Firecracker Composition

[FinnAmerican]

Hypothetically speaking; if the US government were to allow an increase of Firecracker composition. Realistically, how much would you like to see allowed in 1.4g crackers..?

[flashfuse]

Back to the 70s and 80s comp, those crackers were awesome and made your ears ring , If one of those crackers went off in your hand, it felt like your finger got hit with a hammer! the good ole days !

[nightstalker]

About 3-5 grams should work well.

[RalphieJ]

About 3-5 grams should work well.

I was thinking the same............

[dchambers490]

150 m.g of good flash would be nice!

[Pyroplantfreak]

3-5 grams...Lol..

[dchambers490]

3 to 5 grams is technically a salute amount of flash not a firecracker. bootlegged m80's back in the day were 3 to 5 grams.

[RalphieJ]

3 to 5 grams is technically a salute amount of flash not a firecracker. bootlegged m80's back in the day were 3 to 5 grams.

In the '50's and '60's legal cherry bombs, ashcans, silver salutes, M-80's etc. were Class C consumer fireworks, sold everywhere, even as single items in neighborhood corner stores. That's what I was referring to.

[wingman]

I wonder how much flash could be crammed into a standard sized firecracker back in the day - a 1.5 inch long by quarter inch diameter - assuming the flash was of the highest quality? I bet it would've knocked the socks off anything else in its caliber. The only one that comes to mind is the class 3 monkey, but I don't believe it was even "topped off", just really high quality composition. It shows a person how it's not so much the quantity, but rather the quality used. I heard somewhere that the 50mg limit for all firecrackers in the U.S. would lead to only one-inch crackers and nothing larger, but it would make sense that Chinese manufacturers figured out the same report could be achieved by a higher quality flash in the same amount in a 1.5 inch cracker.

This could be why you see some one-inch "water crackers" on the market today that sound WAY louder than your average 1.5 inch Black Cat water dynamite crackers. Easier to achieve a consistent load of 50mg in a one-incher than a 1.5 inches. I think this is why so many 1.5 inch crackers today are "underloaded" because it's harder to "toe the line" in that length of cracker and risk getting rejected by import inspections. I've often mentioned before, if a manufacturer uses a very high quality flash in a 50mg amount, it would be by far, much louder than the same amount using a low quality composition.

OK. I've had enough coffee now.

[FinnAmerican]

i read that Phantom had their "Silver Salute" 100 count box firecrackers recalled a few years back for overloads.

[halk]

The really big (up to 14") domestic salutes were not flashpowder. Just plain chlorate/sulfur/charcoal stuff.

The Chinese for centuries tried adding various chemicals to their basic blackpowder mix.
I have some old ones that have crystals of Chinese needle (A2S3) in the mix.

Since Hitt's introduced flashpowder in the '20's, braided Chines flashpowder loads were generally standardized at 1.5 grains for 1 1/2", 2 for 1 5/8", and 3 for the 1 3/4". "Supercharged" was used to describe a larger load in the same length case. So a 5/16" o.d. in 1 1/2" would have significantly more powder than the standard 1/4" tube. All this means nothing anymore now that the government destroyed the market for premium firecrackers in 1954. Common Class C over 1 1/2" were outlawed. But dealers in Special Class B could still bring in the longer crackers for display purposes. Many of these "Danger Explosive" crackers not marked Class C somehow found their way into the retail stands. Domestic tubes and cherries left the scene in 1966. The following year "Caution Explosive" was required on firecracker labels sold in the US.
v
I have never seen any Chinese flashcrackers over 2" long sold or advertised for retail sales in the US.

[RalphieJ]

Halk, I've never had the opportunity to see a Hitt's Flash Salute. What type of paper was the flash mix rolled in before being inserted into the tube? Was it closer to tissue paper, or more of a kraft paper? Also, was the looped fuse meant to be lit as is, or was it intended to be torn at the point of entry to add additional time?

[wingman]

Halk, I've never had the opportunity to see a Hitt's Flash Salute. What type of paper was the flash mix rolled in before being inserted into the tube? Was it closer to tissue paper, or more of a kraft paper? Also, was the looped fuse meant to be lit as is, or was it intended to be torn at the point of entry to add additional time?

The payload/flash was carefully poured into a handmade paper envelope or pouch made from a type of kraft paper slightly softer or malleable than your standard paper grocery bag-type paper. The looped fuse was marketed as "fool proof" because you pretty much had twice the chance of the salute going off versus one that only had a single fuse.

[wingman]

Ralphie, I also forgot to mention that the looped fuse was meant to be lit as is, but I suspect there were a lot of kiddos back in the day that would tear off one side to make the fuse longer. These salutes were pretty ingeniously made as they were proof that end caps weren't really necessary to achieve a loud report.

[RalphieJ]

Here we go, although the double fuse is not used in the patent application diagram:
https://patents.google.com/patent/US1253596A/en

[halk]

Have an old Hitt's printblock on eBay now that shows their famous
Flashcracka and the patent number. Also a block that shows their famous "Regular fellas" on their salute boxes.