First explosive?

[Noct]

First of all, I posted a question about making black powder several months (maybe 6 or more) ago, but I never followed up on making it.

Since then I have read several books on weapons, explosives, and related subjects.

I am now itching to start trying to make my own, this time I am going to go through with it. I didn't go through with it last time because I got busy and forgot about the project, but this time I really want to do it.

I searched for this subject, but I found nothing, and if it has already been covered let me know and I will delete the topic.

Anyway, the question is what would you recommend as your first explosive to make? Or, would you recommend starting out in the world of explosives and weapons differently, like reading more or learning more about chemistry? I know some about chemistry and explosives, but not nearly as much as most of you.

What was the first explosive you all made? Black powder? Molotov cocktail (I know, not explosive, incendiary, but close enough)? Speaking of molotovs... I was fooling around a couple nights ago, and my attempt at a molotov failed miserably.

This is what I did...
-Filled bottle with gasoline and styrofoam (about 75/25 in weight in hopes that it would keep its "splatter", whereas I would make it 50/50 if I were making napalm itself)
-Jammed a rag down the neck
-Wiped the bottle clean of gasoline
-Lit the rag
-Threw
-Left the area sad that my stupid ass forgot to dip the rag in gasoline... the fire from the rag blew out in mid-air

Anyway, I am gonna try again (but do a better job) in a few days

Also, I have the ingredients for black powder, and I am considering giving it a go.

Sorry for rambling, here is my post in a nutshell:

Experience- a little chemistry, some explosives literature under my belt, and a half-assed attempt at a molotov cocktail (don't worry, some day you too will be an explosives expert as I am)

Question- Where do I go now?

[mrloud]

Start with *real* small amounts of explosive. Learn how it behaves before making quantaties that will take your hand off.
Try to avoid explosives that require highly toxic chemicals or produce toxic chemicals during manufacture.
AP would be a good start.
Remember to use your safety gear at all times (goggles, gloves, long sleeves etc)

If this thread is really about first explosive experiments it shoud be in Miscellaneous.

[This message has been edited by mrloud (edited December 25, 2001).]

[Noct]

I can't move it myself can I?

I figured it would be under low explosives, since that's what I would learn about first. *shrug*

Starting with small amounts is good advice... I will keep that in mind.

AP? I will start researching it.

[BrAiNFeVeR]

Yeah, Ap is a good thing to start with (I started with it too) but you must not forget to keep amount small, especially the first times you make anything new to you (maybe with black powder as an exception).
You'll find the recipe quite easily, there's a thread going on about it right now i think.
Be VERY careful with it, and keep temperatures during the reaction as low as possible, for maximum power and stability.

First do a few small quantity flame tests with diffirent levels of moist in it, to get to know it (use no more then 0.5 gr).

Merry Christmas


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"Mess with me, and you'll end up with a .44 under your chin and your brains on the ceiling"

[ALENGOSVIG1]

start with AP or Black Powder. If you start with AP the read alot about it in the peroxies sectiom before you make it.

moving to misc.

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How much power will you lose if you do not know what they already know?


Explosives Archive (http://surf.to/alexplo)

[Madog555]

i started with a 2/3 mix of KMnO4/Mg fileings.

it works good but its probaly dangerous, burns very fast. sience it has no sulfur its probaly safer than traditional KMnO4 flash. (i once herd someone say that KMnO4 flash would be fine if it had no sulfur). i used to make all kinds of stuff (from pollumas to nap charges)

my first primary was AP. then i got into HE's.

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"To live is to suffer, to survive... well thats to find meaning into suffering." -DMX

[CyclonitePyro]

Why start with an HE right away?!
Start with your black powder, then flash powder, not with a chlorate or sulfer. Then go to AP, HMTD stuff like that, then good HE's. And don't make anything that will throw shrapnel, that is so stupid, with explosives in cardboard, you can see, feel and hear the explosion safely. This is what I did.

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"Friends don't let friends play with
Nitrogen Triiodide"

[Riot]

The way i started off was getting fireworks and taking out the powder and making bigger bombs with that.

[Noct]

Riot - I have done that a little bit too now that I think about it. I don't really consider it making explosives though.

