It probably would have been instructive to have also read the second thread on the list.
http://www.gboreloaded.com/forums/index.php/topic,2663.0.htmlDon Krag
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Re: Friction Primers
« Reply #15 on: June 26, 2007, 10:09:29 AM » Quote
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Welcome to the boards!
My chemistry days were too fuzzy....I found the proper chemical formulas for the various "pull-pop" stuff:
"The British "cracker" or American "party popper" contains a string that when pulled at both ends makes a small report and liberates a party favor from the burst paper container. To make a cracker, the string is laid out, a loop is formed in it, and a drop of 68% KClO3, 12% red P, 9% S, and 11% chalk is dropped on it (there are other mixes). The mix is unstable, but only 16 mg is used, so it can do no harm. When it dries, the device is wrapped as required. When the string is pulled, the crumbling of the drop detonates it, and it makes a small report.
"Snap n'Pops" consist of a cigarette paper wrapped around a little sand coated with 0.8 mg of silver fulminate. When this is thrown down, it makes a little bang. This is a very safe firework, also suitable for residential areas. "Caps" used to be available in rolls for use in "cap pistols." They were on red paper, with little dots where the mix was placed between the layers. When struck, it would make a bang and a little smoke. The mix was Armstrong's Mixture, 67% KClO3, 27% red phosphorus, 3% sulphur, 3% CaCO3 dissolved in water with some gum arabic or similar binder. A small dab, containing a few mg of mix, was put on a paper backing and allowed to dry. Such devices are individually wholly innocuous, but in millions may pose a hazard, as in the explosion in Paris mentioned above. I would confidently bet that they have now disappeared from toy stores. Years ago, boys made a device from two bolts and a nut that held match heads, scraped off strike-anywhere matches, between the two bolts. When thrown rather firmly, a bang was produced."
I always assumed the friction primers were a phosphorus compound like strike anywhere matches with BP meal powder underneath it in the tube.
Don,
I think what you're describing we (as kids) used to call "pearl bombs". You would throw them down on the concrete or the side of a brick bld. (any hard surface) and they would explode with the report of, say, a .22 short round. They also used to sell the same looking small paper ball with two strings attached, and these were meant to be used as practical joke booby traps; one string could be taped to a door and the other to the door jamb, and when someone opened the door it would explode. I remember these things used to make a spark you could plainly see, and I would guess these were more potent than a party popper explosion, so they might work a lot better in making homemade friction primers. I'm going to call a fireworks store in a neighboring state and find out if these things are still sold.
