Weapon Lights That Win: Handgun, Shotgun, Rifle

Estimated reading time: 13 minutes

Pick the right weapon-mounted light for the gun in your hand. We break down platform-specific mounting, power, and beam so your light actually helps you win in the dark.

Start Here: The Right WML For The Right Job

Weapon lights are a must-have for defensive applications inside the home. If you carry a firearm professionally, you need a weapon-mounted light. While it might not be necessary for concealed carry, it can be a valuable tool.

There is no universally good weapon light for every gun. Different platforms have different needs, and because of that, we have a wide range of light options. With all these light options, we have different ways to set them up.

Today, we are going to dive into lights by platform. We’ll discuss optimum setups for each platform and what to look for in weapon-mounted lights by platform. Consider this your down-and-dirty guide on weapon lights.

Handguns: Simple Mount, Smart Choice

Handguns are the easiest of the three because there are fewer options and essentially only one way to set up a handgun light. With handguns, the light mounts to the dust cover on the bottom of the gun; outside of a few select examples, that’s the universal method to mount weapon lights.

Bam. Handgun lights really can be that simple, but the details below make the choice smarter.

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Handgun Light Options That Actually Fit

With handgun lights, three different sizes coordinate with various handgun sizes. There are full-sized duty lights that extend past the barrel, like the Streamlight TLR-1 and the Surefire X300U series.

We also have more compact lights that will often sit flush with the barrel of a compact firearm. Lights like the Streamlight TLR-7 fall into this flush, compact category.

Then we get into subcompact lights. These will sit flush or behind the barrel of a subcompact firearm. Lights like the Streamlight TLR-6, the Surefire XSC, and the Streamlight TLR-7 SUB fall into this category.

Handguns designed for concealed carry are often better served with smaller weapon-mounted lights to reduce bulk, size and increase concealment. Full-sized weapon lights can add extra length to the gun, which can inhibit concealment depending on your carry method.

You typically do not want the light to sit behind the barrel. This creates barrel shadow and blind spots, which is unnecessary.

Handgun Power And Beam: Fill Rooms, Not Hallways With Glare

The larger the light, the brighter it will be. Bigger emitters and reflectors are going to give you more power. The bigger lights have more room for batteries, which gives more power and longer battery life.

Larger, more powerful lights enable you to bounce and reflect light off the floor, the roof, and other surfaces, allowing you to find threats without blinding everything in front of you.

For concealed carry and home defense, you don’t need an extremely powerful pistol light, but it doesn’t hurt by any means. You need a light that can fill a room with light, which isn’t too hard to find. Traditionally, the compact lights are a good balance for both concealed carry and home defense.

Duty users will be well served with a powerful, full-sized pistol light. These more powerful lights have greater range, work better inside and outside, and can overcome photonic barriers like fog, smoke, and other sources of light.

In terms of beam dispersion, handgun lights tend to benefit from extra spill and work best with a balance of spill and lumens for close-range use. This allows you to fill rooms with light and to make the most of your peripheral vision.

Shotguns: Mount Smart And Embrace Spill

Mounting lights on shotguns can be a challenging task. Since we’re discussing defensive use, we will focus on pump-action shotguns and semi-automatic shotguns. Each type of shotgun will have different considerations.

Pump shotguns are notoriously tricky for weapon-mounted lights. The moving pump makes it difficult to use pressure switches and to reach and control the gun. For this reason, the best setup for pump shotguns tends to be an integrated pump light.

Lights like the Surefire DSF, the Streamlight TL Racker, and the Nightstick SFL are excellent tools for shotguns.

Semi-auto shotguns give you a little more leeway, but are still more difficult than rifles and handguns. Like any long gun, you want to push the light as far forward as possible to reduce barrel shadow. For shotguns, your options are a magazine tube clamp with an M-LOK slot or a Picatinny rail.

Streamlight makes a polymer attachment that bolts to the magazine tube and provides a simple rail that works well. Pair one of these front-mounted lights with a pressure switch that’s easy to use, and you’re golden.

Make sure when mounting, to be mindful of accessories like slings.

Shotgun Light Options That Survive Recoil

With pump guns and integrated shotgun pumps, your options are limited to a few dedicated forends. If you choose to go a different route, then your options are open to a variety of lights. Semi-auto shotgun lights are also open to a wide variety of lights.

Outside of integrated shotgun lights, there aren’t a lot of lights explicitly designed for shotguns. Shotguns can use both rifle and pistol lights effectively. Smaller lights help keep a better-balanced gun and reduce weight, which can be beneficial.

The problem with pistol lights is the lack of pressure switches to provide control. Some pistol lights offer this option, but it’s relatively rare. Lights designed for small, shoulder-fired platforms, such as the Streamlight TL RM2 and Modlite PDW, are excellent options that provide both a compact light and pressure switch compatibility.