I guess I will start with a little black powder, since I have the materials at the ready. Then I will either try flash powder or acetone peroxide, then the one I didn't do. After that I will try the other things you all listed.

Thanks for the suggestions, they are very helpful.

One more thing... when I try AP I am going to follow the directions on 'Megalomania's Controversial Chem Lab' to the letter, the only difference being reduced quantity. Do you all think it is a good set of directions to follow?

Thanks again for the help.

[kingspaz]

as far as i know megas directions as completely original to his site so i'd say they would be very reliable. they haven't been fucked around with by t*tse and other shit.

BP is a good thing to start with. its fairly safe so long as you treat it with respect and avoid scrapes. oh yer and avoid using plastic bags near it as they can cause static which BP is suseptable to ignition from.

[ALENGOSVIG1]

You will most likely be disappointed if you make BP. Its difficualt to make the good stuff and if you dont have a ball mill or cofee grinder you will end up with very pooor quality BP. If you use the cofee grinder, dont put all the chemicals in the grinder at once! grind them seperately!

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How much power will you lose if you do not know what they already know?


Explosives Archive (http://surf.to/alexplo)

[Noct]

I have a coffee grinder I will probably be using... but I am not worried about getting great quality, just something easy and (relatively) safe.

[Mr Cool]

I can't remember exactly what "I" did first, I was very young - I basically only watched while my dad did it, since I was about 6!, but it was probably KNO3/sucrose, then Zn/S, then BP based mixtures, then flash mixtures. I did low explosives for a few years before moving on to detonating explosives, with my first experiences with HMTD and CTAP when I was about 9 or 10. Again, my dad did most of the work until he thought I'd learnt enough to be trusted to do it alone.
I think that's a very good way of starting, because it gives you all the advantages of 1st hand experience, which reading never can, but someone else does all the dangerous stuff for you until you've learnt how to do it safely. You do, however, need to have a dad who was also into pyro...

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"Nothing makes a man fear much, more than to know little." - Francis Bacon.

[Madog555]

i first started actualy makeing flash when i was 13. but i liked to toy around with firecrackers and any other explosive i could get my hands on (like caps) in my pre-teen years.

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"To live is to suffer, to survive... well thats to find meaning into suffering." -DMX

[kingspaz]

noct, explosive mixes and compounds are never safe although they can be made relatively safe depending on how you treat them. before you decide to make anything it would be a good idea to think whether your interest in pyro is great enough for you to risk you health. if done carfully and intelligently risks can be minimised. so long as you think everything through carefully and plan every step out then the risks will be minimal.
i think BP is pretty insensitive if made badly. also is you make it with a 20/80 mix of charcoal/KNO3 its sensitivity will be decreased further. this also will sacrifice burn rate but for a very first powder thats not important.

[Noct]

I am fifteen years old, by the way, and unfortunately my dad isn't interested. Luckily, though, he doesn't seem to mind my doing it, as long as he supervises. *shrug*

I have PMJB2 that I am reading, and I am on the last section, "The Chemistry of Explosives".

I decided to finish this book, since it is very imformative and helpful so far, then I will officially begin.

Also, I am willing to risk health, but I know the risk will be small if I am very careful, which is not a problem because I know the dangers and I am the most careful and paranoid person I know. http://theforum.virtualave.net/ubb/smilies/smile.gif

Lastly, I know someone who was put in the hospital after making a pipe bomb... goes a long way in making the dangers seem more real.

[Eno]

"This is what I did...
-Filled bottle with gasoline and styrofoam (about 75/25 in weight in hopes that it would keep its "splatter", whereas I would make it 50/50 if I were making napalm itself)
-Jammed a rag down the neck
-Wiped the bottle clean of gasoline
-Lit the rag
-Threw
-Left the area sad that my stupid ass forgot to dip the rag in gasoline... the fire from the rag blew out in mid-air"

Excellent styrofoam based napalm can be a bit tricky at first. Blue gas and a helluva lot of styrofoam makes excellent camping firestarter, but poor napalm.

Every pyro I know has his own special mixture. That is, gas, and the congealing/sticking stubstance. I personally like model paint, as I have an excess of it and it seems to work nicely. Rumage around the house and experiment with different
sticky stuff.

