Minimum Lumens for you rifle light?

**U&A** · 12-08-14, 22:01

The Rife In Question Will Probobly Never Be Used Any Further Than 150 Yards. Regardless Of That. ....For A Duty Rifle What Is The Minimum #Of Lumens That You Would Use And Would You Get A Light That Puts Out A Decent Flood Effect And Give Up Distance Or Would You Get A Light That Has A Nice Foused Beam And Give Up Peripheral View.

I Was Thinking That 400 Might Be A Good Minimun For A Rifle But Im Not Sure. My Edc Is The Fury And That Is A Solid 500. Mabey That Is What I Should Stick With?

What Do You think

**Koshinn** · 12-08-14, 22:07

Originally Posted by U&A

The Rife In Question Will Probobly Never Be Used Any Further Than 150 Yards. Regardless Of That. ....For A Duty Rifle What Is The Minimum #Of Lumens That You Would Use And Would You Get A Light That Puts Out A Decent Flood Effect And Give Up Distance Or Would You Get A Light That Has A Nice Foused Beam And Give Up Peripheral View.

I Was Thinking That 400 Might Be A Good Minimun For A Rifle But Im Not Sure. My Edc Is The Fury And That Is A Solid 500. Mabey That Is What I Should Stick With?

What Do You think

I Think You Should Get A Surefire X300U And Call It A Day. A Fury With A Ring Mount Also Works If You Like That Sort Of Thing; Pat Rogers And Kyle Lamb Like Running Those Kinds Of Setups.

But Honestly Even 200 Lumens Works Fine. What Is More Important Is The Reflector Geometry And How The Beam Is Focused.

It's A Lot Harder Typing With The First Letter Of Every Word Capitalized Than It Seems. Why Do You Do It?

**TehLlama** · 12-08-14, 22:44

X300U is a great starting point, alternatively just about any 2014 or later LED emitter is going to be stout enough. I prefer tighter beams (Scout variety mostly) which negates the need for mega output (tight hotspot on a 200lumen light will still be visible through a 500lumen spread out beam), and for rifles I tend to like a condensed beam. Pistols I like the wider beam, same with EDC type lights, but on a rifle with a tighter beam the 'minimum' I'd consider is a whopping 120 lumens - it seriously is adequate in a tight beam for stuff in low light where you're not trying to blind people at distance when the sun is still partially visible on the horizon.

**U&A** · 12-09-14, 05:57

Originally Posted by Koshinn

I Think You Should Get A Surefire X300U And Call It A Day. A Fury With A Ring Mount Also Works If You Like That Sort Of Thing; Pat Rogers And Kyle Lamb Like Running Those Kinds Of Setups.

But Honestly Even 200 Lumens Works Fine. What Is More Important Is The Reflector Geometry And How The Beam Is Focused.

It's A Lot Harder Typing With The First Letter Of Every Word Capitalized Than It Seems. Why Do You Do It?

thanks for the reply........by the way I didn't intentionally capitalize every word. when I use my phone to type anything it automatically capitalizes everything for me. it is messed up right now but my plan is up in about 2 weeks so I am getting another one. also when using my phone if I have to back space at all it will screw up the txt to. the last letter that I typed before backspacing will get doubled when I start typing again....so its is a PITA but not much longer and I can take it to the range a shoot it! the phone pisses me off so bad, I have been dying to shoot the thing

anyway, thanks for the reply and I will look into it.

**U&A** · 12-09-14, 06:00

Originally Posted by TehLlama

X300U is a great starting point, alternatively just about any 2014 or later LED emitter is going to be stout enough. I prefer tighter beams (Scout variety mostly) which negates the need for mega output (tight hotspot on a 200lumen light will still be visible through a 500lumen spread out beam), and for rifles I tend to like a condensed beam. Pistols I like the wider beam, same with EDC type lights, but on a rifle with a tighter beam the 'minimum' I'd consider is a whopping 120 lumens - it seriously is adequate in a tight beam for stuff in low light where you're not trying to blind people at distance when the sun is still partially visible on the horizon.

what do you think of the offerings from streamilght? or should I just stick to the typical surfire?

**markm** · 12-09-14, 07:47

I run all Solarforce SureFire clones with 1 mode LED lamps. I've replaced a few of the clickies with SF switches because some don't come with momentary.

**Failure2Stop** · 12-09-14, 08:07

Originally Posted by Koshinn

But Honestly Even 200 Lumens Works Fine. What Is More Important Is The Reflector Geometry And How The Beam Is Focused.

This.

My personal preference is for SF Scout lights.
The 1x 123 version is excellent, even if it isn't the brightest.

**markm** · 12-09-14, 08:12

Originally Posted by Failure2Stop

This.

My personal preference is for SF Scout lights.
The 1x 123 version is excellent, even if it isn't the brightest.

With ArisakaDefense coming out with a Scout Body, I'm going to get to mess with the scout style light. Should make for a great House gun light with the malkoff head. Some of my Solarforce heads have a beam that's too focused and more suited for outdoor action.

**Failure2Stop** · 12-09-14, 08:19

Originally Posted by markm

With ArisakaDefense coming out with a Scout Body, I'm going to get to mess with the scout style light. Should make for a great House gun light with the malkoff head. Some of my Solarforce heads have a beam that's too focused and more suited for outdoor action.

Interesting.
I've always been a little surprised that more companies don't make a more firearm-centric product.
It's one area that SF has stayed distinctly ahead of the competition in (I'm not really much of a handheld guy and have been using the same light for about a decade).