Anybody here into flamethrowers?

Every tribe needs one. The sad thing is this video shows piss poor operation of same as it's best to soak the target first then light it up. As that tactic extends reach as well. The guy at knob Creek who rented Military units knows his shit an his tactics with one, is top shelf. There was a video of a WW II guy who ran/operated one for 3 years, that was invited to the creek for old times sake. He was a wealth of knowledge about tactics with one.

This video is of a commercial unit that works very well,...

 
"grand" uncle WWII in pacific, said he had one for a bit.
was always scared, not only of being hit and targeted but every time he pulled the trigger.
said he used it 2 ways
if they couldnt see exactly where but they knew the area, he would soak the ground to get a little more distance then light it up
but usually he knew where they were coming from and he would roll it on the ground to get inside openings or slits
 
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Every tribe needs one. The sad thing is this video shows piss poor operation of same as it's best to soak the target first then light it up. As that tactic extends reach as well. The guy at knob Creek who rented Military units knows his shit an his tactics with one, is top shelf. There was a video of a WW II guy who ran/operated one for 3 years, that was invited to the creek for old times sake. He was a wealth of knowledge about tactics with one.

This video is of a commercial unit that works very well,...

That’s exactly what I’m looking for! Would be useful in many scenarios!
 
not that this is a real military grade flame thrower but its still pretty cool


and way less legal hoops to jump through just saw this one also pretty neat .



Full capacity military flamethrowers are not regulated by the law in any way. They are perfectly legal to own in any jurisdiction with no titles or labels attached to them unlike Class III firearms and accoutrements. Flamethrowers are categorized as 'agricultural tools' under the Dept. of Justice.
 
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As I understand it though, it's the "gellification" additive that is getting quite rare and hard-to-find. And yet, it is quite needed in order for the highest performance.

A guy I know of has a few, and vastly prefers the WWII surplus stuff for gelling the liquids.

Or, has anyone here found a better "work around" to get the same goal? One would think with all this modern technology and fancy chemistry and whatnot that things could have been made 'gooder' by now.
 
As I understand it though, it's the "gellification" additive that is getting quite rare and hard-to-find. And yet, it is quite needed in order for the highest performance.

A guy I know of has a few, and vastly prefers the WWII surplus stuff for gelling the liquids.

Or, has anyone here found a better "work around" to get the same goal? One would think with all this modern technology and fancy chemistry and whatnot that things could have been made 'gooder' by now.


Styrofoam dissolved in gasoline do make an excellent, sticky, and greasy gel fuel. I have seen some videos where homemade flamethrowers using SCUBA tanks with an external propane or other non-reactant gas propellant system utilize gelled petrol mixed in this fashion. And they got some pretty frightening range and results with the tests. I bet some of those even outperformed military models. It is all in the fuel. Ever since the armies of the Byzantine Empire and the Tang Dynasty deployed them in combat against the earliest forces of the Islamic jihad. Whereas a stream of plain gasoline will burn up in midair no matter how far it is shot, gelled naphtha will continue burning all the way to the end of it's travel and beyond, it's heavier weight adding to it's range and momentum. The versions used by the medieval Chinese and Byzantines even had self oxidizing fuel in the form of nitrate added to the gel. How they worked without causing their storage/pressurization canisters to explode we will probably never find out. The ancient alchemists and armorers took their secrets with them to the grave.

But for the users of modern flamethrowers... Buy more packing peanuts.
 
detergent is used aint it? if not grease or motor oil works too.

A combination of dish soap (ivory works best) with diesel and gasoline is like a poor man's napalm but not sure this will work in a pressurized device like a flamethrower. I think they use different gelling compounds that are legal but hard to find
 
Styrofoam dissolved in gasoline do make an excellent, sticky, and greasy gel fuel. I have seen some videos where homemade flamethrowers using SCUBA tanks with an external propane or other non-reactant gas propellant system utilize gelled petrol mixed in this fashion. And they got some pretty frightening range and results with the tests. I bet some of those even outperformed military models. It is all in the fuel. Ever since the armies of the Byzantine Empire and the Tang Dynasty deployed them in combat against the earliest forces of the Islamic jihad. Whereas a stream of plain gasoline will burn up in midair no matter how far it is shot, gelled naphtha will continue burning all the way to the end of it's travel and beyond, it's heavier weight adding to it's range and momentum. The versions used by the medieval Chinese and Byzantines even had self oxidizing fuel in the form of nitrate added to the gel. How they worked without causing their storage/pressurization canisters to explode we will probably never find out. The ancient alchemists and armorers took their secrets with them to the grave.

But for the users of modern flamethrowers... Buy more packing peanuts.

It also is not dispersed by water which is why gelled fuels are used by the military. Just burns for a while. I have not played with styrofoam but it seems like it would work...I'll have to try an experiment or two though I don't have a flamethrower...not yet anyways
 
neither a burn victim nor a human torch do I wish to be , but they do look really neat . like swimming with the sharks I really do not want to find out what bait in a can feels like or a chew toy for an over sized gold fish with freaking rows of really large / sharp teeth . but each to there own devices and good luck . take that south aferican anti carjacking video and make it a front door Jehovah witness be gone device and I would like two please lol
 
As I understand it though, it's the "gellification" additive that is getting quite rare and hard-to-find. And yet, it is quite needed in order for the highest performance.

A guy I know of has a few, and vastly prefers the WWII surplus stuff for gelling the liquids.

Or, has anyone here found a better "work around" to get the same goal? One would think with all this modern technology and fancy chemistry and whatnot that things could have been made 'gooder' by now.


 
Every tribe needs one. The sad thing is this video shows piss poor operation of same as it's best to soak the target first then light it up. As that tactic extends reach as well. The guy at knob Creek who rented Military units knows his shit an his tactics with one, is top shelf. There was a video of a WW II guy who ran/operated one for 3 years, that was invited to the creek for old times sake. He was a wealth of knowledge about tactics with one.

This video is of a commercial unit that works very well,...


Thanks, now I gotta fucking have one.
 
"grand" uncle WWII in pacific, said he had one for a bit.
was always scared, not only of being hit and targeted but every time he pulled the trigger.
said he used it 2 ways
if they couldnt see exactly where but they knew the area, he would soak the ground to get a little more distance then light it up
but usually he knew where they were coming from and he would roll it on the ground to get inside openings or slits
My dad is the only person I've ever met who received an Expert Marksman badge for the flamethrower. Was in the Chemical Corps during Vietnam but never went there; was at Camp Casey doing nuke-related things instead.
 
Great start! More details, please. Or if you prefer, hit me with a PM. (about this project)
10# CO2 tank with CGA 320 valve
1/2x14 NPT thead for 3/8 feedline. Will upgrade to 1/2 soon with camlock attachments to mimick true flamethrowers.
commercial grade pressure washer wand with needle valve(regular ones won’t work because the pressure iS on the valve and will leak. Needle valves allow the pressure to force it closed so it is not as prone to leaking.
one 20oz CO2 for pressure.CO2 also serves as fire retardant in tank and keeps any stray flame from burning in wand. Going to make the CO2 tank a remote mount soon as well so I can add a more reliable pressure gauge and another blowout in case of over pressure. It currently has an 800 PSI burst disk on tank and 3k psi burst disk on co2 bottle.
 
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Another test run on the 4th of July. I haven’t had time to do much more testing since it has been so dry here. Once Fall or some kind of moisture shows up I’ll have more to post on progress
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yes please .
not the greatest but Id love one
saw a video of a guy selling kits or showing you where to get the parts to make your own I am not daring enough to go through burning my self to try the build but you could good luck . remember sharing videos is really really nice if you do decide to make and try it .
 
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yes please .
not the greatest but Id love one
saw a video of a guy selling kits or showing you where to get the parts to make your own I am not daring enough to go through burning my self to try the build but you could good luck . remember sharing videos is really really nice if you do decide to make and try it .

Working on video. Have a couple but no real social media to upload to and share links. This is my only connection to the “social” world with internet