Re: Fiberglass mortars?

Hi Jason,

Perhaps times have changed, but over 40 years I shot with the same
steel mortars, sometimes with a multibreak hanging nearly a foot
outside of the top of the mortar. These, of course, were burried and
barracaded each time used on a display. Last year I gave them away to
w friend. That's the way it works.

At the end of a display, the earth around them was steaming, and we
had to use either pump pliers or Vicegrips to pull them out of the the
ground because they were so hot. Of course this was during the days
when we reloaded and repeated fired the mortar maybe 20 times during a
display. At that time we used carboard or tin tubes on most of our
finale rackes, and heavy walled cardboard tube on our 5" and 6" flight
racks, and then discarded them after about 4 or 5 uses.

That's history...

The steel tubes worked very well, and honestly it is hard for me to
imagine using anything else. Other than for their weight, I really
cannot imagine anyone using anything for a pluraity of shells running
from a single break to the large 6' inch, six breeaks.

I suppose that my point here is that steel mortars are the standard of
comparison. If you can find any of them, particularly those that have
been seasoned by years of use, but them. They are in every respect
superior to any HPPE or a any composite mortar that you can find.
Here, I am not speaking of the thinwall mortars mad out of ***
stteell, but the mortars made of 1/8" to 1/4" thick pipe. You can tell
one of this by the sound that it makes when you hit on its side with a
sledge hammer..

If it doesn't dent when you hit on it with the sledge, if it doesen't
dent, buy it!

Now just to set the scene, I rarely shoot fireworks for my own
entertainmnet, and most of the shells that I have fired over the past
50 years have seen by spectators ranging from groups of 500 to 50 or
300,000, not including neighbor in our little cul-de-sac. This is why
I have alway shiot these displays from previously proof tested steel
mortars. It's a matter of insuring safety, what has been deomonstrated
to be both safe and relible, and not simply something that an amateur
might think would work well, based upon what has been posted on the
web. I'll challenge anyone to equal that of a perfect safety record
achived in over 1,000+ display in over 300 differnt venues.

Seriously, I have some misgivings about some of these plastic and
fiberglass mortars, but except for the fact that they soften under
heat and become brittle under cold, it is difficult for for me to
express why. Utill then, I'll stick to steel for the large shells, and
cardboard mortars for the small shot.

Harry C.
















On May 28, 7:47 pm, jlmemt <jlm...@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Are fiberglass mortars worth buying for ball shells and maybe single
canister shells?

I read the five pages of topics I got from a search, but didn't really
find a convincing answer. I found some 6" fiberglass mortars cheaper
then I can buy ready made HDPE mortars.

I will obtain some steel for eventual multi breaks, but probably won't
get into multis this year. Even then I will still want to do some 6"
pattern shells, etc that should not require steel.
If so, the next question is if anyone has any experience with Ace
pyro's fiberglass mortars? They are $15.19 for a 6" gun.

Thanks.

Jason


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