The Fourth of July; and of course, Fireworks - Your Favorite?

To me, the "4th of July" and Fireworks, always belonged in the same sentence.

I grew up with them as a kid, and sure, they were always a little bit dangerous, however we even traded things we liked to obtain them. I am not talking the real dangerous material here, as there are many fireworks that should only be handled by pro's, but common rockets, crackers, cakes and spinners.

So many states are at odds with them, and the ones that do permit them, have various interpretations of what is considered "dangerous".

Anyway, if you are anything like me, I think everyone should be able to light up some "safe" fireworks on the 4th of July. It is not only patriotic, but it is fun as well for individual and families of all types, as long as there is strong supervision by an adult.

So it brings me to the purposeful question for the thread:

What is your favorite firework? Everyone has a favorite.

I will save mine for a little later so it does not seem like an advertisement

Happy 4th of July!

a reply to: charlyv

We're having a 100 person party on a mountain near by.

Over 1,000 dollars worth of mortars and boxes for a real show.

If you do use mortars there is a simple rule of thumb.

Screw the mortar tubes into plywood on the ground so they cannot tip... Light and RUN!

Boxes should be in between cinder blocks so they don't tip.

It's so different now. When I was a kid in the 80's there were fireworks stands all over town. I would beg, steal, and borrow to find a dime to buy a pack of mighty-mites or blackjacks. Now, you can't light off fireworks in city-limits except on the 4th (and only if it isn't dry/fire risk). And they are only sold in a warehouse out of town.

Plain old firecrackers were my favorite. I would blow up matchbox cars, launch bowls in the air (place firecracker on ground, light, and put bowl on top), scare the hell out of people, burn myself, all manner of things.

We'll have bbq chicken on the 4th, no fireworks.

It scares the pups.

Attention Please.

Keep to the topic to avoid harsher actions. Thanks.

Do not reply to this post.

originally posted by: TruMcCarthy

 

 

Thanks.

Haha, my fault.

M-80, I strapped one up to a John Cena action figure a couple years ago, I still haven't found a single piece of Cena anywhere.

We have about forty people and usually spend in the neighborhood of 5-600 dollars on mortars and assorted little things. It lasts about an hour of great entertainment.

Here are 2 my favorite events. Certainly would like to see a town volunteer for this.


Taiwan

Phillipines

a reply to: charlyv

Home made m80's and 100s, also home made sky rockets with Estes engines topped by whatever including packs of firecrackers and whizzers...

Ahh the olden days, firework wars at the beach.

a reply to: CriticalStinker

If you do use mortars there is a simple rule of thumb.

Screw the mortar tubes into plywood on the ground so they cannot tip... Light and RUN!

On the beach we used to bury the mortar tubes up to the spout in the sand, no way anyone gets hurt even if they go off in the tube.

Amazing Firework Fail - The BIGGEST Firework Fail ever

i dont really care too much for them.
i mean they look ok but none of them are worth the cost.

sandusky has a big store with legit fireworks but they are crazy expensive. totally not worth it

i went to walmart today to get a # kit of smoker and sparklers for my daughter ans those were a rip too.

cheapest thing was 20 bucks and you got a few of each and a couple poppers.

lame

I love shooting off fireworks. I forget where I heard the quote but it goes something like:

"Let's celebrate the birth of America by blowing up a small portion of it."

My favorite to shoot are Mortars and saturn rockets.

Here's what I really want though:
at ~1:38 (caution loud)

That there was a 10ft wide shell weighing 260kg

a reply to: TinySickTears

You ever hand lit a 6" Titanium Salute mortar shell?



In the late 90's in Michigan the Class B stuff was common could get 3" shells for less than $5. Even a little 3" sets off car alarms thru the whole neighborhood! They literally cause a rolling "thunderclap" that you can hear moving out in all directions 'as far as you can hear'.

The 4" shell he has in that clip has the wick fuse mounted on the paper fuse (some come like that in case jackasses get ahold of them and try to hand light them). Usually the pro grade dont have that and just what looks like a strip of black powder that when you light it almost instantly the 4" black starter strip flares up to the point of where it hits the paper wrapped around the remaining 3' of wick. The instant the burn hits that paper the powder wick being confined within the paper it ignites the shell INSTANTLY (which in a computer fire show display that's what you'd want). That tubby guy wouldn't be lighting those by hand with his lack of maneuverability. There's a certain technique with a proper click start torch you want to perform to 'safely' light the thing and be sprung about 10's away as its launching from the tube, giving you just enough time to turn around and actually watch the results.

In the early years playing with them as teens sometimes we'd have tubes with no bottoms in them... I've had 3" shells (color & salute both) go off on the ground 10' away many times (the tube and shell both jump out of the sand bucket doing sommersaults) LOL.

Now that they legalized all Class C works up there the B stuff lost its supply chain, or something like that, I hear 5" shells are like $50 and extremely hard to find now. But back in the day we did our own barges man.


Here's the most badass cake I ever had:



36 shot 3" mortar (I know you can get them in 4" maybe larger but I never seen one). Had them in color and in titanium salute. One New Years the lake was frozen solid, we were all totally ate up on the 90's 'real stuff' rollin, and at midnight I ran that bitch (titanium salute version) down to the end of the street onto the ice a good couple hundred feet out and lit it on the lake and shook the whole lake and every car alarm around it screaming like banshees.



One time after visiting up there I brought one back down with me, and I shot a 5" titanium salute mortar shell at a category 4 hurricane, but since the eye didn't come overhead as projected, where I had intended to fire it into, it didn't manage to slay the beast. You wouldn't even believe how the power less neighborhood (we hardly got our feathers ruffled by it like the WC said to expect, but the power was out) etc responded to car alarms going off and houses shaking for a good block or so (during post-9/11 America).

But have hardly been near them ever again except for a couple times ever since.

originally posted by: intrptr
a reply to: charlyv

Home made m80's and 100s, also home made sky rockets with Estes engines topped by whatever including packs of firecrackers and whizzers...

Ahh the olden days, firework wars at the beach.

Wow, similar experience. If we could not buy 'em, we made 'em.
D-Class Estes rockets, made our own tubes with craft paper and glue, payloads of Jumpin Jacks!. To the moon!

a reply to: charlyv

Here's the best chinese firecracker roll type:


Note its not very long rolled out. My guy he had them 4' in diameter but the one they have there the biggest I got. We also had a blackcat version firecracker roll that we strung up in the big tree like xmas lights and lit them at the same time as the big stuff grand finale. the lake lot was covered in sparks and bangs and paper mache.

If you dont unroll that chinese style one the whole hings goes off almost at once cause a most hellacious fury.

a reply to: TinySickTears

Sandusky probably has the best selection in the US. Yes, expensive, but those are quality and hard to get elsewhere, and they know it.