Shotguns: One Loud Flashlight

My home-defense shotgun always wears a flashlight mounted to it, because to me it seems simple: Any target I can’t see is tough to identify and difficult to hit. Furthermore, a shotgun is heavy and requires two hands to fire. A weapon-mounted light lets me see, while not occupying my hands. Lastly, a powerful light can blind, disorient or even scare off a would-be invader.

But, even with what I see as positives, opinions on the matter vary. “A light gives away your exact location to bad guys,” some internet chatter will say. Yes, they can, but weaponlights have on/off switches, and you don’t have to turn it on if you’re trying to be discreet.

“They’re expensive,” say others. There’s nothing cheap about raising and protecting a family, and to me, being able to see what I might potentially shoot at is worth at least a few hundred bucks.

“You have to point the gun at something just to see it.”  This is not always true, but more on that later.

The point is, I believe the arguments for keeping a flashlight mounted to your home-defense shotgun vastly outweigh those against doing so. And if you agree with me on this, there have never been more weaponlights and ways to mount them to your shotgun than there are right now.

Weapon-Mounted Light
Just 30 years ago, dangerous-game hunters, special-forces units and savvy home defenders would strap, tape, zip tie, wire or hose clamp a big MagLite flashlight to their shotgun barrel just so they could see their target. Those lights, of course, were heavy, their beams comparatively dim and their filament-style bulbs weren’t always up to the punishing recoil of a 12 gauge.

Then, around the early 2000s, SureFire revolutionized the weaponlight by making compact flashlights with LED-based lighting elements that were lighter, brighter and custom-designed to fit on specific firearm platforms. The California-based company worked with gunmakers to influence design, so its lights could be more easily mounted to those firearms. (SureFire was directly responsible for developing the rail-mounting system on the underside of handgun frames that is so prolific today (I call it the “Hopkins rail” after SureFire’s chief marketing strategist, Cameron Hopkins, who convinced the gun-owning world that they needed a $250 flashlight mounted to their guns.)

One innovative product released by SureFire was its Forend [sic] Weapon Light that replaced the factory fore-ends of Remington 870s, Mossberg 590s and other popular defensive shotguns. The expensive unit holds a SureFire light and contains an integral on/off switch that could be manipulated by the shooter’s support hand without significantly altering the gun or the shooting style. As firearm designers began integrating standardized mounting systems such as Picatinny rails, M-Lok systems and others into their guns, consumers have many more options—and less expensive ones—available.

Today, dozens of companies offer weaponlights for shotguns that run the full spectrum of quality and price. A few of my favorites are SureFire’s aforementioned Forend Weapon Light, its Scout Light Pro Dual Fuel and even its X300T Handgun Light. Streamlight makes great shotgun lights with its ProTac Rail Mount 1 Long Gun light, as does Nightstick and others. I have not tried many of the less expensive brands found on Amazon, but I am leery of most of them, knowing how repeated recoil from a 12-gauge wrecks things. Surely, however, some of them are better than others. What’s important is to get a light that works for you and somehow attach it to your shotgun.

Tactics, Briefly
While you’re best advised to take a training course on home-defense tactics at night using your shotgun and a weapon-mounted light, here are some basic points to remember:

If you are in your home—a place with which you are intimately familiar—you have an advantage over an invader (who presumably has never been in your home) if you turn the house lights off or keep them off. Then, only use your weaponlight as you need it.

When using your shotgun-mounted weaponlight in a home-invasion situation, avoid leaving it turned on the entire time. Briefly turning the light on to gather information before turning it off while you move and/or evaluate the situation is more likely to leave an adversary guessing as to your exact whereabouts. It also saves the battery, and the light won’t get super-hot.

Third, if you are unsure of who or what’s in front of you, you can bounce light off of walls, mirrors, floors and ceilings to adequately illuminate areas without actually pointing your shotgun’s muzzle at an unidentified person or object. If family members or other friendlies are near, strongly consider using this technique.

Finally, keep in mind that while light can blind and disorient an attacker—thereby giving you a tactical advantage—it can also blind and disorient friendlies, perhaps making them think that they are under attack. Be aware of this as you use your light.