Exploding pellets revisited. - Archive file

[megalomania]

Spudgunner
A new voice
Posts: 33
From: MO,USA
Registered: JAN 2001
posted February 11, 2001 10:42 PM
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Well, just to let you know, I started a new topic so we could focus just on this, and not how whatever magazine has good jokes. Well, my first attempt was a primer glued to skirt of pellet, with a steel pin (stiff piano wire) glued to skirt, with a half inch of pipe glued to front end of primer. Before I attached the pipe though, I rammed some tissue paper down in there pretty dense, then used CA to harden the whole thing, both sides of paper. Then I filled with a grain and a half (.1 gram) of good flash powder, then glued open end to fire end of primer so it would ignite the flash. I set up at a 90 degree angle my trigger pull (rope around a stake) so I was in my garage with the door down and fired. It hit the armor plate I have been testing my AP pellets on. But, with the primer in back, it just didn't go. Maybe I will find it tomorrow, but I dremt this all up earlier when parents were not home. Then, in my room, I shot a pellet skirt and primer assembly at the plate at point blank basically. I wrapped a junk jacket around it to contain any peices. It left a heck of a dent in the metal. I scavenged and found 3 lead scraps of the skirt, the anvil of primer, and the cup, all separated. Well, that I deemed a sucess. Just now, I had a dream where I built another one, this time with primer on front. You have to be very good at doing this though. The gun I use is .22 pellet. The reason you have to be careful, is because when these exploding things are 3/4 of an inch long or a little over that, it is very easy to make it crooked and not go in barrel. But I was careful of that and they go in no problem. Since these are so long, and fairly heavy, I am sure they will not stabilize right, so I would be range is under a couple yards (meters). Dont know until I make a few though. Oh, and before I forget, not only do I glue the edge of the primer to my brass pipe, but I also put a little CA on outside, and wrap that tissue paper around the pipe and primer a few times, and make sure it has plenty of CA to harden the whole thing. That should keep anything from coming apart other than by throwing or stepping on it.


Spudgunner
A new voice
Posts: 33
From: MO,USA
Registered: JAN 2001
posted February 14, 2001 10:48 PM
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Wow, thats about all I have to say about the pellet. I didnt know a grain and a half of flash could be so loud! However, i dont think that the pellet actually did much. It just shot the primer off the front and my endplug out the back. But there was a lot of hot gas going one direction or the other. And a big dent was left, but nothing like shrapnel or anything was done. The brass tube the flash was in bulged at one end, thats all. I am sure if I had a welded endcap on and a primer that I could find out how to secure better than CAing it on, the thing would be much more impressive. If i were really wanting it to explode, I'd simply use AP like some others would have, and then it would be real awesome with all that extra on.


Cricket
Frequent Poster
Posts: 160
From: USA
Registered: OCT 2000
posted February 14, 2001 11:42 PM
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Several months ago I also did some expirimenting. I had a .22 pistol barrel (from a fucked up, but new, pellet gun). I stuck a large pistol primer in there. I aimed it at a soon to be pipebomb (I dont know what metal {most likely an alloy} it is, but its EXTREMELY VERY strong) and blew hard. It exploded shooting the anvil about 1/2 in. under my left eye where I had to pull it out. I was like "Woah, fuck, hehe my eye, is bleading" (I was high). Nothing serious, just an eye opener. I have done many expiriments with my .22 pellet gun and primers. I was doing an ability to detonate test once. I opened this cabinet where 2 mice hung out. I glued a bb to a primer and shot one mouse (he was in the corner) and it penetrated, and detonated because the wood on the other side. It blew the mouse out of the cabinet on the floor. Pretty cool. Very unreliable detonations with this method though. I need to go soon, so one more thing. I sometimes would put a pellet in backwards for it to be a hollow point. I usually did this for fairly close range rabbit hunting (I always aim for the head).


