impact sensitive flash target....any ideas?

[Yikes]

Hi y'all,

I'm looking for a compound that will flash brightly when hit with a rifle bullet. Easy? Yeah....however, it must be low on smoke, AND preferrably low on noise too. It is to be used on our firing range, which is an indoor range. Any smoke produced will 'fog up' all other lanes as well, so the shooters on those lanes, unable to see their targets, will shoot at me instead. :( Primary explosives won't do either: too much noise. (Ever shot a film cannister of HMTD on an indoor range? You'd better use quadruple ear protection!!!)

BTW, I did do a search, but as this is a difficult problem, I had to use general search terms, and got a gazillion hits....none of which were very useful. Can anybody point me in the right direction?

TIA

[PYRO500]

I think you need just a small amount of flash powder, I think they sell little targets like these already, any pow produced by a small amount of the stuff will be insignifigant to a rifle shot indoors, although one of the other shooters could be a cop and they will not like you shooting at a bomb (and that's what they'll call it beacuse legally it is one) and it could get you in some shit.

[zaibatsu]

Check theforum FTP for a PDF on impact sensitive firecrackers, I'm sure one of the recipies for "globe torpedos" will be of some use to you.

[Machiavelli]

Does it need to be pyro? Otherwise there would be an electronic option, no smoke, no additional noise, just flash.

Get a flashing circuit (nearly every electronics supplier is selling these as kits or assembled) and replace the trigger switch with two metall plates that are held apart a few millimeters (this is assuming that the switch is normally open). Now when the plates are hit by a bullet the circuit is closed and the flash fired.

For variations you can set up your target with different hit zones that switch on different flashes or just normal lights.

If you need an ultra-simple solution, just wire some batteries, the plate switch and a bright light/led in series, when you hit it the light will be switched on.

[Hvoroba]

There is some information about a smokeless flash composition at Wouter Visser's page, KMNO4 and Aluminium mixture I think. Don't know about the noise though, but since it's supposed to rapidly burn instead of detonate, I think it would not produce much noise.

[vulture]

KMnO4 flashpowders can produce a tremendous bang when struck hard. And flashpowder is never going to be smokeless because of the formation of Al2O3 which are visible as fine airfloating particles. The KMnO4 adds K2O and Mn3O4 which are also solid. A little bit of humidity in the air will cause them to form hydroxides, which, in the case of Al and Mn, are of high density and easily form intermolecular bonds. If you've ever set of flash when it's very humid, you'll notice that after a few seconds alot of smoke appears apparently out of the blue.

[Hvoroba]

Okay.

The name said "Smokeless Flash" though.

[inferno]

Use armstrong's mixture, out of toy caps. It depends if the target is placed against a hard surface or if it is hanging in front of the wall as to how to set it off.

But anyway, empty out some caps, and my best idea would be to place it on a coin or other metal plate, and just wrap a bit of tape over it to hold it on. When the bullet hits, it will go bang with a small flash, not like a flash powder flash, like a little burst of flame. If you want a real flash, mix armstrongs and a small amount of flash powder and do the same thing on a coin, if the flash doesnt go off on impact, the arsmtrongs will and set off the flash.