Surefire C3 question

[**DONOTDELETE**]

Hi all!
Accidently stumbled on this site last night from a link on Bladeforums.
CandlePowerForums rocks!
Nine months ago I Bought a Streamlight UltraStinger as an upgrade for my 20 year-old 3 cell MagLite. What a difference!
Since then I've added a Scorpion and last week a C3-HA.
I think I'm addicted.
I have a question about the C3. How can I tell if my lens is Pyrex or Lexan? I just read a thread in which it was stated that the C3-HA comes with the Pyrex lens. Is that the case on C3-HAs manufactured before 2002? I bought mine from Botach, but with the issues that many Botach customers have, I'm developing some doubts.

 

[Bushman]

tap with a metal key. It will sound like either glass or plastic. compare to the sound of your ultrastinger which has the lexan.

 

[Sean]

The pyrex version should also have a notched plastic ring holding the lens in place.

 

[nihraguk]

a better way to see if the lens is lexan or pyrex if it has the retaining ring (and thus can either be a lexan or pyrex lens) is to see a reflection of something on it. if its pyrex, the (partial) reflection would be nice and non-distorted, whereas if its lexan the image would be a bit distorted and warped around the edges due to the lexan flexing a bit under the tension of the plastic retaining ring or the metal "collar" of the press-fit bezels.

i think that would avoid scratching the lens accidentally if you tap too hard and the lens is lexan, not pyrex.

if it doesn't have the retaining ring, then its definitely lexan as you can't press fit a pyrex lens as it'll crack.

 

[**DONOTDELETE**]

Thanks guys!
It's pyrex. I tried the first suggestion and noticed a difference in the sound. Although different, the sound has more characteristics with the sapphire crystal on my Xemex OffRoad than the lens of either my Scorpion or US.
It also has the retaining ring with 6 notches. Looks like it could be removed if you had a special tool. Also, the reflected image shows no distortion.
I was a little worried, because I've heard all the horror stories about Botach on AR15.com and other gun boards where I normally post. I started thinking that because there was no price difference between the black and HA, that Botach might be selling older models with the Lexan lens.

 

[nihraguk]

you're welcome