Real flash bangs 180 to 185db as of 2008 are considered DD because they contain more than a half ounce of bang and because the ATF said so, require approved storage because they are considered an explosive device, might as well just get real frag grenades. "Off the table" as far as I'm concerned. Training flash bangs 140db, not a DD as far as I can tell, only contains a few grams of bang, costs about as much as the real thing but reusable for $10 or $20 per throw depending on the design. These were being sold to the general public as if it were a regular firearm, but I don't know where to get them anymore. Air soft pop grenades 130 or so db. Most use a 12gm CO2 cylinder and are reusable and cheap. Probably only loud enough to scare the shit out of some stray dogs. I can easily get these. They're about as dangerous as some kids toys in the 1970s and 1980s. But not really lawn dart dangerous.
Flash bangs are very effective as trip devices. Less likely to cause liability problems before TSHTF, scare the bejesus out of people and animals and are hard to ignore as a warning device by your sentry. Us old timers remember the M80's firecrackers from WW2, were used by military as gernade simulators, and were "loud" and the few that were brought home and set off that I remember were not to be confused with a fire cracker. Has any one tried using a percussion cap to ignite the fuse on a M80 type fire cracker or using a M80 type device as a means of triggering Tannerite, or is there some law against it? Just curious about it and have never tried it.
Surprised Tannerite hasn't been banned at the federal level yet. Its use has been banned by the county where I live (still legal to possess it - good thing) because some idiot hung it in a tree and started a wildfire that burned hundreds of thousands of acres and a few peoples' homes.
ATF can NOT write a Regulation that bans Tannerite, simply because until mixed it is just Ammonium Nitrate (Fertilizer) and Aluminum Powder.... Both of these are used extensively for other things in the economy, and would seriously impact the economy of many Industries... They certainly could write a Rule to make mixing the two, illegal, but what would be the point? Everybody would continue the possession the ingrediants, and use as individual items, and still mix them when needed... I would have to check back on the Velocity of FlashBang Powders, but I do NOT believe that an M80 Firecracker has enough Energy and Velocity, to kick Tannerite over its Entropy Knee.... Maybe someone can comment, with Personal Observational Data....
Tannerite, Legal here up to 5#s mixed, After that it becomes illegal? Go figure Seems a few years ago some idiots mixed up a nice batch and set it off under somebody's porch. Which then it became state law limited to 5#s less your good too go!!!
Last year a local ad agency was making a commercial, they used fifty+# each time. Was loud enough local LEA's got involved. They thought if they went out to rural setting no one would care.
During the lean military training budgets of the 1980's the First Sergeant and I were using commercial fireworks in infantry training scenarios. I had a copper tube "pistol" with a Bic lighter taped to it that was very effective at dropping bottle rockets at Marines feet from a distance. It beat throwing pine cones at them and yelling "Grenade!" -----------------For educational use only---------------------------------------------------------------- I have augmented some party store string pull party poppers just to see if they would ignite a charge of Holy Black. They will. I was just using them as a marker, since quite a plume of smoke could be produced with a small charge, unrestricted so it made little noise. Obviously, restricting the expansion of the same charge would produce a bang. I can imagine that an empty, necked rifle casing with a party popper dropped down it's neck, followed by a small charge of BP, and some loose fitting wads of tissue stuffed down the neck would make a nice pop. (Empty CO2 cylinders and BP work too, but are as likely to become pipe bombs as rockets. That's a lot of pressure to expel, very rapidly out of such a small hole.) Not enough tissue to prevent pulling the string, but enough to hold the popper inside, below the shoulder, and create a restriction and pop. Tied to a trip wire run through the primer hole in an empty shotgun shell you'd just have to tack the inside of the shot shell to a tree and point it in the desired direction. The result I'm going for is a trip wire pull, or release (I love spring triggers) followed by a pop, with a visible puff of smoke, and a short range projectile that's heavy enough to make an audible disturbance as it lands... somewhere away from you, so it draws the intruders attention there.
After further reading it appears that any grenade like device that fires a blank is at least considered a firearm and buying one is legally treacherous to say the least. So I'm thinking once I get my m203 tax stamp back I will send off another one to manufacture a DD flash bang grenade. The catch is I can only use binary and I can't store or transport it loaded and the binary has to remain separated until ready to fire the device.
You mean just like the government and politicians can't ban bump stocks? Administrative rules and decisions can ban anything that was totally legal yesterday without the need of going through the pesky lawmaking process.
You might re-think any explosive DD, as you might also be required to have a Federal Explosives License before you can legally manufacture an explosive DD. There are also storage requirements and zoning permits you might not be able to acquire.
I looked up ATF requirements for people who do not need explosives licence. I would use a binary flash powder material like tannerite, but a lot easier to set off. So there is no need to to buy a live explosive material that is ready to go, I wont have to transport it as it won't be mixed until immediately before use, I am not going to provide any kind of services with it, I won't be storing any mixed and it doesn't need any kind of blasting cap or detonator to set off which would have to be bought, transported and stored. Oh and I think there is an upper limit to the amount an unlicensed person can set off at once, I want to say it's like 250lb which is insane, and I won't ever mix up more than about 1 or 2 ounces at any given time. It would be like using tannerite in a DD. When I make it I'm actually not manufacturing it since I won't be selling it, transporting it or storing it as those are the specific circumstances to be a "manufacturer". Getting an explosives license might be worth it just to be able to buy, transport, store blasting caps or so that I could "misuse" sporting arms propellant in a registered DD. If you use a listed sporting arms propellant for something like a pipe bomb you need an explosives license and better have a tax stamp for a DD or be an class 7 manufacturer or be some sort of "law enforcement".
I got some spent flash bangs to investigate the possibility of reloading or some how reusing one. Looks like they really don't want these to be used. They're definitely corrosive primed. My guess is aluminum or magnesium fuel and the extreme corrosiveness makes me think there's a cholrate oxidizer involved. At the very least they could make cool smoke signalers. They are not toys they are heavy, if some one gets hit in the head with one it's going to be a bleeder. So far I removed the spent fuse with a big wrench, drilled down into the body of the device with a half inch bit to remove the spent cardboard shell casing. Basically at this point I have a deprimed shell that I really have no idea how to reload. I will have to play with it some more to determine if it's a paper weight, a smoke signaler, a harmless party popper or if it could be a weapon.
The Flash is Magnesium Dust & Potasium Chlorate, and the Bang is Zinc Dust & Chlorate in a cardboard shell... at least on the early ones I am familiar with...
I'm going to say that the extreme corrosiveness of what was used to help make the device go bang was most definitely some type of chlorate. I have a big one and small ones. Bet the big one is the old style and the smaller ones are the new style. I'm thinking just foil tape up the big one and fill it with orange marine signal smoke compound and a green fuse and call it good.
Yeet out. Back story; at least 12 years ago atf examined these because air soft guys wanted them and were like "hahaha you guys are fags" and continued to laugh condescendingly. Then some years they or another dude reexamined it and were like "holy shit this is a DD". So it's like a 37mm flare launcher. You can buy one if you can find it but you have to register it as a DD if you want to really have fun with it. Maybe you can put just a 209 primer only shell in there and use it as a party popper. Probably best to register it as a DD. The ATF changes their mind on these every year or so.
