Everyone thinks they know how explosives work strictly, strictly based on the movies they watch. It is the same thing with binary explosives - you’ve seen all the stupid stuff done with that and all the close calls.
Alcohol mixed in did not help things out. It may have been stupid, but I still feel for the family and those around him. I am pretty sure he had no idea he could be killed.
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Posts: 9948 | Location: New Hampshire | Registered: October 29, 2011
Sad really. This was my first idea of what happened. A metal plate may have been a good idea. They do malfunction at times but probably worked as intended.
When my boys were about 8 and 10, maybe 9 and 11, we were at my brothers and I was launching some fireworks from his back patio. I showed the boys how to do it, make sure the tube is cool, no lingering sparks or flames, never stand over it when you put the next load in, slide it down into the tube, light the fuse and move away from the launcher.
So I went inside to get something to eat and told them they could keep launching. There were some other adults outside watching. This was about a 3” diameter launch tube, about 16” high. Wall thickness about 3/8”- pretty typical home launch kit.
I’m inside and I hear several normal sounding launches, then one extremely loud boom that definitely sounded off. I go outside to find the launch tube split open like the cartoon exploded barrel. Best I could figure is that they dropped a charge into the tube upside down, and when the launch charge ignited it immediately ignited the 2 other charges that are meant to be aerial.
That’s the first thing I thought of when I saw this story. I don’t know if a normal launch is strong enough to cause massive brain damage, but if loaded improperly definitely. Certainly could have been a normal launch, as I really have no idea of the recoil forces in a launch tube, as they’re not normally hand held- or head held.
I was reading a story about a guy in Redmond, Washington who did the exact same thing and died the other night in front of his six kids. Put a mortar on top of his head, DRT. In that conversation, a guy who used to be a live action Disney performer who played Gaston was mentioned who had died doing the same thing, now this guy. Astounding.
quote:
Originally posted by honestlou: Certainly could have been a normal launch, as I really have no idea of the recoil forces in a launch tube, as they’re not normally hand held- or head held.
Well, it's enough of a powder charge to send a half pound or a pound of explosives a couple hundred feet in the air in just a few seconds. It's got to be significant. It's clearly enough to provide lethal force to the skull on a consistent basis, if the news stories are anything to go on.
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From what I read and saw online, this was not just some safe & sane consumer fireworks item, but a mortar shell type of fireworks device. Poor bastard blew his head off, literally.
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Posts: 18108 | Location: Texas | Registered: May 13, 2003
