• Hi Guest - Come check out all of the new CP Merch Shop! Now you can support CigarPass buy purchasing hats, apparel, and more...
    Click here to visit! here...

Who's shooting fireworks for the 4th?

pyro92

Deputy Pyro
Joined
Nov 13, 2012
Messages
167
So I know that fireworks are kind of a controversial topic and some people hate them and some people love them. I just wanted to post this as a little reminder to keep everyone safe since the media is not great at giving advice on fireworks. These are just a few tips I have learned over the years.

-Always have water on hand. This is an obvious one but sometimes things are out of your control and you have to be prepared.

-Know what you are lighting. Again, kinda obvious but read the description and know what the firework does. Some cakes(repeaters) shoot at angles. Sometimes that's the only way the cake shoots, sometimes it's just a few shots.

-Make sure to have proper distance around the firework. Typically you should really have at least 100 feet between and around any spectators or objects. Sometimes this is hard to follow but never shoot fireworks where you have very small distances, i.e. between two houses.

-Never let small children hold metal sparklers. Metal sparklers account for the majority of firework injuries.

-Remember your A.B.C.'s or, Always Brace you Cakes(repeaters). Cakes have a tendency to tip over, even when placed on flat surfaces(which they always should be) If you don't have bricks to place around them, you can tape a few together to make a larger foot print. This typically only applies to smaller cakes in the 200g category. Round cakes are the worst and almost always will tip.

-Brace your mortars. Place bricks around your mortar tubes so they can't fall.

-Wait a few minutes between shells. Firing shells in rapid succession could result in mortar failure or could cause a shell to go off in the tube if there are hot embers in the tube.

-If you get adventurous and try and make a rack for your shells, NEVER EVER USE PVC OR ABS PLASTIC TUBES. If a shell were to go off in the tube, it will shatter into splinters and could cause serious injury. The only material suitable to make a rack for shells out of is HDPE. Check out pyroboom.com for examples of racks.

-Never put any part of your body over any firework. If it fails to ignite, wait at least 10 minutes, then douse it with water.

-NEVER hold roman candles. The sidewalls on roman candles can and will blow out from time to time and can cause you injury. I had one blow out last year but I had it in a rack.

-A lot of people want the "loud" type of firework. These are salutes and are ILLEGAL for an unlicensed person to handle. Most don't realize what they really are and only want the boom. They are extremely powerful and if anything were to go wrong, it would go bad, FAST. If you get your hands on these, don't shoot them. The same goes for larger fireworks in the 1.3g or professional grade firework category over 2 inches. These shells go MUCH further than consumer fireworks and will cause serious destruction if something were to go wrong. I know it's tempting to want these types of fireworks but in this case, leave it to the licensed guys.

-Rip the paper off the tops of your cakes. Not really safety related, but makes cleanup much easier ;)

I'll add on to the list if I think of anything.

If you are shooting fireworks, post up some pictures! I'll post some pictures of my setup after I get it up tomorrow.

Have fun and be safe!!
 
 
Edit:
Here's my stash, two cases deep.
SI8kK3k.jpg

 
 
 
Let me see, I got a couple of pounds of black powder around here somewhere.
 
Doc
 
"....hello, ATF?  Yeah, my neighbor just got a bunch of potassium chlorate and aluminum powder delivered.  Is that a problem....??......"
 
...... :whistling:
 
BlindedByScience said:
"....hello, ATF?  Yeah, my neighbor just got a bunch of potassium chlorate and aluminum powder delivered.  Is that a problem....??......"
 
...... :whistling:
 
Hope they weren't shipped in the same box :laugh:
 
Nice write up pyro. Be safe yourself. Hah seems like your the one that needs it.
 
Kxthor911 said:
Nice write up pyro. Be safe yourself. Hah seems like your the one that needs it.
 
 
Nah, I'm  professional  ;) 
 
pyro92 said:
Nice write up pyro. Be safe yourself. Hah seems like your the one that needs it.
 

 
Nah, I'm  professional  ;) 
That's what my police officer neighbor said just before he nearly shot his dick of.
 
They were not legal in Buffalo when I was 17, but if you were in the know they were around. One day I found the original M80 and bought 10 gross. Oh my lord did we make some noise. Had a freakimg blast. Wish I could find some now.
 
I have about 6 expired red parachute flares on hand, unfortunately it is illegal to shoot them out here. But they sure make a purty display.
 
Pugman1943 said:
They were not legal in Buffalo when I was 17, but if you were in the know they were around. One day I found the original M80 and bought 10 gross. Oh my lord did we make some noise. Had a freakimg blast. Wish I could find some now.
We used to go fishing with those. :whistling:  The fuse burns underwater. Tie one to a rock, lite the fuse, throw it overboard. ???
 
