Flare Gun Thread

>>34583447

the fact that you have one of those makes me really fucking jelly.

That's all I have to add to the conversation.

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>>34583616

Thanks! It's quite the collection piece. You'll be even more jelly at the price I paid for it back in the day - $200 shipped! I would have bought a dozen of them if I had the foresight. People want $500 - $1,000 when you can find them for sale nowadays. Only 2500 were ever produced. And of that, only a few hundred were imported into the states.

It came with all of the factory accessories - original box, cleaning kit, sling, cloth carrying case, disassembly tools, spare parts, a factory instruction manual and log book, and a factory test target.

>>34583641
I passed on one for $300 last month. Maybe I shouldn't have

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>>34583646

Should have bought it at that price! That was just about the price they were going for when they were first imported. I had to wait a while for a sale to get the $200 price. I would gladly buy another for $300 if I found one again at that price. The quality and the sturdy build of the flare gun is like a high-end break-open shotgun. You'd probably pay $400 for one in a heartbeat if you handled one and had the spare cash.

The 26.5mm surplus rounds are drying up as well. So anyone that has a 26.5mm flare gun, buy the rounds NOW! I buy them by the crate to save on the price.

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I'd like to get a standalone Havoc launcher but I'd feel pretty silly dropping 1k for something I'd basically never use

Being a civilian grenade launcher enthusiast is suffering.

>>34583447
Do illumination flares get unwanted attention (such as calling emergency services) from aircraft? I've always wanted to try em but fear the commercial airlines flying high over my place will call it in as a distress signal.

got a czech pistol flare gun that is also stupidly overbuilt
it was a lot of fun hooning around with red rain flares on the 4th
wish I'd had more than a single parachute flare or I would've shot a couple of those off too

anyone know how easy it is to reload these empty casings? if they just use shotgun primers, then it should be easy to stuff rando shot in there

>>34583809
you can't shoot them near navigable waterways by law
coasties will come down on you to "rescue" them arrest you

I wouldn't shoot them in the wilderness either
to be safe, you could only shoot them when other people are shooting fireworks and they'll just blend in

>>34583836
yeah that's what I figured :(

>>34583859
you're probably good this time of year of you're not near wilderness or large waterways

worst case, it was "fireworks"

>>34583641
centerfire? that's where i got mine.
i've also got a heer, an international, and one of those steel polish ones.

>>34583717
where do you buy them by the crate?

>>34583836

Yeah, not by waterways. But, I have shot them in the wilderness no problem. My family's land gets a lot of air traffic overhead. I don't think commercial airlines call in such things unless they are told to be on the lookout for something. I doubt a pilot would even notice these flares at 20,000 feet unless they are intently looking for them.

>>34583447
whatever happened with that BATFE fuckey where they tried to get anything over 12ga turned into a DD (including maritime flare launchers)? did it just die?

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>>34584249

Yep! Centerfire special with a free shipping weekend deal. I also have a steel Polish one (real nice bluing) and I have a plastic HK pistol. The plastic HK feels like a toy compared to the heavy steel. But, it has that HK coolness factor.

>>34583721
>Et tu, Brute?
>not Et tu pepe?

>>34584261

Dan's Ammo. Look him up and shoot him an email if you are in the Northeast. You can pick them up at his warehouse in Western PA if you are within driving distance. The Hazmat fees really kill the price of ordering these flares online. Dan ran out of parachute illumination rounds about a year ago. But he still has single/multi star and smoke in stock.

I'm not a burger, but what is the legal status of flare guns? Do they count as firearms?

Are signal flares actually good things to have on a civvie level? If on one 4th of July evening, I was gonna shoot up flares on an underbarrel launcher for the AR I don't have for shits and giggles, would I get in trouble?

>>34584478
>but what is the legal status of flare guns?
perfectly legal, though the store you buy them from might require you to be 18

>>34584478
>Are signal flares actually good things to have on a civvie level?
they're required by the coast guard if your boat is over a certain length

>>34583885
>>34583836
how about smokes? everywhere i have property is on the water.

>>34584478

Flare guns in burger land are NOT considered firearms. I think vendors usually say "18 and older to purchase" to keep kiddies from getting hurt. But, it's not considered a firearm according to the Fed and the vast majority of states. Now, they do sell "subcaliber inserts" which is a 26.5mm case with a barrel built into it so you can fire .22lr .410ga or .45lc out of the launcher as a single shot break open firearm. Possessing one of these inserts AND the flare gun WILL change the status of it.

I think they are a fun toy for civvies to have. There is nothing like lighting the woods up as bright as a stadium for 30 seconds just cause! If you want to have Red Dawn fantasies, these would be great for night combat.

Yes I have actually shot these off before for the 4th of July. Just don't do it in residential areas. They sound like a gunshot when going off and will attract attention. You also have to shoot straight up. If you arc it at all, you risk the flare hitting the ground before burning out. That's a BIG fire hazard with how hot magnesium flares burn.

>>34584471
Holy fuck thank you OP. I try to get a box or 2 when I'm at gun shows but this guy seems a lot better and I'm in the Pittsburgh area so thats a double win.

