What a difference a few years makes. It doesn’t seem like all that many years ago that flashlights with LEDs were just starting to show up on the market. I remember what a hit it was when I gave out Photon Micro-lights one year at Christmas. They were incredibly bright for a light that size and I believe my mother is still using hers with the original batteries. I should probably replace those for her. Those little LEDs were convenient and cute but if you wanted a serious light, an incandescent was still the only way to go. 60 lumens from the Surefire 6P was the king of the hill. I remember picking up a pair of the 3P lights, again at Christmas time. I believe I gave a Christmas green one to my tactically minded cousin and kept a red one for myself. With only one 123A battery it put out an impressive at the time 30 lumens and we were both quite pleased with our new compact tactical torches.
A few years passed and I came upon a couple lights from PEAK Solutions. Both were Matternhorn single AAA lights, one with a single LED and another with three LEDs. For their small size they put out respectable power and the triple LED Matternhorn had been a constant companion on my key-chain since before I pulled duty assisting with hurricane Katrina evacuees. That light has always been great for simple tasks: finding the key hole in the front door, checking the connections behind a PC, looking for lost change under the seat of my car. I thought it was all I really needed for all the time carry. Then about a month ago leaving a Little League baseball game I realized how ineffective my little 3 LED light was. As we were getting ready to leave the field, they turned the lights off, all of them. In an instant the park went from bright enough to play baseball to completely unlit and totally pitch black. Fortunately I thought, my key-chain flashlight would come to the rescue. Well it provided enough light that I don’t think anyone banged their head on a light pole or their knee on a picnic table but it was far from impressive and mostly ineffective past about 10 feet or so. My mind turned toward replenishing my stock of 123A batteries and carrying a 6P sized light again.
The NiteCore EZ AA
Well all that brings us up to my following along another EDC flashlight thread over at one of my favorite hang outs, The Martialist’s forum (Pax Baculum) and the suggestion was made to check out the NiteCore lights. They were available for a good price and delivered impressive performance. Well I followed the link, curious to see what they were offering but expecting I wasn’t going to be getting another 123A light, I have several. And the light they were suggesting was a 123A light, and it’s specs and price are impressive, maybe I do need another one. But that isn’t what really caught my eye. Their new little light, shipping soon, was the NiteCore EZ AA. Immediately it had my attention, a single AA battery, a CREE XR-E LED, current regulated circuitry, military grade aluminum with type III hard anodizing and two output modes; a low mode with 10 lumens for up to 20 hours and a high mode with 130 lumens for up to 50 minutes! 130 lumens from a single AA battery, maybe I wasn’t going to have to start packing around a 123A size light again after all. Immediately I contacted the manufacture, NiteCore at Guangzhou City, Guangdong Province, China and requested a review sample. About a week later by international mail an EZ AA was on its way.
Powered by a single AA battery, the EZ AA puts out a whopping 130 lumens!
The review sample arrived about a week after shipping and survived the trip well. Thankfully absent is the hard plastic clamshell packaging that takes a par of tactical scissors to penetrate the outer layer. Inside a tastefully simple cardboard box was the EZ AA, a generous length lanyard, a key-chain clip and some simple instructions. After a quick glance at the instructions to make sure I didn’t insert the battery the wrong way and accidentally damage the circuitry, a new Energizer came from the packaging and brought the EZ AA to life. A simple twist of the head controls the operation. The first setting is the low which at 10 lumens is plenty bright for most tasks and easily out performs the 3 LED that was on my key-chain only moments earlier. Output is in a very nice circle, the reflector and lens doing a great job of providing a very evenly balanced larger circle with an extra bright round center. Twisting the bezel a little further gives a high mode that I previously didn’t think was possible from such a small power source. Again the light is a nice even circle with an extra bright center. Apart from some Inova lights I have tried, it is the best beam I have seen in a non-adjustable beam light. For all around use I don’t think they could have struck a much better balance. The threads have the slightest amount of grit in the area between low and high power but not enough to be distracting or to come even close to making operation difficult. Size of the light is just what it needs to be to house the single AA battery, the circuitry, LED and reflector. Held by itself it feels quite compact. Placed next to my Peak AAA key-chain light it seems enormous. My mind starts to consider that maybe this light is a little too large for a key-chain light (although certainly not too heavy at only 20 grams without a battery).
