Explosive questions

[Grimace]

Basically what people have said it pretty much true. There is a small chance that with the flare and the punctured propane tank that you could have a "jet propelled" tank until the pressure escaped enough to stop it moving. But you're not going to have a big explosion or anything.

Also, a note on the C4. It *might* not ignite from black powder. It would depend on how much you packed in. If it did ignite, like was mentioned...*pow*, ruined weapon and you're likely picking shrapnel out of your face if you survive.

Finally tracers... yes, they can, but not every time guaranteed. You'd probably have to put more than just one into a gas tank to get it to ignite.

[Eddie]

I'll add on the C4, you need two things to ignite it, heat and pressure. A muzzle loading rifle would provide the spark from its striker, but not any pressure using the C4 as a powder alone (if that's what you're meaning).

Now if you use black powder as a starter, it would provide enough of both to ignite the C4, at which point, it's going to burn at 28,800+ fps, which is going to seriously damage your chamber, barrel, and most likely your upper torso and head.

[weswood]

Cool. Thanks for the info. I've had some very basic training with demo, not nearly enough though.

On the C-4 question, I can see that it wouldn't explode due to no pressure, but a spark should ignite the C-4, correct? Would a chunck of burning C-4 provide enough gas to push the bullet down the barrel?

As far as making black powder or a directional mine, I have nothing specific in mind, just curious.

[Targan]

A spark won't ignite C-4.

[pmulcahy11b]

Originally Posted by weswood

Cool. Thanks for the info. I've had some very basic training with demo, not nearly enough though.

On the C-4 question, I can see that it wouldn't explode due to no pressure, but a spark should ignite the C-4, correct? Would a chunck of burning C-4 provide enough gas to push the bullet down the barrel?

As far as making black powder or a directional mine, I have nothing specific in mind, just curious.

C4 will burn, but without pressure to boot, that's all it will do. (You can actually use a small chunk of C4 to heat up your rations.) That's why you need a blasting cap or something like that. A spark from something like a flintlock or even an inline won't even start C4 on fire. A wick might, but since it will just catch on fire (maybe), there's no real point for the purpose you have in mind.

As for a blackpowder mine -- they've been used throughout history, including by the Chinese as early as (IIRC) 300 AD. The Ninja of Japan used them; the Turks used them, various Arabic countries used them, and eventually they made their way to Europe. The Chinese and Ninja even had pressure detonators for them.

I don't know if one can make an improvised blackpowder directional mine, but with C4 it's easy. You just need a strong backplate, a bunch of metal fragments or rocks for the fragments of the mine, knead them into the C4, then wrap it in plastic or cloth and stick a blasting cap into it. Shove some sticks into the C4 at the bottom to make legs, or just prop it up on something. That's a trick the Viet Cong taught the US military, and I was taught that one in the Army (much later, of course).

[Legbreaker]

Made myself a stick mine with barbed wire (similar to a POMZ), claymore and "danert bomb" (reel of barbed wire stuffed full of about a dozen sticks of plastic - roughly 10 lbs) back on my initial explosives course.

Oh what fun!

But any fool can make a big bang. I prefer precision charges - cutting your name into sheet steel for example. Too little and you barely knock the rust off, too much and, well, I think you can imagine.

[Legbreaker]

Originally Posted by Eddie

Now if you use black powder as a starter, it would provide enough of both to ignite the C4, at which point, it's going to burn at 28,800+ fps...

That's 8.7 kilometres per second kiddies, or 31,601 kph (19,636 mph).

To put if into a little more perspective, the muzzle velocity of an M60 machinegun, that is the speed the projectile is travelling as it leaves the barrel, is just 840 metres per second (3,024 kph/1,879 mph)

I think it's farily obvious just why HE isn't much good as a propellant when you look at it like that.