On (24 Mar 96) JAN HICKEY wrote to Owen...
 JH> I don't know what pyrodex is composed of but I know that the black 
owder
 JH> shooters say that it doesnt make that satisfying "crack" that black 
powder
 JH> does and that it doesn't make good blank rounds. At Highpower rifle
 JH> matches where we fire a salute from a cannon when we run the flag up for
 JH> the national anthem I know they always use real black powder, And it 
OES
 JH> make a very satisfying boom!
 JH> .
 JH>      One of the range ledgends (like an urban ledgend, but for rifle
 JH> ranges, everyone knows someone who was there but noone you can talk to 
was
 JH> there themselves...) was that one year the guy running a match was late
 JH> and asked someone to load the cannon. They did of course. Unfortunately 
so
 JH> did someone else. The result was an 8oz charge of black going off behind
 JH> an 8 oz projectile, ie: the second charge and wad. Made a HUMUNGOUS boom
 JH> when it went off and sent the cannon back about 30 feet on its cart. 
en
For my 2 cents,  30 feet is a little much for a 1/2 lb projectile, 
when these where used a 1/2 lb charge was small and the 
projectiles where 16 lb and up
 JH> the second charge cleared the barrel it dispersed in the air and when 
he
 JH> flame front got around the wadding and caught up with the (now) cloud of
 JH> black powder all were treated to a second boom and a really impressive
 JH> pressure wave. Ledgend has it that it took half of the windows out of a
 JH> van parked nearby and left the guy lighting the fuse shellshocked for
Yes it could
 JH> about an hour. I guess all recovered and other than the glass, no damage
 JH> was done. That is likely only because this happened on a rifle range, we
 JH> all habitually wear safety type glasses and put our muffs on for colors.
 JH>                                    Dave Hickey
 JH>                                    
... There are two kinds of pistols,  Lugers and everything ELSE!
--- PPoint 1.92
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