Solidify your Maglite

S

SidC

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Apr 10, 2012
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So a while back, someone told me about this way you can stop your Maglite from rattling and make it more effective as a club if you need to defend yourself with it in an emergency. Basically, you wrap each battery with duct tape one or two times, enough so that it slides in like a piston but not enough that it actually has trouble getting into the light. I did it recently and it's taken all of the rattle out and it just feels way more solid.

Sorry if this is old news. I looked it up but couldn't really find much about it. Definitely worth trying if you haven't already.
 
Great idea. My father used to wrap his batteries in newspaper. I little thinner but same concept.
TC
 
OK, I get minimizing rattles however "MORE effective as a club" - how?

The old 5 cell Kel-Lites were a fine LEO tool.

Gonna go shake a Maglite..got me curious now.
 
For the first few years I was with my present department, I complained bitterly to the chief about those big 5-cell mag-lights.
He had it in his head that being a "campus" police department, we had to keep a low profile and the sight of a proper nightstick or "baton" hanging on the officer's belt was too intimidating. (we used flap holsters too... I complained constantly about those as well)
So we had the big flashlight.
I pointed out that this thing was not a stick but a truncheon, and that a reasonable blow with the thing was likely to break bones or, with a head strike, kill or cause permanent injury. As well, since we were not issued a belt loop, there was nowhere to put the thing when it got down to actually arresting someone... They tended to end up on the ground where in a crowd it could easily be lost or picked up by another combatant.

Not a "less than lethal" weapon I would choose.
 
mwerner said:
I pointed out that this thing was not a stick but a truncheon, and that a reasonable blow with the thing was likely to break bones or, with a head strike, kill or cause permanent injury.
Not a "less than lethal" weapon I would choose.
Click to expand...

The main purpose of a baton is for striking to disable further attacks. You don't aim for the head or vital organs, you aim for the arms or shoulders. It's rather hard to hit back when your arms and shoulders are trying to go limp. It's also very hard to die of a broken shoulder ;)
 
Great idea that I hadn't thought of, and one that I will probably use, but IMO the looser the batteries are, the better the weapon it is in theory. Think sap or spring baton vs a standard baton of the same size and weight. You will hit harder with the sap or spring because as you're swinging your arm the thing gives a bit and the weight at the end is a bit behind your swing, thereby imparting more energy on impact (in theory.)
The batteries are a significant weight, so if they rattle a bit the Mag should pack a teensy bit more whallop.
 
Unk said:
OK, I get minimizing rattles however "MORE effective as a club" - how?
Click to expand...

I just figure that it's more solid. I was smacking myself in the palm with it before I taped the batteries and after I taped them, and it just stung more. I don't know if it was just me or what, but I'd rather have a taped up one than a rattling one.
 
It's more effective to take all your batteries & tape 'em together with electrical tape. Just run it like a barber pole from one end of the battery stack to the other. One layer of tape, not overlapped, will stop battle rattle, won't get hung up in the tube, & when it's time to switch batteries, they all fall out in 1 piece.


edit to add: I did this not for any self defense or tacticool reason. My mag was hard mounted on the rollbar above my head when I drove a Jeep. The rattle was damned annoying. Thus the reasoning for the sound dampening.
 
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Unfortunately, in legal terms, broken bones fall under "deadly force". Deadly force is...."Force that is likely to cause death or serious injury". "Serious injury" in this context is also a legal term and would include broken bones, internal injuries, and the like.
Whereas, a properly applied "baton" is not only much faster than a three-pound flashlight it's much less likely to cause such injuries. As one with fairly extensive training in the Filipino arts, I prefer lighter and faster.
 
A mod that has nothing to do with lethality but aids in comfort is to stretch an old bicycle tube up over the body of the maglite.
Gives a better gripping surface and makes it less cold to the touch in cold weather. I've done that with my 2 D-cell, 4 D-cell and 4 C-cell maglites.
If you have the patience you can pull the inner tube up over the head of the flashlight as well. The only thing is once you do that you then need to cut the inner tube into two pieces (the head and the body) so you can still rotate the maglite head for changing focus.
 
mwerner said:
a properly applied "baton" is not only much faster than a three-pound flashlight it's much less likely to cause such injuries.
Click to expand...

The primary purpose of the tape is to just stop the rattle. But I'd rather have it in an emergency than nothing.

Gaspumps said:
Or you could pack it tight with aluminum shot and use a Fenix for the light :D.
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I EDC a Fenix. A Maglite is just a club with a lightbulb at the end lol.
 
I carry a Fenix & a ti Preon edc. The mag is under the jump seat in my truck. If you've ever had a flat on the highway, you're guaranteed that every light you carry will be dead during said flat.
 
Not to mention the fact that Mags are darn near indestructable. I have NEVER seen a broken Maglite that couldn't be fixed with a new bulb or some batteries.
 
mwerner said:
Whereas, a properly applied "baton" is not only much faster than a three-pound flashlight it's much less likely to cause such injuries. As one with fairly extensive training in the Filipino arts, I prefer lighter and faster.
Click to expand...

So the purpose of stick fighting is to NOT hurt your opponent? Lighter and faster = more kinetic energy than slow and heavy. Escrima dude whacking someone with sticks is much more likely to grow silver bracelets than someone carrying a maglite with the batteries taped up to stop that annoying rattle.

Back on topic...God, I hate that rattle. Thanks for the tape tip. Nice and simple. Add to that stretching the spring in the tailcap and you're good to go. I like the idea of ranger bands over the barrel as well. Those things get cold in the winter.

Seems like a lot of people bash Maglites nowadays with all the uber flashlights out there. I don't get it. They're relatively cheap, run off of common batteries, easy to mod, built domestically (if you live in the USA), easy to mod, built like a brickhouse, easy to replace parts, etc.
 
I loved the light... As a light. In fact, I "stopped" individuals twice by simply shining the thing in their faces. Both were being pursued by other officers and since they were running towards me I just "put it in their face" and both stopped, blinking, and were promptly tackled by the other guys. Worked a treat, as they say.

Now, we could get into socially (and legally) acceptable police "defensive tactics" theories of how to hit people with "batons". (we try not to use loaded terms like "nightstick" or "b**st*rd beater" anymore... Not PC)
The current notions of the widely-taught PPCT method (I'm a certified instructor) are that we hit people in "muscle mass" areas that also have pressure points or nerve plexus areas... The upper thigh, the calf, the outside of the forearm near the elbow...
The theory being that these areas will cause severe pain and charly-horse and will be disabling without causing expensive (as in...Lawsuits) injuries to the opponent. Now, the actual combat effectiveness of these techniques is debatable, of course; sometimes they work well and sometimes they don't. Severely drunk or drug-fueled individuals are often able to shrug off such blows.
Of course, we have other tools.
 
Thanks for the idea Sid. I have some C Cell flashlights that ended up having a 3 watt Cree LED, the batteries float inside and make noise. I'm going to try this. :)
 
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