>>34584595

No problem! Buy 12 or more boxes to get the volume price. He'll let you keep the wooden crates too. Sometimes he has extra crates for the taking as well. You are right near him in Pittsburgh.

And make sure you tell Dan I said "Hi!"

>>34584428

I think it died. They still aren't considered DD unless 40mm or larger. I think they couldn't prove that antipersonnel rounds are readily available for 26.5mm and 37mm launchers.

>>34584578
>>34584623
Wooden storage crates sound like a great thing to have.
Also quick question about the Sub caliber inserts, are those still legal? It just changes the classification to a handgun instead of a flare gun, right?
Cause I might have one of the .410/.45lc ones and one of the adapters to shoot 12g flares also.

>>34584520
>>34584570
>>34584578

Very interesting to know, thanks. However I have wondered if I were to shoot one up, a bunch of rescue services would show up and I'd look like a retard having wasted their time.

>>34584679

Yes, they are still legal so long as you can legally own a pistol where you use it. States like New York that require registration for pistols, they are not legal. Vendors won't even ship to those states.

>>34584749

I highly doubt it unless you are by a navigable waterway monitored by the coast guard or fire one off by a low flying plane or helicopter. Like I said, no one will take notice unless they are specifically out looking for someone in distress. These flares only go up a few hundred feet. So, I don't think the visible range is more than a mile or so on flat ground.

>>34584773
Ok good.
I keep the .410 one in the ammo can with my flare gun as a grab and go option. Kicks like a bitch when shooting it but better then nothing if you are stranded somewhere.

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anyone know how to reload 26.5mm Flare casings?

I have 8 from shooting them off on the 4th and feel like they could be somehow useful

maybe just BP and chalk or something

>>34585017

Go to your local gun or sporting good store and buy 209 shotgun primers. Take a long nail or punch and punch out the existing primers. The 209 primers should fit right in. The, you'll have to play around with the BP/Pyrodex/smokeless powder charge to get something usable. Use a few layers of cardboard for a wad and maybe some rock salt for testing and load development.

Grog's forum (grog101.forumco.com) has lots of information if you can join their forum.

>>34585523
so they do take regular old 209 primers? great
can't seem to get on the forum, but whatever
BP is pretty mild so any mild load should be fine

I've heard that you can use commercial 25mm flares in surplus 26.5mm guns

any merit to this?
anyone tried it?
what about 26.5mm flares in 25mm guns?

I assume the 25mm designation is nominal only

>>34585806
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xv3dxhI9t98
everyone else points to grog or says don't

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I've got a prewar Walther flare pistol. I've shot it only a dozen or so times over the years. It's certainly hard to find opportune times and places for it. When I lived out in the sticks it was easy, just had to be mindful of wind direction and dry foliage.

>>34583447
what do you guys think would be the best size flare gun to by for somebody who doesn't have one. which size flare is the cheapest for a poorfag.

Are underbarrel mount flare launchers any good? I want one purely for aesthetic and memery but I do intend on actually launching shit from it.

>>34591086
cheapest is 12 ga
you can get a kit that includes several flares for easily under $100

26.5mm flare guns will probably run you $75-$100 just for the gun and at least another $20 just on shipping for just the hazmat fee on the flares, $10 shipping, plus the cost of the flares
but the guns and flares are much better

37mm flare launchers are a meme
25mm flares are expensive but pretty much the same as 26.5mm

>>34583447
OP, can flares act as incendiary rounds?
Can I make 26.5mm shotshells?

>>34586061

I have heard this as well but have not tried it. The 25mm rounds should be no problem. These are low pressure so the extra 1.5mm in the chamber shouldn't make a difference.

I would say NO to the 26.5mm round in a 25mm flare gun. It shouldn't fit in the chamber unless the gun has really loose tolerances. Surplus 26.5mm flare guns are cheap enough that this is the best route to go.

>>34591406

Yes the flares can certainly act as incendiaries. They are magnesium and burn extremely HOT. Great care must be taken to make sure burning flares do not touch the ground. Like I mentioned yesterday, only shoot at a 45 degree angle and never arch unless you are arching into a strong wind.

>>34583447
whats the point of making a flare gun that big?

>>34593926
same reason we do anything, sex

>>34593926

Really none other than having a cool toy. The launcher was originally designed to shoot rocket-propelled barrier penetrating rounds that were over a foot long. We only have access to the small non-rocket powered flares.

I will say that the flare launcher with a bigger barrel does extend the height of the flares by about 20-50 feet. There is a small noticeable difference in the height vs. a pistol flare launcher. You also get that nice "thud" sound when inserting and extracting the rounds. Reminds me of a good old M79!

>>34593978
>The launcher was originally designed to shoot rocket-propelled barrier penetrating rounds that were over a foot long

w-what? what were they trying to penetrate, and was this a wartime or civil use thing?

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>>34594030

It was for police riot control use. These were built in the late 80's right before that fall of the Communist regime in the Czech Republic. I think they knew they had civil unrest on the horizon and needed to prepare!