Zero
Frequent Poster
Posts: 93
From: ...
Registered: DEC 2000
posted February 15, 2001 11:52 AM
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The Windowbreaker:
This is an interesting technique that my nephew and I discovered when we were screwing around with his airgun. All you have to do is load one pellet in the breech of the gun like normal and another in the muzzle of the gun, pushed down with a cleaning rod about 6 inches. Aim and fire. That loud bang you hear is the pellet you rammed down the barrel going supersonic. We tried this on a gun that averaged 550 fps, so that's a considerable power gain. The accuracy wavers, but your groups will open up to about 2 or 3 inches at 20 yards. This sort of shot is suitable for close range hunting where you need that power boost (Racoons and the like. I took out a fox with a headshot using the same gun once.) The farther down you ram the second pellet the more accuracy and less power you get out of it. Inserting the pellet backwards, like Cricket said, does some rather spectacular things at these speeds...

~Zero the Inestimable


HMTD Factory
Frequent Poster
Posts: 217
From:
Registered: FEB 2001
posted February 15, 2001 01:42 PM
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How do you know its going supersonic?
It doesn't seen possible to me...

[This message has been edited by HMTD Factory (edited February 15, 2001).]


Anthony
Moderator
Posts: 2312
From: England
Registered: SEP 2000
posted February 15, 2001 03:08 PM
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I'm guessin the bang is the pellet smacking the other pellet. If anything it should lessen power since not only is the "projectile" twice the weight, but energy wil be lost when the first pellet strikes the second.
Inserting pellets backwards is damn difficult, that's why I just buy hollow points...


Cricket
Frequent Poster
Posts: 160
From: USA
Registered: OCT 2000
posted February 15, 2001 04:14 PM
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I rarely had trouble putting it in backwards. But I bet our guns are different. Mine was a rifle and it was like a bolt action, but a little different. When the bolt was open, you had almost an inch to lay the pellet in the barrel. I would just put it between my fingers backwards and lay it next to the bolt. Then just roll it in the barrel. It requires practice, but works. Sometimes you will still get one stuck, so just straiten a hanger out and poke it in the barrel. I miss my gun. I especially miss shooting out all my neighbors street lights! Thats what they get for calling the police on me for "testing" stuff.
[This message has been edited by Cricket (edited February 15, 2001).]


Anthony
Moderator
Posts: 2312
From: England
Registered: SEP 2000
posted February 15, 2001 06:33 PM
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I've just got a break barrel springer and the breach is quite tight so it's probably just me then. I have trouble fitting some pellets in the right way round, my finger ends up looking like the Olympic flag
One more thing about the double pellet idea, I'm surprised it doesn't get jammed. Because the head of the first pellet would fit into the skirt of the second, expanding the second pellet in the barrel.


BoB-
Frequent Poster
Posts: 651
From:
Registered: SEP 2000
posted February 15, 2001 06:38 PM
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Be careful putting pellets in backwards, clearing a jam without a cleaning rod handy is a bitch.


vehemt
Frequent Poster
Posts: 580
From: Canada
Registered: SEP 2000
posted February 15, 2001 07:55 PM
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Maybe the first pellet acts like some kind of high speed piston creating a pocket of high pressure air behind the first pellet?


Cricket
Frequent Poster
Posts: 160
From: USA
Registered: OCT 2000
posted February 15, 2001 09:00 PM
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I learned a neat trick from my brother during one of them boring Sunday morning church services. I would get a plastic Bic pen. I would degut it to where its nothing but a hollow tube. Then I would get a pice of paper and chew it til its nice and soggy, but not all tore to hell. Make another. Then we would have to get something that fits inside the tube and it strong. I get hangers and chop off about 8 inches of it (the straight part on the bottom) and round the ends with neetle nosed pliers. Then poke the spitwads in the ends extremely tight. So if you understood connectly, you have a pice of a hanger (much better if you make the ends round so it wont poke through the spitwad), a pen (hollow), and two spitwads. Hope this is clear enough. Poke the ramrod through as fast as you can (I just hold the pen in my hand and slam it on my hand or somehting). It should make the first spitwad make pressure and blow the second one out the end with a surprisingly loud "pop" (not loud, just louder than you would think). Its really fun to shoot people with this, makes school worth going to. I bet this is whats happening in the barrel when you put in two pellets. I bet it would be better if you could make the pellet at the end of the barrel get stuck a little bit. So it would build up more pressure before it shoots out.