Due to shotgun recoil, you want a quality light. There will be a lot of G-forces imparted onto your light, so if it’s not up to par, it won’t last long.

Shotgun Power And Beam: Wide, Bright, Fast

Shotguns are a lot like handguns. They have a fairly short effective range and benefit more from a wide beam with lots of spill rather than a tight, focused, laser-like beam. High lumens and spill are the way to go, and that’s why shotguns work so well with handgun lights.

Shotguns are close-quarters weapons, and speed is a benefit. A wider beam makes it easy to fill your vision with light, which helps indoors and close up. A beam with 600 to 1000 lumens with a large head and reflector works quite well.

Rifles: Mount Forward And Match The Mission

Rifles give you the most versatility for mounting. Modern rifles with modern handguards open up a whole new world of light mounting. You not only have tons of mounting options, but it’s fairly easy.

We want the light to be pushed as far forward as possible to avoid barrel shadow. With modern handguards, this is very easy to accomplish. Mount the light in a way that it’s not going to become an issue when using your sights, gripping the rifle, or potentially getting in the way of your sling.

With rifles, you can mount the light in a variety of positions, including:

12 o’clock (Top): Requires a very low-profile mount so as not to interfere with sights or optics. Excellent ambidextrous placement. If combined with a laser, it can get in the way.

1:30 or 10:30 (Offset): This is the most common and ergonomic position, keeping the light tucked close to the handguard and out of the way of the shooter’s grip.

3 or 9 o’clock (Side): Simple side mounting, often used with a direct tailcap switch for thumb activation. If you’re using a quad rail, this can be one of your limited options.

6 o’clock (Bottom): Bottom mounting has fallen out of favor since it creates a very obvious barrel shadow and tends to be a less ergonomic position. If you have to rest your rifle, the light is in the way.

Rifle Light Options From Micro To Monster

The world is your oyster when it comes to mounting weapon-mounted lights on rifles. You can use practically any type of light. Rifle lights like the classic Surefire Scout are good to go, PDW lights like the aforementioned Modlite PDW, or even a pistol light are a viable option.

Your light can be absolutely massive, heavy, and extremely powerful, or teeny tiny and lightweight.

What matters is how you intend to use the rifle. If it’s for indoor home defense, you can toss a Surefire X300U on the gun, and it will work perfectly fine inside your house. Of course, the downside is that using pressure switches is difficult with pistol lights.

The design of modern rifle handguards makes it exceptionally easy to mount a rifle light.

If you plan to use it as a duty rifle, my suggestion would be one of the modern high candela rifle lights.

What’s great about rifles is the sheer number of options you have. You can pair a rifle with any light, and as long as you use common sense and pair it to the right task, you won’t have issues.

Rifle Power And Beam: Candela For Distance

We covered that you can use a pistol light for rifles, and for home defense, a high-lumen and high-spill light can work well.

For doing rifle distance things with your rifle, then a high candela light with a tight focused beam is the way to go.

These provide you with more range, and the best thing about a rifle is the range it offers you. Modern lights, such as the Cloud Rein 3.0, are capable of providing more than 100 yards of effective light, and enough that you need magnification to make the most of it.

These focused beams provide a scalpel of light that dissects the darkness around you. It’s a high-powered beam with a tight focus. Indoors, it’ll work, but it’s not optimum for that environment.

Outdoors, it’s a light that can cut through photonic barriers, overcome vehicle tint, and wash out lights that can provide a layer of concealment in urban environments.

Quick Reference: Platform Setup And Beam Picks

Platform	Mounting Tip	Activation	Beam Preference	Use Case
Handgun	Rail on dust cover, avoid behind-barrel placement	Toggle or paddles you can hit without shifting grip	High lumens with generous spill	CCW, home defense, duty
Pump Shotgun	Integrated forend light or clamp forward on mag tube	Built-in pad or tape switch routed clean	Wide spill, room-filling	Home defense
Semi-auto Shotgun	Clamp forward, keep clear of sling path	Tape switch preferred	Wide spill, 600 to 1000 lumens	Home defense, patrol
Rifle	Push forward at 12 or offset 1:30 or 10:30	Tape switch or tailcap, whichever is repeatable	High candela for distance, spill for indoors	Home defense, duty, outdoors

Lights And Action: Train In The Dark

When choosing a weapon-mounted light, the platform you’re equipping is going to be the most important consideration.

After the platform, it’s how you plan to use the weapon. Duty, defense, and concealed carry all have different requirements.

Once we get past that step, we optimize. We place the light correctly and set up an easy-to-access pressure switch or controls.

After all, the best thing you can do is get out there and train. Low-light training will let you know if your setup is banging or busted.

Related Reads from GunsAmerica Digest

• The Ultimate Guide to Weapon-Mounted Lights
• The SIG Foxtrot-MSR Compact Weapon Light
• Streamlight TL Racker – Light it Up