my buddy needs your prayers.. black powder accident

[DvxDirtSlinger]

i stopped by my freinds house today just to bull**** around, one of my other friends was already there. we got to messing around with a tennis ball cannon he had made (a peice of 1/2" wall pipe with a 1/4" plate welded to the bottom with a hole drilled in it for the fuse) we were using black powder that his dad had for muzzle loaders (his dad wasnt home). we were shooting apples since we didnt have any tennis balls handy. we shot it probably a dozen times with no problem. we dicided we were done but daniel wanted to shoot off one more.me and my other buddy went up in the yard. daniel dumped the powder in (atleast 400-500 grains). he didnt even put the fuse in yet or thank god the apple. apparently there were still hot ambers in the bottom of the cannon. it exploded with him leaning over the top of it. he screamed in dove on the ground, but it was too late. it burnt him bad, the only thing that saved his eyes were his glasses. his face and chest looked like ground hamburger. when he jumped he looked over toward me and my buddy and his face looked just like what it looks like in war movies when bombs go off and the ppls face is completely covered in blood. my buddy ran in and called 911 and i had my bearings enough to bring daniel over to the water hose and keep his face rinsed. it was bad, as soon as you would pull the hose away his face would be completely covered in blood. the fire department got there first and got him sat down and started cleansing the burns with saleen (sp??) the ambulance got there and took him to the local hospitol. when he got there they took him out via life line helocopter to a burn center in fort wayne... i guess the moral of the story is to not **** around with black powder!!!

[Doober]

that sucks....i hope he gets well soon

i just throw black powder in aluminum foil into fires...i dont know about putting it into pipes and putting my face into it...he's lucky he was wearing those glasses or say goodbye eyesight

another reason i dont mess with that kinda stuff:(

[DvxDirtSlinger]

the thing is tho i knew how dangerous black powder can be ( i shoot muzzle loaders) but i guess the whole "oh ive done this a hundred times, nothins gonna happen" thing got the best of all 3 of us today...man i feel bad for him but there isnt anything any of us could do other than never starting doin it at all

[FoxRacing81]

Thats too bad man....He's in my prayers.

[DvxDirtSlinger]

i just got off the phone with my buddy. he went to see him last night, he was pumped full of morophine and they were giving him 1600 mg of vikadin.the doc said its not as bad as it looks, he said there was more unburnt powder imbeded in his face than there were burns. he said he would be going home somtime this weekend and the powder would have to work its way out on its own.....kinna funny, no police showed up at the scene so the emt took the cannon, they gave it to daniels mom at the hospitol wtf?? daniel was alert and talking and he said we are gonna cut the cannon in 3rds so we each get a piece....lol

[wilkin250r]

Nobody really "deserves" to have their face burnt, but seriously, you guys were playing with gunpowder and shooting apples out of a pipe.

Does this sound like perfectly harmless activity to you?

Do you ever wonder why your parents tell you not to play with matches when you are younger?

It sucks and all, and I hope your buddy comes out of it without too much scarring or disfiguring on his face. But at the same time, it's kinda hard to be sympathetic... :ermm:

Why do it with black powder when the tried and tested safe way of doing that stuff is with compressed air or pump air???

Im sorry but stupidity dont go over good with me.

[Hondadudeehhhh]

[i]
Im sorry but stupidity dont go over good with me. [/B]

:rolleyes:


sorry to hear about your friend

Originally posted by DierWolf
Why do it with black powder when the tried and tested safe way of doing that stuff is with compressed air or pump air???

Im sorry but stupidity dont go over good with me. air is no fun

[SGA]

Your friend is very lucky he still has his eyesite and im glad to hear hes going to be ok. You guys try to be more careful from now on.

