Laserlyte shotgun light mount installed

[maxicon]

I saw mention in a couple of recent threads about the Laserlyte Shotgun Trirail mount, and it's not too expensive with good reviews, so I thought I'd give it a try on my Winchester 1300 Defender.

http://www.laserlyte.com/Gun_Sight_Accessories/ADP-TRIR-140/index.html

It lists for $29, and I ordered it from a guy on ebay for $23 shipped. When I got it, it looked different from the website and packaging pics, and I thought he may have sent me a Chinese imitation. I sent a pic to Laserlyte, and got an answer back right away -they told me this was the new design. Their customer service was very quick and friendly.

Here's what the original design looks like - 3 traditional taller Picatinny style rails:


And the new design, which is pretty innovative - with 6 evenly spaced rail sections, it's now a 5 rail mount, rather than 3 rail. It's also lower profile and lighter weight.


Any user reports you find on the web might be for the older design, so keep that in mind if you read up on it. I couldn't find any pictures of the new design except the ones I took.

Interestingly, Burris sells a mount that looks exactly like the old design, and is for mounting their Shotcam:

http://www.swfa.com/p-12500-new-burris-shotgun-tri-rail-mount.aspx

Here's what comes in the package (I got 3 screws, but I don't know if they all come that way):


It's an extruded aluminum piece with the slots machined in. The slots are slightly under the Picatinny spec, at 0.200", but I find this to be pretty common on inexpensive railed parts. It's Made In USA, and uses SAE hardware instead of the metric most Chinese gear uses.

The edges are all smooth except for the machined slot edges, which are sharp. There are some minor machining marks on the cut faces, and the extrusion isn't super smooth along the long surfaces, but hey, it's a $23 mount. The anodizing is a deep and slightly glossy black, similar to a Fenix flashlight.

The screws are 1" long 6-32 that take a 5/64" allen wrench. Like any small screws threaded into aluminum, it would be easy to strip them if you cranked down too hard, and some people report doing this. If this happens, there's not enough meat on the threaded rib for a helicoil, but it could be fixed by using a longer screw and putting a nut on it.


Installing the mount on my 1300 Defender took about 2 minutes - pop off the barrel, slide the mount over the mag tube, put the barrel back on, and tighten the mount. There's plenty of space on the 1300 for it, due to the 8 round tube. The mount is 1.5" long, and will fit on most shotguns with that much free space. Some people have reported scratching their mag tube while sliding it on, but there was plenty of room on mine - it slid on freely and tightened down well. They may have opened up the new version slightly.


(continued)

[maxicon]

To try it out, I chose a Surefire G2 with an inexpensive 200 lumen LED drop-in that I've been wanting to test under recoil. I recently picked up a used VLTOR Scout Mount for it (http://www.vltor.com/vltor-mountables.htm). These are inexpensive, sturdy, all metal light mounts with great reputations, available in sizes for various Surefire lights. The clamp tightens the light in the mount and the mount to the rail at the same time, so an out of spec rail or poorly fitted light will give trouble, but I've had good luck with both the G2 and E series mounts.






One of the things I like about the VLTOR scout mount is that it's quick and easy to take the G2 out - loosen the mount, slide the light out, and tighten the mount back onto the rail or drop it in your pocket. This doesn't work with all lights, though, as the tolerances are tight - my E series weaponlight has a remote tailcap that has to be removed to get it out of the VLTOR mount.

Another nice thing is the low profile and smooth edges - this is a very sleek and snag-resistant mount, especially compared to the other mounts in the same price range:


Once I mounted it, I played around with the positions. The extra flexibility of the 5 positions is something I like a lot, as I like different mount positions depending on the light used. The 3:00 and 9:00 positions require the VLTOR thumbscrew to be facing down, or the thumbscrew hits the edge - to switch from one side to the other, you'd have to flip the mount.

