Light options for mossberg 590 - streamlight TL Racker or Surefire DSF 500/590?

[Zoomutail]

I’m looking for an integrated forend for my mossberg 590. There are currently two that I’m looking at - the streamlight and surefire.

Based on durability and usability, is the streamlight a good buy at less than half the price of what the surefire is going for on Amazon? I’m mainly looking for something that will hold up to hard use and won’t go down in classes.

 

[shoobe01]

Not voting as I have not used both (well, haven't used the sf in so long not sure if their forearm is the same, and my memory is hazy).

As for the Streamlight, seems very solid, no worries about reliability. Light throw seems fine, but I am not as much of a psycho for lights as many. Good shape, makes it easier to rack than default, comfortable to shoot, very very rigid so high confidence. You will need to assemble it yourself; comes with just the light/handle bit, you need to disassemble the existing handguard and use the steel sleeve and action rods. I hear tell some new Mossbergs have no liner and am sure a few have shorter pump handles so that won't fit also. Check requirements.

Only real downside for the Streamlight is the switches are VERY easy to click. I'd say, too easy. Light ND easy. Lockout is only some tedious unscrewing of the battery cap, etc. Wish they offered little grooves on the switches and clip on covers to reduce the area and give a guarded opening if that is a worry.

 

[ARay]

The Streamlight is reasonably durable and will likely hold up for your use. If you are a conventional SG shooter, the profile of the Streamlight is fine. If you are a push/pull shooter, I find the profile to be suboptimal and prefer the Surefire offerings.

 

[therealthedanimal]

I threw the Streamlight on my old Maverick 88 a few years ago. It's seen a lot of range time with me, and made it to a class with Bolke. Overall I'm not a huge fan. Battery cap is a pain, the texturing is fairly slick, and it's not great for push/pull as mentioned above. My switches are also a little inconsistent between the two sides and up/down the individual switches, fairly easy to ND the light if you're concerned about that.

That said, it's significantly less expensive and lighter weight than the Surefire offerings. It was certainly an upgrade of a magtube clamp, but it's not perfect. My experience with Surefire forends is pretty limited. They seem better, but not enough for me to drop the money on them up to now. You'll probably be just fine with the Streamlight.
Justin over at Swift Silent Deadly did a piece on some modifications he did to his to make it more user friendly. I'd link it, but his site is blocked at my office.

 

[shoobe01]

Here is the link:

Improving the TL-Racker Shotgun Light - Swift | Silent | Deadly

The Streamlight TL-Racker shotgun light is an outstanding light, but it's not so great as a forend. Here is how to improve its handling.

swiftsilentdeadly.com

It is mostly reshaping. Apparently, it is solid plastic so a lot of material can be removed with no negative impacts. Sanded flat:

Stippled:

Hmm....

 

[Smith&Steward]

I don't have any experience with the Surefire, I didn't even know they made one for the 500/590. I have the Stream light TL Racker. First off it ND's very easily for me when slung or admin handling, as others here have stated. Also it's not helping you any with the push/pull technique, also stated by others, but that may be able to be fixed by taking it to a Haught class.
After briefly trying it out after the purchase I replaced it with the stock forend and barrel clamped light. I originally wanted to switch from that because my thumb gets jammed when operating the light and firing. Which doesn't do permanent damage but it does suck. So I eventually did switch back to the Stream light and that's what's on my 500 now. I'll have to check out the article from swift silent deadly