Shotgun Light Advice

[Nine2Five]

I have a Mossberg 500 in jail, and when it's out I plan on a side saddle and a light. My question is about the light. What would the advantages/disadvantages be in mounting the light on the top of the gun vs. at the business end? I came across the Mesa Tactical Shot Shell Carrier and thought it looked like killing 2 birds with 1 stone (more or less, lol).

My thought process is to mount a light on the top rail, but Im not sure how that would effect things like weight distribution, or sight, or whatever Im not thinking of. Ive lurked here a long time, and would appreciate any input you guys would have. Thanks in advance.

*EDIT: Also, it has a pistol grip, and will be primarily used for home defense.

[negolien]

Yeah sighting would be an issue for sure. Plus that will totally highlight you. That is a good part though if you want to add a red dot. You also must remember when using a tactical light that depending on the position of the light your barrel might not be clearing cover. this is mostly in cases of a side mounted light. As a side note I will link the weapons light I use. It's an outstanding value.

Elzetta makes a decent mount and theres the CDM mount alot of people use. I'd swap that pistol grip out for something with a stock + pistol grip. I'll link what I use to give you an idea of what I' am talking about.

http://www.amazon.com/CDM-Gear-BMT-slot-rail/dp/B004H5CMNW/ref=sr_1_13?s=sporting-goods&ie=UTF8&qid=1369957684&sr=1-13&keywords=tactical+light+mount

http://www.amazon.com/ATI-Remington-Shotgun-Buttpad-Stock/dp/B000N8QQO8/ref=sr_1_21?s=sporting-goods&ie=UTF8&qid=1369957931&sr=1-21&keywords=ati+shotgun+stock

http://www.opticsplanet.com/leapers-utg-defender-series-weapon-mount-and-handheld-tactical-led-flashlight-lt-el33.html

http://s1229.photobucket.com/user/Negolien/slideshow/TacLight

[Nine2Five]

Yeah sighting would be an issue for sure. Plus that will totally highlight you. That is a good part though if you want to add a red dot. You also must remember when using a tactical light that depending on the position of the light your barrel might not be clearing cover. this is mostly in cases of a side mounted light. As a side note I will link the weapons light I use. It's an outstanding value.

Elzetta makes a decent mount and theres the CDM mount alot of people use. I'd swap that pistol grip out for something with a stock + pistol grip. I'll link what I use to give you an idea of what I' am talking about.

http://www.amazon.com/CDM-Gear-BMT-slot-rail/dp/B004H5CMNW/ref=sr_1_13?s=sporting-goods&ie=UTF8&qid=1369957684&sr=1-13&keywords=tactical+light+mount

http://www.amazon.com/ATI-Remington-Shotgun-Buttpad-Stock/dp/B000N8QQO8/ref=sr_1_21?s=sporting-goods&ie=UTF8&qid=1369957931&sr=1-21&keywords=ati+shotgun+stock

http://www.opticsplanet.com/leapers-utg-defender-series-weapon-mount-and-handheld-tactical-led-flashlight-lt-el33.html

http://s1229.photobucket.com/user/Negolien/slideshow/TacLight

Ahh, those are good points. I didn't think about those things, thanks for the advice. Ive seen the CDM mount online, and it looked good to me. Im just trying to think threw as many avenues before I pull the trigger on something. Thanks.

[m16]

You might wanna take a peek at this thread:

http://www.calguns.net/calgunforum/showthread.php?t=668609

[nokarma]

Sure-Fire pump replacement.

[Merc1138]

Don't put the light on the top.

Other than ruining your ability to look down the barrel, you're going to end up with a giant shadow from the gun in the beam.

Mount it on the front and you can minimize or eliminate the shadow, as well as avoid the light being in the way of your eyeball. The top rail on that mount is really for stuff like red dots and such.

[Nine2Five]

You might wanna take a peek at this thread:

http://www.calguns.net/calgunforum/s...d.php?t=668609

Thank you.

[hermosabeach]

You can pick up a used surefire forend that has an integrated light fairly cheaply on eBay

You can also mount a weaver or picatiney rail onto the dominant side of the for grip and then attach a high quality light onto the rail. Your support hand that runs the pump can reach the switch to activate the light

The shotgun obviously has a lot more recoil impulse vs many rifles and pistols and cheaper incadescent light bulbs tend to fail quickly. I so not know how cheaper LED lights hold up to recoil.

http://www.midwayusa.com/product/711505/streamlight-tlr-1-tactical-illuminator-flashlight-white-led-fits-picatinny-or-glock-style-rails-aluminum-matte

[Nine2Five]

You can also mount a weaver or picatiney rail onto the dominant side of the for grip and then attach a high quality light onto the rail. Your support hand that runs the pump can reach the switch to activate the light

That's lookin like the plan, thanks everyone.

[RuskieShooter]

Just to throw in my 2 cents...

I have a Mossberg 590SP running a similar setup and I can share with you my experiences. I put a Havlin Max Mount rail/saddle combo and ATI Scorpion adjustable stock/pistol grip/fore end on it.

The fore end took a little dremel work to get it to slide properly, but now works fine and gave me mini-rails at the 3/6/9 o'clock positions. I mounted a Streamlight TLR-1 on the 6 o'clock rail.

The Max Mount was a problem that I still have not satisfactorily resolved. The rail mounts great and is curved/drilled specifically for the 590 and looks/works great on the gun. The problem is the rail sits up high enough to make the bead useless. The first solution was a Burris Fastfire. The dot was too small for me to see well and the "auto dim" REALLY made it tough to use at night. It also has a micro on/off switch and I came to the conclusion I could not reliably turn it on in the dark at 3AM with an adrenaline rush going through me.

Swapped out the Fastfire for a Mueller Optics Quick Shot. With the big on/off/brightness dial and the big CQB reticle it became much more workable. However, I'm still not happy with an electronic sight on a home defense shotgun and am now looking at ghost ring sights. Unfortunately the only GRS mountable to a rail that I can find are Precision Sales International sights which will end up costing close to $300.

The last option is to use a saddle with no rail on top so I can go back to using the bead (which sucks because I REALLY like the Max Mount!).

Hope my headaches give you some insight.

-Ruskie

[tjmorales]

I went with The Eotech IFL for Remington, they do have it for Mossberg. http://www.lapolicegear.com/eo-ifl-foreend-light.html
IMHO, it makes it a tad front heavy

[Eldraque]

Get rid of the pistol grip, put a regular stock on.

Skip the sidesaddle, you dont need it, and ive heard they can strip skrews and have a tendency to fly off while shooting, if you really think youll need the extra rounds then get a butt sock

Your gonna want to mount a light on the side or bottom of the gun where you can activate it while your hand is on the action, the thread someone linked already is a good resource