Perhaps the finest SureFire 'Z-series' implementation ...

It's been a long road, but my 'dream light' is finally finished.

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Hmmm, what's that flashlight in the SureFire V10 holster, next to the relatively-common SureFire C3?



OK, a SureFire 7Z. Reasonably rare, but being a non-standard body length (3.5xCR123 actually), it was designed for their obsolete NiCad rechargeable system and not at all useful these days, right?





Only 1/2" longer than a SF C3 - what's that good for? There aren't any modern cells compatible with that length.



And why the OR/TorchLab ZeroRes Shorty?



18mm-bored by PrecisionWorks ... OK ...



Wait ... what?



Aha!



OK, that's a heck of a lot of battery capacity - that's a lot of potential runtime.
How to really utilize all that capacity ... wait, I know ...





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So, the popular SureFire C3 bored to accept 2x18500's provides about 1h 15 min of runtime with the OR/TorchLab XPG V3.1 triple. For the cost of only an additional half-inch and the 'momentary' button, while still fitting into the same holster as the SF C3; double the runtime - ~2.5 hours of 800+ lumen (OTF) neutral goodness. :devil:



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There are brighter lights and lights that have more runtime, but until now, there has never been a SureFire Z-series flashlight of reasonable length with so much runtime at maximal outputs (the SF 12Z's are loooong and also expensive with their rare turboheads) .

The OR/TorchLab ZeroRes Shorty permits this 7Z configuration to work - the rear cell sticks out that far when 'sprung' by the LED dropin:





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Over a number of years of using SF's, I've come to enjoy handling the older Z's the most - no other flashlight fits my hand as well. I've got a 6Z and two 9Z's (and a Z3 and a C3 ...), but for serious runtime, you just can't beat 2x18650 - in a package of almost the same length as the classic SF C3 (but with twice the runtime).

I hope you enjoyed the tour,
Kestrel


P.S. The original 'smooth' Lexan head/bezel assembly and the pre-Z41 "Laser Products 7Z" tailcap are safely stashed away - I prefer keeping them @ 99% condition and getting most of the inevitable 'dings' on the new replacement 'end' parts of this somewhat-collectible light.

Veeerrryy nice!!!

Nice is that the craigslist find? Thank for posting pix.

Very nice. Thanks for sharing.

I bought one of those "new" from a retailer a few months back and I've been trying to think of some way to put it to good use. I may end up copying your idea lovecpf

nice man, congratulations on finishing up your dream lights!

I think that will do the job nicely.........Way to think outside the box.

Bryan

Very cool build ...

Thanks folks. I've been using the OR/Torchlab triple for a while now, and even though it's my favorite drop-in by far, I tend to need runtimes of 1+ hours quite often. I dislike doing cell changes in the field, and once the 2x18500's get old, their capacity falls off and runtime suffers. Not long ago I wore out my second set of AWP18500's, as their runtime with this demanding module had fallen to 20-25 minutes!

I had been looking for a 12ZM for a while for this build, but got discouraged at the ~$300 sale prices that they were getting. I then started looking for a 7Z - although they are even rarer than 12Z's, they bring less since they are sort of an oddity - 12ZM's are still very useful with 4xCR123 or 2x 17670/18650.

I have seen only two 7Z's change hands in the last couple of years; this virtually mint one was on eBay & I made sure to do a "take no prisoners" bid, a little later happened to find out that I was bidding against at least one other CPF'er (although I can't recall who). Recently, a somewhat-used 7Z sold on CPF/MP for a reasonable price - it sold before I noticed it, or I might have caved and picked it up as well.

BIGLOU said:

Nice is that the craigslist find? Thank for posting pix.

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That one was a 9Z a while back, thanks again BTW.
Funny that you picked up the 12ZM on CL in the same area for some sort of obscenely low price not that long ago?

880arm said:

Very nice. Thanks for sharing.
I bought one of those "new" from a retailer a few months back and I've been trying to think of some way to put it to good use. I may end up copying your idea lovecpf

Click to expand...

Oooo, lucky you. These are exceedingly rare, my guess is that what few ones are out there have been retired & knocking about in someone's junk drawer for a long time now. Good luck if you go this route, PW is probably the best (only?) bet for the boring job, but you'll have to be patient. I was sort of sweating it because this light would be almost impossible to replace if something went wrong.

phoneguy said:

I think that will do the job nicely.........Way to think outside the box.

Bryan

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Thanks Bryan - I'm flattered to have an 'old-timer' stop by. :wave:
I'm sort of bummed I've had to find the older stuff that I like greatly after-the-fact, it's taken a number of years to narrow down my P/C/Z series collection to mostly-mint Z's with the exception of two "modern" 3-flats C's.

Nice!
I'm also a fan and user of the ZeroRez Shorty with a TorchLab Triple.
It makes the most out of the minimal length.
Thanks for sharing!

Oh, and BTW I really can't take complete credit for this combination - I purchased this light before the ZeroRes Shorty became available and began thinking of a way to modify the tailcap innards to permit the longer cell stack. So when Moddoo came out with the elegant ZRS, that took the project from 'difficult' all the way down to 'no brainer'.

Thanks ElectronGuru for the component installs (Z44 bezel ring & ZRS insert), Moddoo for coming up with the ZRS to begin with, and Barry @ PrecisionWorks for the excellent custom boring job.

And in case anyone was wondering about the medium & low modes:
~250 lumens for 8+ hours and a ~20 lumen low for over 6 days straight. :devil:

Wow Kestrel, I had no idea that's what you were doing. M4 capacity with a small head

Great thinking Kestrel. It's made me order a SF A14 to go with a 6P and Zerorez shorty. Thanks.

precisionworks said:

Wow Kestrel, I had no idea that's what you were doing. M4 capacity with a small head

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Hi there Barry, :wave:
Except for the fact that the M4 is 9.2" long and this 7Z is only 7.1" long.
~2 inches is a lot for the same cell capacity and P60 dropin compatibility. :devil:
(My SF C3 is only slightly shorter at ~6.6" long, but with only half the capacity.)

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And while we're at it, check out this visionary from 3 1/2 years ago:
Surefire G2 w/ 2x17670!!!

The only thing is that allburger attempted this long before the ZeroRes Shorty was invented.
(Please note the coincidence of your humble servant having the honor of the first reply in his thread. )

Awesome!

I also have a 7Z in very good shape. It is all original (not bored). Up until reading this post I have been using 3x123 with a small cut down dummy 123 spacer in it to take up the remaining room in the tube. If I am reading this post correctly it now appears that I can use 2x17670's if I buy a zero res shorty tailcap.

Is this correct Kestrel?

NotRegulated said:

Is this correct Kestrel?

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Yes sir, that should work well. :thumbsup:

Either that or I'd be happy to trade you a 9Z for your 7Z, your 3xCR123's would then be a perfect fit in your light.

Funny how the 7Z's are starting to come out of the woodwork.

That is a very kind offer but I think I'll put those 3x123's into MY 9Z!
Thank you for the tip and response!

NotRegulated said:

If I am reading this post correctly it now appears that I can use 2x17670's if I buy a zero res shorty tailcap.

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With the caveat that ZRS are made for newer tail caps. Vintage tail caps may lack the threading needed to install them. In this case, you would also need a newer cap to put the ZRS into.

I have a few items I would like to get from Oveready. I think a brand new tailcap with a ZRS installed will be added to my list.

ElectronGuru said:

Awesome!

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Yeah, what he said! That is a very cool build!!!