[ARCHIVED THREAD] - Is Napalm Legal? (Page 1 of 2)
Posted: 2/28/2008 1:01:20 PM EDT
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Is it legal for a civilian to have Napalm without any type of license? ETA - in the States |
Is gasoline legal? Yep. |
no. not the REAL stuff.. Developed by the U.S. in World War II by a team of Harvard chemists led by Louis Fieser, its name is a combination of the names of its original ingredients, coprecipitated aluminium salts of naphthenic and palmitic acids. These were added to the flammable substance to cause it to gel. Modern napalm is composed primarily of benzene and polystyrene, and is known as napalm-B The M1 Thickener (MIL-T-589A), chemically a mixture of 25% wt. aluminium naphthenate, 25% aluminium oleate, and 50% aluminium laurate, (or, according to other sources, aluminium stearate soap) is a highly hygroscopic coarse tan-colored powder. As the water content impairs the quality of napalm, thickener from partially used open containers should not be used later. It is not maintained in the US Army inventory any more as it was replaced with M4. The M2 Thickener (MIL-T-0903025B) is a whitish powder similar to M1, with added devolatilized silica and anticaking agent. The M4 flame fuel thickening compound (MIL-T-50009A), hydroxyl aluminium bis(2-ethylhexanoate) with anti-caking agent, is a fine white powder. It is less hygroscopic than M1 and opened containers can be resealed and used within one day. About half the amount of M4 is needed for the same effect as of M1. A later variant, napalm-B, also called "super napalm", is a mixture of low-octane gasoline with benzene and polystyrene. It was used in the Vietnam War. Unlike conventional napalm, which burns for only 15–30 seconds, napalm B burns for up to 10 minutes with fewer fireballs, sticks better to surfaces, and offers improved destruction effects. It is not as easy to ignite, which reduces the number of accidents caused by soldiers smoking. When it burns, it develops a characteristic smell. Starting in the early 1990s, various websites including The Anarchist Cookbook advertised recipes for homemade napalm. These recipes were predominantly equal parts gasoline and styrofoam. This mixture closely resembles that of napalm-B, but lacks a percentage of benzene. |
"You smell that? Do you smell that? Napalm, son. Nothing else in the world smells like that. I love the smell of napalm in the morning. You know, one time we had a hill bombed, for twelve hours. When it was all over I walked up. We didn't find one of 'em, not one stinkin' dink body. The smell, you know that gasoline smell, the whole hill. Smelled like... victory. Someday this war's gonna end..." I Love the smell of napalm in the morning……… A good 'extemporised napalm canister' was to take a 45 gallon drum of gasoline and add in a bulk box of soap flakes, reseal and roll around camp. Load into cargo plane and roll off ramp onto ungrateful natives habitation. |
Cheap bar soap works. Run it though a fine cheese grater, then dry for 6 hours in a 225F oven and crush. It should be a friable meal that does not clump. If it clumps, dry it more in the oven. The finer it is ground, the easier it is to mix. The best way to mix it is to sprinkle the powdered soap onto a bucket of the solvent. I use paint thinner. But I don't make it for flammable purposes, I make it for cleaning really dirty engines, transmissions and the like. Make it pretty thick so it can be painted on in heavy layers. Let soak for a day, then pressure wash. It eventually evaporates, leaving behind the dirt/oil suspended in soap. No, powdered laundry detergents don't gel. Only stuff like Ivory and it must be BONE DRY. |
Now THAT would be epic. I wonder how long it would take for the cops to show up when the neighbor called in a man with a flame thrower walking around in his driveway. 
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Benzene (This gives you that napalm smell, it is a fuel stabilizer and keeps the polystyrene from separating out of the mix.) Polystyrene(This is what makes it sticky.) |
Smells like... VICTORY! 
