Broken Surefire C2

novatac

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Nov 12, 2023
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Hello,

i only registered to tell that my bored Surefire C2 broke in half. Any suggestions what to do now? My Oveready dropin needs a home.


greetings from germany
 

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Alaskantinbender

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Sad to see but not totally unexpected. Boring them out leaves the tube pretty thin in spots. What caused the failure? On the bright side you still have some great parts left over. You could use an Ali express tube temporarily while looking for a replacement C2 or even C3 (un-bored). I use primaries or rechargeable 16650s in my C2s
 

F89

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I always thought the C2 was a risk once bored.
I've got a few bored 6P and I'm confident in them being pretty tough.

Recently I made a couple of Malkoff hosts work with Oveready triple drop ins. There's a bit of work to do to make them a good match but the result is solid.
Might be worth considering?

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Monocrom

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Yeah.... I'd bore out a 6P with no hesitation before I'd even think about boring out a C2. And, I own both. When you're boring out a flashlight body, a cylinder shape is a HUGE benefit. Something that the C2 clearly lacks.

I'll echo the same suggestion as F89. Check out Gene Malkoff's official website for a new 18650 body.
 

novatac

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I'll echo the same suggestion as F89. Check out Gene Malkoff's official website for a new 18650 body.

Thanks for the idea

Could you please link such a Body? I didnt find One, or my english is too Bad and i dont understand. Sorry.
 

vicv

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Also you
Can check out our own five mega


This is his whole sale page
 

IMA SOL MAN

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Hello,

i only registered to tell that my bored Surefire C2 broke in half. Any suggestions what to do now? My Oveready dropin needs a home.


greetings from germany
Owie! I don't think Surefire is going to warranty that. :crackup:My apologies for laughing, I know you are probably heartsick over breaking your flashlight--I know the experience! Of course, mine was a Chinese POS that was gifted to me, not a nice Surefire that I invested money in. Well, whatever you do about it, good luck, and ask the folks on here about any planned modifications before you do them, it will save you time, money and heartache.
 

sween1911

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Whoa! Sorry for your loss!

Yeah I recommend getting another Surefire body and keep on keepin' on. Wow, I would have never suspected the combat-ring groove in the C2 to be the weak link. Live and learn.
 

DE73

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WarriorOfLight

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i only registered to tell that my bored Surefire C2 broke in half. Any suggestions what to do now? My Oveready dropin needs a home.
Seems the C2 was bored a little bit too much and not enough aluminiom left. Who was boring this C2? normally a C2 body does not break into two pieces!

You can try to find an unbored C2, maybe at ebay you will find one, or you start here a WTB for a bored one.

Unfortunately I do not have any new C2 in my very private stock. I have if I remember correctly some 9P, G2 in yellow, G2Z in tan MIB, but no C2....
 

DE73

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I just measured my C2 and the outer diameter is 19,6 mm where your broke. 18650 batteries are around 18,6 mm so you need to machine inside diameter to 18,7mm. So material thickness can max be 0,45mm. It's not a good idea to machine C2 for 18650 batteries. The original inside diameter is 17,5 mm which means material thickness 1,05mm.
 

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badtziscool

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It's surprising that just the pressure of being in your pant pocket and sitting down could break it, but that spot is indeed the thinnest part of the light. I'm curious if whether the break was because the bore was off center and left one side of the wall extra thin or if the bore was just too large.

Back in the day, the only way to get high capacity cells was to bore for 18mm cells. These days, we have access to 16650 cells with relatively good capacity and that really negated the need to bore classic SF C/P lights.
 

F89

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Better still, get a two cell body.
You can use 2x18350 but the runtime is pretty short.
I use a single 18650 on the Nichia version because I don't notice a huge difference going two cells with it and I'd rather have longer runtime. With the XPG2 version I do notice quite a bit more power with two cells so I've got it running on 2x18650 and get the best performance and good runtime.
The Oveready drop ins perform at their best on the higher voltage.
Regarding running them on 16650, from memory they will step down at a higher (resting) voltage than on an 18650. This is likely due to voltage sag under load of the less beefy battery. It's still a reasonable option though.
 

DE73

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It's surprising that just the pressure of being in your pant pocket and sitting down could break it, but that spot is indeed the thinnest part of the light. I'm curious if whether the break was because the bore was off center and left one side of the wall extra thin or if the bore was just too large.

Back in the day, the only way to get high capacity cells was to bore for 18mm cells. These days, we have access to 16650 cells with relatively good capacity and that really negated the need to bore classic SF C/P lights.
Material thickness is max 0,45mm (se post 16) 0,45mm is not much for aluminium. So I think it can break even if the machining is perfectly centered. I just measured a beer can for comparison and it was 0,2mm (including paint/label)
 
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