The EZ AA at home on my key-chain.
After a couple weeks serving as the replacement for the Peak AAA on my key-chain I am happy to say that the EZ AA easily passed the test for a key-chain light. I’ve not noticed the difference in size or weight in the pocket so my concerns about it being a little too large were unfounded. The battery is still powering the light well after two weeks of daily playing between the high and low beams and my being generally fascinated with the high levels of output. Everyone I’ve had a chance to show it to has been impressed with how bright it is for such a small light. One unique feature of the EZ AA is the universal 1/4 threading in the tail cap to allow you to mount it to just about any camera mount. Attached to my mini-tripod I had an easily directable light that I could point just about anywhere. Nice touch. For an every day in your pocket, either alone or on a key-chain, flashlight, the EZ AA is a winner and I can’t imagine any light performing its role better on my key-chain. Unfortunately, with its rotating head controls, this light would be difficult to manipulate as a support for your concealed handgun or any other use when you would want momentary on/off. Hopefully in the next few weeks I’ll be looking at some other small (and bright) LED flashlights appropriate for that role. Regardless of that slight shortcoming, I highly recommend the NiteCore EZ AA flashlight.
Back at it, hopefully moving a little faster this time.
I mentioned reloading in Part 1. My real start in reloading was the M1911 Swiss and those 10 rounds of reloadable 7.5 X 55. There was no other 7.5 X 55 available then from Interarms, they were between batches. You could order cases or loaded ammo from Norma. Cases were not nearly as expensive then as now, but loaded ammo was nearly as bad then (adjusted between dollars then and now) as current Norma ammo is.
Lee had the Lee Loader kit available in 7.5 X 55 then. A little crude, but it worked, as long as you only had ONE rifle in that caliber, or you kept your cases segregated for each rifle. Built good shooting ammo and was CHEAP. But driving those primers in with a punch and a plastic faced mallet is a little crude! Wish them made them now in half the calibers they had them for then.
Went from there to the more normal reloading setup. Herters 6 station turret press, Herters dies, Herters scale and Herters powder measure. Some of the best and cheapest (relatively) loading gear we ever bought. GCA ’68 killed their mail order guns and they went belly up before 1980. They are back around now, but only a poor imitation of their former existance.
Work experience and training:
Gas Station attendant and Airport Line Boy (fueler) during high school.
1 year driving a taxi cab (Checker) as soon as I could get into town and get a license
after the Blizzard of 1978.
Took Modern Gun Repair School, correspondence gunsmithing course. Not great,
but not bad either.
6 years as a gunsmith in our family shop before we closed down. People would
charge us $15.00 per hour but would not pay us that for gun work.
Three years as a Psychiatric Attendant at the State’s only Hospital for the
Criminally Insane. Funky and depressing job, working for three masters,
The State, an Independent Oversight Committee and a Federal District
Court. That can get confusing, annoying and drive you to drink quickly.
We worked with NO metal cuffs, mace or pepper spray or night sticks. Just
5 of us per shift dealing with 18 patients on the “strong” ward and acting as a
crash crew for the rest of the wards during our shift.
Two and a half years for a Associate of Applied Science Degree in Electronics
Engineering Technology. Great training with a 20 year Navy Chief running
the program, but the last employer in the area using this skill closed about
the same time I graduated.
Classified Documents Courier, college work study job. Drove documents between
the branch campus I attended and the main campus three days a week for some money for books and gasoline.
Spent a summer as a gas station attendant at a station on I-75 on weekend nights.
No one wanted that job due it being in a prime robbery time and location so it
paid well for only 16 hours a week. Quit the first day there was ice on the
ground to deal with, I HATE ICE!
Used all transferable credits from my last Degree and signed up for an Associate of
Applied Science Degree in Mechanical Engineering, Flexible Manufacturing
Option. Got that in one year, but the one company that was using that skill
changed their setup and the others that were going to locate here never did!
Spent that same whole year working 12 hours each Saturday and Sunday as
Campus Security on a work study job. 24 hours a week, didn’t pay too badly,
but I was at school 7 days a week for a year.
