Cold Steel Brute 7aa flashlight

[ABTOMAT]

That's a nice find. I remember when several CPF members had these things. Here's the small scan that I think the images in this thread were upscaled from. I thought somewhere there was a higher res version but I guess I never saved it.

I want to say the original Brutes were made circa 1990? I've had some mid-late '90s US Cav catalogs that didn't feature these. The story goes they were sold as "Enforcer" after they bough them.

 

[aznsx]

Yeah, @ABTOMAT. Thanks, and your contributions are always welcome! Of the several I bought, they were split between two orders - one from CS, and one from USC. The lights received were all identical, with the sole exception of a difference in the pitch / nature of the knurling. EDIT: They are both quite grippy, I would add. I sent a .jpg to @bykfixer depicting that difference, and perhaps he'll add that photo to this thread. I'm not adept at posting photos on this site (I always seem to struggle with it), but he's quite expert at it

 

[ABTOMAT]

Cool, I'd be interested to see the comparison. Which one did bykfixer end up with? Mine appears to have the same knurling his does and I don't have another to contrast.

I think the Brute is probably the last traditional 7-cell flashlight out there. All the others were more of the '70s thing that vanished by the end of the '80s. Next time I have some time to kill I might put together a 7-cell retrospective. But for now if anyone's looking for more visual aids, here's a Brute next to an older 6C Mag and a newer 5C. I don't have a 7C Mag yet. The Brute is quite a bit smaller in diameter but the wall thickness is obviously beefier.

 

[knucklegary]

I see what you mean, that's some deep knurling..
Oh boy, that can leave a mark!

 

[bykfixer]

Top one is the one aznsx has
Bottom one he sent to me
Top one reportedly was sold directly by Cold Steel. The bottom one from US Calvary. (May have been callled Enforcer by then)

Just look at how thick the barrel is
(Cropped your pic abtomat)

I read somewhere these were made from 90 to 92 but that was conjecture. I have reached out to Cold Steel for comment but have not heard back.

 

[jz6342]

If I recall correctly these were out just as the ASP expandable baton was gaining traction. I remember wanting one, but the price at the time was out of reach.

 

[bykfixer]

If I recall correctly these were out just as the ASP expandable baton was gaining traction. I remember wanting one, but the price at the time was out of reach.

Were they like $59.99 jz?

 

[knucklegary]

Sixty bucks in '90 was a big chunk of change

 

[ABTOMAT]

Comparison prices from a 1996 US Cavalry catalog:

$59.88 ASP baton 26"
$13.88 Mini Mag-Lite AA
$22.88 Mag-Lite 6C
$39.88 Streamlight Scorpion
$119.95 Streamlight PolyStinger kit
$7.95 military angle head flashlight
$9.88 East German Border Guard women's skirt

 

[jz6342]

Were they like $59.99 jz?

For the money I was making at the time with five kids? 60 bucks might as well have been a thousand

 

[knucklegary]

Fraulein Border Guard Skirt!

Heck, I thought they wear lederhosen..

@ABTOMAT added this to see if we're paying attention

 

[sween1911]

Sixty bucks in '90 was a big chunk of change

Dude. When I bought my first Surefire around 2001 it was a G2 for around $60 and that blew people's minds.
And oh yeah CR123's were around 7 bucks a pop then too.

 

[knucklegary]

Dude. When I bought my first Surefire around 2001 it was a G2 for around $60 and that blew people's minds.
And oh yeah CR123's were around 7 bucks a pop then too.

I remember SF was always high priced, very few customers bought them. I'd wait til end of year clearance sales, usually at local gun shops.
G2's would sell for half MSRP

 

[aznsx]

View attachment 39501
Top one is the one aznsx has
Bottom one he sent to me
Top one reportedly was sold directly by Cold Steel. The bottom one from US Calvary. (May have been callled Enforcer by then)

View attachment 39519
Just look at how thick the barrel is
(Cropped your pic abtomat)

I read somewhere these were made from 90 to 92 but that was conjecture. I have reached out to Cold Steel for comment but have not heard back.

Thanx for posting that photo, Byk! Yes my light (top) was purchased very early in its availability from CS, and Byk's light (bottom) was purchased some time after that from USC after they began selling them (to everyone except CA customers:-(. Note that change / difference in production runs or lots may have occurred at any point in the production history, either before or after it transitioned from CS to USC, and thus is not necessarily a positive indicator of who a given light was purchased from, and they are otherwise identical AFAIK. Although both are quite grippy and acceptable, if I had to choose, I'd probably pick the lower light with its more course pitch, and perhaps deeper knurling, but they're both quite good. It's a 'toss-up' for me.

If you notice a slight cast / coloration in the anodizing of my light in the photo, that's been acquired, and is almost undoubtedly due to having lived in my car for much of its life (>25 years) in all sorts of environmental conditions, and that has resulted in the slight 'patina' you see. The lower light has lived in climate control all its life. Byk may have to put a few scratches on his to add some 'character'

 

[ABTOMAT]

Is the design otherwise identical, other than the knurling? I'll have to get one of those early ones some day.

 

[glockboy]

I mod my "Brute" to Led, it's much brighter.

 

[RWT1405]

Dude. When I bought my first Surefire around 2001 it was a G2 for around $60 and that blew people's minds.
And oh yeah CR123's were around 7 bucks a pop then too.

I bought my first SureFires in 1995, from SHOMER-TEC (mail order catalog).

2 - 6P's and a 9P, along with 2 boxes of SF batteries.

More than 1 friend/co-worker thought I lost my mind when they found out what I paid for them.

 

[bykfixer]

I mod my "Brute" to Led, it's much brighter.

Oh do tell please.
Is that a modified P60 type module?

 

[aznsx]

Is the design otherwise identical, other than the knurling? I'll have to get one of those early ones some day.

As far as I know, the difference in knurling on the body/tube is the only difference between the two versions I've had access to. I didn't do a fully detailed side-by-side comparison of the head internals, only the external aspects of the lights and the switches, which I made a point of comparing due to the 'novel' (spring) connection between the primary tail spring and switch. When I have time, I'll open the head on mine and compare with the excellent photos @bykfixer provided in this post, which should provide reasonable verification of those internals. For the moment, I think it's safe to assume that the knurling is the only change made during production.

 

[aznsx]

I'm no cell / battery expert, and I can spell 'Edison', but that's about the extent of my knowledge of incandescent light bulbs, so I have a question.

What might be the likely risk to the OE bulb of loading this bad dog w/ Energizer L91s? The difference in output sag under load of those vs alkalines is not insignificant (especially X7), but I would like to have the light in a 'ready' state w/o the alkaline risks, and I believe (but don't know) that the performance w/alkalines is probably better than with the Eneloops I currently have in it. I don't even have 7 alkalines to try. I suppose if it's high risk I could always use a dummy/spacer cell, but I don't know the risk.

Anybody know?
Thanx!

https://data.energizer.com/pdfs/l91.pdf