Words of Advice:



Who is Incapable of Understanding or Doing Anything About It.
" -- Unknown



"Eck!" -- George the Cat

Monday, September 28, 2015

"Destructive Device" Ruling in 3....2.....1.....

The XM42 Flamethrower.

If bills haven't been introduced in at least a dozen states to outlaw flamethrowers within four weeks, I'll be very much surprised.


The New York Crank said...

The bad news is, with forest fires destroying half the the forests in the nation, a handful of doofuses running around with these babies will make lightning and carelessly discarded cigarettes unnecessary to make sure we burn down the other half.

The good news is, in lighting cigars, clearing away weeds and doing other household chores, half these idiots will burn down their own homes and burn their own faces off.

Yours very crankily,
The New York Crank

CenterPuke88 said...

I read this convinced it was an Onion story, too bad. Those face burners the crank posits are likely to be people who refused to buy "Obamacare" policies because it was associated with Obama, and we'll likely end up paying for their health care. No line offered on the odds of a lawsuit within the next year.

Anonymous said...

I don't think it will make a difference if they ban it. In 1936 high pressure hydraulic systems operated at 750psi (the seals in a DC-3s main landing gear actuators were V-shaped compressed leather) and by the end of the war 1,500psi systems were in use thanks to neoprene O rings. Pressure vessels held up to 1,850psi. This was the pinnacle of technology at the time.

Today 3,000psi Scuba tanks are common, and 3,000psi is the standard pressure for hydraulics used in every backhoe and log splitter. All the pieces needed to assemble a flame thrower that will outperform a WWII flamethrower are available online and how a flame thrower works is hardly a mystery. If someone really wants one, they'll build it.


3383 said...

Do I have to be a professional Russian to operate one?

Comrade Misfit said...

Al, true enough. But so, what? You can make a Molotov Cocktail with a wine bottle, gasoline, a rag and a match. Go sophisticated: Toss in some packing pellets to make it more napalmy, stopper the bottle, and tape some windproof matches to the outside as igniters, as the Finns did during the Winter War. You can likely find a recipe for a self-igniting version online.

Easy to make. But if you were to make one in the States, the ATF and the Feebies would bust you for making a destructive device, terrorism and whatever other charges they can pile on.

Anonymous said...

True enough Comrade. Molotov cocktails are hardly a challenge to build, and I enjoy designing and building things. Why settle for something so primitive as a Molotov cocktail when you could have a Churchill Crocodile? It's hard to argue with 120 yards range. I have enough hydraulic components in my garage from my old tractor and a cheap pressure washer that I could probably assemble a flame thrower with a pump driven by a 13hp engine.

Regarding the Molotov cocktail, I think if you were to glue the ignitor from a propane barbecue to the outside of the bottle, substituting a latching switch for the push button one, you would have a windproof ignition system and you could keep the bottle tightly sealed. It wouldn't do to smell like gasoline if the stasi stop you.