Exploding tagets

They look interesting. A guy at the range a while back made his own, but I can't remember the ingredients

The ones I have seen are made of Tannarite. We do not allow them on our range. Some knuckle head sat on on the 6 inch steel pipe we have across posts to hold the belting for targets and it put a huge dent in it! Then he thought it was so cool he was going to do it again till I stopped him. 30 days suspension may have taught him better manners and how to appreciate something others worked hard for!

Yup, similar to Tannerite or possibly Tannerite re-branded and sold through Cabela's. Tannerite is considerably cheaper though and can be ordered via the internet.

I wouldn't think it would be welcome at a range if for no other reason, someone off site would probably call the police.

We shoot it off on private property in places loud booms don't panic the civilians...

We just got some of that at Sportsmans Warehouse. Comes with a catalyst that you mix into the jar. Label says it must be shot with a centerfire rifle. I expect some yahoo will blow some of this stuff up at the wrong time or place and it will show up on a police report ...

How big of a boom do these targets give off? M-60 or 80 type of boom? Must be pretty big to bent a 6 inch post.

Found my answer

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v...6HoY&feature=related

Hmmm ...

My story is not nearly that entertaining. Do a 20 ounce pop bottle full. I believe if it is tightly contained the effect is increased. How about a 3 foot fireball and a 6 inch deep hole in the sandy ground. Be more than 60 yards away. A hundred is probably best. DW

This is cool, but what about the targets on top shot that just basically catch fire like they're made of flash paper or something? they don't explode. I'd love those.

These would be cool, I wonder if you were to set it on 3/8" steel plate or something if it would protect what was underneath and not be a problem?

Red

I got a hunch not many ranges are up to people doing that, but it's cool. Shame you can't do it with a handgun.

Check this flick out: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AICv2K972Hc

I have a friend in Pennsylvania that wants to make his own. Anyone know where to get the ingrediants? he has tried two outfits that would not sell it to him. He is a dentist not a terrorist. Maybe he has a big tooth to extract.
Any one have any ideas??

There was an idiot here in Utah last week that got hospitalized shooting one of these targets at close range. Took some shrapnel. I think they said he was between 25-50 yards when he shot it. A google search could probably find it.

Mixture of ammonium nitrate and aluminum powder

quote:

Originally posted by wboggs:
I got a hunch not many ranges are up to people doing that, but it's cool. Shame you can't do it with a handgun.

Check this flick out: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AICv2K972Hc

A big bore handgun will set it off. I think they say otherwise because most handgunners will get too close to the stuff trying to hit it.

As far as what is too close, Ive been playing with it off and on for about 10 yrs or so. The standard Tannerite 1/2 pound bottle doesn't have any materials in it that will carry much past 25-30 yards but if there are any latent projectiles like small rocks, wood splinters or glass particles nearby they could certainly be ejected from the blast area wih enough force to be a problem much farther than that. We like to be 100 yds or so.

Some people like to blow up other things with it (like cars and washing machines). I even know a fellow that likes to blow up dead cows (whose name won't be mentioned, lol). I imagine some of them are the folks at risk of not understanding the effective range of schrapnel.

quote:

Originally posted by tiggertate:

Some people like to blow up other things with it (like cars and washing machines). I even know a fellow that likes to blow up dead cows (whose name won't be mentioned, lol). I imagine some of them are the folks at risk of not understanding the effective range of schrapnel.

Sounds udderly destructive

'Squatch

I carry it in my shop. Can't keep it on the shelf. It does make quite a boom and is destructive. We sat a 1 lb target on our 2X4 target frame this summer because the grass was too tall to sit it on the ground. We had to build a new frame.

Crazy Russian with tannerite

Terry

Here's the Wikipedia article on Tannerite. It even gives the ingredients.

Anybody know if heat - such as a white hot wire - will set it off? Looks like it could be useful for getting rid of stumps when clearing land for the plow.

Anyone know how little tannerite is needed to give a decent pop? I got a 1# kit from sportsmans warehouse but was thinking it would be more fun to get a bunch of empty 12 ga hulls and fill up as many as possible. It's also a small enough target that my boys will have to work on their accuracy to get a bang out of it.

A 12 ga ought to give a reasonable pop but not a lot more. Its a good question and next time I get to the lease I think I'll try some.

Where would one get this aluminum powder?
Would aluminum sawdust work as well?

Too coarse. Try the online fireworks component sales companies. Much of that is legal to buy and ship.

OK thanks.

quote:

Originally posted by Paul H:
Anyone know how little tannerite is needed to give a decent pop? I got a 1# kit from sportsmans warehouse but was thinking it would be more fun to get a bunch of empty 12 ga hulls and fill up as many as possible. It's also a small enough target that my boys will have to work on their accuracy to get a bang out of it.

I divide one of the "small" (I think 1-lb) jars of Tannerite into two plastic "snack" baggies, each holding about 8 ounces. This is enough to give you plenty of boom and smoke to be amply gratifying. The plastic baggies also have the advantage of being able to make the target area much larger than that of the round Tannerite jars, so you can effectively use them at longer ranges. The delayed report of the exploding Tannerite several hundred yards distant adds another dimension of entertainment.

