Cold Steel "the Brute"

I have one of these old lights. It takes seven AA cells, is there a way to update it?

Student99 said:

I have one of these old lights. It takes seven AA cells, is there a way to update it?

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Is there a source for more? I'm sure ABTOMAT would appreciate a PM if you have any clues.

We'll need to know what version. I'm aware of two. One version takes a SureFire like LA (lamp assembly). Glockboy can tell you which SF LA drops in to that type of Brute.

The other version takes a PR based lamp. I have that version. If you wanted to do a slight upgrade you could put a 6 cell Mag bulb in there. A ROP lamp will work but I didn't get very effective collimation of the light into an beam. I got a beam but I could tell there was a large loss "out the front" as they say. The nice thing about the stock reflector is that it is chromed aluminum. Very robust. It also has an outside shape that lines up with the ID of the head. This makes an outstanding thermal path for the heat. The fault the reflector has is that it was designed for a CA717 that has a lensed glass envelope.

What I think you might want to start out with would be a couple of Welch Allyn WA1274 custom potted and available through litho123. Overdriven. WA claims 948 lumens. The weird parabolic in the reflector I'm going guess will only net you about 400 plus lumens out the front. At least the 1274 has a smaller, thinner filament than the ROP so you'll get some good beam projection distance.

I got a 27 and a 26.5 mm UCL lens from flashlightlens.com. I don't see them on his site anymore but that doesn't mean he doesn't have them. You might want to pick up an extra switch while you are on his site.


I put a Welch Allyn WA1166 in mine. I bought the potted versions from litho123 (the base looks like a standard Mag lamp). Another option is to get WA1166 bi-pins and a FiveMega bi-pin adapter. Overdriven they are around 1100 bulb lumens…probably 550 lumens out the front with the OEM reflector.

I use 11 2/3 AA CBP cells. I see he doesn't have them listed but if I were going to source good ones I'd as him and then try some RC groups. You want robust high drain cells.

I took it a step further and disassembled an old Pelican adjustable beam M6. I ground down the outside diameter until it fit. It was too long but happily the bezel from the M6 was longer and the perfect length. That parabolic works very nicely with the WA1166. Probably 625 or so lumens out the front. It's truly impressive. Runtime is only 17 minutes. McGizmo used to sell McR27 short reflectors. I'd like to get one of those. Same parabolic architecture but much easier to work with when trying to cut the reflector down.

This torch should probably be bored out so 1500 mAh 2/3 A size will fit. I just don't know if I want to do that to a bit of flashlight history.

Don't know of any source for them. Got it when metal body lights where the thing.

How can I tell which version I have? Just by pulling out the bulb and checking the connector?

Cool. You have yourself a real collector's item. Very, very rare.

Exactly. Just pull the lamp out. If it looks like a regular bulb then you have the PR version.

Any pics of this light?

Take the lamp holder out and put in a surefire p90, p91 + 7 AA NiMh battery and you'll got a bright Baton.
7 AA Alkaline battery will blow the bulb.

Thanks, Glockboy. I meant to come back to this thread. OP has indicated it's the PR version.

depusm12 -

Bart provided this photo. I believe it is from a catalogue from the sometime in the 1990s.

There was a thread about them a while back when Mr. Bulk made a 6AA version of the Space Needle II inspired by the Brute. I forget the official name for Mr. Bulk's version but its nickname was "Assault and batteries" . It was doubly funny because he is an LEO so he got to use his lights on duty while dealing with actual perps.

ChocolateLab33's original sales thread for the Brute caused a bit of a stir.


Here's Charlie's Assault and Batteries. I think he still has some.

I could be wrong but..I beleive that the Titanium Tip on these may have been the first use of titanium on a flashlight.

I have one of these (MrBulk thingys)connected to a purple Mag with BB 1000 driving a poor little LUX III with amazing results.

Mr Bulks version was/is great for entering an auto via a closed window. one sharp tap with the ti tip is just right the glass pretty much shatters instantly and completly. Cool fun.

That little Cold steel Job looks like quite a nice light.
The smashing of a ripe Watermellon is pretty funny though..Not many fruit as delicate as a big ripe watermallon. The demonstration factor with them is great with all of the flesh splashing about...

Yaesumofo

Icebreak said:

ChocolateLab33's original sales thread for the Brute caused a bit of a stir.


Here's Charlie's Assault and Batteries. I think he still has some.

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If anyone does run across one of these they want to part with, I might be interested. Seen a bunch come up for sale but I'm usually a day late.

Hi,

I was hoping to get some help from this old thread, especially from glockboy who suggested dropping a P90 or P91 lamp assembly into this light.

As a quick background, I bought this flash-light many years ago (20+) when I was studying in the US, I brought it back to Singapore with me when I finished my studies. There are currently a couple of problems with it. Something is wrong with the lamp assembly, I either broke or lost the electrical connector that comes out of the head, that's supposed to make contact with the top battery. At the time, I tried to fashion a replacement from a paperclip but never got it working again, and I also believe the bulb is busted. Even if it wasn't, right now I don't think the bulb can make a proper electrical contact with the battery, without further tinkering with the make-shift paperclip. If I could "buy" a solution, I would prefer that.


After reading this thread, I went down to Sheares who are (to my knowledge) the only distributors of the Surefire in Singapore to try to get the P90/P91. They do have these lamp assemblies, but when I tried to fit one into the brute, it does not physically fit into the head assembly. It looks that if the proper head assembly could be constructed around the P90, that electrically the connection would work, but the P90 itself does not physically fit into the head that I currently have.


From this thread, I think mine is also the PR version. I can take the bulb out of the head and it looks like one of those old torch bulbs.


Can anyone advise how to get this light working again? If I could upgrade it to something like the P90/P91, then so much the better.


Thanks

Student99 said:

I have one of these old lights. It takes seven AA cells, is there a way to update it?

Click to expand...

I put in a led bulb and then made a spacer to replace 3 batteries. you might have to make the bulb opening a little wider to fit the led bulb(I did).

How do these differ from the current ASP lights or the old Surefire baton lights that make them so desireable? I've never seen the Colt Steel baton light in person.

ampdude said:

How do these differ from the current ASP lights or the old Surefire baton lights that make them so desireable? I've never seen the Colt Steel baton light in person.

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The Surefire baton light is a 6p with a side switch and a thread designed to mate with a 16" Asp baton (i think there is a Casco/Monadnock version too) - its not a big long light like this one

I know the Surefire baton light, I used to have one. I was mainly wondering what the difference is between the current ASP and these old Cold Steel lights. They look very similar.