Hi and welcome to the BLF
Here is my take on a Major thrower.
This is from the shop Meritline and Andi - our resident X7 thrower/modder king - says that besides a little bit quality loss from poorer ano it is on par with the original
It is basically a TrustFire X7/T8 (also sold under other names) with a XML already installed instead of the Luminus SBT 50 that mine came with.
It has a wide head and should throw about 70 kCd in stock form. Should you want to mod it there is a great thread here about some of our german members who are throw maniacs! And very nice people who are helpful and has a LOT of fun with their projects :-)
That whole thread is a fountain of ideas and knowledge about how to mod this particular light.
As you've worked in radioshack before and mention that you believe minor modding is within your abilities I just wanted to say HI and give you an option that even with UCL lens, a XML2 U2 on copper PCB would set you back less than 100 USD. Mine runs at a steady 175 kCd with a DX XML T6 on their take on copper PCB and I dont think I even care to improve it anymore. It just works. And I have used about 110 USD including 2 sets of 3100 mAh protected panasonic batteries.