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I read the report of the attempted Ryazan apartment building bombing and laughed. You would use hexogen to bring down a bridge, but while it can be used to blow up a building, it would be a waste of resources if used for that purpose. McVey used fertilizer in Oklahoma City, which would be far more effective, since it has a heaving effect. Additionally, it would be the height of stupidity to use a shotgun shell, as reported, as a primer. It simply wouldn't work, because the explosive velocity of the primer has to be greater than the velocity of the explosive being used. To give you an example, we used the high explosive C-4 to cook our food when in the field. We would take a small amount, and light it with a match. It would not explode, because the burn (explosive) velocity of a match flame is not sufficient to set off the higher explosive velocity of the C-4. BTW, C-4 is made of hexogen.

Additionally, I quote, "Yury Tkachenko, the explosives expert who carried out the tests on the substance found in the building's basement, declined a request for comment. He now works in a "special" police unit whose nature forbids making any comments to the press, Ryazan Interior Ministry branch spokesman Igor Shelestyuk said.

Tkachenko tried to detonate a small amount of the substance from the sacks immediately outside the apartment building but it did not detonate, Anitov said.

Maksimov said FSB explosives experts tried to detonate a larger amount of the substance -- 3 kilograms -- on a special testing ground, but it didn't go off either."

Not only would it not go off, but Tkachenko would have recognized hexogen immediately. I'm sorry to burst your fairy tales, but someone needs to do it.

Ping

I won't say much about demo in a public thread (as sensitive as such things are these days), and I don't have time to read an article before work. But was the building (in part or whole) blown apart, or were structurals cut to take it down?