2 AA Maglite Blank Mod

Objective: The objective of this project is to make a blank/starter firer with common easily obtainable material with minimum cost, minimal amount of tools required. This project budgets at $25NZD max. Caution/Warning/Disclaimer: As this project fires .22 rim fire blank concrete rounds, Caution IS Strongly Advised. I wrote this based on my own experiment and is for educational purpose. Please adhere to your local laws. 22 rim fire blanks do not have any bullet but contains gun power thus there are elements of danger involved. I will not be held accountable for your action or stupidity.

Preassembly
1/ Collect all parts as per attached Diagram according to measurements. 2/ The 2AA Mini Maglite torch itself, disassemble the torch and gut it completely. You will need to only keep parts: 1 + 2 (end cap and rubber O ring), 6 + 7(body and O ring), 10 + 11(head and O ring) and 15 (Head cap). The rest you can biff it away or stored in a container for other use. Its not needed for this project. 3/ Compressor fitting, you will need to enlarge the hole to 6mm diameter (to fit the blank casing). Use a 6mm steel drill bit for this. The 6mm hole MUST be straight and not crocked! NB: This compressor fitting comes in two types, At the threaded end, one has a larger hole on bottom than that the top and the other has same size hole on the bottom as on the top (approx. 5mm). The latter one is the one you need. 4/ Bolt and Nuts, You will need 2 M6 nuts and 1 M6 x 130mm Bolt. You will need to use a bench grinder or a hacksaw and file to create a tip at threaded end of bolt as that tip act as a rim striker. One nut near the tip, the other nut screwed down to end of thread to keep spring in its place. The nut must not at any point be so big that it touches the inner wall of the torchs body. 5/ The Compression spring must not be too weak or two strong and the length of the smooth part of the bolt (not threaded portion). Between soft and medium strength recommended. The spring must fit the M6 bolt and not wider than the M6 nut. 6/ The washer should not be more than 1-1.5mm thick and the washer must fit nicely inside the Head cap with inner diameter the same as the top part of the compressor fitting. 7/ The end cap requires a 6mm hole drilled through the centre for the M6 bolt to fit through. 8/ The Head cap end of the Maglite body has a hole where the bulb bits and pieces fit needs to be enlarged for the threaded end of the compressor fitting to fit in tightly. 9/ Ejection port cover is steel and 50mm long and wide enough to fit over the compression spring with some movement still and is just narrower than the inner diameter of the Maglite body. Its purpose is to prevent shell casing from accidently flying back at you and to guide the bolt to a more precise landing spot on the rim of the shell required to set off the primer.

Assembly
1/ Starting with end cap, push the M6 bolt through the 6mm hole drilled earlier so when the end cap is screwed back onto the torch, the majority of the body is inside the torch tube. 2/ Drop the compression spring in and then screw one nut in down to end of thread. There should be a minimal play for the spring in lateral movement. Then screw the 2nd nut on, to the point that only 1 or so mm of the grinded striker point is exposed. This is to prevent the shell casing from forced into the 6mm drilled cavity. 3/ With the Head cap off the head, drop the washer in and screw it back onto the head. 4/ Fit the compressor fitting (threaded end facing into torch body) to the head side of the torch till no thread on the compressor fitting can be seen and screw the head back on tightly. 5/ Mark line where the head meets the body of torch and make a rectangular hole 3cm down the length of torch body and 1.5cm across. Be sure to file out all rough parts. This is your loading and ejecting port. Ejection Port cutting is not compulsory but just makes reloading on the spot more quickly. 6/ Finaly, make sure you insert your ejection port cover in before screwing the assembled firing mechanism thats attached to your end cap. The ejection port cover is just added protection against any possible mishaps. End Note: If you choose not to have ejection port, make sure the hole you made for the compressor fitting is big enough for the fitting to drop in but not so big that it can move around. You can then weld or epoxy the fitting to the washer in this case. All you need to reload is to unscrew the head of the torch.