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Posted: 3/26/2002 8:08:01 PM EDT
[#1]
My favorite was building houses out of popsickle sticks, and finding innovative ways to blow them up or burn them down.
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Posted: 3/26/2002 8:09:17 PM EDT
[#2]
We used to make big firecrackers out of black powder and toilet paper rolls.
Do that today and you would labeled a terrorist or enemy of the state and carted off to the slammer. |
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Posted: 3/26/2002 8:09:34 PM EDT
[#3]
Did you play with firecrackers when you were a kid no, i wouldnt say i DID, casue i never quit. |
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Posted: 3/26/2002 8:11:24 PM EDT
[#4]
ditto on the plastic models, i would also shoot them with my bb gun. the strangest thing i ever did was take a 12ga shell and place a firecracker inside, draping the wick out of the end, i would then light this while it was in my hand, with the open end pointed outward and the shell between my index and second fingers, cool recoil and "muzzle" flash. for some reason, this fascinated me.
god i was a STUPID kid. |
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Posted: 3/26/2002 8:11:36 PM EDT
[#5]
I seared all the skin off of a thumb and index finger and burned off about half a head of hair. Not pretty at all. I lost my eyebrows and eyelashes too.
Edited to say: It wasnt firecrackers for me, it was ground bloom flowers. |
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Posted: 3/26/2002 8:14:21 PM EDT
[#6]
Bottlerocket fights. And blackcat fights, though those were far tamer.
It's all fun and games until you take a bottle rocket to the eye. [;)] Viper Out |
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Posted: 3/26/2002 8:20:12 PM EDT
[#7]
YES
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Posted: 3/26/2002 8:20:48 PM EDT
[#8]
well, yes and no. I lived in katy texas, and we got to use fire works. then when i moved into the city limits of HOUSTON TEXAS, the law said no. but we do anyway....[grenade]
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Posted: 3/26/2002 8:23:23 PM EDT
[#9]
Quoted: well, yes and no. I lived in katy texas, and we got to use fire works. then when i moved into the city limits of HOUSTON TEXAS, the law said no. but we do anyway....[grenade] yeah, no kidding. fireworks laws work about as well as guncontrol laws. i live in MI, where almost EVERY kind of firework is illegal, one just has to watch the sky on the 4th of july to see how well THAT works. |
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Posted: 3/26/2002 8:24:33 PM EDT
[#10]
Man, that brings back memories...
When I was in college my room mates and I lived in a broken down house where off campus rowdies lived. We used to break into the natural gas line feeding the hot water heater and make lighter-than-air balloons out of those really light weight plastic suit covers that came from the dry cleaners. But, we would tape a Black Cat fire cracker with a 3 foot fuse to the "balloon" and light it before we let it go. The thing would rise about 200 in the air before the "cracker" went off - made a wonderful 200 foot explosion in the air. We had a lot of fun doing that before "the nite we almost burned down the entire house" !!! (but that's another story) God - youth is made for the young... Terry |
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Posted: 3/26/2002 8:25:47 PM EDT
[#11]
... Hell, we played with dynamite.
Not kidding. Mom would have killed us! |
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Posted: 3/26/2002 8:28:38 PM EDT
[#12]
Massive neighborhood bottle rocket fights.
We used pipes as launchers. I cheated a few times and launched those little rocket packs that shoot out around 20 missiles. |
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Posted: 3/26/2002 9:34:42 PM EDT
[#13]
Firecrackers are a blast. No pun intended.
We would use peaches as hand grenades. Have wars with the kids from the next block. Even take prisoners and put them in a jail, a little "fort" in someones backyard. Oh, BTW, our forts got pretty elaborate. Multi level, ladders [internal and external]. It was a fine time to be alive, bro. [:)] |
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Posted: 3/26/2002 9:39:51 PM EDT
[#14]
I can't even remember ever seeing firecrackers when I was little. I've still never lit one. You guys were lucky.z
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Posted: 3/26/2002 9:40:35 PM EDT
[#15]
Quoted: well, yes and no. I lived in katy texas, and we got to use fire works. then when i moved into the city limits of HOUSTON TEXAS, the law said no. but we do anyway....[grenade] When did you live in Katy? I lived in Williamsburg Settlement up until 1985. We played with fireworks - too much. Disclosing details might still get me in trouble.... what's the statute of limitations? [:)] |
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Posted: 3/26/2002 9:43:26 PM EDT
[#16]
From 'ladyfingers' to 'M-80's' !
