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HD shotgun you definitely want a very floody light. Something with a textured reflector. You do not want a smooth reflector or optic, even the SF TIR. The TIR does a great job of allowing useful side spill while making a light saber like beam in the middle, but IMHO, it is not nearly floody enough for a dedicated HD weaponlight.
For the GP AR-15, meh, more personal preference really. You don't wan't a total floodlight, you don't want a total throw light (like a Dereelight DBSor HID based light, for example), you want a mix. There are many many shades of this and it comes down to personal preference. You are basically looking for something like a "light orange peel" reflector, or an Olight type hybrid reflector, or the SureFire TIR (which is a great compromise optic).
Well, marketing has a lot of crud in it. the "useful light" moniker given to all those long run times on flashlights (including SF) basically means enough to read a map with. It ain't bright.
If you want 10 hrs of light off one set of batteries, yes, you definitely need an LED light. Further, you are going to need either a multiple output light, or a generally low output light. For instance, 3D maglights with the MAGLED last for.... eternity, but they are big, heavy and low output (the big reflector helps to get a good beam out of them - eg candlepower - but they have low overall output - lumens). Oddly, that really long 10 hr output is easiest to get with rechargeable lights using 18650 Li-Ion cells. But again, they have the self-discharge problems that are not compatible with your needs
Realistically, high output leds don't get much better runtime than incandescent bulbs. It is better runtime, but it is on the order of tens of percent for the high output stuff. The big advantage of led is in the ability to have multi outputs, strobes, etc. The big disadvantage is color rendition.
In that case, I would avoid two stage or multi-output lights for the HD light. keep it a KISS, well built, high output light. A quick note on rechargeables: generally speaking if you are using incandescent lights and cr123 sized batteries, you need to choose to use one or the other. With leds on the other hand this is not the case. You are free to use rechargeables when running drills or whatever and keep fresh primaries in it when the gun is standing by. Incandescent bulbs are designed for one voltage setting, leds can often use many input voltages and thus can often use both types of battery, or even more types. The Fenix TK11 and Olight M20 for instance can use 1 3.7V 18650 cell, 2 3V cr123 primary cells, or 2x3.7V rechargeable cr123 cells.
Well to be perfectly honest, I can't think of any small 1 cell lights I would really recommend for that use. The SureFires cost to much and have too low an output, the Pelicans have too low an output, same goes for the streamlights. The Nightcore lights are great, but they have had switch issues in the past. While they make great carry lights, the switch just isn;t beefy enough for me to recommend mounting on a 12GA. Most of the other ones are reverse clicky or also use questionable switches. For a 12GA in particular, you really want a light that is double-sprung (battery held by springs at both side so that spring compression under recoil doesn't break contact), and which has an overbuilt heavy duty switch. A reverse clicky switch is a simple device, they basically work about 10k-15k times and die, but they cost like two cents to make. A forward clicky is a much more mechanical affair and for mounting on something with heavy recoil, you want a top notch one. Pelican and SureFire make these. Streamlight, Inova, the Fenix TK10/11, and the rest of the tac-light usual suspects do as well.
As for LED on the HD shotgun, it would not be my first choice. I know this goes a bit against the popular choice these days, but as you don't need the extra runtime or multiple outputs, I would prefer to have the (much) better color rendition and beam pattern of a quality incan. Some may tell you that incan bulbs blow and leds last forever. This is BS, maybe under lab conditions, but in managing a valet parking company I have a trunk full of loaner lights that I give to employees for jobs. I have seen many leds get knocked off their dies and go dead by falls onto concrete or asphalt. LED dies are no less shock susceptible than quality incan bulbs like a P60/D26 enclosure in my experience. LED's can also overheat and melt their own soldering joints. Surefire led heads are much less susceptible to this than cheaper brands and the Malkoff devices come with massive heatsinks that make it even less likely, but it still happens. This is because the wasted energy from leds (what's left of that 80% or 90% efficiency claim in the marketing blurb) turns back on itself and heats the die the led is mounted on much like a computer cpu heats itself up. Incan bulbs reflect their wasted energy out the front in the form of IR energy (another reason they remain popular with the .mil crowd who use IR filters with NVGs/NODs).
Anyways, a simple reliable light like an SF 6P or Pelican M6 running a high output bulb like the Lumens Factory EO6 or EO9 would be my first choice. If you were to run a 2xCR123 light on primaries you would want the EO6 (200lumens). the EO9 requires either 3xcr123 or 2xrcr123. You could run an EO9 with three CR123 primaries in an SF 9P or G3. For some reason the bulb doesn't fit well in the Pelican M3, it does in the M6 though.
