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Jun 5th REVIEW – Surefire X300 Weapon Light

MANUFACTURER:     Surefire

ITEM:      X300 weapon light

DESCRIPTION:

A lightweight, low profile weapon light designed for pistols fitted with an accessory rail on the dust cover. Trends are showing this unit to be very popular as a lighting solution on long arms as well. With the plethora of NATO standard accessory rails mounted on modern firearms nowadays, addition of lighting systems are very much easier than was previously possible.

Fitted with an LED bulb, the X300 is capable of 110 lumens. It’s a VERY bright bulb that will light up a room, dazzle any person aimed at, and also have a damn good chance of blowing your night vision out after use.

The benefit of this LED bulb is it’s virtually indestructible. A great idea for equipment that will be on recoiling weapons (remember the first generation of incandescent bulbs being killed by recoil on 12guage?) and knocks that are an essential part of service life.

Power source is two CR123 lithium batteries, which provide a run time of 2.4hrs.

The aircraft grade aluminium unit is weather sealed and waterproofed to 22m. The mounting hardware can be changed to suit the type of accessory rail fitted to the weapon. This means the light will fit on NATO rail (Picatinny) or some of the more esoteric accessory rails fitted to various weapons, like the slightly different rails seen on different pistols such as the H&K USP and the Glock.

Light is activated by a rocker switch at the back of the unit to allow the non-master hand on a pistol to actuate the light. This also works quite well for long arms, as the non-master hand can activate the light when fitted to the forearm accessory rails.

I believe that the switch can be substituted for a replacement tape switch for better ergonomics, although I’ve never seen one.

PERSONAL ASSESSMENT:

CONS –

Can be pricey, about 700 bottle tops from the major suppliers.

Although the Australian vendor I sourced, stocks them significantly less than what all the “tactical” suppliers are asking.

Batteries can get expensive, and only last a few hours.

PROS –

A mate of mine bought this for spotlighting of pest animals like foxes and rabbits on his property. He likes to have a light on the weapon for those moments when climbing off the ute and the number 2 (namely me) doesn’t point the spotlight in quite the right direction.

With this setup and a barrel mounted length of rail (bolt on barrel mount), despatching the odd rabbit and fox has been a lot easier for him. We’ve found it quite a tough little unit. It’s banged into the ute a few times by us and his kids.

Brightness is such that it actually disorients people when shone in their face. It is bloody painful to look into the beam in the dark. This would be ideal for those of you wishing to use this light to hunt our fellow man. For our police officers, this could be a useful part of the force continuum, to dazzle a suspect into compliance before having to resort to more lethal options. Although I’ll refrain from making any statements about that, since I’m way out of my lane on knowledge.

SUMMARY:

I wished I’d had this when I was a recon scout tasked with clearing (simulated) shot up A-veh’s and buildings. A piece of kit that would have worked very well with my custom light mount based on an old bayonet that I’d had cut up and modified. Check elsewhere for that review. Questions, queries, or doubtful points??