Just curious if your Surefire HA is turning purple???

So I got a sweet deal on an M4 to replace one I SHOULD NOT have sold,
and I had an extra FM Bi-Pin holder... I love me some M4, 17670x2 WA1111 :naughty:

And I notice when it arrives it has a forward clicky SF tailcap, Z58 I think is the
correct title, So I email the seller and he responds yup, he forgot to include the
original Z41 HA, I am thankful I have both...

I am just curious if your HA tail caps are turning purple, I am digging it
but was wondering what does this...

Pic to explain and show what I am talking about,

Natural HA is just that. Not subject to the control of any force that might yield consistent color. Ingredients in the metal, ingredients in the tank (some of which come from previous parts), temperature, voltage, time. All of these effect the resulting finish and color. Even two parts from the same source metal done together can yield dramatic differences.

Most likely, that's how the part looked when brand new.

So Greenbean...

Your SF is aging well ... like fine wine. It's as though you might have a wine ... light.

It's difficult to tell from pictures, but that tailcap looks to me like the barrel part is Natural, and the endcap part is black, like from a 6P Defender. Black anodizing does sometimes have a purple tint.

I took this one also,

Trust me, it has an 80's purple anodized look to it, hahaha



And this is it next to my 6PD,




Now to figure out how to make the whole M4 turn this color...

That really looks like the knurled bit of the tailcap is HA-NaT and the purple end ring is HA-Black

My U2 is a bit purple on some parts when viewed from the right angle, much like your purple part.

I don't know how you would get the whole light to turn purple

I remember having a black type II anodised flashlight (not Surefire) which was mounted in the van facing daylight. After a few months it had turned from a nice black to a yucky purple. It wasn't an expensive light but I never mount lights where they face the sun these days. Apart from the risks with heat damaging the batteries I'm fairly certain most anodising would be affected by ultraviolet light in some way. YMMV

JCD said:

It's difficult to tell from pictures, but that tailcap looks to me like the barrel part is Natural, and the endcap part is black, like from a 6P Defender. Black anodizing does sometimes have a purple tint.

Click to expand...

Echo63 said:

That really looks like the knurled bit of the tailcap is HA-NaT and the purple end ring is HA-Black

My U2 is a bit purple on some parts when viewed from the right angle, much like your purple part.

I don't know how you would get the whole light to turn purple

Click to expand...

+2 I have a few black Surefires that look burgundy or purplish.

The Fenix P3D I gave my father in law was laying in the window so so it got exposed to sun, and parts of it has turned brown (head not affected, only the body).

As I understand the process of anodisation the surface layer of the aluminium is turned to an oxide which is capable of being coloured with a dye. As black dyes potentially absorb more ultraviolet light than other colours the stability of the dye must be a factor in why some black flashights turn a purple colour when over exposed to strong sunlight. As other contributors to this thread have suggested there are numerous other factors at play when parts are anodised making the job of ensuring good QC is adhered to a nightmare for a manufacturer.