Tap-a-cap

[dogtag]

I've had one for years but only used the caps for
dry firing. Never tried to mix up something to go bang.
Has anyone made live caps with this gizmo ?
If so, how'd you do it ?

[Major Tom]

No one has answers for you Dogtag. Me either. I don't even know what a "Tap-a-cap" is.

[dogtag]

I think you're right Major Tom.
It's for you to make your own percussion caps
from aluminum beverage cans.
It says to make bang material from strike anywhere
matches but I figured there had to be a better way.
Oh well. Thanks anyway.

[Major Tom]

Hey Dogtag, when you were a kid, did you ever make 'rockets' from used CO2 cartridges? We did! All you need is about 7 match books and make the hole in the cartridge a little larger to accept the match heads. Use a scissors and cut off the match heads and stuff them in the cartridge. stick a match stick in the hole and light it, then run! They go for hundreds of yards with a big WHOOSH!

[dogtag]

No, but we used to take two bolts and a nut (huge), put match heads
in the middle, toss it into the air. Came down with a bang.
Hooligans.

[Fred Pillot]

I made rocket motors out of CO2 cartridges and made little rockets to put them in. I mixed black powder and sawdust to control the burning. Sometimes they would blow up 40 feet in the air. Other time I would launch them out of a water pipe at a cinder block wall.

[S.A. Boggs]

You guys were pikers, we made hot air balloons out of the wrappings that were used for clothes from the dry cleaners and a glass bottle attached with strips of aluminum foil torn inside, powdered draino and water. This made a great deal of hydrogen and would propel the bag out of sight. If the statue of limitations is over, I will tell you a UFO story from 1969.:icon_redface:
Sam

[Dick Hosmer]

We made mortars out of water pipe and what used to be called "double-voice" firecrackers (about the size - IIRC - of a 28ga. shell) with the fuse coming out the side. The first blast would launch the firecracker to tree-top height where the second explosion would occur. Scared the s**t out of some kids who thought they would take over our tree-house! Ah, the good old days!

[PhillipM]

You guys were pikers, we made hot air balloons out of the wrappings that were used for clothes from the dry cleaners and a glass bottle attached with strips of aluminum foil torn inside, powdered draino and water. This made a great deal of hydrogen and would propel the bag out of sight. If the statue of limitations is over, I will tell you a UFO story from 1969.:icon_redface:
Sam

So that's what my dad was trying to do to my Goodyear blimp toy in the 70's. I remember the drano, he made a foaming mess in the backyard. Credit to pop for trying to get his kids blimp to fly.

[JB White]

We used a scratch awl to open the end of CO2 cartridges. Folded piece of paper allowed us to trickle about a 1/4 inch of Unique (stolen from under a friends Dads workbench) into the thing and a waterproof rocket fuse plugged the hole. A bit of candle wax made sure it didn't come out.

Tossing them down the alley on the 4th they went off like Silver Salutes/1/4 sticks. Not until later when we went to look did we see the shrapnel holes in the garage doors and anti-freeze running out from one of them. I don't think any of us have ever been down that block again.

[Major Tom]

Hmmm, BP sounds easier than stuffing match heads. May try that out..........someday. 8-)

[jon_norstog]

I guess I was 15. We had a big jar of black powder from our .43 Spanish dud rounds. I found a spent roman candle about a foot-and-a half long and stuffed it with that old BP. Capped it with a .45 ACP shell, primer knocked out and a fuse sticking out the hole ...

My friend Bob, the minister's son, came over as I was finishing it up. He wanted to light it up, of course. So we put it in this stone fireplace/barbecue in our back yard. I lit the fuse (something I made up from ground-up gunpowder, flour and toilet paper) and we ran away. Nothing! After a while Bob decided to go check it out ... I told him, don't go up to that bomb, but he did anyway. Just as he got next to it, it went off. With a bang and a huge cloud of fire and smoke. Last I saw of Bob he was flying backwards and then the smoke covered it all.

I thought I was in for it! After the smoke cleared and the ringing in my ears died down a bit I went up to where I thought Bob might be. there he was, dazed but alive. Fortunately he didn't remember much and I kept my mouth shut.
\
\Good thing they were Presbyterians!


jn

[Major Tom]

Kids with explosives! Ah, the good 'ol days.

[Vern Humphrey]

We used to take a tin can and punch a hole in the bottom, and put a firecracker inside with the fuze sticking through the hole. We'd slip the can on the end of a fence post, tape another firecracker to the outside, connect the fuzes and touch a match. That can would go waaaay up and BANG!

We also would drill a hole in a pipe cap, and use that for the breech of a cannon made out of pipe and shoot marbles into a wooden fence.

In Egypt, we could get "torpedoes" -- brown paper wrapped around gravel and some explosives. We'd go up on the roof of a 3-story house and throw them down at the apron of the underground garage -- the whole house would shake!

[Vern Humphrey]

My apologies for hi-jacking this thread (but others did it first.)

Go here http://22lrreloader.com/ They sell a priming mixture for reloading .22 rimfires, and that's exactly what you want for your tap-a-cap.

[PhillipM]

We used to take a tin can and punch a hole in the bottom, and put a firecracker inside with the fuze sticking through the hole. We'd slip the can on the end of a fence post, tape another firecracker to the outside, connect the fuzes and touch a match. That can would go waaaay up and BANG!

We also would drill a hole in a pipe cap, and use that for the breech of a cannon made out of pipe and shoot marbles into a wooden fence.

In Egypt, we could get "torpedoes" -- brown paper wrapped around gravel and some explosives. We'd go up on the roof of a 3-story house and throw them down at the apron of the underground garage -- the whole house would shake!

Railroads use an explosive device called a torpedo to warn of a stopped train or other hazard on the track. They go off when a train runs over them. Same thing?

[Vern Humphrey]

Railroads use an explosive device called a torpedo to warn of a stopped train or other hazard on the track. They go off when a train runs over them. Same thing?
Yep. They're made (if memory serves) of potassium chlorate, sulfur and gravel. The ones we bought were wrapped in brown paper and tied with fine wire.