Smallest Charges.

QRQ 30 · 03-12-2005, 19:47

In Germany and Vietnam we had the opportunity to "play" with explosives. DUring team training in Germany we went to the range which had various targets such as armored vehicles, rail road rails, I-beams and field safes. A lot of teams went for the big booms but we worked on smaller charges such as punching small holes in safes. The trick to "blowing" a safe without destroying the contents is to be familiar with the locking mechanism. If you know where it is and how it is configured, you can open a safe with a relatively small charge.

In vietnam we had a lot of out of date 60 mm mortars that needed to be disposed of. I started experimenting and got to where I could blow or crack off the fuse without detonating the round. I made shaped charges just large enough to hold a cap. I started out with a ball od C-4 about the size of a golf ball and molded it into a cone and put a cap in the top.

I know that there are pastes and powders available but I think I may have fashioned some of the tiniest shaped charges that worked.

**Pete** · 03-12-2005, 20:59

We also tried with pride to go small at times. One time we made platter charges out of quarters. The C-4 was about as thick as the quarter. The best ones had what looked like four little C-4 tooth picks coming back to a ball of C-4 about the size of a pea. The pea was just butted up against the end of an Electric (M6)Blasting cap.

Not very acurate, hard to set up and hard to track where they went when they missed but when it all worked it was High Five Time.

Pete

Trip_Wire (RIP) · 03-13-2005, 01:55

Quote:

Originally Posted by Pete

We also tried with pride to go small at times. One time we made platter charges out of quarters. The C-4 was about as thick as the quarter. The best ones had what looked like four little C-4 tooth picks coming back to a ball of C-4 about the size of a pea. The pea was just butted up against the end of an Electric (M6)Blasting cap.

Not very acurate, hard to set up and hard to track where they went when they missed but when it all worked it was High Five Time.

Pete

I've done this with data-sheet as well, worked good!

**The Reaper** · 03-13-2005, 08:29

We had 1" diameter shaped charges which were premade with standoff legs the size of coat-hangers.

You just packed them with C-4 when needed and set them up. I believe that they were designed for explosive dearming of devices/ordnance with minimum collateral damage.

TR

QRQ 30 · 03-13-2005, 09:21

Quote:

Originally Posted by The Reaper

We had 1" diameter shaped charges which were premade with standoff legs the size of coat-hangers.

You just packed them with C-4 when needed and set them up. I believe that they were designed for explosive dearming of devices/ordnance with minimum collateral damage.

TR

Zactly TR. I was using them to disarm 60 mm mortar rounds.

Additional notes: I always had the round sand bagged and kept my distance - just in case. (My "don't try this at home" warning).

If there is no material (glass, wood, metal etc) holding the explosive, there is no need for a stand off. I merely molded the esplosive into the proper shape and placed it directly on the target.

**Pete** · 03-13-2005, 09:46

Quote:

Originally Posted by The Reaper

We had 1" diameter shaped charges which were premade with standoff legs the size of coat-hangers.

TR

Damn, I'm crackin' the brain cells and working on just what they looked like. IIRC it kinda' looked like a toy rocket ship, but OD. We got some of the real tiny critters from a listing of "Special Munitions" for a job we had to do one time. IIRC that list had some weird ass stuff on it. I remember I felt like a kid in a candy store. Nothing extra was given out

, the stuff was accounted for and we had nothing to show for the whole deal except memories

.

Pete

Trip_Wire (RIP) · 03-13-2005, 13:16

Quote:

Originally Posted by The Reaper

We had 1" diameter shaped charges which were premade with standoff legs the size of coat-hangers.

You just packed them with C-4 when needed and set them up. I believe that they were designed for explosive dearming of devices/ordnance with minimum collateral damage.

TR

As I recall, most EOD units had devices such as you are talking about. As LEO EOD people we always wore big pockets whenever we visited our local EOD team, so we had some of these devices as well. We tried them on pipe bombs to knock off end caps, but soon gave up on this as they usually either detonated or were converted into a rocket.

We had better luck with Det cord on pipes, althogh sometimes they were detonated as well. We also used remote end cap removal, with pipe wrenches and ropes, but one had to spend a lot of time close to the device to set it up. (Fine if not on a hidden timer.)

We found the best method was the water disrupter with a metal slug set up at the right angle to the cap.

crash · 10-23-2007, 12:32

Quote:

Originally Posted by Trip_Wire

We found the best method was the water disrupter with a metal slug set up at the right angle to the cap.

Whats the smalles water charge anyones used? The engineers at my old unit where always looking for IV bags to make water charges with. I ask because I have about 30 100ml bags that are expired, not sure if anyone can use ones that small for this...

A friend in logistics also said they somes times destroy expired bags my the pallet if anyone needs some.