PIC related: These are the original rocket rounds this rifle was designed to fire. Notice the crimping on the cartridge rim. This RV-85 launcher was designed with a recessed rim in the chamber to fit these rounds. This was done to prevent Ivans from taking the 26.5mm rocket rounds and sticking them into a standard 26.5mm launcher. I guess these rounds were high pressured. A standard rimmed 26.5mm round will work fine in an RV-85 but you can tell the round sits low in the chamber due to the thinner rim. Some people suggest putting washers or gaskets in the chamber to shim it up. But, it's never bothered me and the regular rounds fire just the same.

>>34594132
>rocket propelled barrier penetrating CS gas shells

thats fucking sick

>>34594030
A bit of additional information on the RV-85 launcher from the interwebs:

RV stands for "Rucni Vrhac" which means: "Hand Thrower" or can be further translated to: Hand held launcher. 85 is the design year.
RV-85 hand held launcher, or, as it is called by the Czechs, "thrower", was used by the URNA Rapid Response Team (Útvar Rychlého Nasazení). Or, at least, it was in their weapons inventory. The URNA was established in 1981 as part of the national security corps. By 1989, they were designated as a special state police. This elite unit, operating with three sub units, was created because of a rise in terrorism, primarily skyjackings. As of 2002 the RV 85 was still in use.

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>>34594154

Yeah but too bad we'll never see these in the states. ATF considers them "antipersonnel" and thus banned from import. There's even a Czech 26.5mm audible report (explosive)round kind of like a bird banger. But, we'll never see these stateside for the same reason.

The closest we ever got was finned rocket-propelled flares from East Germany (PIC related) Those rounds would go up over twice the normal height (1,000 feet or so) and were brighter. But, I never tried them out before. Numrich had them for sale a while back.

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>>34591406
having any anti-personnel rounds would make it a destructive device and the atf would come knocking. if you registered it as such you could probably work up some loads, however that's how people tend to loose hands. /k/s favorite gunsmith did make a beehive insert for his 26.5 that serves a similar function while not requiring any paperwork.

>>34593926
>>34593978
i've also heard they were built that tough for marking position for artillery or mortars

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>>34594030
>w-what? what were they trying to penetrate
you tell me

>>34594267

Really nice! He needs to start selling those beehive inserts. Sign me up to buy a few!

And yes you have to watch out for the ATF laws. Anything that could be considered "antipersonnel" is going to get you in trouble for having an unregistered DD. Even wooden baton rounds are considered "antipersonnel" in ATF speak. And then you have the issue of "intent" Say if you were to fire a regular flare round at someone, you can be in trouble for intent.

>>34594278

Think: riots. It would be used to penetrate rioter barricades, car windows, house windows, etc.... LEO in the states use the same thing. There are 37/40mm CS rounds that are called "barrier penetrating" It just basically means a solid metal hull so it will pass through things instead of shattering like plastic.

>>34594267
a lot of these shells look reloadable
what would happen if I theoretically put a fuckhuge lead slug in one and shot it?

>>34585017
>>34585523
Can't these just be reloaded to shoot a non-flare shot?

>>34583447
Man, that looks cool. I've been wanting to get into buying flare guns for a while, don't see too many rifle style ones.

Also what's the general consensus on using inserts to fire non flare rounds with?

>>34595749
You tear your arm off from recoil

>>34583809
I fired one in my neighborhood. I was a little surprised at just how bright these things are. And send them straight up in the air. Anything less and it will still be burning when it hits your neighbors roof.

>>34595749
depends on your powder load, might just fumpp it out a few feet, might act like an old mortar cannon. although with enough propellant to get much range the gun would probably catastrophically fail. most of those accidents seem to be people making "bird bombs" to shoot though.

>>34595868
fun single shot as long as you don't use a plastic flaregun.

>>34595846
you'd need to register it as a destructive device to keep it all nice and legal like, but you could.

>>34595846
>>34595922
What if you load them with confetti and a really low power load?

>>34584570
The smokes were not that impressive. Nothing like an M18 grenade. It seems to me that the smoke round is designed for daytime signaling. Not for marking targets but for shooting straight up so everyone can see that color.

>>34595932
http://www.americanspecialtyammo.com/26_5mm.html

should be fine.

>>34595944
i was just wondering how much trouble i'd get in if i popped off a black or blue in my backyard in the gulf, when i tell people i own one of those they always want to shoot it.

>>34585017
I would start at the low end of a .410 load. Or, just use a primer to ignite a solid rocket. For science you could take apart a live shell and see how they do it from the factory.

>>34595922
i know that some modern flares are safety flares that don't ignite if they hit something
will these ignite if fired directly at something?

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>>34585017
just buy a 12ga sub insert

>$15

https://www.keepshooting.com/12-gauge-insert.html

>>34596032
i've never tried, but i'd be shocked if cold war era czech flares had that feature.

>>34597705
those are tapered to only accept 12 gauge flares, word is mini shells fit though...

>>34583809
>I've always wanted to try em but fear the commercial airlines flying high over my place will call it in as a distress signal.
If we are talking cruising altitude they won't see shit.