Critique my 4"

[TYRONEEZEKIEL]

 

 

So there are a lot of things very new about this shell

1. First time using quick match

2. First time top fusing

3. First time using lift cup

4. New time fuse. Fancy Pyropro stuff.

5. Continuous strip pasting.

 

So fellas, tell me what you think I could do to improve my shell building from what you can see. Sorry for the subpar video.

 

You can hear some stars hit the tin roof indicating blind stars. I did a gradual step prime by slowly adding the prime to the comp mix scoop by scoop until I saw only using prime. I use the Igniter prime firms, but I can't seem to get them to stay lit. All my colored stars seem to have this same percentage of ignition. Maybe less.

 

I'm waiting for star screens to come in the mail, so don't pay attention to star timing.

 

Sorry for rambling, let me know what you think guys. Thanks

Edited December 23, 2013 by TYRONEEZEKIEL

[Niladmirari]

Hi TYRONEEZEKIEL. What bursting charge?

[TYRONEEZEKIEL]

5.5/1 Hot BP on rice hulls. With about 3g total 70/30 sprinkled across the hemis.

[HissingRDX]

Beautiful

[chemtech89]

I think the shell looks really good. At this point I was suggest working on your priming techniques. Its hard to tell I the video but it looks like you didn't have excellent star ignition.

[TYRONEEZEKIEL]

I just can't seem to get prime to work. No matter what I do. I've tried literally everything under the sun. Something is just not working. Thanks. It is a big concern of mine

[TYRONEEZEKIEL]

I just can't seem to get prime to work. No matter what I do. I've tried literally everything under the sun. Something is just not working. Thanks. It is a big concern of mine

[pyrokid]

I would scale back the flash break a little bit. It sounded heavy to me.

[psyco_1322]

I'd agree, back off the flash a bit and you will probably see more stars lighting. I'd also suggest getting some Fence Post Prime made, just a layer of it on the outside of a colored stars should light them easy, no step priming.

 

Was this a ball shell? There is not really much reason to top fuse a ball shell. Some people do it with larger calibler shells, or if they use spolettes on the ball shell. Top fusing is more a practice for cylinder shells.

[FlaMtnBkr]

Have you cut a star in half to see how thick your prime layer is? You can step prime but it still needs to have a pretty good layer on it. Also, what are you using as a prime? What is the final layer? What formulas are you using?

[TYRONEEZEKIEL]

By top fusing I mean using a leader through the top of the mortar going underneath the shell into the lift cup rather than drilling a hole in the mortar for side fusing.

 

I'm using Igniter prime, I'll get the formula shortly. I do have about 1mm or so on my stars after the step prime. I have thought about backing the flash off, or using a dirty slow flash formula, but I was reading other posts on 4" shells, and 3.5g-4g seems to be ordinary

[TYRONEEZEKIEL]

Now that I think about it, the flash does seem pretty overt. Could it be because my mcrh are hot enough

[FlaMtnBkr]

I use 5g of flash in a flash bag without problems in 4" ball shells.. Have you tried charcoal or glitter stars and if so do you have similar problems? Some hot primes can be as hard to light as some stars but are required for really high metal content stars. Without knowing your formulas it's hard to say what the problem is. I would suggest putting a BP layer on the outside and depending on which prime you are using you may even need to step prime on. Since you are calling it igniter prime I have a feeling it might not be the easiest lighting prime an intended for stars that need a really hot prime. Edited December 24, 2013 by FlaMtnBkr