Reloading specs for 26.5mm/4g munitions?

essohbe · December 11, 2011, 10:29 PM

I want to reload flares and smoke signals. Too expensive to buy.
I got those reloadable shells from MLR coming

. You use 209 shotgun primers but I am unsure about how much BP to use for a lift charge.

Does anyone know? I could break open a flare and weigh it but they're $10 bucks a piece so 'eff that.

Would nitrocellulose burn too fast for lift?

Can you prime flares and stars like you do with fireworks or do you pretty much just want to fuse them?

kraigwy · December 11, 2011, 10:37 PM

Ooops, I thought you were asking about "flair guns" not the flairs themselves.

Reloading flairs is one of those "dont try this at home" projects.

Part of my job as a bomb tech was policing up fingers and other assorted body parts from people trying such projects as you're asking about.

FrankenMauser · December 11, 2011, 10:40 PM

I can't offer any advice on this subject, but this statement caught my attention:

Quote:

Does anyone know? I could break open a flare and weigh it but they're $10 bucks a piece so 'eff that.

Really? Sacrificing $10 to "the gods" is too much to ask? You can't justify spending $10, in order to save hundreds down the road?

There's no guarantee that weighing the charge in another flare would even provide useful information. ...but refusing to acknowledge that it could be a good investment just seems like a potential safety risk. (If you start making "WAGs", due to limited data.)

essohbe · December 13, 2011, 12:55 AM

Quote:

Really? Sacrificing $10 to "the gods" is too much to ask?

Lol, well I thought I'd ask first too see if anyone has already done it.

Quote:

Reloading flairs is one of those "dont try this at home" projects.

Lol? What?! Lots of people reload them. There's even reloadable shells you use 209 shotgun primers in.

If you can make mortars and starmines then you can reload a flare. It's not brain surgery, just rocket science

You just have to figure out the weight of the payload vs the lift charge.

Because I suck at math here I am asking such questions on the firing Line forum again.

FrankenMauser · December 13, 2011, 01:51 AM

Quote:

Lol, well I thought I'd ask first too see if anyone has already done it.

Okay. I can understand that.

mrawesome22 · December 13, 2011, 03:36 AM

BP and its sibstitutes burns very fast in open air or compressed.

December 11, 2011, 10:29 PM	#1
essohbe Junior member Join Date: March 22, 2009 Location: U.S.A. Posts: 817	Reloading specs for 26.5mm/4g munitions? I want to reload flares and smoke signals. Too expensive to buy. I got those reloadable shells from MLR coming . You use 209 shotgun primers but I am unsure about how much BP to use for a lift charge. Does anyone know? I could break open a flare and weigh it but they're $10 bucks a piece so 'eff that. Would nitrocellulose burn too fast for lift? Can you prime flares and stars like you do with fireworks or do you pretty much just want to fuse them?

December 11, 2011, 10:37 PM	#2
kraigwy Senior Member Join Date: June 16, 2008 Location: Wyoming Posts: 11,061	Ooops, I thought you were asking about "flair guns" not the flairs themselves. Reloading flairs is one of those "dont try this at home" projects. Part of my job as a bomb tech was policing up fingers and other assorted body parts from people trying such projects as you're asking about. __________________ Kraig Stuart CPT USAR Ret USAMU Sniper School Distinguished Rifle Badge 1071 Last edited by kraigwy; December 11, 2011 at 10:45 PM.

December 13, 2011, 03:36 AM	#6
mrawesome22 Senior Member Join Date: November 9, 2005 Location: Ohio, Appalachia's foothills. Posts: 3,779	BP and its sibstitutes burns very fast in open air or compressed.