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Railed guns and Surefire X300

14K views 27 replies 8 participants last post by  karlglen101  
#1 ·
Guys,

When I received my Enforcer Recon back in July, I also payed the extra money for a Surefire X300 to come with it. I haven't had it on the gun until now. It came with the universal rail adapter, so I switched it to the picatinny adapter. It does not seem to fit properly on my gun. The little tab that is supposed to pop into place on the frame doesn't quite get there. It almost seems as if the light is stopping due to the trigger guard, or that the indent on the frame is set too far to the rear for the light to catch. Has anyone else experienced this with their NHC recon gun and a surefire?
 
#2 ·
That's odd... I run a Surefire X300 on my Enforcer Recon, and don't have any issues with fitment.

I had an X200 on a Sig 220 once that had the same situation you describe though. I disassembled the Surefire and had to do some filing and fitting on the bar that slots up in the rail for it to catch.

Try messing around with all the different combinations of parts that come with the X300 and if it doesn't work, you may need to remove some material on it.
 
#3 ·
I have a GRP but without the rail. There is a video in YouTube where a guy called EN2HAMMSTER under Surefire X300 was having problems with his Sig pistol. He explained that there are spacers w/ pins that you can remove to fit the SF onto your gun without ruining your weapons light. I unless you know already, anyways, I hope this helps.
 
#4 ·
Thanks for the responses guys. I will watch the video. I don't think removing material from the light would be the right step, as the contact problem area happens to be where the rocker switch is. I'm more concerned that my frame may not have been made in proper tolerances. Afterall, NHC markets the sale of their recon framed guns with the additional sale of one of these lights. I'd assume that they're supposed to fit like a glove. I also have a streamlight TLR-2, and will put it on to see how IT fits. I'm awaiting streamlight to send me the proper picatinny rail key.
I'd really like the SF on the Enforcer. Right now, my Glock 19 stays in the nightstand with the streamlight attached. That's more for the purposes that if my wife needs to use it and I'm not home, it's easy operation. However, I'd like to put my Enforcer in there when I'm home.
 
#6 ·
Well, I had the chance to actually sit at the bench and tinker with the light and gun today. The rail key was sitting slightly forward of the notch. Diameters were the same, but the notch on the rail was set further rearward. I filed down the rail key about 1/16" or so and it fits like a charm. Now it actually "clicks" and locks into position. I still have to tighten and loosen the rail screws in order to get it into position and to take it off the gun. I'm hoping that it will break in a little better once I finally get to spend some range time with the light installed.

Thanks guys.
 
#9 ·
they slide on TIGHT at first. it can help to remove the insert/latch altogether and just slide the thing on and off until it gets manageable.

once a little bit of of that polymer on the rails of the light wears off it wont be a pain...
 
#11 ·
Karl, would you post a pic of this set-up if you ever get a chance? I'd like to see it. Though currently I've no pistols with rails, had a few p229's with the rail and they looked ok with them, as for the 1911, I'm really on the fence about that! I saw a Special Forces Carry with a rail and it didn't look too bad at all. With the light attached I'm not too sure yet!
 
#15 ·
You're right, this is my primary HD gun. The light weighs down the muzzle end just a bit, which helps a little with recoil, and I don't think it really affects the balance that much. It still feels very balanced, just heavier.

I have run this light with several different guns over the years (Sig 220R, Glock 21SF, Sig 229) and this is BY FAR my favorite setup.
 
#16 ·
Well gentlemen, my dilemma is far from over. I went to the range today to actually try firing the Enforcer with surefire attached. I had the screws clamped down, and could not forcibly remove the light myself as I could before. This lead me to believe I had it on there good. The damn light didn't even make it through 1 magazine before it flew about 15' off the front of the gun bouncing down the range. It was pretty awesome having to have the range officer, which they never even usually have, put a crunch on a full house to get my light back :biglaugh:
I didn't even try putting it back on at that point. I was there to shoot. I will have to look it over again, and will take it back within the next week to see if I can figure out what's up.
Will & Nolt, yes - I will post some pictures for you guys. It may take a day or two, but I'll get some up when I get the chance this weekend. In the meantime, here's a crappy cell pic of the family shooting today. The Smith was my friends, the rest are mine. I shot the NH best of anything. I was ripping shoot-n-see dots at 12 yards off handed, with patience. My buddy who shot it, loved it. Had 1 FTF (failed to go into battery/half feed - same thing?) with it, on his second round fired. I was watching him, he was limp wristing. He's only fired his revolver a few times, and no other hand guns. Once corrected, we burned through about 150 rounds on the NH. I love that gun, it's amazing. The grips on it are new to me. I picked them up off a member here on the site. They're the older style gunner grips. They're amazing in the hand. Best grips I've held. I thought they'd be sharp, but they were perfect. Enjoy your weekend boys.

left to right:
Sig trailside .22LR, Glock 19, Smith .357, Sig 229 .40S&W, NHC Enforcer

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#18 ·
Man it's great to see folks enjoying a fun day at the range! Having an assortment of firearms to shoot can really make it interesting also. I haven't had a rifle in quite some time but do have a Sig and a Python to comliament the 1911's so I do have a limited variety. Trying to get used to this platform is more time consuming for me most likely because of my limited amount of time actually used. I do plan on getting more frequent use from them in the future..I enjoy seeing pics of folks enjoying some range time. I've recently heard that at the range I've been going to now has a ban on taking pics. I can understand so I'm going to shoot a few before they open up for business!
 
