www.cooley.com? If not, then you cannot make the assessment you did and be correct.

8. MORE STREAMLINED THAN EARL's CAPABLE OF. You realize our Scout body is different than Arisaka, don't you. And so is INLINE? We've been working on a way to provide LATERAL ADJUSTABILITY for Scout users who already own a THORNTAIL, DROPWING or any other manufacturer's Scout compatible mount. We didn't want them to have to buy a new mount AND body. We care about each customer (even you DCBILL) and want them to spend money on other things. So I designed, engineered, prototyped and extensively tested a solution that was not in the market. I gave 4 position adjustability to the component which works with our customers existing mount, so they only had to buy one component, not two, just our Body. But when combined with INLINE, you now have .490" lateral adjustment in one of 8 positions, using 2 fewer pieces of hardware, with reduced weight and better reliability.

In closing, PM me if you'd like a FREE THORNTAIL INLINE and THORNTAIL BACKBONE M300 or M600 Scout Replacement Bodies to review, compare, beat up, or pay forward, and of course, post up

Best regards,

Dcbill aside: I need several on these!

Ummm...if I second dcbill can I get a free one for review, testing, comparison and to beat up?

I have one of each size  Backbone. The 300 went on a BCM rifle I built for my partner. She loves it. The 600 went on my BCM KMR. The ability to push the body one way or the other is really helpful. I have been able to get the light high enough to get a grip on the rifle, while low enough to clear the front sight. And while I don't own a laser, I have tested a couple and found that a light so mounted will not interfere with a laser on the top rail. For my partner I mounted it down and back, as she has small hands and short thumbs. It really helped her reach the switch better.

The 300 body is on an IWC mount designed for the Magpul MOE handguards. It works great. Just remember you'll need the supplied washers to get it to mount properly.


A friend had an Arisaka in line mount, and the backbone worked great with it. It gave an additional amount of offset that he needed to clear a laser. Again, you need to use the washers.


As to the earlier post, I will say that the fit and finish of these bodies are as good as it gets. I'm already planning a project with the IWC in line mount and another 300 back bone. A recent event here locally drove home the need for a quality made weapon mounted light on patrol rifles.


Thanks to IWC for again making a great product.