Best throwing single 18650 budget light (sub £50/$70) at present please.
Not a zoomie, single mode a plus but no mode memory, start on high ok.
Only upto .243 so no need to be super robust.
Stock light, max mod would be Spring bypass, this light is for a non flashaholic friend.
Really close to your price range is the Maxtoch M24 Sniper. Probably my favorite for rifle applications. Fits most all gun light mounts, you can get a remote switch for it, and it starts in high. Perfect to mount on a rifle.
Edit: Oops, didn’t see the single 18650 requirement. Maybe the BLF/Astrolux X6 with the xp-l Hi?
For under 70$ M2X( but its head is 64mm), or a modded C8( the best buy for the 0.243 caliber if you ask me)
Whats that guy usual top shooting distance m8 ?
Haha, if you ask him he will say about 400m, but you can assume that means 200m at an absolute push 
It may well be used for hand held spotting (the truck has a roof lamp) so he does want it as bright as possible. 90% of the work is fox control but he does have his deer licence also.
I got him a Zoomie a year or so ago as he wanted a pencil beam but I took my Olight out last time I went and now he wants to try a reflector light.
I will see if he will stretch to a 2 cell, I guess he will get significant lux increase so maybe worth it…
Shoorting foxes at 400m nighttime? Thats what i call an optimist! 
Anyway, i would contact that UK based flashlight modder if i were you, he will mod a C8 for you, i dont think it would be that spendy even a top XPG2 one( prolly under 50USD if only 1 mode)
The other option is M2x but its head is 64mm as i already mentioned, plus its like 80 grams heavier
The Brinyte B158 900Lm Cree XM L2 U4 Zooming LED Flashlight is the one I most often see recommended for predator hunting. You can get interchangeable pills for red/blue/white light.
I hunt but I don’t preadator hunt so my lights are picked for getting to and from my stand and for recovering game in the dark.
Bob
When I have accompanied it’s always, ‘let’s drive a little closer’ …… ‘Maybe a little closer’……. ‘Bit more’…… ‘Oh balls, where’d he go’ :person_facepalming:
Thanks for the suggestions guys.
I use the BLF D80 side rail mounted on my favorite AK for “checking things out at night” on the farm. Light, compact, starts on high, single 18650 - a solid all around light for that use.
My current favourite is the Olight M2X-UT Nice and light with good throw and fixed user selectable modes.
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Bribo, how did you mount that picatinny rail on there to hold that light? Was thinking a barrel mount, but that looks more practical.
I just took the barrel off the stock and used some SS machine screws to bolt the rail to the stock. I used thin SS washers as shims between the rail and the stock until the centre of the beam was in the centre of my scope then countersunk the nut a bit and cut everything off flush so it would not touch after the barrel was reinstalled. Its pretty sweet and the light has a quick release so i can take it off easy if I dont need it and use it as my backup light or change firearms.
Thanks, going to give that a go. Yeah, it was either barrel mount, or scope mount. Didn’t like the idea of either of those.
“lamping” for animals after dark, here in america isnt the most popular thing done. pockets of coyote/raccoon hunters, and property owners aside.
as such, “best practice” here, and the quality and retail costs of light setups for rifles? vary widely and tend to run to “very expensive” for a “kit”… and a lot of them look to be…
1) over priced chinese lights with a cheap windage elevation mount for the light
2) fair or even really good quality lights? but, they REALLY know how to CHARGE for it. Retail syndrome.
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my night vision site put me with a LOT of england hunters and european hunters, where “lamping” for animalsd and hunting at night it much more common… they have been at it a long time, and, they know what they want and where to buy it.
1) aspherics have about squeezed out reflectors for almost all of them. you can talk about candelas and lux and meters, and how reflectors are “better” at flood and throw? but… aspherics dominate with scopes.
2) a simple ebay search? will show a windage/elevation “torch mount” that is fairly standard. Even the expensive “retail kits” seem to be mostly using it. By itself its under 20 american dollars, and it the fairly standard thing to buy. No need to buy a 100 to 200 dollar retail kit, when THATS the main item you want. You’re left with simply “what light to buy”.
