We were given a few assorted naval flares, which apparently have expired in June 1980!

We opened them up, and found 4 different powders in them.

The powder looked and smelled like new.

There was about 8 kgs altogether.

We mixed the lot together, and thought of trying it in our revolvers for plinking.

First we tried 2 grains in a 357 Magnum with a 158 bullet.

The bullet got stuck in the barrel!

Next we tried gradually increased loads until 7.5 grains.

This seemed to be like a +P in a 38 Special.

We reduced the loads to 5.0 grains, which worked great in a 357 with 148 wad cutters.

Shot very accurately.

We tried 3.0 grains in a 38 Special, with a 148 wad cutter, and this worked great too!

So we now have enough powder for our revolvers that if we load half in each, 38 Special and 357 Magnum, we get over 15,000 rounds!

Well I applaud your willingness to experiment. If it hadn't worked, I am sure it would have made a great video.

Interesting.
I remember taking apart a WWII flare and finding that the powder charge appeared to a few grains of black powder. I never did actually fire the thing.
C.G.B.

Remind me to never stand near you when you are shooting and to never shoot ant of your reloads.

quote:

Originally posted by df06:
Remind me to never stand near you when you are shooting and to never shoot ant of your reloads.

Very good advice!

You might think I am nuts for doing this, but, frankly, there is absolutely no danger involved.

And I am actually one of the sane people here.

If I tell you what some people here do, you would never believe it

It was probably people like you Saeed that helped advance shooting and reloading in the early years. I'm sure there was a few accidents but progress none the less. Post some pic's of the flares.

Steve.........

I applaud Saeed and his experiments.
I have little use for excessive safety and caution; nothing will ever be discovered that way. Civilization wasn't built by fraidy-cat pansies who should not procreate.
Unfortunately, modern society wants to protect them....

I am afraid we did not take any photos while we took them apart out in the desert, but I do have a photo of the labels.

I will post it tomorrow.

We have had unmarked powders given to us in the past, and have always used them, without any trouble at all.

The 357 Magnum is always my first choice to try it in.

Years ago we were given a truckload of 7.62x39 ammo, that had gotten wet, and the primers corroded.

It seemed a shame to waste all that powder.

So we pulled all the bullets off, and saved the powder.

They were from different manufacturers so had different powders.

I mixed the lot together and used it for both 222 Remington and 223 Remington ammo.

Worked like a charm

Sometimes, despite all my efforts, I do get disappointed.

Years ago I found an unexploaded bomb. It was at an area where our Air Force used to train bombing runs.

It was quite large cylinder.

I took it to the beach, where we normally shoot, and fired shots at it with 222 I think.

Did not have any effect at all.

I drove back home, and got the largest rifle I had at the time.

A 375 H&H Magnum, with full metal jacket bullets.

I shot the bomb, and all I got was smoke coming out of it!

I was expecting an almighty bang!

Saeed, I have done some experimental reloading, but nothing compared to you. It's a small wonder you lived through adolescence! LOL

Many years ago, long before we learnt to reload, we experimented with making canons.

We used to get some sort of firework, which came in a square cardboard, about 2.5 inches cubed.

They had a fuse, and went of with a very loud bang.

We thought of using these to make a canon


We got a metal pipe, got large marbles, rapped cloth around them to fit in the pipe.

We disassembled the fireworks, got the powder.

We dug a hole in the ground, put the pipe in surrounded by rocks, pointing at an angle.

We must have used a but too much powder, as the bloody thing flew out altogether.

Some of the rocks took to the air too.

My grandad was not too impressed, and we got told off.

We had to curtail our experiments for a few days before we started off again.

Eventually we did manage to shoot the marbles from a metal pipe

I am a firm believer in the fact that until your number is up, nothing is going to happen to you.

A guy named Clark use do a lot of experimenting that others thought dangerous, blowing up guns and such. Sounded dangerous but he was a smart Engineer looking for knowledge in the Twilight Zone. He's very much alive and uninjured today.
If memory serves me correctly he was ejected from AR. roger.

quote:

Originally posted by dpcd:
I applaud Saeed and his experiments.
I have little use for excessive safety and caution; nothing will ever be discovered that way. Civilization wasn't built by fraidy-cat pansies who should not procreate.
Unfortunately, modern society wants to protect them....

Dude! Now I'm going to have to retreat to my safe-space! The one with soft musack and videos of frolicking puppies! You should have given me a trigger warning!

Salpeter,Sulphur,Charcoal 75% 10% 15% all obtained either from the local butcher and pharmacy.

Now take a galvanized 1 inch water pipe, threaded on one end and fitted with a collar, screw in a end cap ( stopper ) with a hole drilled in the stopper to take a fuse garnered from fire crackers.

Mount the "barrel with pipe clamps to a carriage made up of 2x4's add a axle and wheels from a stroller.....

Drawn behind a bicycle no city council garbage can was safe from our efforts !

It all came to a head when I stuffed a blocked clay airpipe under our neighbours solarium with gunpowder and a green orange as projectile thinking it would shoot the orange like a cannon ball ! About a coffee cans worth of powder ignited with a flashlight bulb of which the glass was broken but filament left intact!

Well it did not go down as intended ! instead the whole thing blew up taking the solarium with it ! The rest did not go down to well for me and my mates.

One thing I agree on is the problem of disposing of out-of-date flares. I used to keep flares but now, thanks to PLBs etc, the land lubber hardly needs to them any more.

quote:

Originally posted by ALF:
Salpeter,Sulphur,Charcoal 75% 10% 15% all obtained either from the local butcher and pharmacy.

Okay . . . I'm going to date myself (but not in a carnal, self-abusive way).

Back in the 50's, when kids were given chemistry sets, mine contained Potassium nitrate (saltpeter), charcoal and sulphur. And it came with a recipe book for experiments, one (recipe) of which was for black powder.

Worked like charm, as I recall!

Had a friend take me up in his fighter jet.

He did his best to scare the daylight out of me by doing some incredible aerobatics.

Then one day I took him in our Cessna 182 down the coast, to take photos.

It was a very calm day, and the sea was like a mirror.

I was flying a couple of hundred yards off shore, and very low. Our videos look like we were in a boat.

I was no more than a few feet above the sea.

He said "Aren't we a bit low?"

"As long as the tires are dry we are high. You have to keep an eye on the tire on your side though, just to make sure"

"You get the tires WET?"

"Only once, when I tried to pull up to avoid running into Mubarak's boat. I was trying to scare him"

"You are MAD!"

"Not really. I am still allowed to fly"

Saeed, with great respect, you have enormous . . . er . . . antlers!

quote:

We mixed the lot together, and thought of trying it in our revolvers for plinking.First we tried 2 grains in a 357 Magnum with a 158 bullet.

I have 8lbs of blank powder from 30-06 blanks.

I found it is to fast to use in any thing 1.5 grs would push the bullet out the barrel 2 grs would cause sticky cases in a 38spl case.

When using unknown powder starting low and knowing when to stop is the key.

I decided the blank was to hot to use with bullets.

Use to design and build working black powder cannons As small as 1/2" and as large as 1 1/2". Tested them by filling the barrels 1/2 full of black powder and 1/2 full of scrap lead. The only adverse reaction was blowing the tr-unions off one barrel. Sent some rolling a good distance.
roger

quote:

Use to design and build working black powder cannons

I guess that any decent steel now days that one would bore for a cannon. Would be a lot stronger then casting a barrel like the used too.

THAT SOUNDS LIKE FUN!

quote:

Originally posted by Saeed:

I was flying a couple of hundred yards off shore, and very low. Our videos look like we were in a boat.

I was no more than a few feet above the sea.