My buddy Poncho (not his real name) sent me an email asking if I'd like a Code 4 Jr flashlight. Well, uh does a cat come with a climbing gear? Can a DC politician out lie a cross tie? Man, you betcha. It's a vintage flashlight I had hoped to acquire but figured would never happen. I stopped looking for one a few years back. Then out of nowhere one arrived on my front porch from left of Albequrque along with some other cool stuff in the box.
Once upon a time a small company called LA Screw built some novel flashlights that were in their day, pretty good. Era-wise they were sandwiched between early Kel-Lite products and early early Maglite products. There's a California Cop Light thread around here somewhere that mentions LA Screw in some pretty good detail. Well they made one called Code 4, which in police speak means all is well. They made other stuff too but the Code 4 was their big hit.
Along the way a company called GT Price bought up LA Screw and continued making them under the original name. This did no go well for LA Screw who had some durability issues to start with then the mother ship GT Price worked in some cost cutting ideas during production which added to the durability issues and before long the Code 4 was not selling very well.
Enter the minimag. In the early 90's nearly every light maker had a version of the minimag. A 2x AA flashlight using a bi-pin T1 bulb was being churned out of flashlight factories nearly everywhere. GT Price had one called the Code 4 Jr. If one is familiar with older LA Screw products they will recognize their DNA in this little Code 4 Jr.
Now the Code 4 Jr took a page from JustRite's aviator number from the military where a flashlight can be converted to a red cockpit light via a neat trick. The Jr trick is to pull the bezel all the way forward until it clicks for a minimag style tunnel beam or pull it toward the rear and it becomes a fairly low output red floody flashlight. Yeah, but the tunnel beam has a big ole fuzzy center. Back when they were made not many people even paid attention to the dark spot in a flashlight beam. Hell I'd never known it existed until I joined CPF and learned the art of white wall hunting nit-pickery.
The Jr has a shirt pocket clip and a nail hook. The switch is a modular number straight out of the LA Screw playbook where they designed a system where one could place the switch between lengthy barrels of a giant D cell light for better balance. The switch also has side rails for preventing accidental turn on and doubling as an anti-roll feature. The body is fairly grippy due to deep crevices in the knurling. The lens is a plastic with an LA Screw smoke cutter disk in the center, hence the donut hole in the beam and the lack of broad spill.
The only Code 4 Jr I've seen here at CPF was shown in the Abtomat thread where he had acquired one along the way and added it to his amazing cop light collection.
I'll add some pictures later and maybe add some more details.
Poncho von Brickenbanger, thanks for the Code 4 Jr bro.
Once upon a time a small company called LA Screw built some novel flashlights that were in their day, pretty good. Era-wise they were sandwiched between early Kel-Lite products and early early Maglite products. There's a California Cop Light thread around here somewhere that mentions LA Screw in some pretty good detail. Well they made one called Code 4, which in police speak means all is well. They made other stuff too but the Code 4 was their big hit.
Along the way a company called GT Price bought up LA Screw and continued making them under the original name. This did no go well for LA Screw who had some durability issues to start with then the mother ship GT Price worked in some cost cutting ideas during production which added to the durability issues and before long the Code 4 was not selling very well.
Enter the minimag. In the early 90's nearly every light maker had a version of the minimag. A 2x AA flashlight using a bi-pin T1 bulb was being churned out of flashlight factories nearly everywhere. GT Price had one called the Code 4 Jr. If one is familiar with older LA Screw products they will recognize their DNA in this little Code 4 Jr.
Now the Code 4 Jr took a page from JustRite's aviator number from the military where a flashlight can be converted to a red cockpit light via a neat trick. The Jr trick is to pull the bezel all the way forward until it clicks for a minimag style tunnel beam or pull it toward the rear and it becomes a fairly low output red floody flashlight. Yeah, but the tunnel beam has a big ole fuzzy center. Back when they were made not many people even paid attention to the dark spot in a flashlight beam. Hell I'd never known it existed until I joined CPF and learned the art of white wall hunting nit-pickery.
The Jr has a shirt pocket clip and a nail hook. The switch is a modular number straight out of the LA Screw playbook where they designed a system where one could place the switch between lengthy barrels of a giant D cell light for better balance. The switch also has side rails for preventing accidental turn on and doubling as an anti-roll feature. The body is fairly grippy due to deep crevices in the knurling. The lens is a plastic with an LA Screw smoke cutter disk in the center, hence the donut hole in the beam and the lack of broad spill.
The only Code 4 Jr I've seen here at CPF was shown in the Abtomat thread where he had acquired one along the way and added it to his amazing cop light collection.
I'll add some pictures later and maybe add some more details.
Poncho von Brickenbanger, thanks for the Code 4 Jr bro.