Doc
 
Pugman1943 said:
They were not legal in Buffalo when I was 17, but if you were in the know they were around. One day I found the original M80 and bought 10 gross. Oh my lord did we make some noise. Had a freakimg blast. Wish I could find some now.
 
If you can find fire crackers, M80's are easy to make.  Take a piece of paper and roll it up around a 1/2 inch tube/object.  Fold over one end, and fill with fire cracker powder.  Insert a fuse, and fold/glue top end over.  You now have an M80 (depending on how much powder you add).  Works great!   :)


BTW - the tube/object is only for you to be able to create a paper tube.  You fill the paper with powder, not the tube.  That would be dangerous.
 
Rod said:
They were not legal in Buffalo when I was 17, but if you were in the know they were around. One day I found the original M80 and bought 10 gross. Oh my lord did we make some noise. Had a freakimg blast. Wish I could find some now.
 
If you can find fire crackers, M80's are easy to make.  Take a piece of paper and roll it up around a 1/2 inch tube/object.  Fold over one end, and fill with fire cracker powder.  Insert a fuse, and fold/glue top end over.  You now have an M80 (depending on how much powder you add).  Works great!  :)


BTW - the tube/object is only for you to be able to creating a paper tube.  You fille the paper with powder, not the tube.  That would be dangerous.
Something tells me this goes against Pyro's message... Lol
 
They were not legal in Buffalo when I was 17, but if you were in the know they were around. One day I found the original M80 and bought 10 gross. Oh my lord did we make some noise. Had a freakimg blast. Wish I could find some now.

If you can find fire crackers, M80's are easy to make. Take a piece of paper and roll it up around a 1/2 inch tube/object. Fold over one end, and fill with fire cracker powder. Insert a fuse, and fold/glue top end over. You now have an M80 (depending on how much powder you add). Works great! :)
BTW - the tube/object is only for you to be able to creating a paper tube. You fille the paper with powder, not the tube. That would be dangerous.

Something tells me this goes against Pyro's message... Lol

Something tells me a member is going to report back their results on this experiment!
 
Those crazy kids...
 
Brings a hole new meaning to, flaming asshole :laugh:
 
My brother got a bunch of works years ago, and we had a nice July 4th party at his house. As the sun set, he brought out the piece de résistance and started the show. All went well till the Roman candles. He put on his gloves and safety glasses to be safe and lit the fuse. Only problem was, he had the damn thing backwards and the flaming balls of beautiful light went into all of us watching!   
 
My son was about 12 at the time, he response to my brother's stern warning about fireworks was "Holy shit uncle Jim. you're dangerous with those things!" 
 
Luckily, no one was hurt and we laughed for hours over my son's comment.
 
fjldo said:
 
They were not legal in Buffalo when I was 17, but if you were in the know they were around. One day I found the original M80 and bought 10 gross. Oh my lord did we make some noise. Had a freakimg blast. Wish I could find some now.

If you can find fire crackers, M80's are easy to make. Take a piece of paper and roll it up around a 1/2 inch tube/object. Fold over one end, and fill with fire cracker powder. Insert a fuse, and fold/glue top end over. You now have an M80 (depending on how much powder you add). Works great! :)
BTW - the tube/object is only for you to be able to creating a paper tube. You fille the paper with powder, not the tube. That would be dangerous.

Something tells me this goes against Pyro's message... Lol
Something tells me a member is going to report back their results on this experiment!
 
 
Yeah, that goes against my message :p Doing anything like that is illegal, the general public can't even own a salute let alone make them. But, people still get their hands on them. Flash powder is crazy sensitive and can cause serious damage. Can't say I'm innocent of trying to make something loud though :whistling:
 
smokem said:
Those crazy kids...
 
Brings a hole new meaning to, flaming asshole :laugh:
 
My brother got a bunch of works years ago, and we had a nice July 4th party at his house. As the sun set, he brought out the piece de résistance and started the show. All went well till the Roman candles. He put on his gloves and safety glasses to be safe and lit the fuse. Only problem was, he had the damn thing backwards and the flaming balls of beautiful light went into all of us watching!   
 
My son was about 12 at the time, he response to my brother's stern warning about fireworks was "Holy shit uncle Jim. you're dangerous with those things!" 
 
Luckily, no one was hurt and we laughed for hours over my son's comment.
 
I had a friend do this a few years ago. I wasn't paying attention and a bunch of us were sitting around a camp fire and he lit the candle and held it backwards. We all dove out of the way before he even knew what he did.
 
 
Here's my setup from the 4th, About half of what I wanted it to be. My dad got the honors of "barge" puller.
 
jUzGu4Q.jpg
 
Top