Whether confronting an assailant inside or outside your home, there is a good chance that this encounter will occur during hours of darkness. So, since we can’t count on having adequate illumination when it is needed, it has become popular to mount a flashlight alongside the barrel or magazine of tactical shotguns.
A few manufactures, such as Mossberg (model: 590A1 Light), offer tactical shotgun models with a flashlight already built in, and this is ideal. But if you want a light mounted on most home defense shotguns, this will require an after-market addition, such as the replacement forend pictured above (made by Surefire), or a ring-mount which is easily attached to the magazine tube.
Since most people find it necessary to use both hands to carry and fire a shotgun, it is impractical to hold a flashlight, too. If you are using a pump-model, two hands are required to operate it, so what do you do about light? There is a good chance that you will need to use your shotgun in a darkened house, alone; this is a serious problem that needs a solution. FBI statistics make it clear that you are far more likely to need your gun at night.
To solve this dilemma, a number
of companies have developed flashlight mounts (Photo: ElZetta ZSM), mountable
flashlights (commonly referred to as weapons lights), or special forearm-grips (pictured
at top of page) designed to make the flashlight integral to the gun. While adding
a light to your gun is obviously a great idea, unfortunately this is a category
of accessories where inferior products abound. So as with the purchase of the
gun itself, it is best to stick with trusted name brands and retailers.
When a shotgun is fired, a conventional flashlight mounted on the gun will often break as a result of the sharp recoil. Whether it stops functioning because the flashlight bulb couldn’t handle the shock, or because the batteries broke the cap off of the flashlight body, at that point it doesn’t matter what happened. What does matter is that just when you need a flashlight most, it’s suddenly dark. This type of failure can bring disastrous consequences.
Whether you purchase an expensive flashlight and mount which is built-in to the fore-end of your shotgun, a weapons-light which attaches to a rail on the gun, or a less-expensive flashlight which you install on the barrel or tubular magazine of your shotgun using a ring mount, be sure to test it on the gun range. You need to know that it is reliable.
Another option is to purchase a shotgun which
comes with a flashlight already built-in to the forend, such as the new Mossberg
590A1 Light model (see photo).
You don’t need to find a range that is open at night to test your shotgun light. Just turn it on while at the gun range during daylight hours, and do some shooting. See if it’s still working when you’re done practicing.
Be sure to test the light by firing at least a dozen of the self-defense shells which you intend to carry in your gun. If the flashlight remains securely in place and the light still works after your test, you might have found a winner. But as with anything purchased for an emergency situation, remember the military adage, “one is none, and two is one.” The point of the adage is this; Murphy’s Law often raises its ugly head at inopportune times. So be sure to also carry a small high-intensity flashlight in your pocket as a backup, just in case. Don’t get caught in the dark with a bad guy.