Streamlight ProTac Rail 1 thoughts

**gatordev** · 30 September 2016, 15:59

This is by no means a review, but figured I'd start posting some thoughts as I continue to put this light through it's paces.

After a few drill sessions, it seemed like things were good. The pad was still the big question, since it hadn't been exercised much, but the light seemed to be holding up. Then I ran it through a local 2-gun competition. By the second stage, the light mount screws had started to loosen. Okay, no biggie, apparently the low, low price didn't include Loctite. I ran the rest of the competition without messing with the mount and it did fine and stood up to some decent barrier work.

Today I set up to do some surgery to get the mount in order and I discovered that the light attachment screws weren't at 100%. The aft screw was "okay," but the front screw (T-10 type) was pretty much stripped. Well, since the factory couldn't make it right, guess I'll switch mounts. I'm running this on a 12.5" gun with a KAC 10.75" rail, so there's not much room past the rail. I'm trying to keep the light out of the blast radius (for day time shooting), so the Haley/IWC Thorn Tail wasn't going to work (I tried). A buddy lent me a Larue mount to try out with this setup and behold! It actually works just about perfect for what I'm trying to do.

Position works just about perfect compared to the OEM mount, and with shouldering the rifle, so far the mount doesn't seem to interfere with my fingers when supporting the gun.

The next test phase will be a Pat Mac Day/Night Rifle/Pistol class, so we'll see how it goes. The backup plan is to bring along my MK18 with a SF Scout, so at the end of the day, I'm sure we'll get the class done.

**UWone77** · 30 September 2016, 16:21

Is that LaRue Mount the one for the scout lights?

**gatordev** · 30 September 2016, 18:13

It is. LT-752 (I think). Fits great and other than the lever, is about the same footprint as the OEM mount.

**Joelski** · 30 September 2016, 19:16

I want to try one of Slippers' in-line M-Lok scout mount. Hopefully he'll see this and let me know if it'll work with the SMR-Mk4 rail.

**Slippers** · 30 September 2016, 19:58

Originally Posted by Joelski

I want to try one of Slippers' in-line M-Lok scout mount. Hopefully he'll see this and let me know if it'll work with the SMR-Mk4 rail.

Yes, works fine. We should have the new 7075 M-Lok inline mounts ready in a couple more weeks. We also lengthened them by 0.1" so the 2 cell Protac Railmount will fit without requiring a ball head allen wrench.

**Stone** · 4 October 2016, 16:52

Don't mean to sidetrack but who makes the rail cover that's in front of the handstop? TIA

**UWone77** · 4 October 2016, 17:16

Looks like a KAC one from the rail cover pack.

**gatordev** · 4 October 2016, 17:25

Yup, it's a KAC 4 panel (?). Whatever the small one is. I found it gave me a little more traction with that rail. Generally I find the KAC covers make the rail too big, but it worked for this one.

**Joelski** · 4 October 2016, 17:38

Originally Posted by Slippers

Yes, works fine. We should have the new 7075 M-Lok inline mounts ready in a couple more weeks. We also lengthened them by 0.1" so the 2 cell Protac Railmount will fit without requiring a ball head allen wrench.

Coolio. I'll keep an eye peeled if you could maybe leave a notice before they drop, I'd appreciate it, Will.

**gatordev** · 24 October 2016, 12:26

I ran the Streamlight through a TMACs Day/Night 2-day course this weekend and figured I'd see how far it would take me. I ran the rifle unsuppressed during the day and suppressed at night. I don't have a total round count yet, but it's somewhere in the neighborhood of 300-400 of rifle for the course. I also have run the light through several competitions and training sessions. So here's what rifle looked like by the end of the second night:

So...didn't quite make it. I brought along a SF 600U (?...whatever the 500-ish lumen one is) in a Thorntail as a backup and sure enough, I needed it. From some testing today, it looks like it's not the pad or the wire, but the internals of the light. It's hard to recreate consistently, but under recoil (and when testing it by tapping it on the floor), the light will either blink or completely fail until something inside gets back to its happy place and it starts working again. Initially I wondered if it was the battery spring, but it does the same thing using the clicky cap.

A little disappointed, but not completely surprised. I was expecting the pad to go before the light, but either way the end result is the same. I really liked the configuration, though, so I'll probably pick up a 300 when they come out in FDE again and run it with a SF dual button pad.

**Joelski** · 27 October 2016, 11:50

Gator, can you post a measurement of the diameter of the SF head vs. the Streamlight? I'm after whatever extra clearance I can get my hands on to clear my KAC front sight. A Malkoff would be helpful too.

**gatordev** · 27 October 2016, 14:05

With my highly accurate 12" ruler:

SF 600: 30mm
Protac 1: 31mm (might be 31.5mm)

I don't own any Malkoff lights.

**Joelski** · 27 October 2016, 14:30

That might be enough. I'm actually not afraid to grind a little off the outside guard on the sight as it' pretty beat on, obviously seen some hard use somewhere. I kinda dig the mojo, and its not that flakey battle-worn stuff.

**JGifford** · 6 November 2016, 00:26

Well, let's be fair now. Sample of one, and I recall plenty of dead surefire Fury tactical 1 mode lights run in similar locations. I've continued to watch this product, and some very hard use ones exist out in the real world that are doing fine. I'd not call it junk based just on this incident.

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