Reloadable smoke grenade? Someone explain this to me.

TheGerman

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  • Jan 25, 2010
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    I'm a total M18 smoke ninja. Still to the point that I have a Crye GP pouch for mags/frag/smoke on my carrier to this day.

    Saw this online and had 2 questions: https://reloadableshells.com/shop/xm18-reloadable-smoke-grenade/

    1 - Where/how do you make the mix for the smoke? From the tube I'm guessing its some sort of powder mix?

    2 - Is this some weird thing where you need a tax stamp because of some fuse/primer technicality, or whats the deal with this?

    I'd be annoyed as fuck having to go find a 100$ pipe I threw into the desert though.
     
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    Hmmm...that’s an interesting link to an interesting design. I’d be curious as to how well it works, if you go this route.

    Is there a link to the smoke mix recipe, or did I miss it?
     
    I've made the simple Saltpetre and cane sugar solution in tin foil smoke bombs with rope fuse, but never tried it in canisters. Might work similarly???

    Melt together in skillet till sugar is caramelized.
    Take off heat and optionally mix in powdered food coloring of your choice while still hot.
    Pour into shaped tin container to harden.

    Some say to add baking soda for longer burns, I say BS it makes ignition too unreliable. The more sugar you add to your ratio the longer it will burn and the tougher it is to light off anyways. Play with ratio of 2 ingredients to your preference.

    I also tried the no cook recipes with powdered sugar and saltpetre, but it burns out much faster.
     
    Yeah I know nothing of mixing anything for smoke, and Im not going to learn this shit the hard way either.

    There is no smoke recipe and the only thing I ever saw mentioned in a video with this was a 'binary mix', but doesnt really say more than that. Didn't know if there was some science to this or buy X and mix with Y; but again, I'm sooooo not going to randomly load a chemical mix into a metal tube thats 2 feet from my head when I pop the primer fuse on it.

    Also are these things some bullshit you need a tax stamp for, or whats the deal?
     
    'Binary mix' is simply another way of saying two chemical mix. Could be potassium nitrate/glucose as I suggested, Zinc/sulfar, etc. There are plenty of options. All you're doing is putting an oxidizer(potassium for example) and fuel (glucose) together for the smoke mixture.

    Saltpetre and sugar is safe to hold in your hand while burning with just tin foil as the casing (will eventually get too hot to hold). It's simply a fire reaction, nothing explosive. The primer/gun powder explosion necessary to light the wick/fuse is likely the most dangerous part of that grenade.

    Only federal mandate I'm aware of is it must contain less than 80mg of explosives (amount in an M80). You're local regulations could be more restrictive. So do your homework on that.
     
    'Binary mix' is simply another way of saying two chemical mix. Could be potassium nitrate/glucose as I suggested, Zinc/sulfar, etc. There are plenty of options. All you're doing is putting an oxidizer(potassium for example) and fuel (glucose) together for the smoke mixture.

    Saltpetre and sugar is safe to hold in your hand while burning with just tin foil as the casing (will eventually get too hot to hold). It's simply a fire reaction, nothing explosive. The primer/gun powder explosion necessary to light the wick/fuse is likely the most dangerous part of that grenade.

    Only federal mandate I'm aware of is it must contain less than 80mg of explosives (amount in an M80). You're local regulations could be more restrictive. So do your homework on that.

    Where do you get your supplies, and what would put out the absolute most smoke for the most time? Think screening smoke.

    Also, what would you add to get purple smoke? Always seemed to work the best for screening as well as visual signal.
     
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    Where do you get your supplies, and what would put out the absolute most smoke for the most time? Think screening smoke.

    Also, what would you add to get purple smoke? Always seemed to work the best for screening as well as visual signal.

    Home Depot used to carry a stump remover made from potassium nitrate, but I can't find it anymore so now I order off amazon. Either as saltpetre in the health section or as potassium nitrate(KNO3) in the scientific section with hefty bulk shipping charges. I'm sure you already know where to find sugar.

    Classic/military smoke color is provided by metal salts which for purple would likely be made from combining red and blue. Red is strotium (stuff in road flares) and blue is most likely copper chloride(CuCl2). However metals salts are not known for their stability and as such are well above my pay grade. Powdered food coloring or wax crayons melted into the mix aren't quite the same, but still work decently as the much safer alternatives I prefer. You could in theory use clothing dyes to add colors as well though I've never tested the theory.

    As far as longest burning or most smoke I honestly have no idea other than it's a unknown variable as changing your mixture ratios, moisture content, purity of chemicals and type of container among other things can have a dramatic effect. KNO3/sugar works well enough for me. The closer you get to a 50/50 mixture with it the longer it smokes, but the less thick your smoke becomes. 3/2 by weight of KNO3/sugar is usually a good starting point and you can play with the ratio from there to optimize for your needs.

    Only word of caution if you're considering going down this road is to melt the mixtures over low heat. If you start to see the sugar melt around the edges of the pan remove from heat quickly as it's too hot. It's not unsafe if it does ignite in the pan, but it does create an awful smokey house for a while afterwards.
     
    https://www.thoughtco.com/safe-no-cook-smoke-bomb-instructions-609162 just a few min you too could find how to make a cheap smoke bomb today thank god for the inter net .

    Actually a fairly decent website, nice find.

    Just be aware author is just pulling most of the recipes from a book written in 1936. Some of the chemicals are now controlled.

    Like potassium permangate that is only available through prescriptions. Not to mention it's made from magnesium oxide which likes to flash burn. Certainly not an over the stove ingredient. Potassium Chlorate is another tough one to get, but can be found in some household bleaches. Should be possible separate it out, but it's kinda a pain.