Algenco Posted December 17, 2010 Share Posted December 17, 2010 Wayne's a great guy, he'll do all he can to help Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pyroguy1960 Posted December 17, 2010 Author Share Posted December 17, 2010 I think it was a guy named nelson I spoke to... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Algenco Posted December 18, 2010 Share Posted December 18, 2010 I think it was a guy named nelson I spoke to... Wayne Nelson, that's the owner, nice fella to do biz with Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
psyco_1322 Posted December 18, 2010 Share Posted December 18, 2010 Some guys at PGI told me the bigger fiberglass guns from china are crap. I seen one that split open when they fired a commercial 12" ball shell from it. Id go with HDPE for durability reasons, seems they would last longer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bonny Posted December 18, 2010 Share Posted December 18, 2010 So what's the verdict on that other question, fiberglass or HDPE is either better than the other? I don't know about the big guns, as the company I shoot for uses only fiberglass, but for small guns the fiberglass is much stronger. With mines (that hit MUCH harder) than shells, we only use fiberglass. The HDPE tubes were splitting and/or having the plugs blown out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pyroguy1960 Posted December 18, 2010 Author Share Posted December 18, 2010 Wayne's world came through, 75.00 for the gun 50.00 to ship it fedex to my door. Thanks again for the tip Algenco! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Algenco Posted December 18, 2010 Share Posted December 18, 2010 Glad it worked out, Nelson is a champ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bonny Posted December 23, 2010 Share Posted December 23, 2010 (edited) I also believe that the plugs in HDPE guns are actually less likely to blow than fiberglass, despite the fiberglass gun being all one piece. I think otherwise here. When shooting (Chinese made) mines in professional shows, the HDPE guns could not handle the power. They were either blowing out plugs or splitting. The fiberglass guns have no problems... other than being pushed into the ground. Edit: I didn't notice I posted the same thing a few days ago... Edited December 23, 2010 by Bonny Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Seymour Posted December 23, 2010 Share Posted December 23, 2010 (edited) Your HDPE certainly must be inferior to the mortars I've used. I've only had one failure with my own personal guns and that was a 5" shell, over boosted with 20g flash going off inside it. It bulged and the side split, but the base was intact. The ones I use when I help out on commercial shows are thinner, but have been tested far beyond any realistic use situation. Excessively overloaded and over lifted they burried themselves, but were fine. I guess not every mortar is equal. Overall, I'd chose HDPE over fibreglass. I lifted a 5" can shell from a "good" 5" fibreglass Mortar and it blew the base off. Edited December 24, 2010 by Seymour Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pyroguy1960 Posted December 23, 2010 Author Share Posted December 23, 2010 I lifted a 5" can shell from a "good" 5" fibreglass Mortar and it blew the base off. I wonder if these problems with the fiberglass mortar bases blowing off are a result of how the mortar is racked. I know when i built the rack for my 8" fiberglass I made sure it was supported very well underneath with several layers of thick wood. I wonder if the somewhat flimsy wood thats on the base of some commercially manufactured racks flexes to much when fired and causes the end plugs of mortars to take more of the shock than they should. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dagabu Posted December 23, 2010 Share Posted December 23, 2010 A single break can should not damage a mortar, HDPE of Fiberglass. Chances are it was actually not a "good" mortar. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mumbles Posted December 23, 2010 Share Posted December 23, 2010 I like HDPE better, but I'd honestly trust a heavier shell in a fiberglass gun over a HDPE. Even the best HDPE guns I've seen, which have carriage bolts all the way through the plug to hold it in, are only as strong as the HDPE itself. I've seen guns where the plug is ripped out of the gun in one piece, tearing away the HDPE material as it goes. The guns I have use SS threaded screws, which is a close second to the bolts. I laugh when I see the guns with staples. I could see even heavily lifted ball shells blowing out those. I guess what I would say is that I think HDPE is more durable, and has a longer life if cared for, but can't handle quite as heavy of a load as fiberglass. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pyroguy1960 Posted December 23, 2010 Author Share Posted December 23, 2010 A single break can should not damage a mortar, HDPE of Fiberglass. Chances are it was actually not a "good" mortar. Unless some jackass like me comes along lifting large shells with 2FG Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dagabu Posted December 23, 2010 Share Posted December 23, 2010 Unless some jackass like me comes along lifting large shells with 2FG Jackass JK-JMS Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pyroguy1960 Posted December 23, 2010 Author Share Posted December 23, 2010 Guilty of being an absolute jackass. However not as bad as those yahoos on you tube playing with flash, anyone ever watch those? Idiot kids lighting piles of flash with a barbecue lighter, good way to loose a hand.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dagabu Posted December 23, 2010 Share Posted December 23, 2010 Maybe Darwin was right.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
