Home-made weapons light...a.k.a. Stupid lathe tricks for a Tuesday Morning

[clm2112]

Just a little quickie project to use up some stuff I already had around.

The flashlights are from work (NAPA pn 85-912) and actually work pretty well. I've had one that has been used every few nights for the past three years. They go on sale regularly for about $20. Only have had two come back for warranty, and in both cases the customer destroyed the USB charger port trying to jam the wrong style charger into it. So, yeah, it is fairly durable.

So, off to the lathe to machine a 1" diameter by 1" wide area on the body to accept a scope ring. The main tube is an extrusion with some ribs on the inside. Taking a little material off the outside does not weaken the tube.

I made a mandrel to go inside the battery cavity to give the lathe a center to run on. (I used bits of a warranty flashlight in the chuck to clamp the tube.) Had to slow down a bit on the feed, being that the thin aluminum heats and expand a little leaving a surface not parallel to the center on the initial heavy cuts. A couple of light cuts squared everything back up.

Put it back together and slap a cheap QD scope ring on it. A bit ghetto, but better than strapping it to the rifle with electrical tape Liked it enough to do a second one the same way.

 

[clm2112]

Well, if the home-made weapons light isn't quite redneck engineering....

How about putting a pressure switch on it

I found a Surefire ST07 pressure switch on eBay for $15, still in the package. Taking apart the spare clicky-switch tail cap from the warranty flashlight was pretty simple. Like most of these flashlights, the tail cap is just pressed together. Pull out the rubber switch cover, then take a punch and drive the plastic parts out with a few taps. It's a pity that you can't buy the proprietary Surefire socket that matches the plug, unless you want to spend $40-$50 for the replacement UM tail cap from Surefire. (Yeah, um, no thanks.)

Soldered the leads from the Surefire switch directly to the contacts of the clicky switch and re-assembled the switch. Packed the cavity of the switch in epoxy to make it water proof. Now just hanging out for an hour or two to let the epoxy cure before assembling the tail cap.

 

[clm2112]

Mission accomplished....

And it works

Time to put a little velcro on the back of the switch and attach the whole thing to my hunting rifle.

The battery used in these flashlights is a standard 18650. Re-chargable Lithium 3.7 volt in a 18mm x 65mm round case. So, as long as the LED driver board holds up, keeping the flashlight in service is not an expensive proposition.

All set up on the 6.5 Creedmoore. When walking out in the woods, I usually have the rifle slung in front of me with the muzzle down, so the fingers of my left hand are right around the ejection port of the rifle. Having the switch just below the port, I'll be illuminating a few feet of the trail in front of me for a few seconds, then moving a little, then doing it again.

Really, it is only useful for moving into position in the hours before dawn and after dusk, or to possibly light up a coyote I might stumble across for an off-hand shot.

 

[Hawkeye]

I'm all about making stuff work.
Great work!!

 

[Mooner]

Clm's gonna make me buy a lathe off Facebook market place soon

 

[Bobster]

Flashlight on a chassis rifle...

 

[clm2112]

Flashlight on a chassis rifle...

I know, it isn't the usual setup for a chassis... but there is more to life than target shooting

The chassis is a little abnormal as chassis go. It's an LSS model from MDT. Kind on a half-way house between a traditional field stock and a dedicated target stock.

PA doesn't allow using semi-auto rifles for hunting. There is an exception for hunters with a disability, but as a general rule, they only allow for manual actions. So, using an AR is out. Putting a lightweight chassis on the bolt action gives you the ergonomics of the AR while staying within the rules. It's actually rather handy, since it is so easy to unload and reload when clearing to cross obstacles.

Hanging a light on it... well, I don't have three hands. Putting the flashlight on the fore-end will let me use the light while moving through the woods and keep positive control of the rifle at the same time. Same PA rules say you cannot use electronics (no night vision and no thermals.) So long as I don't spotlight a deer, the flashlight on the rifle isn't breaking the game commissions rules.

The down-side of using a chassis for a hunting rifle... the damn thing gets cold. Going out, even on a mild winter day, means wearing gloves. All that aluminum will sap the heat right out of your bare hands in a way walnut or plastic doesn't.

 

[Bobster]

So long as I don't spotlight a deer, the flashlight on the rifle isn't breaking the game commissions rules.

A guy I used to know in RI got pinched jacklighting deer in upstate ME a couple decades ago. The rangers locked his ass up for a day or two, confiscated a lot of his equipment, maybe even his truck. He had to get someone to drive like 5-6 hours to bail him out...

 

[clm2112]

Little weekend project to finish the flashlights off. Took all the flashlights completely apart, prepped and painted all the parts, then put it all back together again. Used some of the spare parts to fix a third one (different model, but some common parts.) So, now three rechargeable with picatinny mounts read to go.