[Purple Fire]

I started with crap blackpowder, then moved on to KMNO4 + Sulfur + some 400 mesh Al powder a friend got me from work. That stuff goes with a mighty flash :) . I intend to make some AP next but I'm learning as much about it as I can first. Is everyone agreed that Mega's site would have the best method of making AP for a begginer?

[VX]

Yeah, it would but its not up at the moment. (their is a link to a copy of it somewhere though) Anyway their is plenty of info here on the forum, (explosive peroxides) and in the archive.

AP is a good choice to start with due to its ease of manufacture, but is possibly the most unstable explosive Ive ever dreamt of (I found it far more sensitive than NG).

On the possitive side if you survive AP you have a good chance of having many fun years of 'experimenting' ahead of you.

[Azazel]

AP was my first... cool stuff it is but u gota be carefull... i have never encountered any accidents in my time which i consider rather lucky.... is this even a correct reply to this post ? i dont know .... its late and i gota study for my optometry prac tommorow...bloody hell...

*sigh*

its good to be back on the forum

[NoltaiR]

If you mean HEs then AP was the first for me as it is with most everybody else here just because the materials are so easy to get. But if you are talking about LEs as well then I have been making BP and Al flash charges as long as I can remember as well as some oxygen/acetylene testing that I did a while back <img border="0" title="" alt="[Wink]" src="wink.gif" />

As far as HEs go that are not primary, I have made ANFO, hellhoffite explosive (made from nitrobenzene that I got from my next door neighbor who races), and some NaClO3 and KClO3 explosive fillers.

[DBSP]

My first was AP then HMTD then hexamethylenetetraminedinitrate then MMAN then picric acid. Along I've done: ANNM, APAN,
ANNM plastique, ALAPAN, ANFO. I've actually never made a LE but I've used them.

[Ctrl_C]

my first was a napthalene fireball which i learned about at xinventions, andy's page, which is also where i found this forum.

my next was AP.

[A-BOMB]

My first would have to be AP then HTDM then a AN/Styrofoam kind of thing.

[Zambosan]

What got all you guys interested in this in the first place?

<small>[ July 18, 2002, 01:44 AM: Message edited by: Zambosan ]</small>

[kingspaz]

also the addition of AN increased the burn temperature, makes it able to relight after being blown out and makes it burn much longer. napalm is fun because it burns for ssssooooooooooo long!

[Rat Bastard]

My first was home made flash powder.

I filled down a magnesium bar and added some potassium permanganate to it.

I like working with colourful firework pyrotechnics, Im not into big explosives that much.

[EventHorizon]

Ammonium nitrate set off using bullseye powder. Left an ~3' dia. hole in the tough marsh sod...I seem to remember a faint woody after my heart started beating again (I was only about 40 yds away:rolleyes:) Then went on to HMTD and AN+denatured OH. :)

[Pu239 Stuchtiger]

I started off with sodium chlorate based explosives. I then took a period of abstinence from energetic materials after I realized how little I knew, and how dangerous ignorance was. I read chemistry books constantly, and learned a lot about chemistry before I started preparing energetic materials again. I did much experimentation with the more "orthodox" aspects of chemistry. I started preparing energetic materials again about three months ago. I haven't prepared any low explosive or flash powder since my early days of pyromania. I first prepared acetone peroxide. I was exceedingly cautious with it, for good reason. When doing flame tests with an explosive, use the smallest amount possible. Do not heat amounts as high as 0.5g, that can have adverse results. If you heated 0.5g of dry acetone peroxide on a metal spoon, you probably would end up with permanent hearing damage, and possibly some minor bruises on your fingers. I have never prepared over eight grams of acetone peroxide. I rarely keep more than two grams in one place. I always spread it out on a cookie sheet or sometime similar so if it does spontaneously decompose exothermically, the results of such an *expected* event will not be disasterous. Since then, I have prepared a variety of energetic materials. I have prepared liquid MEKP, solid MEKP, AP, nitroglycerin, ethylene glycol dinitrate, trinitrotoluene, nitronapthalene, nitrosucrose, nitroglucose, nitrostarch, nitrocellulose, RDX, ammonium nitrate (I can't purchase it around here), picric acid, ammonium picrate, ammonium permanganate (this is more stable than most think!)... I know I'm forgetting one or more. I hope to acquire some mannanite in the near future, that seems to be an interesting compound to nitrate. To sum it up, I essentially nitrate everything I can get my hands on.

