Hello pc3,
I, as well as most here would suggest the AW protected 17500 cells and the Pila IBC charger. You can find them various places. Bugoutgear, flashlightz, CPF marketplace, lighthound, etc. I don't think any one single place carries both though unfortunately.
2x17500 should work fine provided you stay away from the MN11 bulb. The recoil of a firearm does pose the risk of damaging the protection circuit in li-ion cells. Theoretically, the tail-cap spring and center lamp spring should provide a form of shock isolation for the cells in this application. Most people with SF weapon lights just stick to SF brand CR123s to minimize failure points. In your application, which is more about dealing with vermin or pests, I don't see a major problem introducing this possible fail point as it's unlikely to be life threatening. if you are spending a lot of time with that light running going rechargeable will be a welcome change. If you use the same weapons for home defense I would recommend swapping back to a fresh set of CR123s when the weapon is put in it's "resting" position at the end of a night of vermin hunting. Another way to look at this, is that, by swapping to a LED head instead of using an incandecent bulb, you are reducing your likelihood of sudden failure by a very decent margin, probably more-so than the likelihood of failure being introduced by the protected li-ion cells. So overall the combination of the LED head and protected 17500 cells will have a net positive gain in reliability in my opinion.
Definitely have a look at this thread:
http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb/showthread.php?t=241792
In that thread I have a pair of beamshots comparing the performance of the mighty M6 MN21 bulb (about double the lumens compared to the MN11, quadruple the lumens compared to the MN10) to the LF P7 and the P7 module holds it's own just fine. This would lead me to believe that if you have been satisfied with the MN10/MN11 bulbs in your current configuration, that you will likely find this to work really well.
Be aware that reflector loaded incandecent bulbs put a higher percentage of total emitted light into the central beam compared to reflector loaded LEDs, which put a larger amount of total emitted light into the spill beam. This is a difference that some people don't care about but is very noticeable to me in use and is one reason I am often annoyed by LEDs when using them for ranged applications outdoors. I have personally found that while the P7 does produce an over-whelming pile of lumens, in actual use, a bulb with less than half the total lumens works just about as well down range, while consuming a similar amount of power. I think the only way for you to decide what you like or how you want to do this is to just buy the LED head and give it a try, if you don't like it, you can always sell it. You might try picking up a KT4 kit instead to get more throw, you could run it on a HO-M3T from LumensFactory and get some really amazing throw with 30 minutes runtime (do not run the EO-M3T or MN16 on 17500 cells, not enough capacity for a safe discharge rate there). Or go back to your Z46 head and try out a LumensFactory HO-M3 or EO-M3 lamp. (The HO-M3 is a strong thrower that should be a hair brighter overall than an MN10 but with slightly less runtime, the EO-M3 is just a slight step under a MN11 in total output but should throw at least as well if not better while having enough less power consumption to be safe for running on 17500 size cells).
Oh , one last thing, if you decide to pick up the LF P7 head, expect about 40-45 minutes runtime on 2x17500 cells.
There are a lot of options revolving around that host, in the end really finding what works best for you is going to require that you just try things.
Eric
