Need Some Feedback- Ball Shell Break Characteristics

[jrin0630]

I shot this shell over the weekend. Video is attached (it was 2 shells chained together so ignore the salute shell). Overall I am happy with it. BTW the break and look of this shell is indicative of all my 3" shells. I am wondering why the break is not bigger and rounder and somewhat more symetrical? Here are the shell stats:

Size: 3" ball shell

Stars: 3/8 pumped Blond Streamer

Burst: 4FG milled to meal powder consistency on rice hulls @ 4:1 + 3G slow flash booster (5-3-2).

Pasting: 6 turns (12 layers). 3 strip method with 30lb Kraft paper tape.

Lift: 10g of 1FG.

 

Would making the break harder yield a bigger, rounder effect? Im using 3/8 stars so the voids in each hemi are roughly 1" wide and 3/4" deep so I don't have room left to add more coated rice hulls but I could increase the booster by x grams. Or would changing the confinement make a difference. Again, overall I'm ok with the results but when I see one of these Chinese 3 or 4" shells go off there is quite a difference IMO.

 

Any comments would be appreciated!

[jrin0630]

I'm not sure if the video uploaded correctly so let me know if anyone cannot view it.

[MadMat]

Your video worked fine for me. As far as size of your break, unless the video is confusing the perspective, the size of the break was just fine for a 3". As far as the symmetry and roundness, I can't help you much there as I make can shells. Still I thought it looked pretty good!

Edited July 5, 2016 by MadMat

[Mumbles]

I might not be seeing things correctly, but it actually looks like your stars are burning out before the break can get any bigger. Have you ever tried using a slower burning formula to yield a larger break? Bleser's formula is basically Chrysanthemum 6 with +15% FeTi. Using a Chrysanthemum 8 or Tigertail base might yield a larger break.

 

As far as symmetry, that is a more difficult problem to diagnose. Pumped stars do not always fly straight. Other than that, you could try different pasting methods or patterns. That is usually the next culprit. Casings can also be altered. Newspaper hemis are reported to give some of the roundest breaks, but would also be tedious for small shells like these. If you think it's a burst issue, you could try increasing the ratio of BP to hulls to get more burst in there without much of an increase in volume.

[jrin0630]

Thanks for the feedback. Was thinking along the same lines. I'm going to try a different pasting method first and see what happens.

[Chunn7704]

Im with Grandmaster, u deff need a slower burning comp, c8, tigertails, tiggerwillow. Also u wana make sure ur stars are bound good so that ur stars dont shatter in pieces with would look like firedust. Careful with the sulute, looks as if u almost experienced a round trip

[pyroman2498]

If you want me to be picky i would say more even sized stars might make a rounder brake but im not a ball shell person and im not good at just looking at a brake of a shell to determine what could be done better , Your shell seemed fine to me and that salute seemed good too .. maybe a bit more lift on it?
Keep up the good work and please keep all of your all 9 digits *looks down a his 9 fingers* there was supposed to be 10 but ayee its the price you pay right

Stay Safe and Stay Green

~Steven

[clarkie752]

I actually did exactly what mumbles has suggested this past 4th of July. I had made 3 inch blesser blonde streamers and they seemed like they burnt out too quickly so for the 4th instead of using the c6 base formula I used tiger tail base mix and it made the shells look a lot bigger compared to before. The stars I made were 3/8 cut stars. I would definitely try that before trying to mess with your break charge.

Adam