davis050594 Posted December 24, 2010 Share Posted December 24, 2010 Youtube kids making flash out of estest motors and pencil sharpeners. If only they new. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Seymour Posted December 24, 2010 Share Posted December 24, 2010 The mortar that I destroyed was not in a rack, it was on the ground attached to a stake. Perhaps the ground underneath was not even enough, but it was no different to how I treat my HDPE. As for it not being a good one... It looked fine on inspection, but judging by the fact that it broke, it certainly was not good! Fibreglass certainly is not as durable. I'm sure a solid fibreglass mortar is very good, but in my experience many are not. On a professional show I've been helping set up at the moment, five hundred or so fibreglass mortars were shipped in. Of those thirty needed to be discarded due to holes in them! That is quite a high failure rate, and whatever caused them to break, handling, use or whatever, if they were HDPE I expect that they would still be intact. HDPE is heavier, but it need not be as thick as the drain pipe many of us use. When handling them in bulk, I'd rather have the slightly heavier ones, than the ones that get fibreglass in my skin. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pyroguy1960 Posted December 24, 2010 Author Share Posted December 24, 2010 Hmmm...the two eight inch fiberglass ones I have seem to be really solid and well built. I'm still waiting on my 12" to arrive, fingers crossed that it will be made well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dagabu Posted December 24, 2010 Share Posted December 24, 2010 The mortar that I destroyed was not in a rack, it was on the ground attached to a stake. Perhaps the ground underneath was not even enough, but it was no different to how I treat my HDPE. As for it not being a good one... It looked fine on inspection, but judging by the fact that it broke, it certainly was not good! Fibreglass certainly is not as durable. I'm sure a solid fibreglass mortar is very good, but in my experience many are not. On a professional show I've been helping set up at the moment, five hundred or so fibreglass mortars were shipped in. Of those thirty needed to be discarded due to holes in them! That is quite a high failure rate, and whatever caused them to break, handling, use or whatever, if they were HDPE I expect that they would still be intact. HDPE is heavier, but it need not be as thick as the drain pipe many of us use. When handling them in bulk, I'd rather have the slightly heavier ones, than the ones that get fibreglass in my skin. Sorry, our club shoots around 65,000 shells a year, we use mostly HDPE because of durability but on big shows we borrow guns and I still have to yet to see any gun fail as long as it didn't detonate inside the gun. I really dont agree with your statement about the fiberglass at all, they work well and have good lives, if someone gets fiberglass under their skin, wear better gloves. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mumbles Posted December 24, 2010 Share Posted December 24, 2010 Of all the shells I've seen fail from non-flowerpots, there have been one fiberglass and one HDPE. The HDPE happened from too heavy of a shell. I shot an identical shell from steel, and it worked fine. The fiberglass one presumably was from stress as I think it was a ball shell. Both guns were buried appropriately, which I think makes them much less likely to fail than when racked or staked. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dagabu Posted December 24, 2010 Share Posted December 24, 2010 Good point about steel, I just finished my first multi-break shell and I think Mum has done several but I was told by the guys that make those sausages that they never shoot cans from anything but buried steel. Mum, perhaps you can chime in and finish that story for us? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pyroguy1960 Posted December 24, 2010 Author Share Posted December 24, 2010 The mortar just showed up, looks fairly decent in terms of construction, it's already been fired too which is kinda weird, wasn't expecting a used one. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dagabu Posted December 24, 2010 Share Posted December 24, 2010 How come we dont get to see all of the crossettes here too? Dont worry, Eric doesn't troll here too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pyroguy1960 Posted December 24, 2010 Author Share Posted December 24, 2010 (edited) How come we dont get to see all of the crossettes here too? Dont worry, Eric doesn't troll here too. yea that guy was brutal no? Here they are again for your viewing enjoyment. Edited December 24, 2010 by jms04081974 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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