Gammatron
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Synthesizing energetics
One of the top posts on this forum is in the manufacturing of shaped charges. With 1600 posts, many of them being people plainly stating and posting
pics of them making said devices, isnt that a little sketchy to be talking about online? "My friend" also wants to experiment with these but is almost
uncomfortable just researching it and especially ordering materials. I've read mixed things about making energetics in the US, does "my friend"
actually need to be worried about doing small scale experiments with this type of thing or is it a bunch of hype?
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B(a)P
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I assume you are in the US based on your location in your profile.
Have you seen Ordnance Lab on youtube? They often cover this sort of thing.
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Gammatron
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I've seen a few of the videos but it's been a while. I mean that same friend bought 50lbs of AN a few years ago. Ive read about people getting visited
by the ATF for such an order but nothing ever happened for him. It's hard to draw the line between paranoia and reason with these things.
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woelen
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I think it all depends on scale. I think that there is no issue if you experiment with energetic compounds at 100's of milligram scales, just out of
chemical/scientific curiousity. If you make big devices, containing tens of grams of energetic material and make things more practical, so that they
can potentially be used as weapon, or as explosive device, then things may become troublesome. E.g. in the Netherlands, where I live, there are very
strict rules on pyrotechnics, and making explosive devices can lead to a visit of the police. Making some interesting/weird energetic compound in less
than gram quantities and igniting that mix to test its energetic properties is not much of an issue here.
Same thing also applies to the amount of materials you order. If you order 500 grams of KNO3, then there is no real issue, but if you order 50 kg,
then that may certainly lead to some extra attention.
I myself do no pyrotechnics at all, but I sometimes make interesting metal complexes with energetic properties (e.g. peroxo compounds of chromium,
perchlorate salts of organic metal complexes). I never ignite more than 100 mg or so of such compounds and never make more than a few grams. This
reduces cost, and it reduces risk (both physically and legally).
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Texium
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You can drop the cheeky “my friend”/“SWIM” thing cause it doesn’t actually prevent self incrimination and just makes you sound annoying.
Besides, it doesn’t even sound like you’ve done anything illegal.
[Edited on 9-2-2022 by Texium]
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Gammatron
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lol okay I'll stop. I've mostly experimented with TATP and flash powders because they are easy to make without HNO3 but on the shaped charged post
most people talk about using ETN. While reading about it on wiki I came across this: "Melt-cast ETN or high density/low inert content ETN plastic
explosives are one of the materials on "watch-lists" for terrorism." This is what got me a little nervous about ordering a bag of erythritol and why I
asked the question. I've never made any large amounts of energetics at one time but I guess my main concern is being watched spending a lot of time
researching, ordering materials and then having someone knocking on my door asking what I'm up to.
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Tsjerk
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ETN plastic explosives are one of the materials on "watch-lists" for terrorism.", but erythritol isn't. It is just a sugar and half a kilo will last a
long time. And as woelen said, a small amount of a nitrate salt won't put you on a watch list immediately. If you already have ammoniun nitrate you
don't even have to buy any.
Just be careful and be sure to read "life after detonation".
If you can get pentaerythritol you could consider making PETN, it is a bit less sensitive and you don't really need to melt cast. A good liner is way
more important when making shaped charges.
[Edited on 2-9-2022 by Tsjerk]
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Gammatron
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You're right and I think if I was being watched it would be obvious that it is purely in the interest of hobby science and the entertainment factor. I
have few kilos of KNO3 and just ordered 20K of NaNO3 cause it was super cheap and I can resell it, I also like to keep a lot stocked in fear that
these chemicals will become harder and harder to find. I guess as long as I keep the manufacturing small scale I don't have much to worry about.
That was a difficult story to read, I can't imagine how it felt... I've had some small encounters with TATP and nitroglycerine, luckily resulting in
nothing more than ringing ears and aluminum foil embedded into my thumb but it was all I needed to learn to have serious respect for this stuff.
I love it because it is dangerous though, life is beyond boring without risks!
[Edited on 9-2-2022 by Gammatron]
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