Hmm… after seeing the innards of yours I’m inclined to follow suit and do some tweaking. Nice looking head, too. Did you rub off the coating and will it patina now?
It looks like we are looking at nickel. All Noctigons are very thin coated gold on the outside, nickel underneath to help the with the gold bonding, and then the solid copper under the nickel. Around the indentations, you can see all 3 layers.
The gold can be removed practically waving super fine grit sandpaper over it, while the nickel takes a little bit of rubbing. I've sanded down many a Noctigons over the years.
CRX, what battery are you using? It must be 16340 or cr123? I just took about .005” off of each end of the battery tube to square it up and improve contact. I don’t think I can go any shorter and still take a 18350. Also mine is a S41 but I doubt there’s any difference.