I wanted to get set up with an AA light for my AR15, with a budget of around $100. The only AA options I could find were a ~ $250 discontinued Insight light and a ~ $400 light from Surefire. Since I'm not a serious user I decided to go with a Fenix light (which is a brand I like for regular flashlight use) with a CAA mount. These ended up costing me $63 and $38 respectively, and I already have plenty of Eneloops.
The CAA mount was for 3/4" diameter, whereas the flashlight ended up being a little over 0.80", so I had to use my vise with soft jaws as an impromptu press to get it in. It's not going anywhere; downside is I would maybe have to destroy the mount to get the flashlight back out if I wanted!
I like the tail switch, it has momentary on/off, and it remembers the last brightness setting.
One thing I've read about is the concern over whether the backwards recoil force, which brings the front of the flashlight into the inertia of the battery, will damage the flashlight. Especially for lights that may not have been designed to resist it. A spring at the front would be nice, but unfortunately it only has a spring at the back for the negative terminal of the battery.
This is the front of the flashlight, where the positive battery terminal touches the center.
So I decided to improvise a spring for the front. I found some nice springs in an AA to D shell I don't use, and twisted them out.
I modified it a little with needle nose pliers. You can see the left one is modified; I widened the base a little to fit the battery, and I bent down the end of the wire so it wouldn't contact the flashlight terminal.
It grabs tightly onto the positive terminal of the battery.
And with it installed the light works perfectly.
Here is what the picatinny attachment looks like. You tighten the bottom screw to clamp it to the rail. I'm a lefty and this setup feels great to me.
What do you think, good idea, bad idea, or overkill to use that spring for when it's mounted on the rifle?
The CAA mount was for 3/4" diameter, whereas the flashlight ended up being a little over 0.80", so I had to use my vise with soft jaws as an impromptu press to get it in. It's not going anywhere; downside is I would maybe have to destroy the mount to get the flashlight back out if I wanted!
I like the tail switch, it has momentary on/off, and it remembers the last brightness setting.
One thing I've read about is the concern over whether the backwards recoil force, which brings the front of the flashlight into the inertia of the battery, will damage the flashlight. Especially for lights that may not have been designed to resist it. A spring at the front would be nice, but unfortunately it only has a spring at the back for the negative terminal of the battery.
This is the front of the flashlight, where the positive battery terminal touches the center.
So I decided to improvise a spring for the front. I found some nice springs in an AA to D shell I don't use, and twisted them out.
I modified it a little with needle nose pliers. You can see the left one is modified; I widened the base a little to fit the battery, and I bent down the end of the wire so it wouldn't contact the flashlight terminal.
It grabs tightly onto the positive terminal of the battery.
And with it installed the light works perfectly.
Here is what the picatinny attachment looks like. You tighten the bottom screw to clamp it to the rail. I'm a lefty and this setup feels great to me.
What do you think, good idea, bad idea, or overkill to use that spring for when it's mounted on the rifle?
