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Old 04-12-2021, 08:14 PM   #1
CuzzA
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Picatinny Rail Flash Light Quick Disconnect for Speargun

Anyone ever add a picatinny rail to their speargun? With Magpul's MLOK rail creation we now see glass reinforced polymer adapters in various lengths that scream to me that they should be mounted to a speargun.

So my current flash light setup is just a block of PVC with 3 holes. One for the kill spike to mount it and two for zip ties to hold the light. This is not a great system because zip ties eventually fail and after repeated use the spike hole wallows out, becomes loose and eventually you're going to look down one dive and your light is gone. Also no good if your gun doesn't have a kill spike to begin with. Also I don't like my light to be permanently mounted so having the ability to quickly and easily remove it a must for me.

So here's what I did. A $5 Magpul picatinny rail adapter screwed into the 6 o'clock of the muzzle. And a few companies make a quick detach polymer flash light mount. Mission First Tactical being one and I like the design for this application.

The benefit here is you don't have to permanently mount the light and it provides a solid connection point and easy install by sliding on to the rail and easy removal with a press of a button, and slide off.

The spring and a screw and nut will need to be replaced with 316 stainless, but everything else is polymer.

The only issue is the fit is too perfect. I will polish down the mount a hair to make sliding on and off easier. To be expected for a weapon system where swapping out a light wouldn't happen all that often and you want a solid tight fit to handle recoil from a rifle.

You can see in the photo where I put the rail adapters on my two Rhino muzzles I have on my RX5 and FrankenBillerRhinoStein gun. I put the muzzles on a bench sander and screwed down the adapters with some 316 screws. I also cut the 5 rail adapter down to 4 to fit that area. I might sell that RX5 here soon and if so you'll already be set.

If you do this on a Rhino muzzle be sure to buy the Magpul MOE adapter, not the MLOK. The MOE adapter has one screw off set allowing you to cut the 5th rail off. Otherwise use a 3 rail adapter so it doesn't overhang.







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Old 04-13-2021, 11:18 AM   #2
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Re: Picatinny Rail Flash Light Quick Disconnect for Speargun

Looks pretty clean. Does the mount stay around the light when it is off the gun?
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Old 04-13-2021, 12:08 PM   #3
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Re: Picatinny Rail Flash Light Quick Disconnect for Speargun

Looks great, I love it!
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Old 04-13-2021, 12:55 PM   #4
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Re: Picatinny Rail Flash Light Quick Disconnect for Speargun

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Looks pretty clean. Does the mount stay around the light when it is off the gun?
Yes. There's two plastic polymer clamps inside with a screw and nut that tightens them down to the flashlight tube. It's solid as a rock when screwed down.
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Old 04-13-2021, 12:57 PM   #5
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Re: Picatinny Rail Flash Light Quick Disconnect for Speargun

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Looks great, I love it!
Thanks. For $30, not a bad setup. Only took me six years to figure out a solution I liked.
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Old 04-13-2021, 01:28 PM   #6
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Re: Picatinny Rail Flash Light Quick Disconnect for Speargun

Hey Kevin, how about a Pic rail built into the muzzle? Wouldn't that be cool....
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Old 04-13-2021, 03:21 PM   #7
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Re: Picatinny Rail Flash Light Quick Disconnect for Speargun

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Hey Kevin, how about a Pic rail built into the muzzle? Wouldn't that be cool....
Cuzza’s light install will work. However, the downside of it is the light is hanging below the muzzle and if you are lineshafting the line can snag on the light. If you are only freeshafting then Cuzza’s solution is great. However, the vast majority of our customers prefer to have the lineshaft/Freeshaft option and therefore Cuzza’s solution would become problematic. The line may not snag on the light on every shot, but it only takes one snag to cause problems.
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Old 04-13-2021, 04:09 PM   #8
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Re: Picatinny Rail Flash Light Quick Disconnect for Speargun

