Powder Burner

[Smithy]

For lack of a cannon site I'd thought to post here. Last fourth of July (my birthday) I had all my kids/grandkids up for a visit and some brought fireworks and such so I wanted to add my two cents in on the festivities. I brought out my BNA Bircher Mortar that's powder scoop sent with the mortar came out to throw a charge of 1200 grains of black powder. I emailed the maker asking if this was right? The response was it will take much more but you'll end up sending unburnt powder flying around so he'd stick to the 1200 grains. Since then I've added to my Stainless ordinance a bit. My large mortar bed now has five items on it. A two shot, then three shot (1" bored signal pieces), then the BNA golf ball mortar, then a golf ball sized foot high confetti launcher followed by a three shot 50 caliber unit that goes off all at once. The fuse then goes away from the bed to a stainless golf ball thunder mug that takes 1500 grains of powder and I just found out today that my big boy is on it's way. This was conceived when I first was looking for something more than the one mortar and wanted a thunder mug.

A fellow responded and said that his company can whip out what I'm looking for. We emailed back and forth until the designed item had become a monster. It's 14" tall with a 10"X1" base screwed to the bottom of the barrel which is 6.5" tapering down to 4.5" with a couple of cannon rings along the way. The bore is again golf ball sized and is made to take and burn 2000 grains of powder and make you jaw rattle. He has proof tested it with 5000 grains and a 1# lead ball. It was then magnafluxed (metal x rayed) to check for cracks or flaws (which it had none) and said that 2000 grains is about right because approaching 3000 grains you start to get unburnt powder. So this will be my new finale to my black powder fourth! I have fourteen pounds already and may get more to have a blast my next birthday with my family. Smithy.

[starmac]

WOW, I hope you get a better deal on powder than I do. lol

[Boerrancher]

WOW, I hope you get a better deal on powder than I do. lol

Yeah, no Kidding.

Best wishes,

Joe

[Nobade]

You need to take up black powder making to feed that!

If you want to see it do something really neat, google up Cremora fireballs. That would really be something to see in a morter!

[Hanshi]

That's like owning a BIG dog; they just eat too much!

[Smithy]

Nobade, those Cremora fireballs are something else!. When I was first looking for a "stainless" Thunder mug with a golf ball bore, a gent said that that was not a problem for him to do and did I want him to make me one? I of course said YES! What I got was not exactly what I'd call a Thunder Mug. It was a Piece of High Pressure Stainless Pipe with a threaded and welded plug that had a powder pocket (not chamber) turned into it. Nifty, strong, but by no means a stout thunder mug. I thought about putting a small charge of black into it topped with confetti, but it looks to be perfect for the Cremora touch. I'd end up with a few booms and bangs then a fireball to be ended with one hellacious blast from the Thunder Mug. I wonder how much Cremora is too much Cremora? I certainly would not want to overdo that aspect of the display. Maybe a quarter cup? Has anyone messed with the stuff? Smithy.

[starmac]

I had to google it to see what a cremora was, I always knew there had to be a good reason not to use cream in my coffee. lol

[Nobade]

How much to use depends on how big the thunder mug is, but filling it up about 3/4 of the way after adding the powder charge works pretty well in metal coffee cans. Use a long fuse and stand back far!

There is a place somewhere that sells floor sweepings fro the cremora plant. The real stuff is mighty expensive but for the occasional shot not too bad considering the effect.

[Smithy]

I can't really practice on this one as the only range in town is a snooty buddy club that has a 3 year waiting list and numerous other requirements to enter. So unless I'm way,way out in the country, my big performance is on the fourth of each year. Always trying to better the last year's one. I live on a cul de sac in the corner lot so I have a Lot of road/asphalt to aim and land on and all but one of my wads are going straight up save my BNA mortar aimed at a 45 (its wads only go for about ten feet). So I need to steer clear of my trees and adjacent cars (I do that anyway for the concussion effects). So this is one I'm going to take slow and sneak up on using a little to start and then move up as flame ball allows. I'd really like to get just a 6 foot diameter ball of flame and call that good so I'm starting in the teaspoons first and foremost.

Now if you have a good seal with your powder wad (2 cardboards thick), would I need to connect both halfs of the load with a hole in the wad or that plus a fuse sticking through? Or would the main charge be enough to start the cremora off? Smithy.

[Nobade]

Just put a paper napkin or something thin over the powder so the cremora doesn't mix with the powder. You want it blown out in a cloud and lit off at the same time.