I've had a maglite solitaire flashlight (1 AAA) for years, never used it much, so I made a lil matchbox out of it. I cut off the head and made a cap from a .45 cartridge. I had to machine the cut end so the cap would press in snugly, then I J.B.-welded the cap in place. I found that my old ferro rod fit nicely into the flashlight's butt end, so I cut it to size and used J.B. Weld to secure it. To cut the flashlight, .45 casing and ferro rod, I used a cordless drill as a lathe.
The matchcase can hold eight or so small matches, but it's much easier to re-insert the ferro rod with only 4 or 5. If I had cut off the extra metal ahead of the threads in the ferro end, the matches would have fit without having to be snipped, but I like the extra purchase it gives me when making a spark.
When I put a knife in one pocket and fire in the other for the day, I usually choose my matchcase over my lighters. It gives me a good excuse to practice making a fire with a spark, but it's not as handy as a bic for a quick light, unless I try to use one of those confounded strike-nowhere matches. I'll have to see how well full size matches fit.