We used to shoot these little screaming bottle rockets at each other when we'd go out 'cruisin' in the Pontiacs. "WHAAAH-aahhhh"!!! Laughin' our asses off. Bottle rocket wars in the cemetery...uh, yeah. M-80's under pot lids (NOT THAT KIND, the COOKING kind)!!! The lid would shoot straight up outta sight. Literally, we never got one back. Roman Candles at each other from a 'safe' distance. Playin' with fire on the 4th of July used to be fun. And, stupid! |
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Posted: 3/26/2002 9:51:26 PM EDT
[#17]
I still play with firecrackers to this day. Awhile back I drove to a neighboring fireworks friendly state and bought around 10,000 fireworks, mainly blackcats and some M60s. Still have a few thousand around here somewhere.
Back when I was kid my brother and I would build sandcastles in our bigass sandbox and blow them up with firecrackers. Dig tunnels and such and use the blackcats like demolition charges and stuff. Major fun, I'd probably do that tomorrow if I still had a sandbox, lol. Oh yeah, weighing down M60s or M90s (just glorified blackcats in the little red waterproofed, cannon fused housings) and using them to depth charge small fish and crayfish in creeks was awesome too. Hmm, I'd be tempted to do that some tomorrow if I still had a creek in my backyard too... Damnit, I need to blow some shit up! |
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Posted: 3/26/2002 10:03:29 PM EDT
[#18]
Are you kiddin?
I used to blast stumps when I was a kid - when I wasn't blowing anything else up! I had a "demonstrated affinity for explosives" when I was EIGHT YEARS OLD! Of course, that never stopped! Ask my neighbours about the shows I put on for 7/4, New Year's, and any other damn time I feel like it! Here in SJC, they have the audacity to have Tet festivals, where our "Eastern" population can pop off with cracker strings and the like - IN FRONT OF COPS - and not get busted. Try that if you're white... I still say my shows are better... FFZ |
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Posted: 3/26/2002 10:14:15 PM EDT
[#19]
I used to play "mortar launcher" by shooting lit firecrackers out of a cork gun I got at the circus.
Another fun thing to do is get a brick of firecrackers, punch a hole in the middle of each pack and then string them all on a length of quickmatch (cannon fuse is ok but not as fast). Death blossom. |
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Posted: 3/26/2002 10:51:55 PM EDT
[#20]
Quoted: It wasnt firecrackers for me, it was ground bloom flowers. I used to tape them to green amry men or GI Joe dolls so the jet was pointing at their head then light them up. Lots of fun. [:)] |
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Posted: 3/26/2002 11:16:56 PM EDT
[#21]
Judging by the title of this thread, I guess I'm still a kid at 34. [}:)]
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Posted: 3/27/2002 4:05:55 AM EDT
[#22]
Growing up in southern Utah in the 60's Scoutmaster was a uranium miner. Made the mistake of taking us out and showing us how to load and blast a rock face after it was drilled. Wrong thing to do! Don't show teenagers where things are kept and how to do it. Hollow Tree= Toothpicks! 1 blasting cap= gallon can about 100' straight in the air. Frigging wonder I survived
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Posted: 3/27/2002 5:57:46 AM EDT
[#23]
While growing up on a certain military base that housed a certain Airborne Division I knew some other kids that placed an M-80 in a metal ball washer on a certain Officers golf course. Now that was an explosion, so I was told. Cast iron ball washer blown into four parts. Extremely loud, I was told. Very impressive response time by the helicopters, so they said.
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Posted: 3/27/2002 6:20:31 AM EDT
[#24]
WE used to cut a pop can roughly in half, take the bottom half, poke a hole in it, the put a firecracker in the hole. Set the can half in a bowl of water and light the fire cracker. Cheapo rocket.
Brother and I threw a full can of Right Guard into a 55 gal. barrel we were burning trash in and put the lid on it. When the can exploded the lid blew about 20 feet straight up and left a cool hole in the side of the barrel. We did a few other things I shouldn't mention.... |
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Posted: 3/27/2002 6:20:53 AM EDT
[#25]
Hypotheticly of course.[;D]
We used to do the TP roll with BP, they were great... The more electrical tape you wraped around it the louder it was.... Also used to tape quarter sticks together and toss them in the bottom of the trench (see the ropeswing comment in the "play war thread") Mom was Pi##ed when I blew the bottom out of one of the metal garbage can[stick] It was all good fun... no one got hurt, kept us out of trouble(mostly) |
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Posted: 3/27/2002 6:25:05 AM EDT
[#26]
For some reason, I used to love putting firecrackers in dog shit, and blowing it everywhere! Sometimes, chunks of shit would fall back to the ground for several seconds. It was all fun and games, til we blew it all over my friend's mom's WHITE Monte Carlo.
