CTI case use post-ballistic crash

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Cameron Anderson

Cameron Anderson

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At BALLS this weekend I had a rocket come in ballistic from 25,000 feet. At impact, the upper air frame was reduced to rubble, smashing rearward towards the CTI 54mm 6XL case. It looks like the lower avionics bay eye bolt and drogue quick link dented the forward end of the case. There are three distinct bends, the largest creating a 1mm gap. Without a reload, I can turn the rear closure 2.7 times, with a reload in the tube I get 2.1.

Is this salvageable? I tried bending the dents back out with pliers but no luck. I was thinking about placing a small o-ring at the forward end and ground testing it. But then i'd be worried about throwing 3,200 newtons of L935 in it with confidence.

Opinions?
 

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GaryT said:
I'd think you'll be ok, but 1st get a wooded closet pole and try to straighten it out a little better.
Click to expand...

I put a 5g reload in with the XL and normal spacers and whacked the nozzle with a 2x4 a few times and that got me a an extra quarter turn. I think the wood might be a good idea to try.
 
If you have a used CTI phenolic forward closure try putting that in 1st then tap it down with the pole.
 
So I used some 1/4" steel rod and managed to tap the deformed areas back into shape. It's not nearly as perfect as it was prior, but I can fully close the aft closure now.

I'm going to do a 5 grain test burn next weekend and evaluate future use after.
 

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