Swollen 26.5mm flares

geologist

geologist

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I have eight 26.5mm flares. They are marked Signalpatrone Kal 4 Einzelstern grun with a WISCHO trade name.

They are swollen from the base to about an inch from the business end of the flare. They will not feed all the way into my Polish flare pistol.

Two of the eight flares are unswollen and will chamber.

Has anyone seeen this?

I might try drying them out in a sealed container with a dessicant.

Any other ideas?

P2040536.jpg


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How old are they? The 2nd flare in the top pic says "Verbrauchsdauer: 3 Jahre", in other words, they're good for 3 years. Is it simply a symptom of age? Especially if the 02.84 means February 1984 lol.
 
GeoTrekr said:
How old are they? The 2nd flare in the top pic says "Verbrauchsdauer: 3 Jahre", in other words, they're good for 3 years. Is it simply a symptom of age? Especially if the 02.84 means February 1984 lol.
Click to expand...

they're all marked consume in 3 years and stamped 02. 84 so they might be a little long in the tooth :eek:.
 
Those are 25mm marine flares. Similar but not identical to 26.5mm military style flares. You can modify the locking tab of the flare gun to get it to close properly, albeit with some force. I have personally seen the mod done and a flare successfully fired. The base is not "swollen", it is designed that way and dessicant will not shrink it.

Speaking of which, can I interest anyone in a bulk quantity of 25mm white parachute illuminating flares? Qty around 1,200. Have 1,000 red handheld parachute also. Killer deal for the package and no, not selling individually. :p
 
AK said:
Those are 25mm marine flares. Similar but not identical to 26.5mm military style flares. You can modify the locking tab of the flare gun to get it to close properly, albeit with some force. I have personally seen the mod done and a flare successfully fired. The base is not "swollen", it is designed that way and dessicant will not shrink it.
Click to expand...

I'm not sure that they are 25mm flares.

These two are identically marked. The top one chambers and I can close the action and it locks. I'm sure that I can fire it.

The bottom one will not chamber past the first inch of the shell.

P2050539.jpg
 
Ohhhh...my mistake, I misread your description. I see more clearly now your conundrum.

This is not to say you cannot fire it. Most signal flare cartridges use the gun simply as a convenient way of firing it and do not need the chamber to support it. The propellant is usually black powder and the pressures involved are fairly low; the cartridge case is usually sufficient to contain the shot itself. Not that I would counsel you to necessarily try that, but you probably wouldn't need the specific gun to set it off.

I would however caution you as misshapen cartridges are usually the result of something bad happening during its lifetime so don't be too close when you fire it off.
 
Yes they are oversized and fell like they would need re-sizing in order to chamber.

I am just going to leave them alone. I might fire one of the good ones just for fun.
 
If anything i'd like to deactivate the swollen shells, empty and de-prime them as they may be re-loadable with 209 primers.

Once they are empty and de-primed I'd have to figure out how to rig up a sizing setup.

Any ideas on how to safely de-activate them? I don't want to throw them in the garbage, or burn them.

Soak them in oil or solvent for a month or two?
 
How are the ends sealed? The examples we have use a rubber plug. If yours are similar you can carefully thread a coarse screw into it and pull it out, then remove the contents. The primer can be deactivated by soaking in acetone for a few days once it's been exposed.

Spray your work area with Static Guard before commencing any work, wear only cotton clothing, and wear gloves and full face protection if available. if in doubt, don't proceed.
 
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