Today we are looking at a little project that I was working on in an attempt to find the best rail mounted weapon light I could find for under $100, to be installed on my IWI Tavor SAR rifle.
Now, if you have ever searched Amazon or Optics Planet for weapons lights, you will know there are tons of options that are under $100. Problem is, most of those are junk, or made for airsoft rifles and won’t stand up to the recoil of actual firearms. I have nothing against Airsoft, have a few riles and pistols myself, and my kids and I have fun with it. But optics and gear made for airsoft should never be used on actual firearms.
There are also lots of great options at higher price points. I own a few of those as well, and am very happy with them. But for this video we are focusing on the “Best Buy” for under $100. The requirements I selected for this light are that it be at least 300 lumens, can work with a Pressure switch, uses a low profile rail mount, and have good battery options. I test 5 different lights and setups and have narrowed the results down to a clear winner. So, here we go!
This particular setup is using parts from 2 different light manufacturers. The light and pressure switch are from Streamlight and the mount is from O-light. Total parts cost was only $88. Links for these items can be found below.
- Streamlight ProTac 1L-1AA
- OLIGHT E-WM25 Offset Professional Flashlight Mount
- Streamlight ProTac Remote Switch W/Tailcap 880175
The weapon light is a Streamlight ProTac 1L-1AA. This light has an output of 350 lumens, and runs off a standard CR123A battery. You can also use a AA battery in a pinch, but at a lower brightness level, which I though was a neat trick. Now some people will balk at only 350 lumens output, but let me be clear that this is being used for a “home defense” rifle. As great as a 1000 lumens light is, using that indoors on white walls is an easy way to temporarily blind yourself with your own light. 350 lumens is great for this purpose, and has plenty of reach to it.
To secure the light we have the O-Light W-WM25 low profile rail mount. This is made for a standard 1in light, so we will have to do a slight modification to make it work with the ProTac 1L, which is slightly smaller in diameter. They do make a smaller version that would probably work out of the box with the ProTac, but when I was looking, they weren’t available at the time. The mount is made of a strong material that should hold up pretty well to extended use and a bit of abuse.
The Remote Switch is also made by StreamLight and is specifically made for the ProTac series. Standard Streamlight pressure switches have a female thread that goes over the threads of the larger weapon lights. This one is made to work with the ProTac lights, and have male threads that go inside the weapon light. Was able to find this one on Optics Planet. With the parts selection out of the way, lets get this thing mounted and show you what it looks like.
The mount has a spring mechanism, that allows you to expand the opening to work with various lights, and then securely tighten it around the light. It does ship with some adhesive rubber pads to secure lights with a more narrow diameter such as the ProTac. I went a different route and designed and 3D printed a custom sleeve to make things nice and snug, making the diameter 1in, but the rubber pads should work just as good.
This just slides inside the mount opening, attach the mount to the rails, then tighten the retention screw to secure it to the rail and tighten the light in the mount. It is now very secure, and doesn’t wiggle at all.
Now we are going to attach the tail cap. These pressure switches are programable, so you might want to do any customization before you secure the switch to your rifle. The tailcap and cable have a few options for routing the cable. Use what you need to make sure the cable is tucked out of the way on your particular rifle.
The way I have mine setup is the longer switch is a momentary switch, the the smaller rocker is a standard off/on locking switch. I didn’t want the strobe or the lower light setting, so I programed mine to always us the “high” option.
So that is it, an $88 weapon light with mount and pressure switch combo. Streamlight already has a great reputation within the firearms community know for their reliability, and I have weapon lights from them on other firearms that have been performing great for years. So I’m pretty confident that this will work great on my Tavor. There are plenty of other more expensive options out there, but if you are wanting to stay within that $100 mark, this is one of the best ways you can go. Thanks for stopping by. If you want to check out the video I made for this post, hit up the link below, and as always if you have any questions, hit me up in the comments. Take care.
