I'v experienced issues similar to this. It seems to be lag with the flashlight catching up with its current state. i.e. in your hands, on the floor, etc.

So this might just be some server FPS issue? That would actually explain why it's happening sometimes and not always.

This is a duplicate post on a problem the developers are already aware of.

Please check if the bug has been reported before creating a duplicate report and instead vote up the original.

The original report can be found here: http://feedback.dayzgame.com/view.php?id=54

Thanks.

Duplicate Issue Closed