Zero
Frequent Poster
Posts: 93
From: ...
Registered: DEC 2000
posted February 15, 2001 09:22 PM
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That's exactly what happens- You get all the pressure/force/whatever you call it from the pellet in the breech compressing the air between the two pellets. On top of this the air that it compresses heats up and expands even more, creating more pressure. The pellets never hit each other unless you ram the second one down way too far. The first pellet (the one you load normally) takes a different and much shorter trajectory since it loses most of its power, usually landing someplace strange and doing neglibable damage. Sometimes you can even see it fall out of the barrel.
Another fun one is to load up a pellet and then several BB's for a shotgun effect. I'm sure we've all figured that one out already, though.

Framing nails have interesting effects on crows, too.

~Zero the Inestimable


Cricket
Frequent Poster
Posts: 160
From: USA
Registered: OCT 2000
posted February 15, 2001 10:20 PM
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Yea, I used to do that. I would fill my whole barrel up to the top with bbs and shoot that shiny spinner thing on top of my house (hey, it was 2-3 years ago). It wont spin now needless to say, after several 5,000 packs of bbs. I remember when I did that, I would get some recoil off of it. More than a .22 it seems. Its much slower though, like ANFO compared to NG. It just lobes them out the end, but a .22 blows it out. If I had time to and was close enough, I would put in an extra 2-3 bbs to give me more knock down power (wich I dont understand, its a bird not an elephant). Also, at my grandmothers house I would go to the dock and feed the fish. When they would come close to the surface, I would slowly put the barrel of my rifle bb gun in the water. I would move it to where they are about 2-3 inches away and shoot them in the head (usually). Then they would swim really fast and you couldnt even tell where they go. Pretty funny.


vehemt
Frequent Poster
Posts: 580
From: Canada
Registered: SEP 2000
posted February 16, 2001 12:11 AM
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I used to do that with a brass tube, a bamboo skewer and orange peels.


Zero
Frequent Poster
Posts: 93
From: ...
Registered: DEC 2000
posted February 19, 2001 09:35 PM
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Orange peels? I used to have a Chinese springer rifle with a seal that I think was made from orange peels...
~Zero the Inestimable


HMTD Factory
Frequent Poster
Posts: 217
From:
Registered: FEB 2001
posted February 20, 2001 01:24 AM
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Probably leather, which can stand petroleum
lubricants.


Zero
Frequent Poster
Posts: 93
From: ...
Registered: DEC 2000
posted February 20, 2001 08:57 PM
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Actually that was a reference to how cheap the gun was, but never mind...
~Zero the Inestimable


Anthony
Moderator
Posts: 2312
From: England
Registered: SEP 2000
posted February 20, 2001 10:31 PM
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I'm still unsure of how this could work. All energy for the shot must come from the spring/piston, transfering the energy from the piston to a pellet, then from the pellet to another pellet can only result in a loss of energy.
Another consideration is that if you ram the second pellet half way down the barrel, the effective barrel length (the amount of barrel the second pellet travels from zero to muzzle velocity) is drastically reduced.

The only thing I can think of that explains it is, that there is not restriction of the gas that pushes the second piston, unlike the restriction that were would be from the piston pushing the first pellet. This would only have a small effect however and could be simply gained by drilling out the air transfer port from the piston chamber.

One more factor I just thought of, the compression between the first and second pellet allows dieseling of any oil in the barrel between the two pellets.


BoB-
Frequent Poster
Posts: 651
From:
Registered: SEP 2000
posted February 21, 2001 06:04 AM
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No way, it doesnt take much to push a pellet down a pellet gun barell, as soon as the pressure built up enough for the pellet to move it would be pushed out of the barell.
Of course if the velocity of the gun is high, then yeah, its probably one pellet smashing into the other.


HMTD Factory
Frequent Poster
Posts: 217
From:
Registered: FEB 2001
posted February 22, 2001 02:47 AM
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Solve the myth with very simple logic.
The second pellet will travel slower than the first pellet.

The first pellet will travel slower than a pellet which is forced out as the only projectile .

