11 replies to this topic

[themugger]

Hi everyone, I hope you can help me.

 

I'm looking for a suitable lift charge for fuel mines. At the moment I use lift charges removed from shells, but this is proving very expensive (and annoying having to pull perfectly good fireworks apart). 

 

In an ideal world I'd like to just purchase some black powder however my shotgun licence only permits me to obtain a synthetic substitute, as used in shotgun cartridges.

 

My question is, does anyone know how this synthetic powder compares to BP and whether it would be suitable for this application?

 

Also, does anyone know if there are any types of firework (perhaps a large gerb) from which BP can be easily extracted?

 

Thanks in advance for any responses.

[Arthur Brown]

If you are already ticketed for a shotgun then getting a small store for BP shooters powder shouldn't be much problem. Most fireworks contain little powder and most fireworks that contain BP have a BP based mixture rammed so hard as to be not BP any more for your purpose.

[dannytsg]

+1 with relation to Arthur's comments. You should be easily able to apply for an addition to A&K for black powder for your purposes, especially already being an SGC owner and it would be a lot more practical than dismantling devices intended for other purposes.

[Arthur Brown]

There are techniques for using a flash maroon but not in a mortar tube, there are also techniques for using a BP string bound maroon again not in a firework mortar. There are "petrol lifters" available if you have accounts and insurance from some suppliers

[starseeker]

If you have access to shells i assume you must be a professional display operator ,

 

If so than getting a acquire and keep for sfx work should be pretty straight forward,

[Nil admirari]

Hi. What size pellets of black powder needed (optimally) for 12 inch shell lift charge?

[cooperman435]

Just to add to the original thread topic, as a display operator getting your acquire and keep for BP to use in your profession is not as easy or cheap as getting it for hobby or personal use.

 

If applying for your own uses and in no way commercial, it's free, however if you are using it in a professional capacity there are some quite noticeable fees involved. I seem to recall around the £550 mark as I was originally looking to use my licensed stores as it was logical to keep my BP there, but as the stores are used for business I was told that my A&K would be classed as business use and therefore incur the fees.

 

I wouldn't advocate applying for a personal use falsely as the repercussions would be severe. 

 

Nil Admirari - it really depends on the quality of the BP, however the fact that you're asking would suggest that your experience is not sufficient in shell manufacturing techniques to be considering a 12" shell.

[Arthur Brown]

NilAdmirari Do please red a text such as Shimtzu Lots of things are covered there. Do you have a genuine mortar for this proposed shell. I've seen nasty things trying to push a big shell out of a weak mortar.

[Vic]

Hi. What size pellets of black powder needed (optimally) for 12 inch shell lift charge?

 

Pyrotechnica IX

 

A rule of thumb frequently used for lift charge calculation is one ounce of 2FA for every pound of shell weight up to 10 lbs, and 1/2 oz of lift for each pound in excess of 10 lbs. The larger the shell is, the more factors such as mortar length, shell length and shell clearance come into play.

[Nil admirari]

Thanks for answers!

 

12" weighs 9000 g. This is 9000/453,6 = 19,84 lbs.

 

BP as I need this weight? 19,84 oz ВР? 19,84*28,35 = 563 g BP?

[Nil admirari]

Can I use BP granules 1 mm size? Or should larger?

[Vic]

Can I use BP granules 1 mm size? Or should larger?

 

Have you tried Russian firework forums for the information you seek, from memory there used to be some good one's.