Spent a year as a CWEP Records Clerk at the local PD. Did that to get medical as I
had been diagnosed as a Type 2 diabetic and had NO insurance after I
graduated the second time. A better diet and a little money as well as the
medical coverage helped a lot.
Got hired as a contractor at the local telephone company. Answering repair calls for
broken and out of service phones.
Got hired from the contractor to the phone company. This was great, it let me use
my electronic training. Thought I had it made. My Dad had retired at 42
years of service from that company. Thought I had a job for life”. Got laid off
after 7 ½ years there, they consolidated all of the regional phone companies
and moved my one of my jobs to Fayetteville/Ft. Bragg, NC. Bumped back to
repair answer, got a hip fixed and after I returned to work I got laid off for
good July 30, 1999. That job went to Kileen, TX near Ft. Hood, if I have the
town right.
Been working temporary jobs, part time jobs, under the table jobs or whatever I can
find for the last 10 years, making it (barely) but that’s about all. Been
working part time (10 – 12 classes a year) with a CCW and firearms training
team for about the last 5 years. Helps a little more, a little more dependable
and meet a nicer grade of people.
I hold an 03 (C&R or Curio and Relic) FFL to facilitate my collecting of Infantry Rifles. Not so much an more, as not much is showing up, not much is left out there to import any longer, most of the stuff after WW II is full auto and the BATFE says “once a machine gun, always a machine gun” so they have to destroy the receiver and build a new gun using the good parts on a semi-auto receiver, such as they do with the Aks. This means they will NEVER be C&R as they are not in original condition, and ALL military firearms must be in original issue condition to be C&R.
That’s enough about me, I will keep writing at regular intervals and HOPEFULLY some of you will give me some input to get discussions going about.
Something I am going to have to live up to and keep some relatively fresh output on to keep people attracted (if I can manage that at all?) and keep it fresh.
I guess I will start with a little background.
Life long Ohio resident.
First gun, a .22 rifle from Wards, in 1971.
First centerfire rifle was a Schmidt-Rubin M1911 7.5 X 55 Swiss rifle for the magnificent sum of $19.95 plus sales tax for a rifle in VG – Exc. condition with an issue cleaning kit and 10 rounds of reloadable ammo. Got me into surplus military rifles, got me into reloading, got me into collecting infantry rifles all in one easy, cheap and simple purchase. BTW, I got it from the F. W. Woolworth store in the Lima Mall!
Got into shooting both of those, and shooting Dad’s S&W M-10 light barrel 5” nickel .38 Spec. Shot that revolver so much I actually “shot the nickel off of it”. More correctly, I shot and cleaned it till the nickel started to come off, especially on the ejector rod, from the Hoppe’s penetrating through cracks in the nickel and dissolving out the copper base coat that the nickel sticks to!
Got into High Power in 1973 via the immersion method. Having shot at 100 yards and occasionally 200 yards, I was invited to go to a National Match Course Match at Camp Perry, OH (about 1 1/4 hours drive time) and entered the Sunday Match of the old ORPA/DCM Clinic and match. Shot a 7.62 X 51 NATO M1 Garand that I had never seen till that day. I WAS familiar with Garands, just not that one.
Worked the pits for the first third of the day, then fired 200 yd. Offhand, 200 yd. Sitting from Standing Rapid Fire, 300 yd. Prone from Standing Rapid Fire and then 600 yd. Prone slow fire, then back to the pits for the rest of the other groups shots. They shot 200 and 300 yd. then went to the pits and we shot straight through, then we had to return to the pits for their 600 yd. stage.
First introduction to Camp Perry. One linear mile of firing points on 4 ranges, all named after WW II 37th Infantry Div. Medal of Honor recipients. A big red Baker Rag (Large red swallowtail pennant) on each end of each of the 4 ranges, and every one of those flags pointing a different direction! That place is WINDY! Also had a range alibi during one of my rapid fire strings, had to stop the rapid fire string for a BOAT IN THE IMPACT AREA! Bullets land in Lake Erie at Camp Perry. In previous years machine gun, AA artillery and regular artillery also landed in the lake. Almost every US gun above .50 Cal. was proof fired at Erie Proving Grounds (right next to Camp Perry) with all of their shot falling into the lake also. ALL of the lake charts are marked as to the restricted impact area, but fishermen don’t pay that much attention and sail right into the impact area, thinking the bullet strikes are fish feeding rather than the dangerous bullet strikes they really are.