For the GP AR-15, meh, more personal preference really. You don't wan't a total floodlight, you don't want a total throw light (like a Dereelight DBSor HID based light, for example), you want a mix. There are many many shades of this and it comes down to personal preference. You are basically looking for something like a "light orange peel" reflector, or an Olight type hybrid reflector, or the SureFire TIR (which is a great compromise optic).
Well, marketing has a lot of crud in it. the "useful light" moniker given to all those long run times on flashlights (including SF) basically means enough to read a map with. It ain't bright.
If you want 10 hrs of light off one set of batteries, yes, you definitely need an LED light. Further, you are going to need either a multiple output light, or a generally low output light. For instance, 3D maglights with the MAGLED last for.... eternity, but they are big, heavy and low output (the big reflector helps to get a good beam out of them - eg candlepower - but they have low overall output - lumens). Oddly, that really long 10 hr output is easiest to get with rechargeable lights using 18650 Li-Ion cells. But again, they have the self-discharge problems that are not compatible with your needs
Realistically, high output leds don't get much better runtime than incandescent bulbs. It is better runtime, but it is on the order of tens of percent for the high output stuff. The big advantage of led is in the ability to have multi outputs, strobes, etc. The big disadvantage is color rendition.
In that case, I would avoid two stage or multi-output lights for the HD light. keep it a KISS, well built, high output light. A quick note on rechargeables: generally speaking if you are using incandescent lights and cr123 sized batteries, you need to choose to use one or the other. With leds on the other hand this is not the case. You are free to use rechargeables when running drills or whatever and keep fresh primaries in it when the gun is standing by. Incandescent bulbs are designed for one voltage setting, leds can often use many input voltages and thus can often use both types of battery, or even more types. The Fenix TK11 and Olight M20 for instance can use 1 3.7V 18650 cell, 2 3V cr123 primary cells, or 2x3.7V rechargeable cr123 cells.
Well to be perfectly honest, I can't think of any small 1 cell lights I would really recommend for that use. The SureFires cost to much and have too low an output, the Pelicans have too low an output, same goes for the streamlights. The Nightcore lights are great, but they have had switch issues in the past. While they make great carry lights, the switch just isn;t beefy enough for me to recommend mounting on a 12GA. Most of the other ones are reverse clicky or also use questionable switches. For a 12GA in particular, you really want a light that is double-sprung (battery held by springs at both side so that spring compression under recoil doesn't break contact), and which has an overbuilt heavy duty switch. A reverse clicky switch is a simple device, they basically work about 10k-15k times and die, but they cost like two cents to make. A forward clicky is a much more mechanical affair and for mounting on something with heavy recoil, you want a top notch one. Pelican and SureFire make these. Streamlight, Inova, the Fenix TK10/11, and the rest of the tac-light usual suspects do as well.
As for LED on the HD shotgun, it would not be my first choice. I know this goes a bit against the popular choice these days, but as you don't need the extra runtime or multiple outputs, I would prefer to have the (much) better color rendition and beam pattern of a quality incan. Some may tell you that incan bulbs blow and leds last forever. This is BS, maybe under lab conditions, but in managing a valet parking company I have a trunk full of loaner lights that I give to employees for jobs. I have seen many leds get knocked off their dies and go dead by falls onto concrete or asphalt. LED dies are no less shock susceptible than quality incan bulbs like a P60/D26 enclosure in my experience. LED's can also overheat and melt their own soldering joints. Surefire led heads are much less susceptible to this than cheaper brands and the Malkoff devices come with massive heatsinks that make it even less likely, but it still happens. This is because the wasted energy from leds (what's left of that 80% or 90% efficiency claim in the marketing blurb) turns back on itself and heats the die the led is mounted on much like a computer cpu heats itself up. Incan bulbs reflect their wasted energy out the front in the form of IR energy (another reason they remain popular with the .mil crowd who use IR filters with NVGs/NODs).
Anyways, a simple reliable light like an SF 6P or Pelican M6 running a high output bulb like the Lumens Factory EO6 or EO9 would be my first choice. If you were to run a 2xCR123 light on primaries you would want the EO6 (200lumens). the EO9 requires either 3xcr123 or 2xrcr123. You could run an EO9 with three CR123 primaries in an SF 9P or G3. For some reason the bulb doesn't fit well in the Pelican M3, it does in the M6 though.
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