Flash Powder

Now if I could figure out how to get some flash powder!!!!

One of these days I've got to get back to experimenting with some Black Al powder, which seemed to have worked really, really well, too.

Is it legal to buy ?

ljerr2 wrote:

Now if I could figure out how to get some flash powder!!!!

One of these days I've got to get back to experimenting with some Black Al powder, which seemed to have worked really, really well, too.

I'm new to PFC guns. I only have western revolvers because I don't have a VCRA, but I love them. I'd like to add some flash powder to my caps for a better muzzle flash, but I don't know anything about powders. Would extracting powder from fireworks work?

If you used firework powder i think you would blow your gun up and possibly your hand. So NO! do not use firework powder, (may even be illegal to do it).
magnesium powder is what is usually used, but i think that is hard to get hold of and you only need a little bit. Most of use gave up with flash powder as it dirtys up the rounds and gun plus loading the carts is a slow proccess in itself, so then adding a little flash powder just becomes time consuming and the effect is not always that succsessful.
Some japanese companies make double and triple cap carts for some models in order to get a decent flash, thats a better safer way to go.

claymore wrote:

If you used firework powder i think you would blow your gun up and possibly your hand. So NO! do not use firework powder, (may even be illegal to do it).
magnesium powder is what is usually used, but i think that is hard to get hold of and you only need a little bit. Most of use gave up with flash powder as it dirtys up the rounds and gun plus loading the carts is a slow proccess in itself, so then adding a little flash powder just becomes time consuming and the effect is not always that succsessful.
Some japanese companies make double and triple cap carts  for some models in order to get a decent flash, thats a better safer way to go.

Thanks for that, you've convinced me to forget about it. I'm new to PFC guns, I have bought 3 so far but I worry about the availability of buying caps. I bought my first western revolver second hand without any caps and when I tried to buy caps I only found two shops that sold them and neither shop would sell them to me because I'd never purchased a gun from them. To overcome that problem I ended up buying guns from both shops just so I could get caps. As the delivery cost coupled with PayPal fees were quite high I placed orders with both shops for ten boxes of 5mm caps and ten boxes of 7mm to even the cost out a little. Both shops said their stocks were low and could not let me have that amount. One shop sells the caps for £10 per box and the other £8.50 a box. It seems to me these shops have a monopoly and it makes me worried that the expensive guns I have bought may one day be without caps. I've even considered buying the caps direct from Japan, but no one wants to ship them. How do you guys go on getting caps? Any advice would be welcomed.

Well you have just found out the biggest problem we have with modelguns and thats the cap situation. Going back a good few yrs we could import direct from japan and the caps were cheap and plentiful, then suddenly (i dont know which country decided) the clasification of the caps changed to being an explosive and that meant no more sending by air mail and also prohibited our Japanese contacts to send them to us.

So what to do, well John of Plugfirecapgunsuk as a seller of modelguns started the proccess of importing them. The problem being here as they are now considered an explosive, he cannot just order from the company, he needs a middle man and of course the correct paperwork Japan side, he needs special containers in which to ship them and then the shipping costs and then the cost of importation into the UK.

As you might expect this is not cheap, so by the time they get to us the cost has more than trebled, not much we can do about that as for me PFCGUK are the only place for me to get caps now and i understand why the caps are the price they are.

The worry of course is the importation of the caps stopping complety, not something i want to think of really seeing as how i have so many models.

Wow, what a situation. Thanks for your reply, not the answer I was hoping for, but it is what it is. I’ve been keeping my used caps, I’m not sure why but I’ve wondered if there was a way to refill them , thus making my own caps. Not sure how,. I’d like to find out how they are made to see if refilling the empty caps could work. Of course I’ve no idea if such thing is possible. Do you guys know anything about how they are made? Thanks in advance.

Not a clue on how or what they are made of. In the UK i doubt there is any way of making a cap without breaking some law.

I buy flash powder from: illusion craft.co.uk

I use it to lightly tip the end of 8&9mm pak blanks to give them that little bit more flash. Even though top venting, it can give an ever so slightly enhanced effect. I also like to surprise party guests and throw it on our open log fire at this time of year