The Classic SAS MP5 + Maglite

This episode was brought to you by Slate Black Industries. For M-LOK grips and accessories visit slateblackindustries.com Now the sheer silhouette of a D cell light mounted on top of an MP5 invokes that image of the SAS troopers that were storming the Iranian embassy and as it very well should since this was a major shift in weapon mounted lights playing a huge role in our CQB doctrine. Now from all accounts these black clad troopers had stormed the embassy that day with very improvised lights on their submachine guns, duct tape, jubilee clips aka hose clamps. These were the gen 1 proof of concept for the weapon mounted lights as we know it nowadays. The biggest question that's always posed seems to be was it an actual mag light? As far as a torch or the light we're certain that either kel lights or stream lights were used on that day as seen in this photo when troopers posed with Prime Minister Maggie Thatcher right after the operation. The exact model whether stream light or mag light matters less but rather the function of the D cell lights being able to focus enough of the beam to the target is the key to this loadout. Now consider this image from the BBC documentary where they had the actual SAS troopers advise and partake in to ensure the accuracy in equipment and tactics. Closer image of the actual operation does not exist since the press were caught on off. Look closely the length of the light goes from right behind the rear sight to rear of the front handguard. Pop this off almost like this. The body is a D cell body and you could see knurling on the light bezel in the rear cap. The light bezel up here and the rear cap back here you see this knurling and it almost almost looks like that signature white lettering around the bezel that mag light puts on there. These point to a two D cell mag light which is what we're using to get our SP5 out. Now when we look at the development of weapon mounted lights there are two major restricting technologies. One would be the power source and two would be the illumination technology. Now the development of the D cell battery may seem trivial for us today absolutely was an advancement from where they were. Now the other part of this comes down to the illuminating technology. While the mag light itself it doesn't necessarily have a bulb that is much stronger than the US military L-shaped light that uses the same type of D cell battery technology the incandescent bulb's beam can be focused with a bezel to where it is incredibly tight. By being able to focus that beam into a concentrated light you get a hot spot. Basically an operator now can use the light to both illuminate in a low light and smoky condition but he can also use the light as an aiming device. In fact you can see in this movie rendition of the Six Day Siege now all the lights have been concentrated into beams during the assault. Now once a light has been added to the MP5 especially if you put into account you're using a dual magazine setup the system becomes incredibly heavy. However this also drastically lowers recoil and when you couple this with a three-point sling system and push out using the sling tension method even with a respirator and the stock collapse the system becomes a very lethal tool in a CQB environment. You basically don't have to aim by using the sights and you could aim slightly lower. Now with the sling and the mag light up top while illumination is clearly inferior to current technology the system was still easily maneuvered without requiring the use of iron sights to gather hits on a 15 meter target in quick succession. If you actually slow down the footage here and look you can see that my first shot was too low due to the height overboard so I corrected and landed multiple successive shots on target in the lethal zones. So while this is a short discussion on a key development in weapon mounted light technology we can see how by coupling a very efficient firearm with a creative employment of field solutions yielded an incredibly lethal solution for operators in the field. Now later on troopers operators would start shifting the over the top mounted mag light to an under-barreled position and you could see evidence of the under-barrel mounted flashlight but later on as technology started developing itself more in the realm of weapon mounted lights a different type of device would further push along the development of CQB tactics and the MP5 but that conversation we shall allow Josh to further talk about in his upcoming comprehensive weapon mounted light video. We shall continue to revel with the cool classic SAS solutions that they came out with in the field and the derivations of it to solve a problem that ultimately saved lives. Thank you for watching and we'll see you on the range.