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Posted: 2/7/2013 6:08:14 AM EDT
| Is it ok to own used/Inert M18 smoke canisters? If so I would like to pick a few up. Is it legal to reload these? |
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Is it ok to own used/Inert M18 smoke canisters? If so I would like to pick a few up. Is it legal to reload these? I had a couple of spent M18 Smoke grenades; repainted them and relabeled them myself and then filled the canisters with caulking (so they could not be refilled, plus give them the same weight of live ones); AFAIK, they are not refillable, but I could be wrong; not a subject matter expert on it. Good props for my VN reenacting, sorry, no pics. 
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It's OK to have live M18 smoke canisters, so obviously it's OK to have inert ones. (There's been some talk of ATF leaning on ALS to stop selling them to the public, but nothing official has been published. You used to be able to find these all the time at gun shows. Now, when you find them, they tend to be pricey.)
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They can be very easily reloaded, actually:
1. Throw them in the dishwasher to make sure they're clean, then put tape over the holes in the grenade body. 2. Mix up some "smoke bomb" mixture on your stove (there are a million recipes and videos all over the internet, just go to youtube and look for smoke bomb recipes) and pour it in while it's still warm and pliable. 3. Use a pen or something to make a hole down the center of the now-filled grenade body interior, for inserting a fuze. 4. Take the spent fuze head, remove the spent primer if there is one, and reload it with a primed .25 ACP brass or a 201 shotgun shell primer (the .25 Auto is better, 201 primers tend to damage the grenade body from the pressure). 5. Insert a 4-5" length of 1/4" (or 6mm for metric fuse) time fuse, ideally fuse that burns about 2 seconds per inch. 6. Use some glue at the bottom of the fuze to keep the fuse line in place, insert into the grenade body and thread into place. This will give you a very handy smoke grenade with a 2-3 second delay. If you use the shotgun primer sometimes it will jump the fuse and you'll have less (or potentially NO) delay, so always be safe. |
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They can be very easily reloaded, actually: 1. Throw them in the dishwasher to make sure they're clean, then put tape over the holes in the grenade body. 2. Mix up some "smoke bomb" mixture on your stove (there are a million recipes and videos all over the internet, just go to youtube and look for smoke bomb recipes) and pour it in while it's still warm and pliable. 3. Use a pen or something to make a hole down the center of the now-filled grenade body interior, for inserting a fuze. 4. Take the spent fuze head, remove the spent primer if there is one, and reload it with a primed .25 ACP brass or a 201 shotgun shell primer (the .25 Auto is better, 201 primers tend to damage the grenade body from the pressure). 5. Insert a 4-5" length of 1/4" (or 6mm for metric fuse) time fuse, ideally fuse that burns about 2 seconds per inch. 6. Use some glue at the bottom of the fuze to keep the fuse line in place, insert into the grenade body and thread into place. This will give you a very handy smoke grenade with a 2-3 second delay. If you use the shotgun primer sometimes it will jump the fuse and you'll have less (or potentially NO) delay, so always be safe. Excellent! that is what I was planing on doing. I need to find some spent M18s. The potassium nitrate is already on the way. |
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It's addicting, I have a handful of grenades that I've been re-re-reloading, haha! I've started saving up energy drink cans and water bottles to use, as well. Cool. Have any pics or vids you can send me? What is your potassium nitrate mix ratio? Have any extra M18s? Know where I can find some used ones? |
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It's addicting, I have a handful of grenades that I've been re-re-reloading, haha! I've started saving up energy drink cans and water bottles to use, as well. Cool. Have any pics or vids you can send me? What is your potassium nitrate mix ratio? Have any extra M18s? Know where I can find some used ones? No I don't, I'm lazy and use a "more or less" 3/5 mixture, no I don't, and GunBroker or online surplus stores. Mine used to be live M18s, until I used them. |
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I found the colored smoke dye after searching for a few days. http://www.coloredsmoke.com/
Email them and ask for the color you want. They sell 1lbs of each dye. Here are some recipies I am going to try out. http://chemistry.about.com/od/firecombustionchemistry/a/coloredsmoke.-Nt9.htm |
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Here is an email I recieved regarding the reloading of an m-18.
