Posted: 6/28/2014 11:00:22 AM EDT
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Flea market today I found a 3 pack of Olin brand flares for $1
They expired in.... ... 1995 Will they still light? I will post later results of one or two |
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12 ga flares are fairly secure from water intrusion. I've shot ones that had the brass bases all green and nasty that had been rolling around in the boat locker for a long time (1992 boat).
What we commonly did is keep buying in date flares but use the old ones up for training or signal to a lost at night boater. Even using a few like that a year i must have had about 20 12 ga flares on board. Never had one fail. Now the hand held flares will go mushy if stored in a damp locker. I thought I got smart and put a few in a zip lock. Well the zip lock somehow let moisture in but never out so they got screwed up. The outer wrapper comes off and the white grainy combustible broke down. |
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Years ago I bought a couple 40mm cans full of old signal flares (mostly from the UK and Germany) from the late 80 and early 90s, all of them still work fine. In my experience the only flares that are not weather resistant are the paper bodied road flares which absorb moisture easily. |
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