[ExSoldier]

I once made a claymore out of a Folgers coffee can, some black powder and some modeling clay. An old buddy of mine, fmr SF guy gave me the pointers and I'll be damned but it worked! Nice stuff to know about in these uncertain times. But THIS cannon contraption....it occurs to me that this is something that could be used to project fou gasse (remember "FOO GAS from the movie The Green Berets?") a sort of ground mounted napalm. Whoa. Use the right mixture of thickener, with the right charge and be dang sure to have a way to remote command detonate (not fuse...something electrical) and this would scare the "blue" right off those baby blue helmets....

[Travis McGee]

If you want a real nice fireball, Hollywood special effects style, use your gunpowder, then a box of steel wool, then a jug of gasoline. The steel wool moving fast heats up like a jillion little filaments, and ignites the mist of gasoline in a hellacious orange fireball.

[SLB]

I have a short Vietnam War story. For about 1/2 my one-year tour I was in a composite FA battery. We had a common chassis that would accommodate either an 8 in howitzer or a 175mm gun. The M107 175mm gun was notorious for being inaccurate. However, one of the best tricks we had for defense was soaking a powder charge in diesel and then firing it. Talk about fire and brimstone! The maximum zone 3 charge was about 5 feet long and when soaked with diesel, whew did it ever give off the fireworks. The little man would be creeping into the wire at night and we would give him one heck of a surprise.