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.

wow. tag

holy shit

That's a new kind of AD!

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

Holy rat shit, Batman!!!

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

Lithium batteries can react badly, looks like this was one of those times.

this

Holy crap, that's one hell of an explosion! Tag for SureFire's solution...

Great documentation of the incident

In on one.


Jesus that aluminum body was holding a whole lot of pressure.

Glad you're ok OP



ETA:  Glad I buy Fenix flashlights....(sorry, wanted to be the first)

HOLY CRAP!!

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.

2 or 3 weeks I guess. I use it as a back up light. Even working days you always want a light on you. This is for when I dont have the big light.

That is crazy!



Good thing you got it off your belt in time.

I bet you a pay check it was lithium batteries that got compromised and water got in them somehow........ever seen what happens when you touch raw lithium to water? And being in a tight cylinder like that it acted like a gun barrel.
Guarantee that is what happened.










EDIT: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oxhW7TtXIAM

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.

Holy shit! You are lucky that didn't go off while it was on your belt.

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 ive never heard of that happening

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

Yep.



 

Wow!  That's impressive

it will buff out!

This isn't unheard of with CR123 batteries, as others have alluded to.

However, this is the first time I've actually seen pictures of it.

IIRC, most flashlight companies warn against the use of certain types of batteries because of the danger of this occurring under the right circumstances.

I''m curious as to what Surefire will say.....

jeeeeeze

So what would happen if you mount a Surefire on a Glock? Would we all die?

....
 

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.

Lithium has it's place but LED lights sure seem safer and more practical.

we would go out with one hell of a bang

Yep.  More common than people think, this episode was...excessive, however.  Glad you're OK!

IBKJEHAWIH





In Before Keith J explains how and why it happened.

My guess is the batteries were faulty.

They should put some kind of pressure relief valve in the housing....

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.

The batteries are than likely at fault here.  Once the batteries blew, the aluminum body acted the same way as a pipe bomb does.  The pressure expands until the container (body) can no longer retain it and it explodes releasing its energy almost instantly.  I'm sure that Surefire will make things right.

little late for that isn't it?



 

I believe they have a 12 year shelf life so I don't think it would matter.  I do know that if he sends the light to Surefire they will send him a new one.

http://theprepared.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=66&Itemid=40

Holy Hell man glad your okay

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...

cool

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