My friend Rob had bought a small butane soldering torch. Not that he did a lot of soldering, he just thought it was more fun than a regular lighter. The cartridges for the torch are metal & resemble the CO2 cartridges for air rifles in size & shape. Having recently retuned from scout camp, we both had about a half box of 22 shells (why they let us take hope a half box of shells each is beyond me). Not having rifles or anyplace to really use them, we looked for an alternate use for the bullets.

My friend discovered that with a pair of tin snips, we could remove the bullet & get out of the gunpowder from the bullets. We funneled the gunpowder into an empty cartridge along with some Magnesium filings from a fire-starter he had purchased at the scout camp. We didn’t have a fuse so we decided to build pile of backpack stove fuel to set it on & hope the fire would ignite the gunpowder. For good measure before setting it on fore, we sprayed a little hairspray into it hoping it would help it ignite.

We lit the fuel on fire & quickly ran about 50 feet away to await the explosion. We had done this whole thing in a secluded area so we couldn’t see what was happening, but after about 10 minutes we figured nothing was going to happen. My friend walked behind the trees while I stayed put. Moments later I heard a loud explosion & heard something whiz over my head. Right after that my friend came running out of the trees holding his head.

The fuel had burned in such a way that the cartridge had rolled off. My friend put it back on the fire, which ignited the gunpowder. He had time to move out of the way, but not cover his ears. The metal cartridge ricocheted off a cement barrier & flew over my head. While both of us lucky to not have been hit by shrapnel, my friend had tinnitus for a couple of days.

Submitted on 03/17/2010

Submitted by: Jim Smith
Reference: Personal Reference

Copyright © 2010 DarwinAwards.com

Bruce said:
Definitely Keep: Personal Account
Boys will be boys... And boys with ammunition and other flammable/explosive materials will invariably find a way of blowing things up. Thanks for a humorous story, Jim.

Candi said:
Definitely Keep: Personal Account
LOL! Let me guess: your parents and camp counselors had already told you the dangers of blowing things up?

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