1983 Assault Systems Lights

Summary: During Maglite's early years they made some very custom lights in order to stimulate sales. This one was done for a firearms accessory retailer Assault Systems. It is one of only two lights where Maglite put another company's logo on the bezel. There were only a few hundred of these lights produced in 1983 and I've never seen another like it.

Even after collecting for 12 years I still occasionally come across a light I've never seen before. This one is exactly that! It is a super rare Olive Green Assault Systems 4D 1983 Maglite. In 1983 Maglite was still very much a new company. They were only around for 4 years and they were selling about 100,000 lights a year. While that may seem like a lot Maglite knew they could tap a lot of markets that had a demand for a premium flashlight. In order to help their light reach a larger audience Maglite partnered with retailer Assault Systems. Assault Systems was a distributor of quality made firearm and outdoor accessories that had a large mail order catalog circulation in the 1980s. Assault Systems placed and ordered 100 or so each of 2, 3 and 4 D cell lights from Maglite. These were special ordered in Olive Green anodizing, a lanyard ring tail cap, and with Assault Systems' logo on the bezel.

So how did I come across a super rare light like this? Well, a German reader of my blog e-mailed me with some photos of the light and a short backstory. After some discussion I was fortunate enough to be able to purchase it. When I first saw the photos I had my doubts that it was a genuine Maglite product and I thought it may have been done aftermarket. Upon receiving it I confirmed it was authentic and was in fact produced by Maglite. This is mainly because the St. Louis, MO stamping on the bezel matches the Maglite font and the light is definitely anodized because the finish is the same on the inside of the barrel. Prior to finding this light I was only aware of a small batch of Cabela's special order lights that had Cabela's logo put on the bezel. The light also has a matching anodized lanyard ring end cap. These were a seldomly ordered option on the early lights and very few were done in finishes other than black.

The prior owner was a distributor for Assault Systems and retained the light long after they sold out. The lights actually took quite a while to sell. In fact the light is a 1983 model, ~274,000 serial, but the catalog advertising them is from 1985 so the original 300 lights hadn't sold in 2 years. I've included some scans from the 1985 Assault Systems catalog I received with the light. The catalog lists the anodizing color as Olive Drab but my light and the lights in the catalog all appear closer to Bronze. The light doesn't actually look green at all to me. Assault Systems also sold a very rad Honda ATV and some steamy posters!

Unfortunately my light is missing the lanyard although it appears to be just a simple black paracord lanyard. I may attempt to tie one in the future as I've had a lot of fun tying paracord lanyards on my other lights. I don't see a price on the lights in the catalog I received and the prior owner couldn't remember but they had to have been over $100 in 1983 money.

Assault Systems eventually found a market for the lights in Europe because Maglite was not selling its lights outside of the U.S. in the 1980s. Assault Systems continued to sell regular, black, Maglites without the Assault Systems logo well into the late 1980s as one of Maglite's European distributors. Today Assault Systems has become Elite Survival Systems and I was able to find a short history of their brand on their website as well as some retro Assault Systems T shirts that still carry their old logo. Interestingly enough they were founded in 1979, the same year as Maglite.

Most of these special order lights must have went to Europe as I've never seen any in the U.S. Sometimes when I think I've seen everything I run across lights like this which is what makes collecting Maglites so much fun! As a parting photo I thought I'd post a pic of the Assault Systems light with one of my Cabela's lights. It's not every day you see both of these specially branded Maglite's together. They're both from a time before the internet where mail order catalogs reigned supreme.

As always I'm looking to buy Vari-Beams and Vintage/Rare Mags. Please let me know if you have any, top dollar paid.