This G2 has the standard Z72 twisty tailcap, which isn't the best bet for a gun light - the switch works well for momentary light, but it needs to be twisted to stay on. For this tailcap, the 7:30 position worked well for me - I could use a finger for momentary light, and it was easy to grab and twist the tailcap for full on without moving my hand much. A forward clickie tailcap could go in whatever position worked well for you.

Here's the light in the 6:00 position - straight down:


As you would expect, everything was straight and on center - the sight was right in the center of the hotspot of the beam. It's hard to get a pic of that, but this is what it looked like on a wall about 7 yards away:


So far, I'm pretty pleased with it. I took the opportunity to mount my Knoxx SpecOps stock at the same time, and will be taking it to the range shortly to see how the mount, light, and stock all perform under recoil.

For an inexpensive, low-profile, inline rail, this one will be a winner if it holds up to some slugs and buck.

[vinny_land]

Very nicely done. Please report back after you have tried it with the high brass stuff.

[FieldsofFire]

That's pretty cool...I've been thinking about something similar for my 870, as an alternative to a Surefire light fore-end. Let us know how it does at the range.

[advantage1one]

That is just what I was looking for. Thanks for the great review and detailed information...much appreciated.

[maxicon]

Well, I took it out and put about 65 mixed rounds through it, and the results weren't great, but may be improvable.

First, I mounted up the G2 as shown above, and put some light sport rounds through it - 14 rounds of Winchester Universal #8 1 1/8 oz and Remington Sport Load #8 1 1/8. The G2 dropin has a pretty strong spot with good throw, and at closer ranges (7 yards and less), it makes a very good aiming aid - the shot pattern went right to the center of the beam spot. This was an inexpensive dropin, and held up fine through the testing.

The rail held position during these shots, but the G2 slipped a little in the VLTOR mount. The G2's body is slightly tapered - a hair wider near the bezel than at the middle, then widening a bit more at the tailcap - and moving the clamp back some helped it stay snug, but didn't completely stop the slippage. I re-tightened it, and put 5 rounds of Federal Tactical 00 buck (LE132) through it, with the same results. Turns out this is due to the way the VLTOR fits on the Laserlyte, as discussed below.

At this point, I also mounted up my EDC Fenix P2D in a TRGear light mount, which is a big, bulky, flexible GI mount that'll fit a wide variety of lights. The P2D isn't a good tac light due to the user interface for mode switching, and it's too short for this mount, but I wanted to see how it held up and whether it would switch modes under recoil. I put it in turbo mode, so if it switched modes it would go to strobe, which would be pretty obvious.

http://www.trgear.com/osc/eshop/product_info.php/products_id/212

I'll put up some better pics of this mount when I get a chance.

One problem with the TRGear is that it also has thumbscrews, both for the rail and the light, and it can be tough to get them tight enough to hold up to 12 gauge recoil . Another is that it's got a center roll pin for a recoil lug, and the Laserlyte mount doesn't have a full width rail, so there were no surfaces for the roll pin to bear against. It's designed for use on the lower recoil AR, with a standard Picatinny rail, and would be fine there.

I ran another 5 rounds of Federal Tactical through it with both lights mounted, and the P2D didn't switch modes or flicker. However, on the last round, the TRGear and Fenix went flying behind me, due to the roll pin recoil lug, landing on the cement floor and putting yet another ding in my long-suffering Fenix. To its credit, it stayed on and kept on working, still in the same mode, to boot.

Long story short, I put another assortment of ammo through it - some S&B 00 buck, a box of Aguila 7.5 mini-shells, and another few tubes full of the sport loads.

At the end of it all, the rail had slipped 1/2" on the mag tube from shooting the 00 buck with both lights mounted. I believe the smooth anodizing also contributed - the older model had more of a parkerized texture, and the inside surface of this rail is slippery.