You do not necessarily need to place mail orders for chemicals or equipment. I have never done any of that. After a little bit of research, I discovered that a surplus store in a nearby city sold surplus laboratory equipment. I purchase all of my chemicals from stores; I have never given out any personal information when acquiring chemicals or labware.

Tip #1: Expect that the absolute worst scenario is going to occur. Assume that your entire supply of acetone peroxide is going to explode on touch, or in the middle of the night. Expect the worst; prepare for the worst; and when an accident occurs (you *will* have one) it will not have much of an effect on you. If you are prepared, your worst accident might result in damaged equipment.

Tip #2: Learn a lot of chemistry. It is of extreme importance that you have a solid understanding of chemistry before you attempt to synthesize any energetic material.

You sound like you'll do well, Noct, because you possess the most valuable character trait for a pyromaniac to have. You *fear* your explosives. *Never* begin to trust your explosives. An explosive claims your life by tricking you into trusting it, and becoming confident with your ability to work with it. There is a such thing as a healthy dose of paranoia.

[oxyrad]

i played with sparkler bombs, blackpowder, kmno4etc for probably about 2 years but i could never really get an explosion. After alot of reading up on the subject of HMTD i finally made it and done alot of experimenting with it.Once i had an understanding of how it behaved i moved on to ANNM and im still using it

[0EZ0]

Personally i have never made any High Explosive before. Many of the percursers to make them are very hard to obtain because of prices and where i live. At the moment my stash of chems consists of Acetone, HCl, Fe2O3, MnO2 and some coarse Al powder :(

I have made many devices using single based smokeless powder. Some with Lead Styphnate, and Lead Styphnate with Smokeless. Experimented a bit with commercial BP. I have had nothing but failed attempts of thermite :mad: . And i have tried numerous other incendaries like napalm.

I have quite a wealth of information that i am waiting to put into practise with the manufacture of HE's :D I intend to start with making AP. I have read a heap about it. As with many other explosives.
Sadly reading about it is not as good as experience.
As soon as i get some more cash(which won't be soon)i can obtain some H2O2 :)

So until then my experience with HE's is very limited :(
But i have had some fun with LE's :p

<small>[ March 23, 2002, 04:31 AM: Message edited by: 0EZ0 ]</small>

[DBSP]

I've never made a LE. I played arround with cratermakers and such in periods over about 1.5 years before I went on to HEs. I stayed at this forum and read everything I could get my hands on for about 2months before I started making explosives. I started out with AP as many others. Mostly because it's easy to find the precursors.

I belive the sensitivity of AP is excegerated. It is very sensitiv but it wont detonate from normal handling, as long as you start out with small quantities and get to know the explosive. You schould be allright.

[mark]

My first explosives were estes engine crackers. I played with these for about 3 months, before I discovered hydrogen salutes and cratermakers. I then went on to AP, and I had lots of fun with that, although it was quite nerve racking pressing the stuff into tubes. My intrest in AP kinda faded away for a while, and for the most part Pyrodex and matchead cratermakers have been my staple. Ive also dissasembled some exploding targets and made some cool crackers with those. I plan to make some more ap this week, as well as ballmilling some matches. The most important lesson from pyrotechnics has been that praying is a healthy idea and that you should always wear your goggles.

[Anthony]

"ballmilling some matches"

For god's sake don't use strike-anywhere matches for this if you ahve to do it!

[mark]

Well duh. And its not a real ballmill, just a childs rock tumbler.

[FragmentedSanity]

Lo all :)
just gotta ask - how safe is ball milling match heads? my logic follows that they are sensitive to friction, I know theres a reaction with the Phosphorus that does the ignition - but isnt it sensitive by itself? Also I was under the impression that matchheads (im stalking about safety matches - anyoneone that ballmills strike anywhere's gets what they deserve - Genetic Chlorine) contain a sulpher/chlorate mix - which is something I thought you should never grind together?
But I could be wrong - I thought that this being a topic on firsts, likley to be read with interest by those with less experience - some clarity might help.