There you have it, the second pellet is not
travelling any faster than one-projectile pellet.

The pop comes from released pressure between
the two pellets, not from sonic boom.


Anthony
Moderator
Posts: 2312
From: England
Registered: SEP 2000
posted February 22, 2001 10:40 AM
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Yeah, that's kind of what I was getting at, just didn't word it very well


Zero
Frequent Poster
Posts: 93
From: ...
Registered: DEC 2000
posted February 23, 2001 04:00 PM
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Now if you'll just explain why pellets I load like that penetrate more, everything will be peachy...
~Zero the Inestimable


Spudgunner
A new voice
Posts: 33
From: MO,USA
Registered: JAN 2001
posted February 23, 2001 10:54 PM
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I thought of this a while ago, but was not sure if this is right. What I am thinking, is when you push the pellet down the barrel, backwards of the way you normally push it (I think this is what you mean)then it expands a little, so it is a little tighter than normal. When you fire, the pressure is building from the air and the pellet traveling very fast. The pressure keeps building until BAM! the first pellet farther down the barrel has to release. So, more air is behind it than would normally be behind the pellet. That, or I could be talking without having a clue (probably the latter).
Spud

Ps, forgot to spell check, this is going to take some getting used to.


BoB-
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Posts: 651
From:
Registered: SEP 2000
posted February 24, 2001 06:31 AM
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Careful, if this turn into an argument the Mods. will lock it.


Anthony
Moderator
Posts: 2312
From: England
Registered: SEP 2000
posted February 24, 2001 06:01 PM
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Tighter pellets don't neccessarily mean higher FPS since you're wasting energy to friction.


vehemt
Frequent Poster
Posts: 580
From: Canada
Registered: SEP 2000
posted February 24, 2001 08:26 PM
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Well, I am sure that an air rifle has more energy than that is needed to just fire one pellet and as such can use this "reserve" to help this occur (ie, high speed piston). The air rifle doesnt just have exactly enough energy to be used to fire a single pellet.


HMTD Factory
Frequent Poster
Posts: 217
From:
Registered: FEB 2001
posted February 24, 2001 08:53 PM
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No formal test is shown to prove that the
second pellet actually penetrates more so there won't be explaination as well.
Spudgunner's explaination will work for gunpowder firearm, but not a piston gun.

His idea is that if the peak-pressure is high
then there is more "area under graph" there will be more "punch" stored in the pellet.
(There won't be more air inside piston chamber though).

But the pressure of the piston reach the first pellet first. That is the piston will start to move the first pellet before it can
"feel" the resistance of the second.

When the pressure reaches both, the piston simply "feels" like pushing two pellets.

Those who are interested in testing can shoot
at a phone book under the same condition and
tell whick pellet penetrated more pages.

[This message has been edited by HMTD Factory (edited February 24, 2001).]


Anthony
Moderator
Posts: 2312
From: England
Registered: SEP 2000
posted February 25, 2001 03:39 PM
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Airgun pellets are designed to make maximum use of the energy release in each shot. A lighter pellet will go faster a heavier pellet will go slower. So two pellets will have the same effect as a pellet twice the weight.
A heavy pellet would create a higher peak pressure inside the piston chamber though, but the heavy projectile would still limit the velocity. The gun will also become damaged from using heavy projectiles.

Testing is the only way to get a definate answer, preferably over a chrono as well as the yellow pages test.

[Macgyver]

The explosive ammo with HMTD in the pellets works pretty good.
My BB gun which normally would only put a dent in my steel trashcan goes straight thru the trashcan with a HMTD prepared BB..... It does not make much of a bang, but it definitively makes more damage than a regular BB.Made a hole about 1 cm in diameter in it.... :D

<small>[ April 04, 2003, 12:35 PM: Message edited by: Macgyver ]</small>

[Aaron-V2.0]

An HMTD prepared BB? <img border="0" title="" alt="[Eek!]" src="eek.gif" /> What are you trying to do, blow the barrel? A BB could roll and friction between the barrel and HMTD "Dab" would initiate it...

Or are you mistaken and called a pellet a BB? (Hopefully you are...)

