Monday, July 4, 2011

Flare up?

We used last nights fireworks as an excuse to fire some off our old flares. A few of us got our pistols out to test them, and get the experience of firing them. We had clear open water in front of us. I had two shells, that fired nicely, but burned well short of the indicated time, and really did not go that high. Very disappointed in the results. Another guy fired a shell, and his gun barrel cracked in half! The shell plopped into the water in about 6 feet, and a smoking hot gun barrel, metal, was dropped from his hands. Another sailor could not get his barrel to open! These were all Orion, of various ages. Sad that you may have to rely on these things some time in the future.


There were some of those flares, where you pull the string while holding the plastic tube above your head. On both of these the string broke, and they never fired. They were also Orion.


There was one guy who sent off a parachute flare that was spectacular. Good height, and almost a minute of burn time. These were in large tubes, with a pull ring, and I think they were Hansson.

 I was impressed, and will spend the extra cash on these babies. Keep in mind that these were all expired flares, and some were at least five years old. The small gauge plastic guns never worked, and a larger gauge barrel cracked in half. I had the only gun that worked, and it had a plastic barrel with a metal sleeve.

No comments:

Post a Comment