I've been after a Kel-Lite Baton Light forever and specifically an BTL-26, the longest flashlight ever made* at 26"! They come up for sale only once every few years and they go for big $$$. Well I was able to score a non-working one. There are some fantastic deals to be had on non-working lights if you don't mind putting in some elbow grease. This one I was very nervous about because it had not 1, 2, 3, or 4 but all 5 C cells stuck in it plus the face cap was stuck to the head and the stainless steel face caps are impossible to find. These lights are so long you can basically only remove them from the head end. Ohh my gosh this light was a ton of work! It works perfect now but if I wasn't after one forever I don't know if I'd do it again.
I got all of the batteries out plus a screwdriver a prior owner got stuck when he was trying to remove the cells. I drilled them out with an extended (14") drill bit and then chipped away at what remained and soaked the inside in vinegar and flushed 3 or 4 times. The batteries were cardboard Eveready C cells which were last produced in the early 80s so they were in there for a very long time. The cardboard C cells were actually easier to remove than later steel batteries.
That was the easy part.
The face cap and head were stuck together and that's what houses the bulb and reflector. The stainless steel face caps are long out of production and can't be found anywhere but the heads can be. So, I dremeled the head threads off and saved the face cap. This took me about 4 hours because I had to be careful not to damage the threads on the face cap.
Last but not least I cleaned the corrosion off of everything. I had to drill out the switch to save it because the bolt and nut were seized together. I bought the parts I needed from Don and got her all running. She's awesome!! I walk my dogs a mile each night around 11pm and there are no street lights where I live so I've used her twice for that and while she's not the brightest and she doesn't have the best beam she'll certainly take care of any possums I run across!!
I forgot to get the rubber grommet they come with for use in a duty belt but Don still has them so I'll order one the next time I get parts from him.
Anyway, it was totally worth it! I have about 12 hours of labor into it and ~$120 worth of parts. I could probably sell it for double what I have into it but I've been after one of these for a long time and I never plan to sell it. It means so much more to me because I was able to get it working and I had lots of fun doing it. I've also been after one of these lights for 10 years now.
Here's a pic with some of the other longest lights that I own. I'm not aware of any longer lights but if you know of any please let me know. I know Eveready and others have made some 7D slide switches but I think they're all shorter than a 7D Maglite.
From top to bottom they are
7D Maglite
*6C Maglite with ASP Baton
This collapses and it's aftermarket so while it's technically longer extended I don't count it as the longest light. It could be installed on a 7C for an even longer light! It is almost 30" long extended. 😮
BTL-26 Kel-Lite
My new favorite light!
7C Maglite
3D Vari-Beam for scale
I will say though that I'm not as impressed with this light as I was with the 7D Maglite. The Baton Light is actually pretty light because it's a 5C and has the spacer taking up the rest of the room. While it's longer it doesn't feel anywhere near as substantial as a 7D. I may try to run 12Cs to see how it is and install an LED PR because it's the only thing I know of that can take that voltage. It's easy to see why these didn't sell in great numbers. I could not imagine carrying this around every day or getting in and out of a car with it on my hip. Most of these lights that come up for sale are in excellent condition because they never saw much use. They're similar to the 7D Maglites. An excellent idea! But, in practice they didn't work so well.
A couple other collectors have asked me if I will also try to add a BTL-22 or BTL-18 to my collection and I'm not sure. I love Kel-Lites! I have a pretty decent collection but nowhere near the collection that some other collectors have. I've always been a Maglite collector at heart. I would much rather have an original Surefire 6 because I think the original Surefire 6, BTL-26, and 7D Maglite are the big 3 cop lights. I don't know of anyone that owns all 3 and I think they're the rarest and arguably the most influential cop lights.
Thanks for reading, hope y'all enjoyed!