Also, this was in another airrifle thread. Who else has had luck "Dieseling" their pellets? I.E. 1 drop of diesel behind the pellet. I lack a chronograph (Now) but it's either the bang from the gas or the pellet going supersonic. Eitherway it sounds equivalent to a .22

[Macgyver]

Sorry, I meant pellet of course.... I am not *that* crazy even though I am a bit of a mad scientist :D

I am Swedish, so english is not my native language.

Sometimes things gets mixed up :)

And I was very careful to seal the top of the pellet with Loctite glue and clean it from HMTD on the outside after the glue dried.

Wonder what these cuties would do to a rat?

If it blows 1cm2 holes in my trashcan it will sure blow the head of a rat. (At least if I hit the head bone, because the HMTD needs something hard to initiate).

<small>[ April 05, 2003, 01:32 AM: Message edited by: Macgyver ]</small>

[Mr Cool]

The best round I've used for short-range rat/rabbit hunting is a normal .22 pellet, inserted backwards. I wouldn't trust it at longer ranges, but the accuracy is OK. The pellets stop dead and cause massive tissue damage as the skirt expands, giving much more stopping power.
I just wouldn't want to use an HMTD-impregnated pellet in a good rifle, just in case.

[Anthony]

Since ratting is done at close ranges, even the cheapest airrifle should be accurate enough and disposable if something went wrong :)

Dieseling definitely does increase pellet velocity. In fact, the process is normal in a spring/piston gun to some degree - the guin would perform very poorly in a vacuum or inert atmosphere.

If you want to test it, just do the Yellow Pages test. A shot or two before adding the diesel will give you a control figure. Don't forget, the effect of the diesel will take several shots to wear off.

[Macgyver]

I think that it is quite unlikely the pellet will detonate in the barrel, and in the event it would do so, the force would be directed in the easiest way, and in the front of the pellet is only a thin layer of Loctite glue, so probably it will not be ruining the barrel of the gun.

Even though HMTD is strong, there is a difference between the thickness of the gun barrel and the steel in the trashcan I shot it at :D

[Mr Cool]

I don't think it would destroy the gun, but it would ruin its accuracy. Which is why I wouldn't want to try it on a good gun; on a cheap rifle, accuracy is poor to begin with, but I would not want to destroy a nice Anschutz barrel...

[Macgyver]

True....

But I find it very unlikely for the pellet to blow before it hits the target.But then again, Murphy's law applies to all sorts of things :(

Would be more fun with a larger pellet (longer?) that could fit more HMTD in it..... :D

[Ghostcustom 24]

Standard air rifles shoot 4.5mm pellets, so thats not much room.

But on the other hand you can always get a specialty air rifle or BB gun.

[Anthony]

The standard airgun calibres are: .177" (4.5mm) .20" .22" and .25"

Actual "BB" guns come in .177 only.

[Macgyver]

Now I have made serveral experiments, both with pellets filled with HMTD and pellets filled with AP, not a single one that detonated before it hit the target.

So I consider this one to be quite safe, since the amount of HMTD or AP shouldn't be sufficient to damage the barrel if the worst should happen.

(My neighbours must love me now, think they hated me before for my indoor shooting-range, then now things start to go boom sometimes when I am shooting...). :D

[Yorki_pyro]

I have messed around with a few exploding pellets in my time, the main one i used was a standard .22 roundhead, its simple to do, just take some paper caps and cut round the red dot on them and stuff the dot into the hollow void in the middle of the pellet, most pellets have this void including;
marksman .22 roundhead
marksman .22 pointed
eley wasp .22 roundhead.
When you have stuffed the void with the caps then you can either fire it as is or use some pliers to fold the soft lead of the skirt over the material. i know that this leads to a loss of energy as the skirt does not deform to seal the barrel however it may help reduce the chance of the compression heating igniting the material. I have also used match heads with success, however for these i did not "fold" the skirt of the pellet.
The third design i have tried is one pellet packed with paper cap material then crimped the skirt into a round shape then epoxied a 1inch piece of tubing to the back, filled this with some flash powder then epoxied another pellet to the back, this pellet being crimped at the front to leave the skirt intact.
Design 1 isnt very destructive although it would be with a decent filler, match head as filler works well on deodorant cans but is not reliable, the long one makes a hell of a bang but i have not tested the damage from it seriously.