#19 ·
Will, some pics as requested. I'm no where near the photographer that you are, but aspire to be someday. I have a Nikon D5000 - a modest slightly above entry DSLR. My outdoor photography is pretty good, but I need to build a light box.

Nolt, I couldn't really get a good shot through the rail of the Surefire (SF) while it was attached to show the alignment. Tonight, I was going to work on the insert piece for the Streamlight (SL) rail key for the 1913 adapter. It too, is slightly too large. On the SF, I don't recall now if the key was too large or just didn't align properly on the rail before I filed it down. I have a 1 yr. old and I work swing shifts, my brain is almost always mush. You'd think that being a few nights ago I'd remember :( I will have to sand/file down the 1913 rail key for the SL to make it fit. The SL works on the NH with the Glock key, but there's too much play for comfort. I will say however, that I'm much more confident in the SL's rail/locking system. I've fired plenty of rounds through my G19 with it attached to know that the clamp works. I'm going to give it a go on the Enforcer for fun in a few days. I keep the SL attached to the Glock at all times in case my wife ever needs something easy to use. The added laser is a nice touch. I'm tempted to sell the SF and buy another SL to keep on the Enforcer.

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I also like how the SL hangs a bit off the muzzle of the Glock. If you were ever needed to get up close and personal, the additional distance could allow you a press shot as you would not make contact with the barrel, thus taking it out of battery.

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#22 ·
Will, some pics as requested. I'm no where near the photographer that you are, but aspire to be someday. I have a Nikon D5000 - a modest slightly above entry DSLR. My outdoor photography is pretty good, but I need to build a light box.
Hi Karl and thanks for posting the great pics! I can hardly think I'm a good photographer Karl, I just get lucky now and again, though thanks for the compliament anyway. The more I read these days the more I realize how much I don't know. Additionally cameras really don't make great photographs, the people behind them do! Most any camera has the potential in it to take great photos. I'm finding that there's so much more to it than I've ever imagined, good gear notwithstanding! Your Nikon is a great camera, and capable of superb exposures. Trust me when I tell you that if a photo of mine looks good, it's because I got lucky. I've currently bought volumes of great digital photography books, dvd's, and internet forums to really get a grasp on how much more I need to go. As for your NH, I love it! Though I'm not the bigest fan of rails and lights, from the photos I've seen lately, they're growing on me, thats one of the reasons I'm asking for the pic's. I am however a beliver in NHC pistols, I think they make a fine 1911 and wouldn't hesitate in another purchase from them if warranted. I have great examples from the other manufacturers also, and they all make some fantastic firearms. Btw, I was looking over this thread and didn't see if you mentioned the barrel has been finished but it looks black, is that finished also? It looks good. I'm not sure if I like the dark finished bushing or a coated barrel more. Lately I've seen a few pic's of some GenIII finished bushings and they look excellent, I think I like this look more than just a steel barrel and bushing..Good luck with your new addition and thanks again for the pics!
 
#20 · (Edited)
Thanks much for taking the time to take the pics... they look good!
Its an awesome looking gun!

This is downright fascinating to me. I know very little about NHs specifically but I can't wrap my mind around where the 'extra space' is or the 'lack of space' for that matter.

Have you confirmed that the battery cap (with the switch on it) is pressed down ALL the way? I would assume that you have and I don't remember either of mine having a hang-up point there...
 
#21 ·
Nolt,

Thanks. It is a bad a$$ gun, I love it. I shot IDPA with it last summer when it was practically new and I've never had a malfunction. Nighthawks are some pretty sweet guns, and they do their job. If not, Nighthawk's customer service and warranty is top notch and they'll take care of you whether you're the 1st owner or the 17th.
Originally, before I sat down with the SF at the bench, I thought the tailcap was contacting the trigger guard area. It was not. The rail key (notch post) on the SF was slightly too large to fit into the slot on the rail. I'm going to give it another shot this next week when I have time to sit and fit it. If it works, great. If not, it works great on my Remington 1100 Tac4 under the bed. I've rapid fired 9 rounds of 00 buck as quick as I could pull the trigger and the SF has no problem. I'll try to take some detailed pics when I can get into the right light to try to show you the post & contact area.
 