Now I play with 37mm firecrackers! [:D] |
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Posted: 3/27/2002 7:00:15 AM EDT
[#27]
Black Cats got a little boring after a while, so I would cut them apart and scavenge the fuse and powder. After a few days work, I'd have one hell of a bomb. I usually blew the shit out of models and old toys.
When I was into toy trains, I created a whole "Army Train" painted OD with markings, and scale tanks and troops. My table had sand, bunkers and supply depots. After a while, I began to use Black Cats and Ladyfingers for arty and airstrikes against my train. It ended when I discovered M80s, and my train ceased to exist. BTW, modeling glue makes great "napalm." |
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Posted: 3/27/2002 7:12:52 AM EDT
[#28]
No,but I did play with matches and burned myself!!!!!
Lady_of_the_Wolf |
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Posted: 3/27/2002 7:16:50 AM EDT
[#29]
Yup, still do, i am lucky enough to have friends who own a fireworks business, so i get to help make class b and shoot shows over the summer. if you ever have questions on this kind of stuff I'm sure i can answer them.
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Posted: 3/27/2002 7:38:36 AM EDT
[#30]
Yeah. Still got the scars to prove it. It scares me when I think of some of the things we did as kids, wondering what my kids might be doing. You know they are all ears when the adults(?) are sitting around, shootin' the bull.
If one of them ever comes in the house with no hair, or burnt fingernails, or pieces of metal or plastic imbedded in thier skin, I guess I will know what they've been up to.[}:(] |
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Posted: 3/27/2002 7:50:17 AM EDT
[#31]
coudn't, my town outlawed them.
- Sulaco |
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Posted: 3/27/2002 7:50:52 AM EDT
[#32]
My brother and I hated our neighbor,so we blew up his mailbox with M80's. We also try to blow one of his schrubs out of his flower bed with one,but it cought fire.....Those were the days.
[flame] |
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Posted: 3/27/2002 8:29:33 AM EDT
[#33]
I was a fortunate teen as I had my own oxy-acetylene rig. Besides the welding jobs, I played with modifying the little CO2 cylinders (empty, of course). I would cut the cylindrical portion off and weld the ends back together to make spherical shells, perfect for launching with a magnum slingshot. The neck made a perfect fuse port for standard cannon fuse which was epoxied after charging.
All test cell fragments showed excellent weld fusion and failure in the heat affected zone...welds held. FYI, the test cell was a 5 gallon pail inside a 55 gallon drum filled with wet sawdust. A metal cover topped with a cinder block capped it and electrical initiation was used. A good slingshot would propel these 200 yards plus. Of course I used long fuses... With standard flash powder, the minor fragmentation was still something to be respected even at 200+ yards. Airbursts were difficult to time as I was intent on preserving my life/senses/digits. Still have 8 fingers, two thumbs and vision in both eyes. Never a shot fired in anger unless it was against Starlings or English Sparrows. |
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Posted: 3/27/2002 8:54:52 AM EDT
[#34]
Sure did...but that's when firecrackers were "real"....cherry bombs, m80s, silver tips, tnt, etc....the kind of stuff that turned tin cans inside out!!! Nowadays all the do is go "pop"....not like they were in the 60s. |
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Posted: 3/27/2002 9:43:20 AM EDT
[#35]
Yea! While I was growing up a boyhood friend of my dads produced gun shows in Tyler Texas. He would come and pike up my twin brother and myself on the way so we could work for tips helping vendors haul in their guns and stuff. We were in heaven and getting paid. at 9-14 years of age we could buy black powder guns, black powder, led balls, etc. without our dad knowing. We live way out in the country and had a blast (literally). Until, my mom noticed all the singed hair. We promptly made up an excuse for the hair and kept experimenting. Later, I had a friend who came into some dynamite. WOOHOOOO! After that firecrackers and FFFG was a little lame. And you know after all the playing with guns and explosives while growing up I still turned out O.K. IMHO.
