Got a vintage "Sleeper"?

Here's mine.


It's pretty simple. Take a NIB 2C Ray-O-Vac Sportsman, 3/4" schedule 40 PVC pipe (fits perfect), three primary 123's, and a 5-cell krypton Mag bulb. The Sportsman is pretty dinky. People are a little surprised when it out-shines their Maglite.


The reflector has a nice MOP effect and gives a decent, tight beam with a bit of a hole, surprising throw. I had to pick through a couple bulbs to find get the best results. I tried my Browning 9V xenon bulb, but the beam was not focused well. Next up was a Pelican 3853-L rated at 7.2V for Ni-cads. It was great beam-wise and very bright, just ate up the cells though. I figured the Mag 5-cell was good enough. This picture happens to show a Mag 2-cell bulb which was a big improvement over the stock running on two C cells.


For size comparison with a LOP reflector in the 2C Mag.

Overall it's a neat little light, rides in the back pocket well. My thanks to ringzero for his classic lights posting which encouraged me to hunt down this beauty. I'm thinking of getting a couple of 18500 Li-ions to run that 3853-L, just a little concerned about heat and the reflector. The primary lithos didn't seem too bad.

Now, let's see yours.

Very cool Niteowl!

Ahhh the fond memories seeing that light brings back. That was my first real flashlight back in the 20th Century, circa 1968. Did it come with those crappy zinc carbide "Never Readys?"

I was afraid a 5 cell bulb would blow too easy. So I guess it can handle the 9v?

WOW. I've been looking for one of those! My dad was always proud of his shiny metal Roy o Vac and would always look nervous when I was using it !!!

I've been wanting to get one and convert it to a higher power LED light that will be ready when he needs it.

Thats a cool light!

Did the "Vintage Flashlight" search on ebay the other night. Got a few I'm watching for a project like this.

Cool an easy mod!! I have an old metal Eveready Captain just taking up space. I'll have to go to hardware store and get some 3/4" schedule 40 pvc. thanks niteowl.

got a rayovac 2D ROP low suing 6AA in plastic carriers, a USA Lite 2C running Numstar 5 cell xenon with 2 14500, a 3D Homart soon to be a MAG 85 with a 3" reflector, 2 brand new in the box 2D superior lights that I will probably make into ROPs and engrave them for my boys to give them when they're older, a rayovac modular 3/4/6/7 cell sportsman with a 4" head that I'm waiting for - if it has a metal reflector I might see if I can mount KIU sockets to various AW Smartpacks and have a few set ups as drop ins for the different configurations; if the reflector is plastic then it will look nice on the shelf and maybe a 6 cell numstar on 7 AA nimh in D carriers will be a nice gentle mod for her.

Vintage mods rule - I just made that Rayovac ROP low for my brother for Christmas, we had a $50 dollar budget which is about $40US, including shipping to Australia I made it within the budget. When you don't need lenses or reflectors you save $$$ and you can fit a lot of battery in there without modding, I had a choice of 3 x 17xxx or 2 x 18xxx side by side or 4AA no problem they all fit in.

Along the same lines as yours I found one of my dads old BrightStar flashlight in some of his things that I kept.











This essentialy a Brightstar ROP. This flashlight already has the aluminumn reflector but has a plastic lens. The lamp which is a ROP low sits way to close to the plastic lens and has already caused some melting in it. It has pretty darn good throw and a load of sidespill. I am running to LG 2400s in it, using the stock tailcap it all fits in just fine. I wish dad was still here and I could pull the old switcheroo on him and watch his face when he fired his old Brightstar up, I do miss him, hburner.

Niteowl said:

Overall it's a neat little light, rides in the back pocket well. My thanks to ringzero for his classic lights posting which encouraged me to hunt down this beauty.

Click to expand...

Awesome little light Niteowl! Thanks for sharing the pics.

I've been waiting to see what you would do with your 2C Sportsman, and this was worth the wait. Sleeper indeed.

One of these days, I'm going have a 2C Sportsman running a Mag 3W LED dropin. That would be sweet indeed, and something of a sleeper, although not in the same league as yours.

I just love the diminutive size of the Sportsman compared to that Mag 2C. An all time classic light.