This reminds me of a saying my uncle told me about 10 years ago-
"If it looks dangerous or sounds dangerous it probably is dangerous"

[crday98]

my little nephew just had a similar accident. he goes to these outdoor competitions where the kids race to ignite black powder with a flint and a piece of steel or a rock. he decided to practice even though he knew he wasn't allowed to do it unsupervised. to sum it up, he forgot to put the lid on the full can of powder and a spark ignited the whole can. it blew up in his face. he spent a week in the burn unit on morphine and had to get skin graphs on his entire face. he has to stay out of the sun for the next year or possibly longer or his face will be discolored permanently. he was initially told he had to stay in a room below 72 degrees, couldn't sweat,couldn't wash his face or hair and a few other things for six months minimal or they would have to do the graphs over and it would take longer to heal. luckily for him, he made a miraculous recovery and looked fine in a month. he still has to stay out of the sun but at least he only had to put up with the restrictions for a month instead of six. he too is very lucky to have his eye sight.

the pic below isn't for a weak stomach.

[400exc]

OUCH! the both are in my prayers!

[DvxDirtSlinger]

Originally posted by chucked
dumbass...
hey bud i know it wasnt the smartest thing to be messing with, but we dont need smart *** dick weeds here, so go fist yourself and have some common courtesy

[Atkins]

Originally posted by chucked
dumbass... Thats pretty damn uncalled for to say to a kid whos friend is inthe hospital.

[Atkins]

Originally posted by chucked
Sorry, cant say he didnt deserve it. Natural selection, survival of the fittest.

Grow up.

Originally posted by Atkins
Grow up. not to be an *******, but the 17 year olds shooting apples out of PVC pipe is who that statment should be directed too.

[DvxDirtSlinger]

i agree totally, it was a very dumb thing to do, and i wont be doing it again....but just so you know it was steel pipe, not pvc

[Woodsrider]

Originally posted by DvxDirtSlinger
i agree totally, it was a very dumb thing to do, and i wont be doing it again....but just so you know it was steel pipe, not pvc

Yah because every one knows that PVC pipe is for spud guns not apple guns:rolleyes:

Seriously though, if your gonna screw around, look around online and get the plans for a air cannon. They are much safer and WILL shoot a spud, apple or tennis ball just as far as a gas or powder powered spud gun. And nobody gets burned.
Sorry about your friend man.

[Atkins]

Originally posted by aLLoY MX 428
not to be an *******, but the 17 year olds shooting apples out of PVC pipe is who that statment should be directed too. Ok, so it was right to insult a kid whose in the hospital and will probably have a disfigured face for the rest of his life. Sure it was a dumb thing for them to be doing but its pretty heartless to say its "survival of the fittest". I bet he doesnt have the balls to say that to the kids family.

[DvxDirtSlinger]

i bet he wouldnt even say that to MY face:rolleyes:

i dont agree with the statment chucked made about survival of the fittest, and i do feel bad for the kid, but only to a certain extent. I guess i just think he should have known better.

[DvxDirtSlinger]

Originally posted by aLLoY MX 428
i dont agree with the statment chucked made about survival of the fittest, and i do feel bad for the kid, but only to a certain extent. I guess i just think he should have known better.
i agree with that statement.....it was definently not a smart thing to do but he didnt deserve to get hurt like he did:(

[wilkin250r]

Originally posted by Woodsrider
Seriously though, if your gonna screw around, look around online and get the plans for a air cannon. They are much safer and WILL shoot a spud, apple or tennis ball just as far as a gas or powder powered spud gun. And nobody gets burned.

Actually, they'll shoot a LOT further than a combustion-powered gun. However, they take longer to reload, and let's face it (pun intended), the air-powered units don't quite have that explosive appeal.

[Woodsrider]

Originally posted by wilkin250r
Actually, they'll shoot a LOT further than a combustion-powered gun. However, they take longer to reload, and let's face it (pun intended), the air-powered units don't quite have that explosive appeal.

I need a bigger dump valve for mine, and a larger ID hose from the air tank. I can only get mine to shoot about 280 to 300 yrds. My gas gun will match it when using Butane as a propellant. The gas gun has a .5cf chamber, with a 4'X1.5"ID barrel built from schedule 40 PVC. The bang is cool, but the new neighbor don't like it:devil: They were even more unhappy when the police told them that it was not illegal and they cold not stop me from shooting it. The whoosh from the air cannon is kinda cool too but just not the same.