Spent two full weeks living in an ex-POW hut at Camp Perry during the Smallbore phase of the National Matches in 1976. Attended the National Rifle Instructor’s School and the National Rifle Coach’s School there to learn to help with our club’s Jr. Smallbore Program. Still working that program, with some off time in down years, as of this year, 2009.
Along with the rifle shooting, I was also into pistol shooting. Shot some Cooper Style Combat back in the bad old days, WAY before IPSC, UPSPA or IDPA. Get together with some guys, set up some stages out of Cooper’s first book (now out of print as far as I know) and have at it. Almost every match had El Presidente as one of the stages. This was back in the days when Cooper, Thel Reed and Jack Weaver (of Weaver stance fame) were still shooting their “LeatherSlap” matches out in California, with some occasional mention in Coopers column in Guns and Ammo.
Desperately wanted a Colt 1917 revolver, and bought one at the gun show. This started a long love/hate relationship. The New Service (M1917) fit me great. 5 of the 6 chambers worked just fine. But the sixth one would not “carry up” on double action firing. Not something you want to happen in a combat match or in combat.
I bought parts, I tried to find competent gunsmiths and I learned to do a lot of work myself, but I never did get that revolver past about 97%, just could not make it right. There were some people, Python smiths, who could have worked on it, but they would not touch it since there were NO NEW PARTS, everything had to be done with USED PARTS, and they could not make any money or guarantee work using used parts.
Finally traded it off to a friend, who was fully informed of it’s problems and still wanted it. Long, expensive and sometimes painful lesson that “you can’t always get what you want”!
Having moved in the middle of my sophomore year of high school, I was not all that involved with high school. Good grades, but few friends, no romances and no after school activities.
So I took up reloading. Used to go through batches of 1,000 148 gr. cast lead wadcutters at a time. Load them up, go shoot them, get some more and start over again. Got me so grooved on the S&W K-frame that I can lay off of one for a year and have the muscle memory back and working within three cylinders full.
Features
World’s smallest AA flashlight, easy carry
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Renowned CREE XR-E LED capable of over 50,000 hours of output
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Straight-forward UI with two modes of output
Military-grade aluminum alloy
Mil-Spec Type-III Hard-Anodized finish resists [...]
From the Nightforce Optics web site…
The hole you see in the well-used Nightforce 3.5-15×50 NXS scope at right was made by an enemy 7.62×39 round fired at a U.S. soldier. The bullet completely penetrated the erector tube - the heart of the scope’s optical system. We’re happy to report that the
soldier was not injured, and [...]
A 3x tactical prism sight that’s rugged, compact, and waterproof, the AR-332 features our unique Ballistic/CQ™ reticle. This ‘Close Quarters’ reticle performs at long range too, with bullet drop compensation out to 500 yards. It ships with integrated lens covers, multi-coated lenses, a 1.5″ sunshade and a Picatinny rail mounting bracket. Also mounts on an [...]
A quick comparison of the physical specifications of the Ruger LCP and the Kahr PM9.
Is the size and weight savings of the Ruger LCP over the Kahr PM9 worth trading down from a 9mm to a .380ACP for a pocket pistol?
What about that difference in price? Looks like you could have [...]
By itgoesboom from TacticalGearReview.com Forums 7/13/2007
Got the Spec Ops Mout rig that I won in the contest on Monday, and I have been playing with it the last few days. Pictures will be awhile, maybe next week, as I have just been too busy to take any.
So what it is:
A compact [...]
The ATK Law Enforcement (LE) Resource Library is a resource that can not be ignored by any serious student of tactical ammunition. Showcasing Federal and Speer LE ammo on their web site, categories include the following….
Catalogs (not only Federal and Speer ammo catalogs but also a shotshell and .223 rifle data books) [...]
The X-Five Tactical utilizes a light-weight alloy frame with a Picatinny rail to provide the tactical edge. Features include ergonomic beavertail grip, standard single-action trigger w/ ambidextrous thumb safety, post and dot contrast sights and polymer grips. The X-Five Tactical is nimble without sacrificing natural pointability and balance. The Tactical comes with two 15 round [...]
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