[dinkydexy]

Just take a pinprick of PVA glue and dab it on the head of any .22 pellet. Wait till it's dried, and load and fire in the usual way.

[Blackhawk]

Umm I am not sure if this is an idiotic question or not, but what would a dab of PVA do on the nose of a .22?

[dinkydexy]

Nothing whatsoever, other than interfere with the flight to such a minute amount as to be irrelevant.

[Jacks Complete]

If you hit the target, it would stick to it. After hundreds of rounds, that rat won't be able to walk away! :)

Seriously, I have no idea why PVA alone. PVA plus a small rifle primer should be good though. I used to superglue them on the front of .22 rifle pellets, and they made a great crack as they went off against a wall. I never tested them on anything for power or accuracy though. Pretty much the same as the OP.

[Yorki_pyro]

Would diesel be the best fuel for dieseling? What about lighter fuel or ether or something like? (Gasoline would be bad as it has additives to prevent detonation from pressure)
In my tests, dieseling does not seem to ignite either explosive or matchhead filled pellets.

[Blackhawk]

What do you mean ignite explosive or match head fired pellets? The idea of diesiling is that the drop of diesil behind the slug combusts due to the pressure pulse giving it more power, I don't see how this links to explosive pellets.

[Yorki_pyro]

I mean, the way I make an explosive pellet is to cram a pellet full of paper caps or match heads, I was wondering whether the dieseling effect would ignite these explosive pellets. It doesnt.
Sorry if i was going off topic but someone mentioned it earlier.

[vulture]

Acetylene detonates when pressurized.....

Trouble is that you'd get one hell of a muzzle flash as:

C2H2 ---> 2C + H2

Secondary H2 explosions when it comes into contact with air are to be expected...

And a barrel full of carbon soot.

EDIT: Does lead suffer from hydrogen embrittlement?

[Jacks Complete]

I think every metal suffers from hydrogen embrittlement, but don't quote me on that. It certainly wouldn't be an issue at these temps, pressures and durations, though.

Wouldn't the acetylene burn from the air injection from the air gun? In fact, how would you get it in there to start with?

As for dieselling, you could use oil, petrol, whatever. The anti-knock additives in petrol will make no odds. You will ruin your rifle though. I used to use 3-in-1. Too much would frag the pellet, and the gun would smoke when I got it to work just right. Velocity was surreal for an airgun, but it wasn't very consistent. Like, sometimes it went supersonic, mostly it didn't, sometimes it would go like normal. With some work, I probably could have got it down, but hey...

I think the trick would be to only use a tiny amount, consistently measured, in the cup of the pellet. Perhaps if you try something really thick, like Vaseline... Perhaps someone with a cheap airrifle can run some tests over a chrono and get some solid data. Keep the oil out of the barrel, otherwise you just get random effects. Also, go for heavyweight pellets.

Stick whatever payload you are using to the front! Don't forget, oil kills primers, and most other payloads.

[Yorki_pyro]

Supersonic?
Is that confirmed on a chrony?
My lastest little explosion was a result of me playing with a butane lighter on a dowel much like the shotgun grenades proposed in the anarchists crapbook, i had a (very) crude rag on the dowel which was soaked in gas and lit before firing, worked a treat with a nice fireball from butane.
Not exactly an exploding pellet but still involves an air rifle and an explosion.

[Blackhawk]

Not really an explosion, more of a pressure pop and burning gas cloud. Did you have it so the dowel was all the way down the barrel?

Also do you think that diesiling (say with WD40) would work with a spring air rifle (I am turning one out of Al parts, uses the spring from an umbrella that takes roughly 60Kg to compress to half its origional length-firing a 1/4" projectile).

[Wild Catmage]

I was experimenting with 13mm projectiles in my air cannon. They're made from emptied AA batteries filled with HMTD and sealed with a PVA glue/sawdust plug. In a trial run, the projectile did not go off upon hitting the side of a warehouse at an angle of about 30 degrees. I presume that this is due to the projectile not impacting with enough energy. I've now put this project on 'hold' until I build a larger air cannon.

