I'm a bit overwhelmed with all the possible leds, drivers, reflectors etc. so I was hoping for a bit of help on this. I haven't modded any flashlights before, but I have access to a cnc mill so making a custom housing won't be a problem, it's just the insides that I'm unsure of.
I want to add a flashlight to this shotgun, but would like to have it fill the space between the end of the magazine tube and the end of the barrel. This will look good I hope, and keep the gun much slimmer than if I attached a normal flashlight to the side like you usually see. Here are a few pictures to illustrate what I mean, one as is and one with a flashlight tucked under to illustrate the idea.
The battery will be in the stock, or grip once I get a different stock, with a pressure switch on the grip, and possibly a second switch (ideally) to pre-select mode. So at the front it will only be the led, reflector and housing. Here are the dimensions I'm working with.
It would be nice if the beam pattern had some wide angle light for close in, and brighter towards the center for further out, similar to the p7 flashlight I have, with hopefully similar lumens, but I could live with less. I am designing this for hiking and camping with bear defense in mind, so I'm not too concerned about long run time or heat build up, because if it ends up on for more than a few minutes then I likely have bigger problems than a melted flashlight .
Also, I remember reading once that red light had less of an impact on your night vision than white, but I don't know if there are high output red leds that would work for this application.