#23 ·
You know Will, the barrel is a whole other story. I've posted about it before. I sent the gun back for refinishing when I first got it because of some bad finishing marks. The barrel was originally stainless. They refinished it in black without my wanting. I decided to hang onto it because I kinda liked it and wanted to see how it wore and how it would hold up. It's wearing quite quickly, and in the order of about 300-400 rounds is wearing quite badly. They told me it was black nitride, but I believe it to be permakote. They said they'd make it stainless for me again, so it's going back soon. I really like the GenIII barrels I've seen. I think my barrel/gun could look great with diamond black parts. I may send all the small parts to be finished in diamond black down the road.
 
#24 ·
Yea, ok Karl, now I'm kinda remembering that thread now that you mention it again. I seem to remember thinking that it was just a bit odd that they refinished the barrel without request. When you first received it did you know or just suspect that it was finished with permacote? I'm leaning towards being able to tell a difference by the color either looking opaque (permacote) or somewhat translucent (black nitride) enough to see barely thru it..Karl if you do send it in I'd go with a stainless barrel and a diamond black bushing, I like that look a lot. I had commented on a recent thread on the Brown subforum where I think two of the folks had their bushings done with GenIII and it looked great! Well anyway Karl, enjoy it! I find it to be a very tacticool looking 1911 with the light attached. Little by little my tastes may be swaying a little :cool: Please keep the thread up to speed now that you have my interests peaked...Additionally Karl, if you like to read, I've got several books that are very informative on Lighting, Better Exposure, Understanding Exposure, Light it, Shoot It, Retouch It, and 2 DVD's on Digital Photography Tips. Just say the word if your interested and I'll ship them out to you, no charge! You can just take your time with them. They're great books. There's really no experience like just shooting and comparing results and make necessary adjustments accordingly. It's really humbling to realize that you have a long way to go, more than I've ever imagined.. But, more importantly to me is reading about NH and how they will meet your needs. They're up there with Wilson with customer service and resolving issues for the customer...Good luck!
 
#26 ·
Karl I havent had any problems with picatinny style rails with thin gaps. In fact all my metal rails work well with the 'P' insert on the x300.

What sort of annoyed me, however, was the fact that I needed to put a 'U' insert in the x300 to get it to fit on my XDm or my Glocks... As you know, that 'U' insert slops around a little bit when mounted on a proper spec'd pic rail, so I found myself swapping inserts depending on the platform. It's not the end of the world but I got tired of it.

I just took a little file to the first gap of the rail on the plastic guns (not all of them, but the ones that I think I might ever use the light on) so that I can use the x300 with the same 'U' insert on everything.

It clicks into place perfectly on everything with that one insert. I guess what I'm rambling around towards is that if you think you might want to use that light on anything else I would give serious thought to having NH correct the rail. (If that is what you determine to be the problem.)
Otherwise you're going to have a light that's sloppy on everything else.

Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but the gaps on the rail should be 0.206".
 
#27 ·
Guys,

Found this post searching for pics of the Enforcer.

We've had an identical thread over in the Ed Brown section for guys with the Special Forces Rail model. I have one, with an x300.

Same deal with the Ed Brown. Some guys modified the cap on the x300. I'm running an x300 with pressure switch on my SF Rail as a nightstand gun.

Put the light on the unloaded weapon. Press HARD on the front of the light. As hard as you possibly can. It will click into place. Do it a few times, and it'll get much easier.

FWIW, I can't recall the rail adaptor I'm running, whatever came on the x300 right out of the box. I pulled it of my Glock 21SF (standard Glock rail, the CA-approved model) and put it on my Ed Brown. It fits perfectly with that adapter.

You don't need to start hacking up your expensive x300. If you can't get it on the gun, find a big guy with big gorilla arms to do it. I'm a weightlifter, 260 pounds, and it took everything I had to get it on the first time. You won't damage the light or the gun.

Hope that helps you railed NHC owners!
 
#28 ·
Ok, I have to resurrect this thread. I have fit the Surefire adapter piece to my gun by filing it down as stated earlier on. However, I am making a switch to the TLR-1 because I like the rocker better. I now have a TLR-1 and TLR-2. I plan on using the -1 on my Nighthawk. I'd never really tried to fit the -2 on my Enforcer before even though I've had it for well over a year (almost 2). I find that the rail grabber (technical term, clearly) for the Streamlights don't seem to want to really reach up over the bottom lip of the rail to clamp on. They fit all my other guns and rifle just fine, but not my Enforcer. I also had the same problem with the Streamlight's rail key as I did with the Surefire. So, I'm going to have to call NHC on Monday and ship it back. Something(s) are out of whack with my rail. It was an early 2011 build, so I'm pretty sure it's a Caspian frame build. Has anyone else experienced this with their recon frames? I've got a Raven Holster on the way that I ordered to use with the -1, so this has to work!