My 2002 SAR-1 has been slowly evolving away from the traditional AKM look. I added a Kobra optic a few years back, and a year or so ago became interested in upgrading to more modern furniture so I could mount a light.

I took my time picking out the light as I wanted something very bright, but with good battery life. And although the little 7.62x39mm isn't a hard recoiling caliber at all, I still felt it needed to be something designed for the g-loads it would experience as a firearm mounted light.

I eventually settled on a Surefire G3 LED, which is very lightweight, remarkably bright for an LED (80 lumens, brighter than the original 6P incandescent) and offers >60 lumens for 6 hours and fainter light for another 3. The tailcap switch allows both momentary-on and twist-on, like most Surefires.

I installed a Tapco Galil style forestock with a single Picatinny rail on the left side. A little fitting of the stock to the action was required, as they make it a little oversize to ensure it's not loose. The light is mounted to the rail with a quick-detach ring from GG&G. I also installed a vintage Romanian sidefolding stock that I had lying around, to make it a little easier to carry slung without banging the stock into things; it also simplifies storage somewhat, and it matches the new forend.

The new stock and forend did require re-zeroing the optic---the different recoil dynamic seems to have pulled the POI a little to the left---but it shoots well. I've shot one IPSC style match with the new stock and it worked well. I wouldn't want to use it with a gun that recoils much, though, as the butt is narrow and would put a hurting on one's shoulder.

Here's the end result:




Closeup of the light and mount on the left side; note that the lens of the light is positioned forward of the gas vents to avoid excessive carbon fouling of the lens.




With the stock folded for storage:




And the old stock, for comparison:




I do sometimes miss the 1950's wood aesthetic (I don't generally like wooden stocked rifles, but I thought the wood did look good on this carbine), but I wanted to be able to use a light, and I did NOT want to mess up the nice wood by drilling holes in it for a Picatinny rail. The polymer is a lot less slippery on humid summer days at the range, too.