4" Can shell with C6 commets

[Mardec]

Hey, I recently fired my first 4" mortar and this was my 7th "big" shell. Only shot 6 3" ers before.

 

Well, here it:

 

Commets broke off, al 3 of hem That is why the camera(wo)man missed the break.

 

Prefire

 

Movie (MOV)

 

Sorry for poor quality

[Mardec]

The C6 commets are plain old Chrystanthemum 6 commets:

 

From wouter visser:

 

Charcoal fire dust #1

Source: Composition from Shimizu[1], page 221. Listed under the name "Chrysanthemum 6". The 6 in that name comes from the ratio of charcoal to potassium nitrate, which is 6:10.

Comments: A reddish fire dust is obtained, which is relatively shortlived. When willow charcoal is used instead of pine, long lived fire dust is obtained.

Preparation: To obtain the fire dust, the potassium nitrate must be soaked into the charcoal. Hence a wet proces must be used for mixing.

 

Potassium nitrate.................................55

Sulfur............................................7

Pine charcoal.....................................33

Soluble glutinous rice starch.....................5

 

 

I used dextrin. And for Charcoal I use the worst I can find. So I use bbq charcoal. That stuff make absolutely the worst bp ever, which in my opinion means it will make the best charcoal tails :-)

 

Just throw everything together in a coffee grinder for 20 second and it will be all right

 

They where slighly wetted till they started to form a dough. That was pressed by hand in 1" by 1" cylinders. They felt almost dry when they where just pumped and became incredibally hard.

 

I used 24 in this shell.

 

70 grams of lift and it wheighted (is this spelled correct? :/) about 430 grams.

 

I always make C6 stars, they are so cheap and so beautifull.

 

The commets where a flare comp. Which burns quite slow. But I used to less so they would have burned out before the shell bursted if they stayed on it..

[pudidotdk]

Nice shell!

 

Where did you put the rising comets on the shell?

[fight fire with fire]

I expect that the rising comets are on the bottom of the shell 'cause I can't see any in the picture, probally hidden under the lift cup. If the rising comets are on the bottom of the shell the pressure from the lift charge doesn't do them any good. Put the rising comets on the top of the aerial shell. The gasses from the lift licking over the shell are by far enough to light the comets if they are on the top of shell.

[Mardec]

That is it!! I putted the commets on the wrong side goddammit. :-)

 

The reason I did this is the its a flare comp, not a tail. I was afraid it might not be clearly visible from below.

 

But thanks, will fix this in the next shell :-)

[optimus]

I liked the colour of that flare comet - would you mind posting the formula? I think it would've looked great if it hadn't broken up of detached itself.

 

You needn't worry about the positioning of the comet as the shell will spin when fired. At worst you would get a strobing effect, but that isn't necessarily a bad thing! I also think that colour comets with tailed shell effects are great, especially green to charcoal.

[Mardec]

Yeah, I think so too Optimus. Thx I Also was thinking about colour changing commet next time

 

Oh and It where 3 rising commets, it didn't break I wanted lots off light.

 

Here is the comp:

 

Barium Nitrate 55

 

Magnesium-powder 28

 

Parlon 20

 

 

Use course Mg powder. I use like 80 micron or so.

 

And It was pressed in small tubes, by hand. You need prime, I pressed some BP grains on top off the flare comp

 

Oh and solvent is acetone.

[Von Bass`]

I liked that, and I agree with you over the beauty of good old C6

 

And it's also pleasing to know that you can achieve great effects without spending two weeks making a work of art No offence intended there!

[Polumna]

hi all!!!

 

good work mardec

 

 

I have got a question: Can I use PVC instead of the parlon for the green stars???

I want to make a spolette with this composition to give my tigertail shell a green rising effect.

I want to make a shell with tiger tail stars.

 

i want to use this composition:

 

44% KNO3

44% pinecharcoal

6% sulfur

6% dextrin,

 

starpump is a syringe, hope the stars will work perfectly.

 

Polumna

[Mardec]

Non taken I prefer quick and easy shells, however, this one was pasted and spiked. Only the top layer was duct tape and such. :-)

 

Yes pvc will work fine, probably even better.

 

I tried tiger tail too once, didn't work so great. I stick with C6.