I'm starting to think that using HMTD isn't a good idea, because of its sensitivity (although the projectile didn't go off). I'll have to do some research into other explosives and detonation mechanisms...

[Yorki_pyro]

Blackhawk, dieseling definately works with a spring piston air rifle as the air is compressed when the spring is released and this heats it up which can ignite an oil, the ignition of the oil then gives extra pressure to propell the projectile.
And the dowel was about 3/4 of the way down the barrel with insulation tape around it for a bit of a better seal.

[Ropik]

There is really simple recipe to make an exploding pelets. Drawback: They are not nearly as powerful as HMTD filled ones probably are(I didn't test any) Advantages: Very simple, cheap and safe to make and shoot. They probably can not damage the barrel if they detonate inside, althoug this is very unlikely event.

1. Scrape powder from one or more (depending on pellet size) strike-anywhere matchhead tips
2. Pulverize it safely. In small quantity! When one matchhead explode, it doesn't matter, but if explode few hundreds of them...
3. Pour powder into back of pellet and compress carefully with matchstick
4. Seal the pellet with wax or Locktite

This pellets can be loaded in normal manner (at least in my airgun with 170 m/s) and they explode with hard impact. Yellow Pages or wood suffices. I am able to split broom handle with one shot using this pellet.

EDIT: typos

[harris]

I am going to try this method.

[Jacks Complete]

Supersonic?
Is that confirmed on a chrony?Nope. Just the distinctive sound made by a supersonic round. Of course, it could have been bits of the pellet, or fragments, since hitting the target was just pointing towards a large wall.

If I had a PoS springer I would try it again, but I don't, and no oil goes near my Falcon!!

Ropik,
I suggest you get a little pot of water, and dampen the heads first, then cut them. They are less likely to throw bits everywhere, and they can't go off (not funny when you have three boxes cut up!) and then, once you have the paste, just scoop it into the base of the pellet, and it will then dry out and stay put a lot better than otherwise, meaning you don't need the wax unless you want to use them in the rain.

[Ropik]

Wet the matchheads can be a good precaution... But if you have a few boxes of strike-anywhere matchtips lying around your workbench... hmm... You shouldn't even look on explosives, I think!
Anyway, a bit of dextrine added to the matchtip paste can be helpful to hold it in a pellet even better.
I am going to test this idea because I don't know if a match powder compacted with a "wet methode" will go off... If not, a touch of sand or glass powder should get rid of this.

[Jacks Complete]

Ropik, it will work fine. Just let it dry in the sun for a day.

If you want to make it tracer, let some get down the side of the pellet, so the barrel friction sets it of in the barrel. It might even work!

[Ropik]

It should work, but I am worried that in confinement of barrel will be ignited the "base charge" too. I would try it with some cheap air gun, but not with my finely tuned "poor man's snmiper rifle ;) "

[Jacks Complete]

Ropik,
For sure! Don't use any of these dodgy pellets in your best rifle! A little dieselling will trash a gun, as will lots of matchhead shite burning, AP charges, steel pellets, etc.

The base charge is supposed to light, and burn pretty fast, but it gets lit as it flies, hence tracer. (but I have never done them) The other ones (which I used to make) don't seem to burn, but do go pop when they hit a wall.

[the flash]

Years ago I experimented with drilling a 1/8" (3mm) hole in the front of my 44 Mag cast semi-wadcutters. The hole was about 1/4" (6mm) deep and filled with a match head sized piece of a Railway Torpedo. The material was softened with a little acetone and pushed into the hole and allowed to dry for a few days. I put a coat of nail polish in the hole to seal it. They would make an audible bang, even when hitting wood or a metal bucket. They absolutely ruined any penetration of the bullet. Without the mixture a 250 grain semi wad-cutter cast of wheel weights , from a 6" pistol, would go almost two railroad ties at 30 feet (10m). With the exploding tips, the bullet would shatter and would not penetrate even one railroad tie. It worked but it didn't help anything.