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West Wight Potter Mailing List maintainer
dfarrell@ridgecrest.ca.us
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>I understand they seem not to be a legal weapon but are listed in yachting
>magazines as the w.... of choice for those not legally able to carry one.
I was not aware that they were ever advertised as a weapon of choice for
those not able to carry one. Where did you see this?
I do recall in the movie "The Big Easy" that a flare gun was used as a
makeshift weapon, and though unconfirmed as real since it was "hollywood",
a flare fired into someones chest at short range where it imbedded and
burned as he floated face down in the water presumably dead from the impact.
As I understand it, the payload of a 12 GA flare round is a metal magnesium
alloy pellet with a launching charge of some type of black powder or
chordite or something explosive to propel the pellet. Since the pellet is
solid metal (albeit a lighter than steel metal) it would have substantial
mass and when propelled could be a substantial impact from the mass and
momentum energy. Not to mention the burn potential which could be damaging
to human tissue as (help me out science minds) Magnesium and its readily
burnable alloys have a substantial temperature release of degrees F
somewhere in the thousands--they give off a pretty impressive amount of
energy when oxidizing.
Certainly the heat energy output is enough to easily "boil" the moisture
inside someone's chest cavity or other hydrated tussues of the body that
might be struck--The energy absorbed by the tissues and the water in the
tissues makes steam which rapidly expands and adds to the damage.
No wonder a flare gun is only a single shot device, seems like a formidible
weapon capability. Can you imagine a Semi-Automatic flare gun? Light up
the sky!!!!!
T Westerman
P19 #578 (Yet Nameless) / Walker Bay 8' Sail Dinghy "LeiLulu"
Colorado Springs, CO
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