The purpose of this site is to educate people about M-80's and the powder used in them. This is a no frills site, the effort we would have wasted on some things has been applied to areas we feel more important.
The "experts", government and NCSB (National Consumer Safety Board) like to believe the American people aren't responsible enought to be trusted with powerful fireworks. Granted, there have been a number of people who have turned their hand into a bloody mist with such devices. Is there nothing to be said for survival of the fittest? The stupid kid who holds one too long doesn't grow up to have stupid kids of his own. Those words are a bit harsh, and I'll apologize as soon as someone apologizes to me for becoming a stastic to get these banned with.
Usa crackers cannot leagally contain more than 50 milligrams (.05 grams) of pyrotechnic composition per cracker.(Aerial "reports," which are contained within aerial devices such as rockets and shells, can contain up to 129.6 milligrams of composition per report.
Part of the problem with creating your own firecrackers is improvising. Nearly everything you use will be designed for other things. Ping-pong balls make devestating cherry bombs. Cases can be made out of flexible(to prevent shrapnel) water tubing, or Kraft paper with wooden dowell end plugs.(I finally just started lopping sections of the paper roll straight from the package and duct taping them)
Respect flashpowder
It's very easy to look at 20 grams and think that it's not very much. When it goes off, count on losing at least whatever parts of you are within a 2 foot radius of it. If you have a hard time understanding this, fill a ping-pong ball about 1/2 full (10 grams) and set it off. When doing this keep several things in mind. How thin the walls of the ball are, how "little" 10 grams was and supposedly for every time the powder is doubled, the explosive power increases 8 times! The powder really is the key to the whole thing! If you've ever tried to create powerful cracker from store bought gunpowder, you know it's impossible. The pathetic thing will usually heave the end plugs out or manage a small pop. Gunpowder simply will not live up to it's reputation without being well confined. Critical detonable mass is the amount of powder necessary to detonate without confinment and produce a shockwave. CDM of flashpowder is 30-50 grams, horribly impressive compared to blackpowder (glorified and world famous) with a CDM of over 500 POUNDS! Powder should be mixed by gently rolling back and fourth on newspaper. If a formula requiring sulfer is used, it will increase the sensitivity of the powder.
This knowledge is power, use it wisely. It is not found in many (if any) other places on the web. Be respectful of this information and the power that can be derrived from it.
BE CAREFUL don't whine if you get "unarmed" x |
