UK : Shamless plug for a friends firework site

[swamidog]

Agreed: Pretty much the sky's the limit here in SC. (Pun intended)

2 inch mortar rounds, multiple-break mortar shells (up to 6 breaks!), large skyrockets, cheap Roman Candles, huge 500 gram ground cakes, and everything in-between.

My personal favorite: wrap 25 of the ten-ball Roman Candles together with duct tape. Using a long string of fast-burn candy fuse (3 to 5 seconds per foot), jumper all the fuses together. Stick the whole contraption in a 5 gal bucket and pour about 8 inches of sand around the sides. Light it and run. Best damn rapid-fire aerial display you'll ever see, and it only costs about $20 to make one.

Adam

don't get me started on my molotov cocktail, motorcycle, flamethrower years...

[chad]

Here in Colorado around the 4th it is usually about 90f with about 10% humidity. We also have mountains and lots of forests that are ripe for burning. Half of the forest is dead from a little pine beetle. I understand the rules but still makes for no fun..

chad

[mliptack]

Oh right the pine beetles... I was there in Frisco (right near Dillon) this winter (what a beautiful road trip!) it was tragic to see how dead the mountains looked. Usually nice and green, now they're all brown.

I was in Florida this summer Daytona Beach for the Daytona 400 (worked for a corporate tent outside). I saw one of the crashes in person but I was watching at the bar by the time the huge crash at the finish line happened. I digress.

I did find a firework store and I was really excited, but at the cop shop, there was a sign that said "FIREWORKS ARE ILLEGAL IN FLORIDA" (maybe it was Daytona - cant remember exactly)

That must only be within city limits though. Here in wisconsin its the same thing. We can light them off all we want (within the city, the cops have better things to worry about, but they are illegal) Out of the city, no ones cares.

[allthatwhichis]

Well, legal is a slippery term here in Florida when it comes to fireworks. You have to sign a form that states you are going to use them in you "field" to scare birds or something. Then it is legal...

[300EVIL]

Why buy when you can make your own! Cheaper and better...



The little one is a spec M-80 with 2.5G of perchlorate and German dark. The big one is a whopping 10G and is actually considered an M-100. BOOM!

[mliptack]

Haha, so shooting them off at the hotel pool I was staying at, probably wouldn't have gone over too well. Plus it would have been hard to get any leftovers back to Milwaukee. For some reasons they have this weird thing about fireworks in your carry on luggage.

Also since I flew back from Florida, being at the race being in close proximity to race fuel and fireworks and some indoor pyro. I get tagged at every plane I get on.

[mliptack]

Evil, if you read back in past threads we have talked about that a bit, but it quickly carried over to a non-public message. Basically for legal reasons. But I've had quite a bit of experience in that domain as well. PM me if you want to chat about it.

I've got some good, bad and ugly experiences under my belt. Including some things I will NEVER do again lol.

[allthatwhichis]

I've got some good, bad and ugly experiences under my belt. Including some things I will NEVER do again lol.

[White-Light]

Get the Big Boss rockets - they're actually Category 4 (Professional Display) but count as Cat 3 when dispatched in pyromesh. I've had these and they're awesome. No car alarm is safe and the spread is fantastic.

Why buy when you can make your own! Cheaper and better...



The little one is a spec M-80 with 2.5G of perchlorate and German dark. The big one is a whopping 10G and is actually considered an M-100. BOOM!

Correct me if I'm wrong but isn't perchlorate highly unstable? I used to visit some firework forums and if I remember correctly perchlorate is a actually a high explosive that can be detonated by friction or shock alone. Think of nitroglycerine before someone added sawdust (nitro + sawdust = nice stable dynamite).

[300EVIL]

Evil, if you read back in past threads we have talked about that a bit, but it quickly carried over to a non-public message. Basically for legal reasons. But I've had quite a bit of experience in that domain as well. PM me if you want to chat about it.

I've got some good, bad and ugly experiences under my belt. Including some things I will NEVER do again lol.

Yeah, HA! We still got to meet up sometime and shoot the shit. I'll PM ya.

Correct me if I'm wrong but isn't perchlorate highly unstable? I used to visit some firework forums and if I remember correctly perchlorate is a actually a high explosive that can be detonated by friction or shock alone. Think of nitroglycerine before someone added sawdust (nitro + sawdust = nice stable dynamite).

Potassium Perchlorate, (KClO4) is an oxidizer so it has no explosive reactivity by itself. I think what you may be refferring to is flash powder mixtures using potassium chlorate, (KClO3) which is not exactly unstable but it can breakdown in a humid environment over time creating an acidic condition which may start a reaction unprovoked.