My first weapon illumination system was the Surefire Millennium M951 which has 120 lumens of output courtesy of its P61 lamp assembly.  This beauty can light up the night (and this is only the 6V version). It comes with a pressure pad with a 7-inch wire, and is a ready-to-mount unit using the pre-attached Picatinny mount with huge thumbscrews. It adds some extra weight to the rifle and it has serious price tag as well. Mine came as a factory demo, so it wasn’t that pricey but it was pricey enough to look for an alternative when I decided to equip my other rifle with a flashlight.

If you’re browsing through tactical illumination products (and I am talking about the original ones) you will see that anything with a remote pressure pad will cost you a fortune so let’s take a look at some tactical lights with momentary switch only. Most of these lights don’t have pre-attached mount rings so I had to find one which will fit my needs. I am using vertical fore end grips on my AEGs, so a regular mount ring is out of the picture for me. To find the ideal position, I need to mount the light in front of the grip but offset the bottom rail so I can reach the momentary switch with my thumb while holding the vertical grip. My goal was to create a reliable, non-replica illumination under $100 but above 100 lumens. Sounds like a mission impossible? Well, I made it. Just read on and you’ll see how.

Before I go any further, let me say a couple of words to all of you out there who don’t like using the fore grip. Almost all weapon-mount lights have a 1-inch tube diameter. This allows you to use a scope ring to mount your flashlight, but this is the cheapest part of the configuration, as you will see. In other cases, you simply don’t have the chance to mount anything on the fore end like standard MP5s. My weapon of choice for CQB is a Classic Army M15A4 with a 7-inch railed handguard so I have the space I need. You need at least 2 or 3 inches of available rail space in front of your vertical grip in order to use the following loadout.

Let’s get back to the case.

First, I had to find an offset mount. The ideal would be a LaRue LT606 (great quality throw lever mount), but the price without shipping is $89, so it’s easy to get rid of this idea. LaRue offers several mount/light combos—for example a Surefire G2 with LT606 sells for only $121, which makes the G2 only $32. Not a bad deal. The G2 needs an additional P61 lamp assembly to burn through the 100-lumen barrier so this loadout would cost me around $150 (I recommend this option if the extra 50 bucks don’t really bother you). These facts made go for a cheaper but also reliable and proven Viking Tactics (VT) offset light mount. This mount is just what I need: a non-replica tactical accessory with reasonable price tag. Don’t get me wrong I have nothing against replicas but let’s admit it, they sometimes have poor quality, but hey, if it’s made for real weapons then I’m sure that it will be just fine for airsoft.

The VT mounts are available in the usual OD/tan/black colors for $20. I needed a low profile mount with a simple design. There is nothing really to talk about. It is a plastic mount.

According to VT: The Viking Tactics Light Mount is made of a Modified Acrylic PVC Alloy Thermoplastic with high impact and abrasion resistant qualities.

Impervious to most chemicals, solvents and oils, these highly advanced thermoplastics will not shrink and are proven to withstand the harshest environments.

Finding the ideal light. Next step was to find the light itself and I still had $80 dollars for this task.

Opticsplanet.net is good place to find the flashlight of your needs (I am talking about non-replica). They have all the great brands and a wide range selection of mounts and flashlight accessories backed up with technical specs. It is a good thing to visit them even if you don’t buy anything just to do a survey on the market. After a good day of browsing, I found myself a Surefire G3 Nitrolon plus a P91 lamp assembly—--$59 plus $27, respectively. This means that I am $6 over my goal to stay under the $100 budget. The G3 with the P91 lamp assembly have a promising 200-lumen output. It sounds too great to miss so I had to find a lower price.

Few more hours of browsing led me to a cheaper seller and an extra G2Led for comparison purposes. The G2 has an LED lamp assembly and this is the shorter version of the G3, fueled by two lithium batteries. It will give you longer operating time than the G3 Nitrolon with three batteries, but it is limited to an 80-lumen output. Now, I have two flashlights to compare—one is right at $100 total and the other one is $20 cheaper (with the light mounts of course). I thought that if it’s not bright enough for me, then I could always use my “leftover” P61 assembly to take the G2 above 100 lumens. For anyone else this is an extra $20.

The verdict

Christmas came early this year, as I have received all the items in one piece. The G2 LED arrived in the packaging of a G2 Nitrolon. Nice try guys. The G3 was intact. The Viking mounts came with a freebie: an IR glow stick.

The first things I’ve noticed after looking at both lights were that the parts were not interchangeable. The tail cap switches have different threads and the lamp cover is glass on the G3 but some kind of plastic on the G2LED. The extreme heat of the P61 would melt that thing.

I suggest that everyone else should follow the simple way and get a G2Nitrolon with P61. It looks like that the G2 will end up pairing with my G18C. I have no problems with it but it cannot compete with the G3/P91.

I think I made one more mistake by ordering the P91 lamp assembly—it is too bright and it’s not fair using it for CQB. It is really good for low light conditions outside, but then, you give your position out to everyone on the field. It’s a good alternative to use on people who don’t call their hits though.

Using the G3 with the original assembly will reduce the cost by about $27, giving you extra dough to spend on an FM37 protective cap. A protective cap will be a good investment, especially during CQB games.