Ping pong balls dissolved in acetone

[MikeL]

You're fortunate. I reload for various rifle and pistol calibers. I buy my powder online as there is no place near to me to "walk in" and buy powder. Powder Valley, Winfield, KS, is my go to supplier and they are out of everything that I use (primers included), but, luckily, don't need.

 

I just checked their stock on a couple of the Viht powders that you listed (N32C and 3N38 as an example), that I don't use, and sure enough... your price is right on and they have the smaller (1#) lots available). Green Dot or Blue Dot is not in stock.

 

The reloading world has been buzzing about the powder and primer shortage for quite a while. I don't see it getting any better anytime soon.

Edited November 27, 2020 by MikeL

[SharkWhisperer]

 

or get some NC flake from firefox enterprises.... it comes in water.....you take it out of the water, let the water evaporate( ie let it air dry) then add NC flake + acetone.....

 

You do not want to do business with Firefox. Period. Ever. Dianne Purrington, proprietor, and maybe her boyfriend/husband/business partner, too, are 1000% unreliable. I only dealt with Dianne. You will be lucky to ever get your ordered product, and I promise it will involve a lot of headaches. My one and final business dealing with them was a frustrating, time-consuming nightmare. They got an injunction from BATFE over a decade ago because they were selling diy M80 kits like idiots, and they have not gotten any brighter since then. I'd go the ping-pong ball route, or make it myself (not hard at all, but QC is iffy) before I'd ever deal with them again in any capacity. They have an exhaustive list of chems, but most are not in immediate stock, it seems. And you pretty much need to guess on shipping costs. Might be nice people off-business, though I wouldn't know and don't aim to go out of my way to find out. Their business philosophy sucks. Pyrochemsource and FWC are my go-to places for hobbyist chems--transparent pricing and shipping costs are easily calculated/updated in your shopping cart. And you don't need to mail them a photo ID, either (ridiculous). Phil's got great chems, though limited in scope, but also has great spiral tubes that work just fine for rockets and other items. I also avoid SkyRobberLighter at all costs because you're paying sometimes double customary rates for the reputation. Always at least 50% more than competitors. I get a lot of tubes/caps, shell casings, and fuse from Cannonfuse.com, too, but there's gotta be cheaper options for Visco. Fair price on screens. Anybody have opinions on the best/cheapest source for quality Visco and Flying Fish fuse? Youngblood, be aware that super fast (almost QM fast) fuse is usually silver/grey, but I located some in PA (Phantom Fireworks?) last year that was green--you don't ever want to mix those two up! My green super fast visco is loudly labeled as such, and segregated from the rest...

 

The smokeless "shortage" hopefully won't last too long and appears to be regional.You can order smokeless delivered to your door (BP carries a hazmat charge--make your own!) from multiple vendors, "shortage" bedamned, Commercial BP is probably harder to source locally in some places, but you can have it shipped to your door, too, if you don't live in a granny state. Hazmat fees for BP add up quickly, and it costs at least 5x what homemade costs, and is making your own BP is really an essential skill that novices should strive to perfect early on in the fireworking hobby.

 

My current favorite doublebase is "Hodgdon International" for shotgun shell reloading for around $15/lb. From Cabellas last year--walk in, pick your powder, pay your money, walk out (in a non-nanny state). Simples. Keeps forever. Made a lot of crackle/DEs using it and most of the jar remains. Makes a nice tan lacquer instead of the typical black. For single-base NC, I use IMR 3031, but that's black pellets that take awhile to dissolve. The flaky double-base shotshell powder is fully dissolved after 5 minutes of good hard shaking. Got it for a decent price (<$20/lb) and it'll mostly just sit there til my Hodgdon's is used up.

 

Obviously, powder availability is in a flux right now, but remains so far availabe--the new administration will be going for your AR/AK "buy backs" before reloading supplies become more limited, I'd imagine. Anybody of age can still purchase smokeless and plain ol' BP (probably a hazmat charge added on) to be delivered to your doorstep, as usual. For now, at least.

 

I think our youngblood colleague opted for ping-pong balls because he is too young to purchase in person. I encourage anybody of any responsible age to enjoy/learn fireworking, but if this is something that you're hiding from your parents, well, it would appear that you do not have their support in your endeavors, so tread carefully. Ask questions. Smart questions. A lot of smart questions. Take notes. And try your damnedest not to burn your house down, ffs! You might give your parents some relief if you demonstrated a few pretty fountains and discuss the learning and detail that went into their construction. If you are urban, or high-density suburban, then please use extreme caution in manufacture/testing and keep things small. Angry neighbors might earn you some LE attention, which definitely is not your goal.

 

Again....young man, what do you plan to do with all of your newly-acquired ping-pong balls? You have many. That's a big pile of crackle you're able to make. Or about a half million rocket igniters, Enough to BP prime many many visco fuse ends. tsk tsk. Not much other practical utility. It gets boring fast setting them alight just for the fun of it. Maybe put a few aside for a table tennis contest with Borat when he visits your neighborhood? Maybe consider selling some of them here on the Agora to others who have trouble finding NC? That'd give you a bunch of money for more of the primary pyro chems...oxidizers, fuels (learn to make your own charcoal), metals. Can never have too varied a selection of metals.

 

Keep it safe, please. Ask, don't guess. Check your calculations 3x. Take notes. Stay away from chlorates and flash for now. Hope you had a nice Thanksgiving.

 

Shark

Edited November 29, 2020 by SharkWhisperer

[deepakpyro]

u can 10 % Ping pong ball solved in acetone (10 gms PPB with 90% Acetone by weight) + 90 % NC lacquer which is paint store brought

credit: benflair