)I've looked at all the 'super-tough' (and super-expensive) lights out there that you can put on a gun, and never wanted to lay out that kind of money for something I'm really only going to use to shoot a possum or raccoon in the chicken house, or possibly wild dogs or coyotes in the goat pen. Now that LED's are getting brighter, since they are more durable than ANY heavy-filament bulb, things have changed a bit.
Lately, we've had lots of coyotes and wild dogs, and it's goat kidding season, so coyotes and wild dogs are hanging around like teenagers when you bake cookies, so the night-chore gun my son and I usually take is the Siaga (AK clone that uses short little magazines). It is a gun I don't care if gets knocked about, and it seems reasonably rugged. In the daytime, a handgun would do, and be easier to tote when handling a hay bale, but at night there's not much for sight options (I borrowed a Tritium-sighted 1911 once just to see how it would work, and it was totally useless in my opinion, when it comes to trying to pick out a scuttling coyote at 50 yards in and out of brush).
A red-dot sight can be great if you get the dot dim enough for night use, but you still need light. The scope base for the Siaga has a side rail that gave me an idea...
Bought a 3-AA-cell Mini-Mag light that uses a 3 watt LED, and figured I'd put it in a couple 1/2" sections of rubber hose to make it fit into 1" scope rings, and mount it on the side of the gun.
It shines well enough that I could see our cat (not just the eyes) at about 70 yards, AND see the front sight (if I was using peeps it would do) or the red dot.
I think it was about $20, and maybe if I was a GI in Iraq, I'd want a "SureFire" but for the money, I can't think of a more practical light for a ranch-type varmint gun.
