I picked up one of these at good will for five bucks and it looked new with all of the lenses. Then I put a twenty dollar led bulb in it. Now it's awesome.
I’m a retired Army Infantryman and while I was stationed at Ft. Campbell, KY from 1986-93 sometimes we’d have some brave raccoons wander into our perimeter and start scrounging for food in a trash bag we used for MRE wrappers. We could make out who and what it was so to not scare off the raccoons we’d use the red lens filter on the flash;IG hot to observe them and one time I saw one that stood up to nearly 4 feet tall! This guy looked around toward us not sure what was going on then went back to digging around. Ya had to be careful on scaring them off since some would attack your ass! Nothing funnier than watching a friend run through the woods yelling “get him off of me!” Lol.
There are cheap reproductions of these out there, which is surprising, since you can get a real one for about $15. There are lots of subtle differences, but one easy way to tell is to look at the protective 'ears' either side of the switch. The ears have smoothly rounded corners on the real ones, but the poor quality repros have a sharp angle, as if the corner was cut off instead of rounded over.
Thank you , I got a full Vietnam Dress outs and Ranger Uniform and a few of these from a lady that was throwing it all away . She did not want her Dead Husbands stuff . I saved it
I got my first one when I was 17yrs old during Basic Training at Ft.Dix in 85’ . I just bought two new ones from Amazon, put in a LED upgrade plus a spare and AAA battery plastic adapters which replace the old D’s and weighs hardly anything, so light it’s just mind blowing ! I also picked up a small multi battery solar charger/ battery bank and rechargeable AAA’s as part of my kit .
Oh, and there’s supposed to be a spare light bulb in the batter compartment cap, it’s a rectangular spot in the black plastic ‘plug’ the battery spring sets on.
You can screw as many of the bottom cap things together as you want. In basic we had two of them as long as a staff from generations of trainee donations. Fireguard carried them around while roving. Had to treat them like the guidon when an NCO came by for surprise visits.
There should be 4 lenses in the storage compartment, red, blue, green and yellow. Green/yellow are used for signaling. Blue is used as blood tracker and signal. Red is used to keep your eyes from loosing your night vision adjustment and for signaling. My cousin was in the Marines and that's what he told me the colored filters were used.
Those are tough but very heavy with the "D" cell batteries. Today's flashlight made by Duracell with a double "A" battery. Small, light, with 3 settings. Low, high and sos.
During basic in 89 I had two of these just stop working, never bought another again. Just used the broken one for inspections. Got a maglite for actual use instead.
You can get led bulbs for the moonbeam, and theres several other mods you can do to it, just ask a vet. We used to make our own lens when i was serving for signaling.
we called them moonbeams in the military and as long as ya use the incandescent bulbs its emp proof, but yes you can get led bulbs for them, you'll get 16.5 hrs of light with alkaline batteries like duracell, and don't store yer light with batteries because they will explode
The old school 90 degree Vietnam era flashlights is excellent piece of gear. I’ve had mine since I was a kid in the 80s!
O yes they make a conversion LED light kit for these on amazon. I've never pulled the trigger on one yet. Great video!!!
Tuff and rugged always worked issued to me in the army remember doing map training with the red lenses bringing back good memories thanks bro!
I picked up one of these at good will for five bucks and it looked new with all of the lenses. Then I put a twenty dollar led bulb in it. Now it's awesome.
I’m a retired Army Infantryman and while I was stationed at Ft. Campbell, KY from 1986-93 sometimes we’d have some brave raccoons wander into our perimeter and start scrounging for food in a trash bag we used for MRE wrappers. We could make out who and what it was so to not scare off the raccoons we’d use the red lens filter on the flash;IG hot to observe them and one time I saw one that stood up to nearly 4 feet tall! This guy looked around toward us not sure what was going on then went back to digging around. Ya had to be careful on scaring them off since some would attack your ass! Nothing funnier than watching a friend run through the woods yelling “get him off of me!” Lol.
Thank you for your service 🇺🇸
There are cheap reproductions of these out there, which is surprising, since you can get a real one for about $15.
There are lots of subtle differences, but one easy way to tell is to look at the protective 'ears' either side of the switch.
The ears have smoothly rounded corners on the real ones, but the poor quality repros have a sharp angle, as if the corner was cut off instead of rounded over.
great video
Thank you , I got a full Vietnam Dress outs and Ranger Uniform and a few of these from a lady that was throwing it all away . She did not want her Dead Husbands stuff . I saved it
I got my first one when I was 17yrs old during Basic Training at Ft.Dix in 85’ . I just bought two new ones from Amazon, put in a LED upgrade plus a spare and AAA battery plastic adapters which replace the old D’s and weighs hardly anything, so light it’s just mind blowing !
I also picked up a small multi battery solar charger/ battery bank and rechargeable AAA’s as part of my kit .
Oh, and there’s supposed to be a spare light bulb in the batter compartment cap, it’s a rectangular spot in the black plastic ‘plug’ the battery spring sets on.
These were called, "moon beams" in the USMC bootcamp in 88, LOL. Brought back memories.
You can screw as many of the bottom cap things together as you want. In basic we had two of them as long as a staff from generations of trainee donations. Fireguard carried them around while roving. Had to treat them like the guidon when an NCO came by for surprise visits.
There should be 4 lenses in the storage compartment, red, blue, green and yellow. Green/yellow are used for signaling. Blue is used as blood tracker and signal. Red is used to keep your eyes from loosing your night vision adjustment and for signaling. My cousin was in the Marines and that's what he told me the colored filters were used.
Those are tough but very heavy with the "D" cell batteries. Today's flashlight made by Duracell with a double "A" battery. Small, light, with 3 settings. Low, high and sos.
We used them in the boyscout we used to go to a military store
During basic in 89 I had two of these just stop working, never bought another again. Just used the broken one for inspections. Got a maglite for actual use instead.
You can get led bulbs for the moonbeam, and theres several other mods you can do to it, just ask a vet. We used to make our own lens when i was serving for signaling.
I learn english and like your video cause that very understandable.
Used those in late 80’s
we called them moonbeams in the military and as long as ya use the incandescent bulbs its emp proof, but yes you can get led bulbs for them, you'll get 16.5 hrs of light with alkaline batteries like duracell, and don't store yer light with batteries because they will explode
le cambias le pones una bombilla led i listo
gracias tio
Weak bulbs, they are neat though.
The white lens is the IR lens to be used with night vison. Invisible to the naked eye.
Wow… never knew. Thank you for intel. 🤙🤙🤙
An IR lens would look black, not white. Like the lens on the front of your TV remote.
The white filter is just a diffuser for close-up tasks.