[Nausty]

holy ****, hope the kid is alright. Could be me just as easy seems like every other day its something for me. Flamethrowers, fights, runnin from the cops, w/e.


highlight of my day today! Bein in a car roll over while I was w/ my cousin and couple girls. The girl was driving and trying to scare us and show us how good of a driver she was by fishtailing on gravel.


Well needless to say she wasn't very good!
:rolleyes:


As for the survival of the fittest, i'll have to remember to say that when you die a horrific death in a atv accident!:p

[z400roosteR]

This thread strikes close to home, the neighbor has a steel pipe w/ platform on the bottom hole in it for fuse etc.... we were lighting it off on the forth and i had M-80s and a M-250...(damned indians lied to me saying it was twice the power of an m-80...liars) anyways that cannon put the m-80 to shame dumpin in 4 "medicine/prescription" bottles (the orange ones) into it of black powder...not the real **** a little weaker stuff you buy at G.I JOES and that thing packed one hellova punch.......as for the spud guns i have one made out of abs...apparently this **** isn't as tough as pvc and doesn't work as well....I use hairspray and can fire a spud a good 100-200 yards 4-1/2ft barrel 12in chamber BBQ ignitor works pretty good for 12bucks worth of materials!

[wilkin250r]

Originally posted by Woodsrider
I need a bigger dump valve for mine, and a larger ID hose from the air tank. I can only get mine to shoot about 280 to 300 yrds. My gas gun will match it when using Butane as a propellant.

The most effective one's I've seen have the tank almost directly attached to the barrel. If it's not direct, the air passage is 2 inch pipe, rather than an air hose.

There's a guy online that sells huge dump valves, air actuated and instant open. He has a air-powered cannon about 12ft long that he actually broke the sound barrier!

Ain't gonna find that kind of power from a combustion-gun. You'll blow the potato to bits long before you'll break the sound barrier.

[Woodsrider]

I run 2" hose and a 2" valve from the tank of my compressor. Its three feet to the cannon. I can get two shots off from a full 60 gallon tank @145psi with the hand actuated valve, then I have to let the compressor refill.

[SGA]

Im gonna have to build one of those small air cannons soon. I have the know how and most of the parts. They have pumpkin shooting contest each year. Do any of you remember that on TV? I think some went almost a mile.

http://www.cannon-mania.com/pumpkin_chunkin.htm

[trick450r]

my uncle made a cannon exactly like that exept it doesn't shoot anything it just makes a piss load of noise, and we stand WAY back from it and sock it in water before using it again....and of course under adult supervision...

[SGA]

Check out this video of some big air cannons:scary:

http://www.worldchampionshippunkinchunkin.com/images/movies/2004_DDVF_Montage.wmv

*edited by Sga* <<< lol

[wilkin250r]

Originally posted by SGA
Im gonna have to build one of those small air cannons soon. I have the know how and most of the parts. They have pumpkin shooting contest each year. Do any of you remember that on TV? I think some went almost a mile.


Last I heard, the mile was still the "Holy Grail" of punkin chunkin. Nobody has quite gotten that elusive mark...

Cannons shooting pumpkins a mile.. what a sport lol

Sorry about ur friend dont listen to everyone saying he deserved it cuz no one deserves that n everyone likes to be stupid n have some fun once in awhile

[DvxDirtSlinger]

got an update for anyone who might care..... he's home now and they gave him somthing to wash the imbeded powder out with, not sure what it is but its seems to be working. more and more of it is coming out everday but you can tell he is going to have some scaring, kinna looks like freckles:ermm: ....im just glad he is alright and wont have to have any skin grafts ect..i guess the burns wernt near as bad they were thought to be at first, and he really didnt need to be sent to a burn center. the worst of it was from the unburnt powder "peppering" him in the face kinna like buckshot

[wantablaster]

sorry to hear aboout that happening to your friend but thats good that he is going to be okay and from what you said its not as bad as thought and he is very lucky.

[chucked]

I bet he wont do that again :ermm: