I own a few Glocks and am ready for them to blow up any second, but NEVER expected it to happen with my Surefire.

I was at work and dont recall if I heard or smelt it sizzling first, but realized it was coming from my light on my duty belt.
It is a 9Z and I had it since I was a cop so I am guessing its maybe around 15 years old.

Anyone ever heard of this happening and why it might have happened?
====================
Copied from an email so I didnt have to type it all out twice...

I was sitting in the chair and do not recall if I heard the sizzling sound or smelt if first, but realized it was coming from my flashlight on my duty belt.
When I pulled the flashlight off my belt, It burnt my finger so I dropped it to the floor. It landed under the desk near the wall and looked like a mini thermite grenade the way it was sparking / burning.
That followed with a small explosion that blew the leg off of Ricks footstool (Sorry Rick) and forced the footstool and parts into my legs.

As I was looking to see if I was injured, within a second or two of the first explosion, it really blew. This one was huge. It had a blinding light and was louder than a shotgun fired indoors. (that is not a pleasant sound either)
The sliding glass door was open and the screen was closed. It blew like a pipe bomb and took off like a rocket and blew through the corner of the door, through the screen and landed what I paced off to be just over 90 feet away.

The door still seems structurally sound and Leo thinks just filling it with spray foam and cutting it down will repair it. The light is made by surefire and is the best quality money can buy. I had this one since I was a cop and it has to be near 15 years old. Right now, im just glad it didn't blow up while on my belt. If it had that much energy to travel over 90 feet after ripping thru the door, I might have needed a big bandaid. 8)

Right now all I got is a burnt finger tip, rushing water sound in my ears and a headache. 3 1/2 hours later.

Pics with explanations below:

This pic shows the back wall where it sparked and where the big boom took place.


Where ricks damaged stool ended up. where it hit me towards the exit side door.


This is where the light hit and then went through the door.



One of the batteries.


Where it landed.


This is a view from where it landed back towards gatehouse. Reflector maks location.





The blown off back end.




The front where it hit the door.





I commend the cameras on what they were able to pick up going through frame by frame. It caught the explosion, the light flying through the air in two sepparate spots and the carport filling up with smoke.
Keep in mind, the monitor showed better in person. These are pics of the pics.

Normal gate house view. Notice gate house in mirror.


This one you can see the flash of the explosion in the mirror.


Here is the light marked by the pen tip.


Second time it is caught, close up




These show the screen door getting blown off and the smoke cloud growing to fill the car port.








More close ups of the area where it went off.




The Battery box with lot numbers.




Anyone heard of this before?
I also have an m900 on my rifle. Is the atf gonna show up and hook me for un unregistered DD?

I guess I will have to write surefire as well and see about the lifetime warranty.

How long had the batteries been in there , shows how powerful those little CR 123's are

how old are those batteries? Glad you are ok thats nuts.

this

Great documentation of the incident

Man, that is really strange. Glad no one got hurt.

Im no expert. But I am going to guess it was a battery malfunction/issue. The fact that the battery is the only thing I am aware of in the flashlight that has a charge and was blown in half as seen by your pic.

Send it back to surefire and get a new one...or six

be sure to send me one of the six for giving you the great idea.

I am glad you are ok.

That is crazy!

Good thing you got it off your belt in time.

Are your batteries as ancient as that box appears to be, or do you just reuse it? I don't know if old batteries would matter or not, but that was my first thought.

It's called "Rapid Vent with Flame". It's not the first time this has happened with those CR123 batteries. More common with the cheapy versions. I'm guessing you didn't use the light much and the batts were pretty old? Please tell me I'm right, because that was a hell of a thing you just had happen.

WOW!I've heard of this before,but never seen one documented this good!

I have. I've been using AAA lights more lately.

it will buff out!

jeeeeeze

....

impressive , email surefire and i bet they send you a few new lights and anything else you want to keep your mouth shut and avoid being sued.

we would go out with one hell of a bang

IBKJEHAWIH


In Before Keith J explains how and why it happened.

My guess is the batteries were faulty.

Wow, I've also got a surefire 6P/9P that converts from 2 CR123's to a recharge-style battery from surefire, and I've had mine since 1987 or so, never seen or even HEARD of anything like that ever happening.

little late for that isn't it?

Umm....wow. I'm going to go out on a limb and say that your batteries had a SERIOUS defect. If they were SF bats then SF owes you a new light and some bats that don't blow up.

It does happen from time to time. If you go over to Candlepowerforums (the flashlight geeks) and check there, you'll find some more stories. In fact I'd reccomend the OP go over there and register just to tell his story and show the pictures, they'll be fascinated.

One member posted that he had one go off just sitting in a cabinet, and the battery cap went through the cabinet door.

One thing that can happen with paired Lithium CR123A's is if one cell is weak and dead, and the other cell is at full charge, the good cell will try to charge the dead one. Or if from manufacturing variances one battery has an unusualy high internal impedance. And in either case... Lithium primaries don't take too kindly to being charged. Then they go into a runaway heat/resistance cycle, and... kablooey.

You can get tested and resistance-matched pairs of CR123A batteries that are soldered together in a stick so there's almost no chance of this happening. I'm wondering if the last time the OP changed the batteries he accidentaly reinserted an old one with the new one. http://www.batteryjunction.com/titanium-cr123a-double.html



LOL WUT?

You can have a lithium powered LED flashlight. What are you talking about? I have several LED flashlights that use CR123A's...

He is pretty lucky that this happened in an aluminum body flashlight. Would a G2 have jacked up his hand?