I have always been an advocate of lights on any firearms being used as self defense weapons. You really want to see what you’re aiming at when things go bump in the middle of the night. And while I’m not a noob, imagine my surprise when I noticed that the instructions packaged with the Streamlight TLR-1 HPL includes a blurb stating that the light can be mounted on a GLOCK or other pistol’s “universal rail” (via changing rail keys of course). While that may be technically possible, I’m not sure I’d recommend it . . .

Just to see, I mounted the TLR-1 HPL on my Springfield XD Tactical, the largest handgun I own. While the light maintained its integrity while mounted on the XD, it definitely made the pistol a tad front-heavy. I didn’t fire the XD while the light was mounted because, as you can see this is definitely a long gun light.

The TLR-1 mounted easily on my AR. I had to switch out the rail keys to mount to my Picatinny rail, rather than the standard rail key labeled “GL”.  This was also a simple process and the step-by-step instructions are easy to follow, just in case. The only tool needed was the included hex wrench. Streamlight packages four different rail keys, so the TLR-1 will mount on virtually any rail.

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(Featured image courtesy of thetruthaboutguns.com)