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Cuzza’s light install will work. However, the downside of it is the light is hanging below the muzzle and if you are lineshafting the line will snag on the light. If you are only freeshafting then Cuzza’s solution is great. However, the vast majority of our customers prefer to have the lineshaft/Freeshaft option and therefore Cuzza’s solution would become problematic.
Kevin, I rarely lineshaft. In fact I don't think I've used a line in a few years, but the uniqueness of this mount is with a push of a button the whole deal slides off. I never keep a light permanently mounted on the muzzle of the gun because it's too heavy and bulky. I keep my light clipped off to my right shoulder d ring and put it on the gun when necessary. Maybe one of these days I'll come across a cobia where I'd switch over to lineshafting, but to be honest, with three shafts on my gun I think I'd just unload all three freeshafts into it and hope for the best.
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Old 04-13-2021, 04:56 PM   #9
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Re: Picatinny Rail Flash Light Quick Disconnect for Speargun

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Cuzza’s light install will work. However, the downside of it is the light is hanging below the muzzle and if you are lineshafting the line can snag on the light. If you are only freeshafting then Cuzza’s solution is great. However, the vast majority of our customers prefer to have the lineshaft/Freeshaft option and therefore Cuzza’s solution would become problematic. The line may not snag on the light on every shot, but it only takes one snag to cause problems.
Fair point. I have the desire to at some point upgrade to a setup where I have the option of a quick attach line ring, but I've freeshafted for most of my spearing career so I wasn't thinking about that.

Well, then what we need is an underwater drone with AI and LIDAR sensors to measure and ID legal fish, and point at them with some sort of laser target indicating system, and then the drone would have a pic rail and we could mount one of those cheap eBay lights to the pic rail on the drone.

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Old 04-14-2021, 07:06 AM   #10
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Re: Picatinny Rail Flash Light Quick Disconnect for Speargun

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Kevin, I rarely lineshaft. In fact I don't think I've used a line in a few years, but the uniqueness of this mount is with a push of a button the whole deal slides off. I never keep a light permanently mounted on the muzzle of the gun because it's too heavy and bulky. I keep my light clipped off to my right shoulder d ring and put it on the gun when necessary. Maybe one of these days I'll come across a cobia where I'd switch over to lineshafting, but to be honest, with three shafts on my gun I think I'd just unload all three freeshafts into it and hope for the best.
If you are installing the light on the bracket only when needed then that certainly minimizes the snag issue but will not eliminate the problem. Up close under the ledge/wreck don’t usually require full line deployment and therefore helps reduce line snags. However, a longer shot which requires nearly full line deployment will increase the chances of line snagging on the light. Our current light installs in the muzzle and therefore eliminates the potential snag issue. However, the light only has about 500 lumens. I would love to have a 1200 to 1500 lumen option that will insert into the muzzle port but bulb technology in a small body light has not progressed that far yet.
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Last edited by Spear One; 04-14-2021 at 07:56 AM.
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Old 04-15-2021, 08:06 PM   #11
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Re: Picatinny Rail Flash Light Quick Disconnect for Speargun

What is this "lineshafting" you are speaking of? LOL - seriously, great idea.
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Old 04-16-2021, 06:14 AM   #12
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Re: Picatinny Rail Flash Light Quick Disconnect for Speargun

For me I prefer using an attached interface that slides on the kill spike. Increasing the mass on a freeshaft gun muzzle will negatively impact the ability to swing the gun thru the water. It will also slow tracking when pursuing fish like mangos an muttons that change directions abruptly.

Most all of us here are very attuned to how our gun "feels" in the water. So much so that the difference can be felt just by having the one extra shaft off the gun. Many times when I'm chasing down mangos or flighty gags I will carry my shafts in my left hand just to increase tracking speed. Of course every person hunts differently and gun configurations can be adapted to. My point is just that adding mass of any kind to your gun almost always has negative effects and for me, a flashlight is an incidental tool that I prefer to keep off my gun unless a particular situation dictates.
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Old 04-16-2021, 05:31 PM   #13
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Re: Picatinny Rail Flash Light Quick Disconnect for Speargun

Have my light on a retractor hooked to a top D-ring on my BCD. Pull out, turn on, point light, shoot, let go of light and retracts back to D-ring. Turn off light after stringing up fish. Just another method. Do what works best for you.
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Old 04-18-2021, 10:02 PM   #14
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Re: Picatinny Rail Flash Light Quick Disconnect for Speargun

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What is this "lineshafting" you are speaking of? LOL - seriously, great idea.
Thanks, man.
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