One reccomendation I would make is that you try all the factory stuff you can before making your own, fuses, powders, snap'n'pops, blasting caps,compressed gas, cordex - everything and anything you can get your hands on, but get someone else to show you how first.

As for my first "recolections of a past life that will happen in 2034" lets see...
- Store bought fireworks when I was young and they were legal.
- commercial propellants - shotshell powder and such.
- Buthcered toys, sparklers - rocket engines - matchheads - party poppers, one reccomendation I would make is that you try all the factory stuff you can before making your own.
- Moved onto flash with permagenate, sulfur and tin foil that I ran through a herb mill. (all stored seperate and mixed as required, burning any leftovers unconfined for disposal)
- made AP and HMDT
and havent progressed in years. I can make enough to satisfy myself so I dont need to - But I have the information if I want it - mainly im interested in weaponry these days tho.
Also - an note to any newbies to the scene, the only accident I ever had was due to improvising as I lacked materials. I didnt have and smokeless right then and I wanted a noisemaker - right then - so I scoured my stash and came up with some starting caps. Stupid 14 year old me decided to strip a bunch of caps and tamp (lightly - but not lightly enough) the powder in my paper tube (thankfully even back then I was afraid of shrapnel) WHILE i was holding the tube.
luckily all I got was a temporary sight loss ( a couple of very scary minutes I can tell you) ringing ears and numb fingers.
While I now know how stupid the whole thing was I did learn my lesson - which was RESEARCH EVERYTHING!!! that, and dont improvise due to impatience. I only used like 5 caps (from memory) I had been using more I doubt Id have my fingers or my eyesight.
( mind you - once I learned how sensitive the Armstrongs mix was it was put to good use in impact grenades launched from a slingshot )
*shakes head and is thankful im still alive*
later all
FS

[mark]

Paper matches a wax and sodium chlorate i belive. They are innert to powersanding, so i doubt toys are us will be much of a fire hasard.

[Sparky]

I assume you want to get the mix from the matches to use on something else. It might be easier and safer to follow a procedure someone outlined a while ago here where you dissolve the match heads in boiling water then let it evaporate (boil it off or just let it evaporate by itself, I'm not sure).

My first explosive was an attemp at AP (got very small amount, didn't try that again). Then some KNO3/Mg flash. I'm still on black powder, mostly because I'm more interested in pyrotechnics than HEs. Living in the city also makes it hard to set off much HE stuff. Of course I've done all the thermite and stuff but I don't suppose that counts.

[A_W]

I started making matchhead firecrackers at the age of 13. I then began making blackpowder without much success (because I used barbecue charcoal). I then started making cellulosenitrate, wich overheated several times, scaring the hell otta me with some fizzing NO2. I am currently working on some large blackpowder firecrackers.

[K'Luuppo]

I'm also new to this hobby, and I was thinking about making AP as my first explosive. I know I should make really small amounts of it (as you have told), but since I don't have any idea about power of AP, I would like to know what is *really* small amount of it. I'm really grateful if you can provide me with the information which can save my fingers (and propably much more than them).

[xyz]

OK, AP is VERY sensitive to heat, particularlry sparks, and it only takes the smallest, faintest spark to set it off.

That said, you should be OK so long as you make small amounts (1/10th of the quantities of precursors on Mega's site), and if you are careful to avoid contact with heat, friction, shock, sparks, and long periods of direct sunlight.

Oh, and I almost forgot, NEVER store AP in a container with a screw on lid. It can evaporate, then recrystallize inside the screw threadsa and detonate from friction when you open the container.

Film cannisters are good AP containers, soft plastic and a pop-off lid.

[Hang-Man]

Make sure you get it really dry before you use it, otherwise you will only get a big-ass fireball. That’s what I did the first time and I was like "That was pretty shitty" so I did it again, expecting similar results, but I let that batch dry longer. I threw a match on it from like 4 feet away and it was like getting kicked in the balls by Steven Segal. My policy on AP is don’t store it. Ever.

[K'Luuppo]

Isn't there danger of AP recrystalling into joint between canister and lid? Personally I thought about plate with plastic film on it. Just for short time storing of course (dreams can be a quite nasty wake up from dreams...).