3) light that doesnt go into the scope view? is wasted.
4) everyone knows which aspherics are best at this, and aside from a few expensive aspherics that are famous? the “budget lights” that do almost everythinig for a LOT less money? are well known too.
once you have your 20 dollar windage and elevation mount? youre basically choosing a “zoomy”… its a 6 of one, half a dozen of the other thing…
1) bigger wider lens, longer focal length, smaller more powerful emitter, driven harder.
2) bigger wider lens? comes at the expense of weight and size and maneuverability and carrying/driving/storing the rifle/light.
3) powerfully driven emitter? less battery life. Bigger battery? more weight and size.
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a FEW people get the Deerelights and a small handful of the others; this is the ULTRA PREMIUM option, and honestly its a bit much…
a LOT of people, if they want distance? use the 1504… if thats a little “too big” for them and they dont need that much range? they get the other versions with smaller lens. (t20, etc etc)
to be honest? i myself own three 1504s… a little big and heavier, but, i want max distance in an illuminator.
i have been “impressed” reading and looking at pictures of the brinyte, overall build quality, etc.
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i didnt forget the original request, a reflector light?
honestly, i have been impressed with the tight beam and throw of this little light i have “rediscovered” i own… people have said its basically a “802” light… i looked, they are STILL selling the 802 lights, and in different color emitters too.
to me, its a very straightforward “mod” to swap out the emitter and driver in about any light i get… i value the host more than what it comes with.
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i use INFRARED in my gun illuminators… if i was going white light? and i wanted big ranges? i would most likely go with a “xpg2” or the new nichia thats maybe going to replace its usefulness here on the forum as the goto thrower… in a 1504.
i would probably select a well driven driver, with “sane” high mode, and reasonable modes… no blinkies… i would EPOXY POT the driver pill to make it more recoil proof.
if i thought the 1504 was a little big or heavy or unwieldy? and i didnt need the range? i would prolly think along the lines of a T20… although, i have been liking the reports of how well made the Brinyte is…
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at any range over 100 yards/meters? i dont know about you or your hunting buddy… i want to use higher magnification on my scope… for visible? i would be thinking xpg2, and a wide lens with long focal length… which is the 1504’s game plan…
reflector lights are being squeezed out by decent qualilty zoomies for a reason… in my honest opinion.
Thanks for the comprehensive reply, I did give him a T20 (think that’s the model I got) but he wants a reflector based light now. This is after I took my M3XS-UT out last time I was over. He was happy until he used that, it’s just a bit big although he will put up with it if a single cell can’t match performance.
We previously used a fatmaxVN from Vinh for handheld spotting but it got ran over when it was lent to him :person_facepalming: That was superb but obviously couldn’t be mounted.
I do have an old 802 somewhere I think with a terrible red LED, maybe I should dig it out and send it to 3T as mentioned above. I also have a Jacob that might be worth modding. Maybe see what these xpg3’s can do and go that route.
Aspherics are real hunting lights and they dominate in every type of hunting not just scope hunting. Factory aspheric light sucks so if one does not have will or knowledge to properly modd them they will not be impressed with stock factory performance at all even if you have Dereelight… It simply sucks in factory edition
Ideal aspherical lights performance/size vise are 50 mm aspherics with 300kcd(clear 400 meter target and 1km of throw) and very wide flood and they can cover any kind of hunting. Even night duck hunting with shotgun for example.
Reflector for hunting? Modded reflectors does not have brighter hotspot than modded aspheric neither they have wider flood + it is not suitable for IR illuminator configuration.
They only have “usefull” spill that is reflecting from grass, ground trees etc. So you really guys can think opposite but imo spill is totally unnecessary for hunting.
- It kills your night vision (Spill messes with your night vision. Your pupil of the eye narrows and you see less.)
- If you use rifle moderators or guns with bigger barrel spill usually reflects from that moderator and barrel creating foggy vision in your scope.
- You are spooking and give away your position to anyone around such light(yourself, other people, animals)
- In summer days you are attracting more bugs to your position
If you still insist to use or you are in search for commercial available reflector than choose appropriate reflector from Olight which in my book has less “under recoil” failure rate than other factory lights.