Military Specs

Does anyone know where to look up what mil specs are on some gov website?

My standard way of starting a reply seems to be, "Well I'm no expert but..."

That applies here to.

A quick google search brought me here

A quick search on that page brought me to the mil spec for the Flashlight, Lightweight

is it true that some "mil specs" are actually worse/lower level specs than other areas of industry?

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greenLED said:
is it true that some "mil specs" are actually worse/lower level specs than other areas of industry?

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I would suppose so. Thanks also to drizzle and Newbie (who really isn't) for the links.

RE Mil-spec
There are places where Mil-spec is worse, places where Mil-spec is better, places where Mil-spec is better and worse at the same time

In general, I find when it's a full product spec, it's usually behind the times technology wise, but very well built. Testing specs, when applied to various civilian products can be VERY VERY good, and at least you know what they are talking about then

For instance, I know that if someone tells me "This unit is qualified to Mil-810c for shock and vibration to part 50X (gad can't remember my Mil-810 parts)" - I KNOW that it will survive X - Civilian stuff might be qualified for MORE, but....

Well, I asked 'cuz we were climbing with a friend and he mentioned that he wouldn't use Mil-Spec ropes (and some other climbing equipment - I forget), 'cuz the ratings were lower than civilian grade. I'd always thought military equipment was made sturdier to handle more abuse. I was surprised to learn some stuff isn't. I thought I'd double check what my friend said.

Life can be quite miserable working in a small industrial company that got it's first military job.
To sales and the nig nosses it is just another job with the potential for follow up orders.
We poor workers found out otherwise real quick.
1) We do not know the mil-spec
2) We do not know how to qualify our design.
3) We do not know the quality assurance procedure.
4) We are not aware of the drawing requirements.
5) Our sales estimator was not aware of prices for mil-spec parts.
6) When mil spec parts are not available, the difficulty of finding commercial/industrial parts that will qualify.
The learning curve was steep.

Hopefully flashlight accessories fall under a 'commercial' contract and the only things to worry about is shock, temperature and quality assurance.