Pro 54 Line

I noticed the latest Magnum price list has the new Pro54 line. It says they will be available in mid-November.

Oh yeah!!!! I can't wait for the beauties. They will be mine...

Strange thing, last year there was a web link about pro54 stuff. And people had a release date. Then, all of a sudden the web page disappeared and all talk about pro54 ceased. Now we have the talk about pro54, the webpage is not back yet. Wonder if this is smoke as well. I hope not.

I'd say it's the real thing this time. We received two prototype Pro54 engines (casings and reloads) last week for our rocket sonde project. These special 2,100 ns, K 1200 engines came in a 19" length, and were supplied with a 24 second recovery delay and charge as we requested.

Mike at Cesaroni wrote, "This motor is based on our current Pro54 5 grain motor which in tamer format is undergoing alpha testing right now. The hobby version burns 4 seconds."

Wow, that sounds really impressive. Please let us know about your experience when you burn it. I can't wait to hear about it.

I just saw a Pro38 for the first time and started drooling over how easy it is to reload, especially in the field. I'd love to get my hands on Pro54's. Hardware prices are killing me. Just as I geared up with Dr. Rocket 54's, Aerotech cato'd...Now I bought Animal Works and have to start over. Does anyone have any advice about using their hardware??

I've never loaded one myself, but I did watch a couple people load their M green gorrilas the other day.

2 things were evident:

1) invest in *quality* snap ring pliers.
2) use *plenty* of grease on the liner or you will be chiseling the liner out of casing.

other than that they seemed really simple. A couple o-rings on the nozzle, and end enclosure, slap the grains in the liner. whack it all together and drop the snap rings in place.

everyone seemed overjoyed with the simplicity, and the performance.

-Nathan

Our section advisor was heavily into Kosdon reloads when they were still being made. He also advised using the best snap ring pliers and greasing the liner heavily. Two other items he mention when showing me how to build a Kosdon type motor:

(1) If you can find it use Dow Type 111 high temperature grease. It really stands up to the heat and pressure inside a rocket motor better thatn any other grease he'd found. It's also good for Aerotech reloadables. You can usually get it from McMaster-Carr.

(2) The most common difficulty in assembling a Kosdon type reload is dropping, and probably cracking or chipping, the graphite nozzle. He recommended making a small holder for your nozzles and putting them into it before starting to assemble a load. That way you can't accidentally knock them, or let them roll, off of your loading table.

Ken Holloway, NAR #78336, L-1