Thank you for your inquiry regarding M-18 smoke grenades. A smoke grenade typically contain a fuze. Fuzes contain a low explosive, such as black powder, smokeless powder, or pyrotechnic composition. Additionally, some smoke compositions are considered pyrotechnic compositions; a determination should be obtained for classification of the material. Requests for classification of explosive materials or items should include information on the chemical composition and intended use of the product, and any other information relevant to the identification of the explosive materials (e.g., Material Safety Data Sheets (MSDS), sensitivity and detonation/deflagration characteristics, etc.). Please be aware that any smoke producing device that contains explosive materials is a regulated item subject to the regulations at 27 CFR, Part 555. Certain explosive devices, such as devices for signaling in emergency or distress situations, may be exempted per 27 CFR 555.32 as Special Explosive Devices. Requests to exempt a specific product or device from the Federal explosives regulations contained at 27 CFR, Part 555, should be accompanied by a full description of the product or device and its intended use. Information should include the type and amount (Net Explosives Weight) of explosives contained in the completed device; photographs, diagrams and/or schematics of the completed device; Material Safety Data Sheets, and the Department of Transportation classification. An ATF Federal explosives license or permit (FEL) is required to acquire or sell regulated explosive materials, as well as to re-manufacture smoke grenades containing explosive materials. Thank you So say I was using a shotgun primer and a fuse and no ignition compound that was deemed explosive I would be ok? |
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Here is an email I recieved regarding the reloading of an m-18. Thank you for your inquiry regarding M-18 smoke grenades. A smoke grenade typically contain a fuze. Fuzes contain a low explosive, such as black powder, smokeless powder, or pyrotechnic composition. Additionally, some smoke compositions are considered pyrotechnic compositions; a determination should be obtained for classification of the material. Requests for classification of explosive materials or items should include information on the chemical composition and intended use of the product, and any other information relevant to the identification of the explosive materials (e.g., Material Safety Data Sheets (MSDS), sensitivity and detonation/deflagration characteristics, etc.). Please be aware that any smoke producing device that contains explosive materials is a regulated item subject to the regulations at 27 CFR, Part 555. Certain explosive devices, such as devices for signaling in emergency or distress situations, may be exempted per 27 CFR 555.32 as Special Explosive Devices. Requests to exempt a specific product or device from the Federal explosives regulations contained at 27 CFR, Part 555, should be accompanied by a full description of the product or device and its intended use. Information should include the type and amount (Net Explosives Weight) of explosives contained in the completed device; photographs, diagrams and/or schematics of the completed device; Material Safety Data Sheets, and the Department of Transportation classification. An ATF Federal explosives license or permit (FEL) is required to acquire or sell regulated explosive materials, as well as to re-manufacture smoke grenades containing explosive materials. Thank you So say I was using a shotgun primer and a fuse and no ignition compound that was deemed explosive I would be ok? Unless they decide every shotgun shell in the world is now a DD, you're good to go. The cutoff is 1/4oz. of explosive material, you'd need a lot of primers to get near that amount. As in, basically fill the entire grenade body and then figure out how to arm them all at once. |
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Damn, that's a great price. I can't find them for under 20$ apiece Yeah, they were at an estate sale down the road from my house. Everyone kept asking if they were still full and passed when they said they weren't. I figured I could at least sell them on Ebay or something and triple my money. But it looks like I'm just going to refill them and have some fun. |
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http://www.dtic.mil/dtic/tr/fulltext/u2/a477977.pdf
Here is some good info. |
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Damn, that's a great price. I can't find them for under 20$ apiece Yeah, they were at an estate sale down the road from my house. Everyone kept asking if they were still full and passed when they said they weren't. I figured I could at least sell them on Ebay or something and triple my money. But it looks like I'm just going to refill them and have some fun. very lucky. yea, you can easily sell a few and double your money. let me know if you decide to sell any 
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Old style. http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y300/onebigjoe/M18smoke2_zpsf40bd527.jpg New style. http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y300/onebigjoe/M18smoke1_zpsa49d932a.jpg I know this is late, but I just checked and they're all the newer style. |
| I finally got a chance to sit down and start checking these things out. The inside of the canisters are filled with caked carbon and was wondering how you guys cleaned this out? I stuck a screw driver in the bottom hole and tried stirring it out but there's still a lot in there. Also, in the top hole where the fuse goes there's a mesh grate. Do you remove that when you refill them? |
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I finally got a chance to sit down and start checking these things out. The inside of the canisters are filled with caked carbon and was wondering how you guys cleaned this out? I stuck a screw driver in the bottom hole and tried stirring it out but there's still a lot in there. Also, in the top hole where the fuse goes there's a mesh grate. Do you remove that when you refill them? Soak them in the hottest water that you have and add some sort of detergent or even pine-sol. After a while, pull them out, cover the holes and shake the hell out of them with about 1/3 to 1/3 of the solution in there. Drain it out and keep repeating. It will eventually dissolve that stuff and and it will work it's way out. Make sure to wear some sort of gloves as that stuff will stain your hands. |
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I finally got a chance to sit down and start checking these things out. The inside of the canisters are filled with caked carbon and was wondering how you guys cleaned this out? I stuck a screw driver in the bottom hole and tried stirring it out but there's still a lot in there. Also, in the top hole where the fuse goes there's a mesh grate. Do you remove that when you refill them? Soak them in the hottest water that you have and add some sort of detergent or even pine-sol. After a while, pull them out, cover the holes and shake the hell out of them with about 1/3 to 1/3 of the solution in there. Drain it out and keep repeating. It will eventually dissolve that stuff and and it will work it's way out. Make sure to wear some sort of gloves as that stuff will stain your hands. Sweet, thanks. I was also thinking of putting a little muriatic acid in there and just let it eat all that shit up, but I'll probably just do the hot water rinse. |
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I got as much out as I could via the screwdriver and water and soap method. I then threw them in the stainless tumbler for an hour. Got 99% of the stuff out. Removed all of the paint too!
I got my color dye in the mail the other day. Trying to figure out a way to reload it now. I'm not sure if I can melt this solution like the potassium nitrate mix. If it has to stay in powder form it could be a mess. |
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