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No, kerosene doesn't burn well enough and diesel is too hard to ignite. Diesel makes a better explosive than an incendiary. Low-grade napalm can be made by dissolving styrofoam (packing peanuts, old cups, etc.) in gasoline. If you want the good stuff, use Cascade powdered laundry detergent. Properly made napalm is just syrupy enough that it sticks to the surface of whatever it hits, but still liquid enough to splash. Too sticky, and it just burns in one spot. Too liquid (like straight gasoline) and it all runs off the target. It's gotta be a balance. If you're using molotovs, get a wine bottle. Soda bottles don't hold enough and are too thick to break reliably. Wine bottles have just the right amount of volume and are easily shattered without being so heavy that you can't chuck them a reasonable distance; combined with properly made napalm, you get just the perfect amount of splash on impact to douse the target and burn it. I recommend using a sealed bottle rather than the traditional method of sticking a rag soaked in gas/kerosene/alcohol in as a wick, igniting it, and then throwing it. Way too easy to set yourself on fire doing that, and you become a really obvious target when you light off the rag. Use a sealed bottle with some storm matches taped to it or make a fire bottle (which uses chemistry to ignite; fire bottles have to use regular gasonline instead of napalm since the bottle is full of gas and sulphuric acid). Napalm and molotovs are perfectly legal (note: some cities and maybe even states will have ordinances against incendiary devices; check your local laws first) on the federal level; the only state that bans flamethrowers or even regulates them in any way is California. Just be sure to avoid setting fire to anything you like if you play around with them in the desert or something, and clean up your mess when you're done. That shit is dangerous. |
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I have made some with a friend of mine just to play around with. We used packing peanuts and gasoline. We discovered adding a little motor oil to it seemed to make it tolerate water better. In fact, we even dumped it into the still part of a creek, and it burned on top of the water. After it was done burning it left a film that was very similar to plastic wrap (the polystyrene, or Styrofoam). |
Benzene is some seriously toxic shit that will give you cancer. We don't use it to produce Napalm-B any more. Cascade powdered laundry detergent mixed with gasoline gives the best home-made napalm mix. Adding a little powdered aluminum will give it some kick, but it isn't necessary and you gotta mix it right before you use it for it to have any effect. |
Could you explain this part a little more in depth. |
Cascade works. Real soap is the best. |
A road flare taped to the bottle would probably work as well. ETA: IBTL or move to team. |
Take a wine bottle and fill it with a 50/50 mix of concentrated sulphuric acid and gasoline. Seal it with wax and set it aside. Get some paper towels, some powdered sugar, and potassium chlorate (available at most pharmacies). Dissolve the sugar and potassium chlorate in water and soak the paper towel in the water. Let it dry. Once the paper towel is dry, wrap it around the wine bottle and secure it with a rubber band. Please note that the sugar/chlorate mixture is extremely sensitive to sparks and ignition, so treat it carefully. Grasping the bottle by the neck, throw it like a stick grenade (you know, the potato mashers the Germans used). When it hits, the sulphuric acid in the bottle will come in contact with the sugar on the paper towel, igniting it. The sugar will in turn ignite the potassium chlorate, which will then ignite the gasoline. Bam, you just threw a molotov that didn't require an active flame or pose (much) danger of setting yourself on fire. The only issues are that the sugar/chlorate mix on the rag must be FRESH in order to ignite reliably, the bottle WILL explode into flames if you accidentally drop it or it leaks, and the straight gasoline won't stick or burn like napalm. Basically, the fire bottle is good for low-profile molotoving (i.e., you won't be made clearly visible by the flaming projectile in your hands) and because it lets you grip the bottle by the neck in order to throw it more easily and accurately. The napalm mix in a sealed bottle with some storm matches taped to the bottle is better. The napalm will get the desired splash/sticky effect and burn longer and hotter, you can still grip it by the neck to throw it, and you don't run the risk of combusting if you drop it or it leaks prior to ignition. You just grip the bottle by the neck, light the storm match (hold another match or lighter up to it), and throw it. Much smaller flame from the match so visibility is reduced compared to a standard molotov with a flaming rag.  The only time I've ever had a need for a napalm molotov was when we were burning our trash pit and the stuff wouldn't stay lit long enough to burn. |
Two things 1) The storm match/road flare method is the only way to go. The Finns pioneered the use of storm matches as an ignition device when they widely issued molotov cocktails as an anti-tank weapon during the Winter War. 2) I don't know where you are getting your wine bottles, but they are heavy and thick. Very tough to break. The best I've found for use are actually water bottles like perrier. Very thin and easy to shatter. I suppose using a slightly thicker bottle (Jack Daniels bottles aren't bad) would give you more of a safety margin i.e. you gotta heave it to bust it, not just drop it.
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Yes it would, but there's issues with road flares: you are HIGHLY visible when you light it (even more so than just using the flaming rag method) and if you don't throw the molotov immediately after lighting the flare, you can actually cause the thing to explode in your hand and douse you in gasoline/napalm when the flare heats up the bottle. Storm matches are better. Just as reliable for ignition, but smaller profile and no chance of immolating yourself. |
We still have napalm in our inventory, we just don't use it. It pisses off hippies and with the kind of war we're fighting right now, there just isn't much call for it. Now, if ever have a full-scale total war scenario like WWIII, then napalm will definitely have its place. Splash a whole mechanized company with it and even if you don't destroy the armored vehicles outright, you just choked the engines, did some serious damage to any sensitive equipment on the exterior (IR targeting, cameras, etc.) and probably suffocated the crews. Much cheaper than explosives and a heck of a lot more likely to take out entire groups of vehicles than anti-tank missiles. Plus napalm scares the shit out anybody on the receiving end. |
Napalm is a LEGAL weapon accorging to the Law of Armed Conflict. |
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I've read 46 parts polystyrene, 33 parts gasoline and 21 parts benzene. but i don't know if it it is legitimate. Miking polystyrene with gasoline does work I know. I also know that Molotov Cocktails are specifically banned by name in NJ laws. At least thats what I remember reading. |
Swindle, just a heads up, ATF has Molotovs specifically listed on their site as a DD which must be registered with a 200 dollar tax for EACH one before making. Pure and utter BS, but thought I would throw that out FWIW. -Ben |
Maybe you could convert this... www.yardlover.com/products.php?pid=77714808 |
juliaauctions.net/auctions/233/div_catalog_233.asp?pageREQ=1 Theres one about halfway down. I'm really more into the RPG 
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I should hope it's legal, I've certainly made it enough times. I don't have it on hand, but I use the Anarchist's Cookbook recipe for it. Works like a charm. |