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Posted: 4/30/2008 5:16:13 AM EDT
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Is there an advantage to mounting a light on the side of a hand guard instead of under it? Or is it just personal preference? Seems to me being mounted on the side it would be easier to bang into door frames and such yet this seems to be the most common location. Getting ready to purchase my first light and mount system, any advice would be great. Thanks, Knucklehead |
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You have 4 options with a quad rail system 1) Top - will block your sights 2) Left side - Will block your perephial vision if you are a righty 3) Right side - Seems to be most common (will bolck perephial vision if you are a lefty) 4) Bottom - Might not not allow gun to be place on a surface (sandbags, car hood, window frame) Most vertical foregrips cause the same problem here. |
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On my carbine I have MI two piece forearm with a Sure Fire E2E in a LaRue mount and a VFG. The mount attaches to the bottom rail and the light sits just off to the right. This setup places the tail cap right in front of my thumb and makes it simple to operate the light. The E2E is a small light so it doesn't hang very far off of the right side. |
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Light location: Top: CON: blocks sights, or sights block lights, takes realestate waay from scopes, NV, ECT PRO: none that I know of Bottom: CON: Prevents proper rest of rifle and makes it harder to shoot prone. PRO: no funny shadows no prefial vision blocked, stream lined location, works well with side mounted slings. Left Side: CON: shadows to right, adds width, hard to use on a left side door way. cannot mount sling in front of light on left side PRO: easy to activate if your a lefty none of the above cons right side: same as left but other sides I prefer a left side mount I am right handed and use a right side mounted sling. I find it is easy to activate the light with my left thumb. |
| I've never uderstood the preference for a light to be mounted on either side of the handguard. I prefer that the light is shining directly into the center vertical line of my target, not to the side. The idea that a light underneath will interfere with shooting in the prone position or on a sandbag is irrelevant b/c I imagine that those are the least necessary times to employ the use of a light. I envision the need for a light when actively moving around with the rifle, however I realize that there's certainly the possiblity of using a light lying in the prone position too. |
Its not just the resting of the weapon on something... you must increase your profile to use your light over a low barrier and expose more of yourself to get the light to clear that obstacle. Less exposure is better. I personally dont really care about where some small shadow ends up. All the positions will have an annoying shadow somewhere. Side mounted lights are harder to fit into cases when mounted. Bottom mounted lights make shooting over barriers more problematic. There is always some kind of drawback. |
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