And then about acid... how much should I add 20% HCl (with 2% citric acid on it) to achieve the same effect as 0,3ml of 75% H2SO4? Or should I just put "few drops" of acid into the solution and find out the right amount?

Thanks for the info gathered this far...all of it is really appreciated.

[Efraim_barkbit]

WHY is everyone so worried about storing their AP? As far as I understand, it is still the same AP.
Some people seem to believe that AP becomes super hyper mega sensitive, and that it will go off in your face as soon as you look at it, if you leave it for a day or two.
Has anyone actually made any comparative testing between “fresh” AP, and AP that has been stored for a couple of weeks?
I didn´t notice any difference when I had almost a month old AP. No big difference in crystal size either, it was still smaller than the product from another batch.

K'Luuppo, yor not aiming for a big batch are you;) use as much acid so that the acid is 1/5- 1/ 4 of the total amount of reactants.
More acid=>smaller crystals, and you want as small as possible. It also takes shorter time for the AP to form if you have more acid.

[tom haggen]

any Idea where to look for tips on mixing a KClO3 and Al compostion? I keep getting shitty results.

[vulture]

GOOGLE!

I suggest you really keep your head really low the coming year, because otherwise you risk getting banned at 2 boards at once! :mad:

[Anthony]

It is OK to store AP as long as you are sensible about it.

That means either keeping it under water/solvent or in a shallow, open container. Cling film/saran wrap could be used as a "lid", but if the AP decomposes for whatever reason, that "lid" will cause a detonation rather than a harmless deflageration.

If you need a lid because your local temperature means it's subliming, then stick it in the fridge instead. The lower temperature will also reduce its sensitivity.

Personally, I've never had a problem with sublimation, but then I don't live in a climate like Arizona, for example.

Why add citric acid to your HCl? I see no reason for this.

K'Luuppo, scale up a *bit*! Start out with something like 100ml 3% H2O2, or 50ml 6% - common store-bought stuff. Else you're going to have so little AP that you'll lose it all in filtering, let alone have enough to test various properties.

[Efraim_barkbit]

Just because you store it in a container with no lid on, doesn´t guarantee that you will not get a detonation in case of an "unintended decomposition".
for a starter, I filled a plastic coke bottlecap half way with AP, and it detonated with out "lid" on.

I also did a test, wich I reported in one of the AP threads, where I put some AP (1-2 teaspoons, don´t remember exactly)in a pile on top if an electric igniter (strand of steel wool between wires), and it detonated, blowing a couple of cm thick wooden board wich it wass on top of to pieces.
I did the same test again some week later, and it too detonated.

There was no difference in sound/looks of the blast between these two tests, and a equally sized, confined charge, that indicated that it had not made the d-d transition immideatly.

note that all of these where completely dry, if you moisten the AP, you minimise the chanse of
d-d transition, even if you confine the AP, and put a fuse to it.

[Wild Catmage]

I first started out with homemade sodium nitrate black powder, then went through a phase of fooling around with match-heads after my nitrate source dried up. after finding a chlorate source and experimenting with chlorate rockets, I took the initiative to go shopping for chemicals to make HMTD. My nitrate source has now reappeared and I now have a refound interest in pyrotechnics, but currently lack the chemicals needed to give any other colour than orange :(.

Small amounts of HMTD can produce fireballs that seemingly appear from nowhere, much to the 'amazement' of the people around me :D
Thankfully, I am still a member of the "ten finger club".

[mr.pyro]

I'm also interested into moving into some more powerful LE's and away from flash/bp, I do live in an extremley hot climate named above and would like to know at what temperature does AP sublime?

[HexenLord]

I've recently came across some fireworks containing large ammounts of flashpowder. Me and a few friends would cut open the tube and see a tube filled with flashpowder which would be sent into the air and detonated. A tube of flashpowder about twice the size of a film canister is slighty under 1 US dollar. Anyone have any experiences with detonating LARGE amounts of flash powder? We have about 5+ pounds of very fine flash powder and are very curious about the results of the detonation of large amounts of flash powder might be before we actually attempt it.

[K'Luuppo]

Anthony: I'm using a some kind of concrete solvent which includes citric acid. I'm not going to put it there. About the "0,3ml of acid" (you probably meant that)...I was said to make about 1/10 of Mega's recipe, so I divided 3 with 10 and got 0,3 and if that is the amount advised to use I'm going to use it. But maybe I try yours. H2O2 what I thought about to use is some 20-30% because it's easy to get. As soon as I have the money to buy it...