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Posted: 3/27/2002 10:40:08 AM EDT
[#36]
Yes, why do you think they call me "fingers"
Just kidding but I am surprised I still have all my digits and both eyes after my misspent youth. |
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Posted: 3/27/2002 11:37:37 AM EDT
[#37]
Sure did !
got burned pretty bad once too. Used to tie Black Cats to arrows for arial bursts. :) And the dead fish that would float to shore on the lake made a big hit when they blew to pieces. Cherry bombs in empty paint cans made an impressive display as well. Bottle rockets were fun until they set a tree on fire and nearly the roof of the house. :) Those were the days. |
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Posted: 3/27/2002 1:39:50 PM EDT
[#38]
Quoted: Did you play with firecrackers when you were a kid no, i wouldnt say i DID, casue i never quit. Ditto... I still make my annual 4th of July pilgrimage to the Indian reservation (which is odd since it's all made in China and sold on lands that are supposedly soverign non-US territory.... but I digress) My favorite are either bottle rockets to shoot out over the water at my cabin on the Puget Sound, or there is a hillside with a bunch of ant nests in it... We would always take a firecracker and plug the entrance holes and light it up..... good times, good times.[}:D] |
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Posted: 3/27/2002 3:41:06 PM EDT
[#39]
Been there .... done that.... still do!
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Posted: 3/27/2002 3:49:05 PM EDT
[#40]
Exactly why is this question posed in the past tense.
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Posted: 3/27/2002 3:50:37 PM EDT
[#41]
Quoted: Massive neighborhood bottle rocket fights. We used pipes as launchers. I cheated a few times and launched those little rocket packs that shoot out around 20 missiles. LOL!!! Sounds like we grew up in the same `hood! I used to pack the end of the tube as fuul as I could and still have them be loose enough to launch, leaving the heads and fuses hanging out the end. Light them all simultaniously with a propane torch and you have instant hell-fire!!! We also used to shoot model rocket engines out of pipes, but that became dangerous kinda quickly. An engine wound up inside one of the kid's parent's car (window down) and burned it to the ground. You'd be amazed how fast you can run home when you think it will help you avoid an ass whippin!!! (it didn't) |
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Posted: 3/27/2002 5:22:14 PM EDT
[#42]
Gettin old, fishin with M-80s and cherry bombs,
huntin ground hogs, fox with the same; tin can filled with gas with 80 or cherry bomb taped to side--light it and run like hell. Homemade mortars and bazookas, pack mud in small frozen oj cans for projectiles. Cannons made from I think 3/4 inch pipe, drill hole in cap for fuse, 4 inch firecracker which fit just a smidge loose, steelie to fit pipe down front end, would not want to be in front of it, made deep dent in fence. Bbsfor grapeshot. Roman candles that worked. Carbide grenades from small juice cans--put in some rocks for weight for good throw, carbide and water, duct tape over top with fuse or firecracker thru tape for ignition source. Magnesium or thermite powder in center of main intersection. Drill tailpipe on car and mount spark plug, wire to battery with switch mounted below dash--looked like a fire breathin dragon. 4-wheeled potato gun---potato in tailpipe, good range and big boom from backfire. Ones today are no count compared the old ones. Bushwack some friends out parking--cherry bomb or m-80 on a cigarette, cut cigarettes different lengths for timed barrage. Any body remember how many it took to bounce a manhole cover?? Pack a firecracker in clay or playdough, wrap fuse around piece of heat wire. like from toaster, hook to 9v battery, rig so wires would make contact when somebody sat on toilet or outhouse seat. |
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Posted: 3/27/2002 5:38:29 PM EDT
[#43]
Quoted: ... Hell, we played with dynamite. Not kidding. Mom would have killed us! God! Did you live down the road from me? This is a true story. I had a friend who's uncle used dynamite to blow stumps. One day me & my brother,and this friend (all of us preteens) decided that our swimmin' hole just wasn't big enough. So we got the sticks,fuse, put it all together ourselves,and, BLAMMO One huge swimmin' hole we were proud of. Heh. |
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Posted: 3/27/2002 6:50:09 PM EDT
[#44]
This is why I feel that you are all brothers. I did almost all of those things, plus a few more. Never could get any dyn-no-mite, though. I envy those of you who did. what a privilige! Edited to add that I never got into blowing up toads, cats, etc. And blowing up dogshit is just plain nasty....Unless it's on your enemy porch, and you have a looong fuse.
