A fun thing to do with capnball

[Pulp]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s9oelGbefDo

This will get folks attention at the range. Cut open the cheapest Roman candle you can find, remove the little balls, and put one over your powder before you seat the bullet.

 

[scrat]

thats so cool. problem is here in california that would just end you up in a whole bunch of trouble.

 

[Pulp]

Yeah, I figger most range officers would ask you to leave very quickly if you did it on a public or private range. I was shooting on my own land. And the deep grass had a fresh dew on it, so I wasn't worried about starting the grass on fire.
I'll stick one in everyonce in awhile during a Cowboy Action match.

 

[Steve499]

You devil! Another thing to put onto my already long to do list!

 

[icebones]

now i know what im going to try this weekend,

too bad they dont make tracer bullets for black powder rifles/pistols
(or do they)

 

[icebones]

what about .45 caliber pyrodex pellets, i have heard that is you load them without a bullet, the pellet will be shot out of the barrel, or it is just made up?

and if they do work, you would want something over the pellets to prevent chain fires, and that defeats the pourpose.

 

[Pulp]

Other things that work well:

Cracklin' Balls: These look like the old cherry bombs, but are just a light plastic shell with little beads inside. Put about a cc of the beads over your powder.

Sparklers: Break up sparklers into small chunks with a pair of pliers. Load a few of the chunks over the powder.

This link is to a video of some special high flash loads. .45Colt shot through my Walker with R&D cylinder

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6vqBiWg0pXQ

The next link is a night shoot, done by some real pros at special loads. I think one of them has access to pyro chemicals.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lNzFyLOLC3o

This last video shows a couple of the "spotter" rounds, available at hi-vel.com
The first three shots are regular lead bullets, listen for the ricochet after the third shot. The last two shots are the spotter rounds. I think you can tell the difference.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nJs_oSjTT1E

 

[JCT]

Just be careful of chlorate based compositions ( colored stars, sparklers, candle stars...) Very corrosive on your guns. Also, some stars have titanium flake, which I'd rather not have running through my barrels, it's score and scratch it.
I make my own BP stars with my BP, some Magnesium and Aluminum flake and coarse charcoal ( 80 mesh ) for a tail. You can load some nice 12 Gauge shells with consumer fireworks, whatever fits. I'm testing some homemade shell crackers soon, basically shotgun launched M-80's. Should be fun!