I checked the rail screws, and they were plenty tight still. Trying to crank it down more had me worried about stripping the threads. I'm still pondering what to do next - I may rough up the inside of the rail to give it a better grip, or I may put something between it and the tube for a little more tightness, though I don't like a solution that requires extra parts. If it fits tighter on other tubes, that'll be less of a problem there, but since it's a new design, it's hard to say until more people report in.

It turns out the problem with the G2 clamping is that the VLTOR and the Laserlyte don't play well together, due to the VLTOR's single clamp screw. When it's tightened to the max on the Laserlyte, it's not quite tight enough on the G2, with a 1.030" inner diameter. On a normal Picatinny style rail, it clamps slightly tighter, and holds better, plus there's a lot less recoil on a .223 to move it. So, to use the G2 on the laserlyte with the VLTOR, I'll either need a little tape to give it that extra 0.01" grip it needs, or I can modify either the rail or the VLTOR clamp so it clamps a little further (probably the latter). Another option is to use a different light or mount.

I've got some other feedback on the Knoxx SpecOps stock and mini-shells, but gotta run, so more updates later...

[maxicon]

OK, one more chance for the Laserlyte tri-rail, and it failed. This one looks like a no-go as it comes, at least on the 1300 tube.

I roughed up the inside surface with a file (after sanding the slippery anodization and deciding this wasn't enough), and it still slipped about 1" after putting another 35 mixed rounds through it. I had 2 lights mounted, as above - G2 with an ebay Q5 drop-in (big spring and copper ring removed this time, so the bezel will tighten all the way down), mounted in a VLTOR, also modified to reduce slippage on the light, and Fenix P3D in the TRGear mount, tightened more than last time so it would hold without depending on the recoil lug.

Both mounts held this time, and both lights held up fine, with no slippage, no blinking, no mode changes. The P3D doesn't have squat for throw, but it's an EDC light, not a tac light. The ebay Q5 drop-in had nice throw and brightness, and put a well-defined spot on the target at 10 yards that the shot patterned right in the middle of.

I'm trying to decide between buying another inexpensive tube mount, or putting nuts on this one so I can tighten it more without stripping. I'll probably do that first, as the budget for testing gear isn't what it used to be, and it'll do the trick if I can get it to stay put.

[maxicon]

I haven't given up yet.

First, I figured I'd crank it down until the screws stripped, but I couldn't do it. The shallow screw heads let the wrench slip before you can get enough torque to strip the threads. Also, I checked how well it would fit with non-button head hex screws, or with nuts on a longer screw if the threads stripped, and either one got in the way of the outer rail and kept my mount from fitting.

So, I cranked it as hard as I could, mounted up my Fenix TK11 in a VTAC mount, and took it out again. Still slipping after 60 rounds.

Took it home again, and tried a bit of electrical tape to give it some more grip, but there's not enough clearance for it to fit on the mag tube with a piece of tape. Next, I put some Loctite under it, let it set overnight, and took it out again with the TK11. Another 60 rounds, and still slipping - the pic below shows how far off the witness mark it moved.



I also found that the low profile of the rails, which is something I like about it, caused some interference with the threaded inserts on the VTAC mount, and it chews up the rail a bit. This is no big deal - the mount is solid, and the damage is mostly cosmetic - but other mounts may also have clearance problems with the low-profile rails.

In another thread, someone mounted a TLR-1 on the Laserlyte, and had no problems, so it's looking like the weight of the TK11 and the VTAC are just a bit too much.

At this point, it's working, and it's not slipping much - it was pointed out that you're not typically going to be shooting 50 rounds in an HD situation, and the half-inch of slip doesn't really change how effective it is.

For now, I'm going to leave it as is, and maybe find a lighter light to put on it. I'll also keep an eye out for a better rail, but I'm not interested in throwing a lot of money at it.

The Laserlyte looks like a good value if you don't load too much weight on it, have a mount that fits well on the low-profile rail, and has a recoil lug that goes across the entire rail, rather than a post in the middle.