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Posted: 3/27/2002 7:15:02 PM EDT
[#45]
Quoted: For some reason, I used to love putting firecrackers in dog shit, and blowing it everywhere! Sometimes, chunks of shit would fall back to the ground for several seconds. It was all fun and games, til we blew it all over my friend's mom's WHITE Monte Carlo. Now I play with 37mm firecrackers! [:D] Thats funny!! I did that too!! Something rather appealing about blowing up a pile of caca.[:D] (Hey! I was a kid!) -T. |
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Posted: 3/27/2002 7:54:29 PM EDT
[#46]
Did the homemade firecracker thing with a newspaper and about a pound of BP with some cannon fuse e-tape and duct tape --then we got tossed out of "Jerrys three river campground" in DE by Jerry himself at 3am after waking the whole damn place and every campground up and down the river for miles-- but it was worth sleeping in an interstate rest stop for the rest of the night.
Never PLAYED with them too much me and my friends used to Fight with them alot throwing them at each other into the back seat of the car as we drove around and into lap of whoever was driving just to watch them dance --backfired several times. Then later on we used to hike up into the training areas after cadet basic and recover anything we could find -- mine simulators, belts of blanks etc, you'ed be amazed what the cadets ditch rather than hump it. When one of my friends finally moved out and got his own place we rigged a mine simulator to his front door after several 'ring and runs' then baked off and made a deliberatly noisy approach and rang and beat it to the corner of the hall and covered-- he yanked open the door and the flash and boom either blew him or he jumped back and passed out on the floor of his living room in his underwear with the door wide open and the hall full of smoke, well we beat it out of there and waited about an hour and came back -he was real pissed had some facial hair burnt off (but no real harm done) cracked up just as hard as we did after a few minuites. We repainted the door frame and part of the hall to keep him out of trouble with the landlord. Mostly the same stuff bottlerocket fights & M 80 model destruction used to be at least one person headed to NC just before 4th of july each year and youd get a bag of stuff that would last till christmas. I think that being stupid with dangerous stuff as a kid keeps you from being or teaches you not to be stupid with dangerous stuff as an adult and the ones that werent allowed to mess with that stuff ended up afraid of it as adults (afraid of just about anything) |
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Posted: 3/27/2002 9:06:56 PM EDT
[#47]
Ha, we are (our generation) the this stuff is now illegal in most places. Roman Candle fights. Taking the sticks off the Bottle Rockets (with report) and lighting them just to run away from them, errr, you had to be there.
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Posted: 3/27/2002 9:26:33 PM EDT
[#48]
Glad to hear that I'm not the only adult still messing around with firecrackers and fireworks. I got some cool crackers on the reservation last year. They are about the same size as a Black Cat, but totally waterproof. They sink when you drop them in water. Blew apart some water filled milk jugs, filled pop cans and Dixie cups for the neighbor kids. They were impressed.
My best trick last 4th was to get several of the small mortars to fire in unison. Put on a pretty good show. Burned up a lot of cash in a hurry though. Every year for a grand finali I light a longer string of firecrackers. Last year was 800. They popped for several minutes. The neighbors tolerate me, but I'm not sure they like me. I hope the cop living two doors down spends the holiday with relatives again next forth. It would be embarassing to get a ticket in my own front yard. :) |
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Posted: 3/27/2002 9:28:07 PM EDT
[#49]
Powderburner You arn't the only one getting old! We didn't like the M-80 so much as beinging built like a barrel it had plastic (hard) on both ends of the barrel and it could probably kill a rabbit with the scrapnel from the ends! The cherry bomb was so cool you could take a mrs white 5 gal grease can set a cherry bomb under it and it would lift off two about 100 feet straight up an upon landing it would be twice its size! Its fuse was waxed and would burn under water tie a rock to it and just like plastic would bring up small fish! We would use a shovel dig a full shovel load of dirt up throw a lite cherry bomb in the hole,throw the shovel full of dirt back on top of the bomb then stand on the mound! when it went off your knees would buckel up towards you, cool,, probably a good thing they out-lawed those things as we just were to young to have real respect for them! Whish i had a truck load of them now! bob cole
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Posted: 3/27/2002 10:08:03 PM EDT
[#50]
I grew up on a dairy farm so there was no end to our mischief.
Pigeons and sparrows usually got the brunt of our fun. |
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