# Surefire round body light no marked what model on tail cap



## P.08 (Feb 21, 2022)

Is this correct or a replacement tail cap? Took this in on trade this weekend. Also the rubber is smooth instead of textured. Is this a real early light? He upgraded it to LED, I thought Surefire parked bulbs in blue? Chinese knockoff? He has the original incandescent bulb and will get them to me.
Thanks for any insight.


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## Dave D (Feb 21, 2022)

That all looks genuine to me, early tail caps did indeed have a smooth finish.


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## ABTOMAT (Feb 21, 2022)

Yeah, that's an older 6P.


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## P.08 (Feb 21, 2022)

Thanks for the fast replies. Do earlier lights command any premium over other round body lights?


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## bykfixer (Feb 21, 2022)

Piece a junk knock off……I'll glady take it off your hands.
Just kidding. 

Yup it's a genuine article, including the P60L. Nice score.


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## ampdude (Feb 22, 2022)

It's an old 6P round body. The tailcap is correct. He put a P60L in there to upgrade the original lamp assembly. I don't really consider it an "upgrade", but some people do. All looks legit to me.


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## bykfixer (Feb 22, 2022)

At the time the P60L was probably a boon for those who bought bulbs and batteries out of their pocket. More run time off expensive batteries and more lifespan from the "bulb" per sae.


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## michaex (Feb 22, 2022)

Smooth boots came first? I was under the impression it was the other way around for some reason.


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## ampdude (Feb 22, 2022)

michaex said:


> Smooth boots came first? I was under the impression it was the other way around for some reason.


In my experience with the older 90's lights, the smooth boots were first. Then the textured ones came later.


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## michaex (Feb 22, 2022)

Thank you @ampdude I have a 9P that came with '96 instruction, with textured boot. As a reference point to anyone trying to date theirs 

Personally I prefer textured ones for use - they show less aging/wear that the smooth ones.


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## Tempest UK (Feb 22, 2022)

The smooth boots came first and you'll also see different bodies on the "round body" 6Ps with the older ones (like OP's) having the knurling flush with the body. Later versions had a groove machined around the knurling at either end.


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## thermal guy (Feb 22, 2022)

bykfixer said:


> At the time the P60L was probably a boon for those who bought bulbs and batteries out of their pocket. More run time off expensive batteries and more lifespan from the "bulb" per sae.


I got these just so I could stuff them in my spares carrier. Only led that will fit. Figured it’s better then nothing


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## P.08 (Feb 22, 2022)

Thanks for all the info, you guy know your lights! I take it the LED bulb is not the best one that was made by Surefire?


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## muichimon (Feb 23, 2022)

The SUREFIRE 6P in this image has both smooth boots, but the one on the left is an older type.
The range of body nurling is narrower and the logo on the switch is not SUREFIRE 6P but only SUREFIRE.
I think yours is also the older model on the left.

P60L is not even a good one now.
There are many drop-in modules that are much brighter and have better color rendering.


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## lightfooted (Feb 23, 2022)

Very interesting. I know mine is from about 1994 and also has almost useless knurling. Note the 6P tail cap though. I guess they felt the aggressive knurling was too aggressive? Then went back to it later on?


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## ampdude (Feb 23, 2022)

michaex said:


> Thank you @ampdude I have a 9P that came with '96 instruction, with textured boot. As a reference point to anyone trying to date theirs
> 
> Personally I prefer textured ones for use - they show less aging/wear that the smooth ones.



The light is probably a bit newer than the 96's dated instruction manual. SF always tended to toss old instruction manuals in with new lights. It wasn't uncommon to see a 2004 instruction manual in a 2012 light back when they were still doing incans. I don't think the textured boots came out until the very late 90's.


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## lightfooted (Feb 23, 2022)

You might be right but for my 3P, which is in my avatar pic but is wearing the 6Ps tailcap and the 6P is wearing the 3P tailcap, which is textured and I bought it in 1995 or '96 at the latest.


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## ampdude (Feb 23, 2022)

lightfooted said:


> You might be right but for my 3P, which is in my avatar pic but is wearing the 6Ps tailcap and the 6P is wearing the 3P tailcap, which is textured and I bought it in 1995 or '96 at the latest.



Oh okay, good info. Just going by my own experience. They might have come out with the textured tailcaps earlier than I thought, but I rarely see them on lights pre-96'. The earliest SF catalog I've seen it in is 1996 as well. I think I saw a 1994 one once where they were all smooth tailcaps. Both of my earlier 90's 9N's are smooth tailcaps too. I'm pretty sure the transition had to have been around 1995.


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## lightfooted (Feb 23, 2022)

I'm pretty sure too. I bought the 3P to mate with a Kahr K9 that I had just purchased and was hoping to make a light/pistol combo as compact as possible. Unfortunately the 3P was not as impressive as the 6P. I ended up sticking with the 6P until more recently.


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## ampdude (Feb 23, 2022)

Hehe, yea I don't blame you. The 3 volt lights suck. That's why I never got into the E1e either... I have a few, but I delegate them to night stand duty for when I need to take a leak. Otherwise they are just too dim. The P60/MN03 lamp assemblies are just on a whole different level of performance.


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## Tempest UK (Feb 23, 2022)

If you really get down into all of the minor variations there have been many, many changes to the 6P. As noted above trying to establish an authoritative timeline and date all of these changes/versions is very difficult as production runs would often overlap.


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## P.08 (Feb 23, 2022)

muichimon said:


> P60L is not even a good one now.
> There are many drop-in modules that are much brighter and have better color rendering.


No kidding, I put fresh batteries in it and then compared it to a little Streamlight Microstream. The little light was brighter! As these old Surefires are so collectable I won't use them anyway. I have a few Streamlights that can be abused and I don't care.


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## muichimon (Feb 27, 2022)

lightfooted said:


> Very interesting. I know mine is from about 1994 and also has almost useless knurling. Note the 6P tail cap though. I guess they felt the aggressive knurling was too aggressive? Then went back to it later on?
> View attachment 24305


The knurling on older switches is rougher, with a diamond-shaped depression rather than a dug groove. This shape of knurling is not seen in subsequent SUREFIRE products. It may have been changed to match the knurling on the body.


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## P.08 (Feb 27, 2022)

The guy I got this from just dropped off 3 P60 and 1 R60 bulb. Put the old pre 6P back to stock configuration.


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## lightfooted (Feb 27, 2022)

Nice! That's what I did with mine. I have other lights, even a couple of other Surefires that I use more often so there is just no need to "use" the old 6P now.


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## bykfixer (Feb 28, 2022)

The R60 is a somewhat reduced output P60 designed to allow more run time for their old rechargeable battery in the 6R flashlight.
Hard to come by these days, it has a very similar throw as the P60 with reduction in spill. If I recall correct it was listed as either 55 or 60 lumens while the P60 was listed as 65.


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