Cane torpedoes

[dave321]

does anyone have any information on the pellets used in the above ?

donner states chlorate/antimony trisulphide/dextrin and pressed to a thin circular disc 

anyone tried making them ?

retro nostalgic pyro interests me, it provides a snapshot of those "golden Halcyon days"

[PyroGnome]

I'd have to check FAST but IIRC Chlorate / Sb2S3's main danger is more the theoretical acidic decomposition (yes, it's going to be very sensitive, but very in this sense still means you need to smack the cane on the ground; it's not at the level of Realgar mixes or Armstrong's mix).  I've been in a plant making railroad torpedos with KClO3 / Sulfur / Dextrin and they're nearly impossible to set off without a train.   The owner gave me a few to take home with me.  Throwing them at corrugated steel as hard as I could didn't set them off, so I taped them in the center of a  target and shot at them with a CO2 .177 pellet gun (just the little CO2 canisters, not the insane air-compressor powered deer rifles  made today) and still nothing.  Then I tried putting a .22 LR hollow point through them from 25 feet and still nothing.  Taped them back up since they were rapidly becoming powder, and tried .22 snakeshot to see if the friction could do it and still no.  Finally tried heaving a brick onto them from 15 feet back and still nothing.  I didn't get a chance to try a 20 gauge slug which I'm guessing would have done it. 

Given that, I'd say if you mixed safely (wet according to Donners) and dialed in the amount starting low, Antimony Trisulfide would probably be about the right sensitivity for these.  I made Armstrong's on small  scale for a  lab demo I was preparing them for in high school. nearly 30 years ago, thankfully. and the mixing isn't the scary part (30 people in the class tossed their little squares of paper with a red dot in the middle that had reports like a .22 gunshot, and there I go to toss my piece at the wall, the wind picks up and pushes it into my hand instead, and I end up with a badly bruised thumb / palm and very slight lacerations from concussion that took 2 months to heal fully because phosphorous burns are magically crap-riffic).  I'd been careful to keep all the amounts low enough to minimize damage so I still have all my fingers.   Donner's Sb2S3 / KClO3 Mixing technique uses less water but even armstrong's didn't want to go off until it was mostly dry....   so, just theoretically, based on the relative sensitivities, I wouldn't feel uncomfortable making a small amount of this to make 10 or so of the cane torpedos (if I'm understanding how big they're meant to be)... If I find one of the canes for sale I'd probably give it a shot.  If these canes rely mainly on friction it might be possible to use an AP / Antimony Trisulfide mix since it impact sensitivity should remain low, but I'm still reading up on Ammonium Perc chemistry and would try the tried-and-true chlorate formula first

[Richtee]

That IS interesting. And how about those die-cast “cap bombs”? Remember those? Prolly a good thing I din’t know then what I do now. Shrapnel would be a distinct possibility 😯 😄