Many stores carry CR123's, including convenience stores, pharmacies, grocery stores, hardware stores, electronics retailers, so on so forth. Years ago before they were popular for tactical flashlights, Duracell and Energizer sold them in two-piece blister packs for $10-15!
They were used in SLR and DSLR cameras. You can still find them today in the two-piece blister packs for the same ridiculous prices, but Energizer now sells them in 12-piece blister packs like Surefire for about $30...much more reasonable if you can find those. Most consumers have never seen a tactical light...so why should Duracell and Energizer stop raking in the dough on CR123s?
If you want an AA light on a weapon and you're afraid of going outside of established brands like Surefire, Surefire makes the Outdoorsman AA which runs on a pair of AA's. I don't know if they make an adapter that will mount it because it looks like an oddball diameter, but it's one possible path. Obviously you'd want to run lithium AA's or high quality rechargables like Eneloops and not junky alkalines.
“The practical success of an idea, irrespective of its inherent merit, is dependent on the attitude of the contemporaries." Nikola Tesla
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