Ultimate rifle WML setup

I’ve had the good fortune to train outdoors nearly every 2 weeks for the past 2 years. More than half of that time is spent in no/low light. Since then I’ve gone through many iterations and want to share some of that experience – particularly when it comes to rifle Weapon Mounted Lights (WMLs).

If shooting is a depreciating skill set, weapon light manipulation is even moreso. It’s clearly apparent in our shooting group when we first hit the darkness each October. My first premise is that tactically speaking, there is little good reason to leave your light on. It should seem obvious why. That’s why quick on/off manipulation is so important.

The biggest problem I’ve run into is that most WML switches are either tiny or the button is in a place that will force you to alter your normal shooting grip. All fine and dandy when running around your house with a dry weapon. But when targets, timers (stress) and live rounds are introduced, it’s easy for the wheels to fall off mighty quick. Plus, if you’re running gloves, working small buttons and switches efficiently is that much harder – no matter how much you train. That’s why I’m a big advocate of the pressure switch.

Can you pop from around cover and immediately put your light downrange, PID, fire and turn it off in the same breath? You should and can.

I’ve run everything from an Inforce mounted at 45 and 90 degrees. A Streamlight TLR-1 HL at 12 o’clock and 3 o’clock. A Surefire Scout at 45 degrees and a pressure switch.

I’ve finally settled on the TLR-1 HL mounted at 45 degrees right with a pressure switch on the 3 o’clock rail. This is by far the most intuitive and fast on/off I’ve found. Your fingertips will naturally sit on the pad with a good, c-clamp style grip. It’s as simple as applying slight fingertip pressure for instant on/off (what you want) with a constant on switch at the butt of the light. The time between deciding to activate the light and actually doing it is simultaneous. No fumbling, on or off. Not so without a pad – I see it consistently. Plus, it’s sick cheap right now at $165 for the whole setup.

https://www.opticsplanet.com/streamlight-tlr-1-hl-flashlight-630-lumen-long-gun-kit.html

There is so much debate about lumens and how much is enough, how much is too much. While lumen requirements in a CQB environment are certainly less than necessary outdoors (distance), I’ve never found less is more. More is more. Within reason. The Streamlight above is 800 lumens – not too much for indoors and good for about 50-75 yards outdoors to PID, your nightime eyesight notwithstanding. A Surefire Ultra Scout might be fine too (600 lumens) but it will cost well more than double the Streamlight with a pad.

One more thing on night/low light shooting. In any kind of fog, haze, shooting prone or under 30 degree weather, your first shot is going to really fuck up your subsequent sight picture so you have to move! Shocker right? Stronger lights will only accentuate this effect. Of course if you really want to be deadly in the dark, PVS-14 is where it’s at.

Didn’t mean for this to sound like an ad for Streamlight, but this setup really works based on thousands of rounds training with various setups. Hope this is helpful..