"antique firearm usage"

so to not have to get a BAFTE permit i'm counting ejection charges in rockets as antique firearms since the chinese used them as far back as 3000 years ago, and you have to arm them and they fire

but my question is, whats the best way to test an ejection charge? i have the space around my house, but whats the safest way both for the rocket and for my own personal safety. I've seen lots of people use a sheet with stones holding the bottom and people on either end holding it up, and that seems safe enough, but where should i stand to set the charge off safely? (i've got hundreds of feet of CAT5 wire to run to the charge if need be )

thanks in advance

Antique Firearms are defined in Nationa Firearms Act of 1974, so no luck there. that is the only reason you see "antique firearms" coined anywhere.
As long as you are not - being unlawful - or charging people to do ejection tests..dont worry about it
Safely, be nowhere infront of the rocket....
i just set my rocket on the ground, run my wires through a port hole, and make sure i am far enough away that any projectiles are not going to hit me..

make sure, you get everything out! chute and cord all....

ClayD said:

Antique Firearms are defined in Nationa Firearms Act of 1974, so no luck there. that is the only reason you see "antique firearms" coined anywhere.
As long as you are not - being unlawful - or charging people to do ejection tests..dont worry about it
Safely, be nowhere infront of the rocket....
i just set my rocket on the ground, run my wires through a port hole, and make sure i am far enough away that any projectiles are not going to hit me..

make sure, you get everything out! chute and cord all....

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hehe firearms joke

kk, thats what i was thinking of. im leaving the electronics out of the comparment lol.

i'm going to test the drogue chute first, mainly because i'm also testing whether or not the main will need to be tightened. and then i'll test the main to see if it's too tight. fine tuning, but the drogue supposidly requries about .1g of FFFFG lol. ill probably do .3 or .2g at first

What if you just named your rocket "Antique Firearm"?

Are you asking because you don't want to make too much noise in your back yard, or because you want to make sure you don't make a 4"-diam hole through your neighbor's house?

I am no expert at this but I know you are supposed to start testing with small loads, deliberately on the "low" side, to find out exactly how much it takes to make your rocket function correctly. (Kind of like how you work up custom reloads for ammunition; you start low and make small increments, and watch the used cases and your firearm for signs of trouble.)

Could be worth buying a tarp or something similar to "shoot" into? Maybe find some way to use stakes to hold up the far end, so nobody is standing downrange (in the "line of fire," so to speak) in case you get surprised by an extra-vigorous ejection?

When I tested mine, things only went as far as the shock cord.

I used nothing to catch it, but I had a couple of feet of snow on the ground that it fell into.

powderburner said:

Are you asking because you don't want to make too much noise in your back yard, or because you want to make sure you don't make a 4"-diam hole through your neighbor's house?

I am no expert at this but I know you are supposed to start testing with small loads, deliberately on the "low" side, to find out exactly how much it takes to make your rocket function correctly. (Kind of like how you work up custom reloads for ammunition; you start low and make small increments, and watch the used cases and your firearm for signs of trouble.)

Could be worth buying a tarp or something similar to "shoot" into? Maybe find some way to use stakes to hold up the far end, so nobody is standing downrange (in the "line of fire," so to speak) in case you get surprised by an extra-vigorous ejection?

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nah, i was asking cuz im not entirely sure how to lay the rocket so that nothing will get damaged from the charge going off. i've seen people do it online so i know its safe

I just do it in some grass. If it gets damaged from an ejection test in a grass field, then it probably couldn't have survived a landing anyways.

cjl said:

I just do it in some grass. If it gets damaged from an ejection test in a grass field, then it probably couldn't have survived a landing anyways.

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hehe very true. question tho, on the vids i've seen, people usually have the body facing upwards at a like 10 degree angle, is that just to keep it from scraping the ground, for friction, or both?


but im not gonna jump on it to prove its strength

edwinshap1 said:

hehe very true. question tho, on the vids i've seen, people usually have the body facing upwards at a like 10 degree angle, is that just to keep it from scraping the ground, for friction, or both?


but im not gonna jump on it to prove its strength

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the worst is the nose cone bounces on the ground a bit...
i just lay it on the ground, becaus i dont want a ballistic projectile (or mainly something my neighbors see as a ballistic projectile)

cjl is completely correct, landing is just as hard on a rocket as an ejection test.

I live in a somewhat under-developed area, and the neighbors like it when I tell them ahead of time I am going to be doing ejection chrge testing. They come out and watch !

hmm, what should i put on the tail end to stop it from kicking back? just like a brick or cinderblock or something?

i'll let u guys know when i get the BP and make my charge holders

I held onto my 7.5" nike smoke w/ eye and ear protection while my son got to set off the charge from behind my truck 30ft away.

Make sure you plug the motor mount hole or the blast will come out backwards.
I stuck the built motor hardware in mine.(w/o reload)

Start with the small charge then work your way up. If you do it the other way around, you might use too much and damage your airframe and that's as far as you'd get. Test over.

Best to try and calculate your charges and see if you can get close for the first charge. Sometimes to small of a charge puts much more stress on the airframe if it does not push the nose cone off releasing the pressure. None of us usually fly high enough that a synthetic powder would be prone to failures. I am a fan of real BP, it is just getting harder to get from the storage regulations required on the suppliers. Real BP they have to have a magazine to store it and synthetics they do not.

I am an avid BP shooter and prefer synthetic BP over the real stuff just for it's better tolerance to humidity, while not much better. I have seen a difference. I also prefer powder over pellet type powder for it's accuracy. I will try my calculated charge first and then back down until I see a difference in the ejection. To hard of an ejection will usually go to it's tethered end and bounce back just to cause a tangle. I also test my charges with the rocket on it's side. Much safer for the rocket and every thing else around it. Keeping your chute attached within a close proximity to the nose cone will help get the laundry out easier too.

Once most of the rocket is on the ground the last thing to land will be the nose cone and without all that weight on the chute the nose cone lands nice and soft last. I will sometimes leave a charge on the large side in case the velocity of the rocket is still high when it goes to eject to insure it pushes the nose out and away from the airframe. I have seen rockets eject the nose and go right back in during a flight where the drogue did not deploy or shredded.