On 2010-07-04, ChairMan wrote:


I remember fishin' with M-80s back when I was a kid.
Oh the fung

Unfortunately, like most other forms of fun, our govt has outlawed
M80s. They are now classified as class D HE (high explosives) along
with cherry bombs and anything larger than 50mg of flash powder.
Mores the pity. Back in the 60s, I used to have a ball with them.
Never did anything stupid (er.. once!) or illegal, but they were a
hoot.

One experiment enlightened us to the real power of M80s. An old
firecracker trick was to punch/drill a hole in the closed end of an
empty soup can. Make the hole just big enough for the firecracker and
shove the cracker in about 3/4 way into the can. Now, put the lidless
end of the soup can facing down in a container of water, like a small
saucepan, so the water came at least a third of the way up the sides
of the can. When you lit the firecracker and it popped, the can acted
like a rocket and would ascend 100-150 ft in the air. Pretty much
harmless fun.

We tried the same with an M80. Yikes! The can went nowhere. It just
flattened out like a butterflied shrimp, the soldered seam having been
ripped apart, and the lid disappeared. It ruined the saucepan, too,
making a bulge in the bottom rendering it useless for cooking. Never
did find the end lid and we rightfully assumed it could have as easily
been embedded in one of our skulls. From that time on, we just set
them off to hear the report, making sure we were standing well back
and the M80 not near any potential shrapnel.

I still lament M80s being declared illegal, though. We never
suffered any harm, despite being collectively dumber'n a bag o'
hammers.

Happy Independence Day, whatever your pyrotechnic proclivities may
be!

nb