You can tape the flattened plastic baggie to the surface of a refilled milk jug or something similar and not only have a nice "boom" when hit, but it will blow water everywhere as an added attraction. Even smaller containers than 8 ounces, if you could find them, would make a pretty good "pop". Hadn't thought of shotshells, but they would be worth a try.

There is no need for the Tannerite to be in a "round" container. It explodes just the same if "flattened" as in the plastic baggies. I have found that a .22 Hornet often will NOT make the stuff go off, whereas a .223 will. They're serious about needing 2200 fps or more impact velocity.

Another entertaining variation is to tape a 1-lb jar of Tannerite inside a jacket of bubble wrap, then toss it in a body of water. Shooting the floating Tannerite results in a heart-warming, ground-shaking explosion and a geyser of water. Be sure the body of water is not fish habitat as you might well be violating fishing regulations in carrying out such activity.

I have taped a baggie of Tannerite to a bowling pin which was placed on the front edge of a depression in the earth like a draw or ravine. When the Tannerite is shot, the bowling pin is blown into the ravine and is no longer visible. What the uniniated observer sees is a the flash of the explosion, a huge cloud of dust, then when the dust settles the bowling pin appears to have been vaporized. Such demonstration elicits howls, cheers, and stunned wonderment among the observers that you have atomized something as substantial as a bowling pin with the power of your detonation.

Tannerite truly represents the fountain of youth for a sextagenarian who wants to relive his adolescence.

About the 2200 fps issue; I think that is pretty true in general but I was surpised to see that my 458 SOCOM was 100% reliable at about 1600-1700. I assume that the bigger surface area of a blunt-nose 45 calibe bullet had a lot to do with it.

quote:

Originally posted by tiggertate:
About the 2200 fps issue; I think that is pretty true in general but I was surpised to see that my 458 SOCOM was 100% reliable at about 1600-1700. I assume that the bigger surface area of a blunt-nose 45 calibe bullet had a lot to do with it.

Could be. I was surprised that the Hornet, which was probably producing a terminal velocity of just over 2200 fps, consistently failed to ignite. Using the same bullet in a .221 Fireball at an MV of 3350 fps would set it off every time compared to the 2750 MV of the Hornet. I haven' tried anything other than a centerfire rifle of small caliber on the stuff. A .243/70gr/3500 fps MV does fine at 400 meters.

quote:

Originally posted by Stonecreek:

quote:

Originally posted by tiggertate:
About the 2200 fps issue; I think that is pretty true in general but I was surpised to see that my 458 SOCOM was 100% reliable at about 1600-1700. I assume that the bigger surface area of a blunt-nose 45 calibe bullet had a lot to do with it.

Could be. I was surprised that the Hornet, which was probably producing a terminal velocity of just over 2200 fps, consistently failed to ignite. Using the same bullet in a .221 Fireball at an MV of 3350 fps would set it off every time compared to the 2750 MV of the Hornet. I haven' tried anything other than a centerfire rifle of small caliber on the stuff. A .243/70gr/3500 fps MV does fine at 400 meters.

I've had slightly off-center hits with a 223 fail to detonate. I've surmise that maybe a suffcient mass of the tannerite has to be compressed first. If you skim the side of the bottle, you cut through too little material.

quote:

I've had slightly off-center hits with a 223 fail to detonate. I've surmise that maybe a suffcient mass of the tannerite has to be compressed first. If you skim the side of the bottle, you cut through too little material.

I suspect that your observation may be an accurate one. Maybe it's a bit like striking a match: The longer the stroke the more friction and the more certain the match is to light; the more Tannerite there is to compress the more likely it is to reach the critical state.

I know this is an old post, but I was working in the shop last week when an explosion rattled my windows. I spend 24yrs in the military and another 12 doing contract work for them, I know what a boom is. I live in the sticks of NE GA, I thought is was an LP gas tank going up. I later found out it was one of the exploding targets, one of the large ones, maybe 6x6 inches. The kid lives about a half mile from here and it sounded like the EOD boys touching off some IEDs. Expensive--the kid said the big block is $25.

Yeah
I work with explosives myself and I find it hard to believe they have not been more regulated. Knock wood ....


If used wrong they can be dangerous to the shooter and bystanders.

They do have destructive capabilities. I just hope it wont happen. Im sure it will though.


Some Dumbass is sure to ruin it for the rest of us.


Cal30

Have been told you can use high speed blender and put aluminum foil in same and produce small enough pieces of the aluminum that will work.
Mind you, never been known to do that myself, just a rumor.

Recently I shot some old cans of spray paint that were clogged and wouldn't spray. A giant cloud erupts when they are hit. Very satisfying.
Especially with my 500 S&W

I've shot a lot of this stuff over the past few years. We started small (1-2 pounds) and worked our way up (40-50 pounds). At 50 pounds I can assure you this stuff has a significant "BOOM" and is destructive.

They are great for tuna fishing.