[Chemiboy]

my first would be making BP and making crackers with it, then i started to go on with small amounts of AP. I am doing more research now to find out more chemistry knoledge and saving my chemicals for better usage. Since i live in Australia chemicals are hard to obtain.

And to answer the question from Zambosan....it is just our nature that we are intrested in making and researching explosives.

[HexenLord]

Im about to make some AP and I wanted to know how easily this stuff detonates? Is it as sensitive as NG? Ive seen bottles of NG thrown and detonated when they collided with a hard surface, is AP this sensitive or should it be detonated with a fuse or electrical detonator?

Someone also said AP can be used to detonate ANFO, anyone know how much AP i should use or how I should go about this when using LARGE quantities of ANFO that I can make-(I live without neighbors for miles and my neighbors sell 50 lb. bags of AN for CHEAP.)

[Hang-Man]

Hmm.... that was unwise for a few reasons
1. 'i' 'ive' 'im'
2. "is AP this sensitive or should it be detonated with a fuse or electrical detonator?" oh, as in, if I can detonate it by throwing it against a wall why not do it that way? I belive the hammer test was mentioned earlier.
3. "Someone also said AP can be used to detonate ANFO, anyone know how much AP i should use " hmm, I believe there is a thread on this somewhere, but where? (www.roguesci.org/theforum/showthread.php?s=&threadid=2365&highlight=detonating+anfo)
4. Read the whole damn thread before posting
5. You're a dipshit and I hope you fall down the stairs

[Voyager]

I've never made ammonium perchlorate, but it's beginning to sound like fun.

"Ammonium perchlorate (NH(4)CLO(4)) is a white crystalline substance. It is a powerful oxidizing material. It is stable in pure form at ordinary temperature, but decomposes at a temperature of 150 degrees C or above. It becomes an explosive when mixed with finely divided organic materials. AP exhibits the same explosive sensitivity to shock as picric acid (Class A explosive). Sensitivity to shock and friction may be great when contaminated with small amounts of some impurities such as sulfur, powdered metals and carbonaceous materials. AP may explode when involved in fire."

Source: http://www.osha.gov/dts/hib/hib_data/hib19910925.html

[tmp]

At age 9 I didn't know shit about chemistry but I could read the books
at the public library and potassium nitrate was very easy to get in the
1960's. I also knew how to weigh things even if crudely. My first
explosive was BP although it performed shitty ! Of course the tools
I had for grinding was about as primitive as it gets. My interest in
explosives is due to my love of fireworks.

[Cyclonite]

Iv messed around with flash and BP when I was a kid then onto C-4 due to my job. This intrigued me and it was about the best feeling in the world to feel that shockwave hit you in the chest. So then I preceded to AP ANFO and ill try some NG when I get out of this shithole country.

[Bert]

Hi Cyclonite-
Hope you're back in the world soon- Still looking for a gig?

I started with BP before I was 12. I would recommend making BP as a first mix, and making black match and quick match with it as first projects to anyone starting out. You'll then have the basics to make many types of pyrotechnic devices and ignite them more or less safely. I couldn't recomend ANY HE and/or primary as a first project. The idea of so many kids these days starting out with AP just curls my hair-

[dogbone103]

I have been into pyro for about a year now and have made helluva smoke bombs, black powder, napalm magnesium stuff and other low order explosives. I am now into making chemicals more and have extracted various compounds I can’t get much oxiders because I live in Australia and they are too hard to get for me. I have experimented with matches and found they contain potassium nitrate because when I dissolved them in water and filtered out the crap I made me a helluva smoke bomb and worked. now my theory is they are only coated in potassium or sodium chlorate so I dissolved only the top layer of the heads of them in water and let it evaporate. My goal is to make about 70% pure potassium or sodium chlorate.

[grendel23]

According to this link, http://www.diamondbrands.com/matches/matchfacts.html there is chlorate in matches, but that is a hard way to obtain it. KCLO₃ is easy to make from bleach and KCl. There is a wealth of material here on making chlorate. Search and ye shall receive.