A very good friend of mine in Duncan, OK has a machine shop that does almost entirely custom work for the oil and gas lateral drilling industry, Halliburton being one of his biggest customers. He recently received a custom order for a few hundred parts turned from pure magnesium. They are some sort of plug, about 4" in diameter, and the turning process resulted in about two 55 gallon drums full of, you guessed it, pure magnesium shavings.
He gave me a small box, about the size of a large flat rate USPS mailing box, full of these shavings. He's a bit of a science / experiments nut like me and he is keeping this stuff for some fun down the road and I can get more if I want.
I just bring this up here because it seems relevant. I haven't had the time to pursue anything fun with it yet, planning to hunt on YouTube for some cool things to try. Just curious if anyone here had some good ideas on how to have some good old fashion dangerous pyrotechnic fun with this stuff.
I am an avid ammunition reloader and have an idea I am going to try. I've got some Hornaday projectiles that are FMJ with the ass end Un-jacketed and the lead exposed. I was going to heat these up and melt the lead out, grind some of this magnesium to a powder, mix it with a good oxidizing substance that will result in a fairly stable compound if possible, replace the lead with it, and recap the end with something like JB Weld epoxy. It will result in a projectile much lighter than the original (currently I have 150gr 30cal and 55gr 223cal) possibly 90gr and 30gr respectively. Elevation will need to be accounted for but I have a great app on my iPhone that easily makes the calculations. Basically I'm attempting an incendiary round. This is just one of hundreds of cool things that could be done with pure magnesium....
Anyone with some cool ideas on what else could be done with this stuff please speak up. I'm open minded to any cool and potentially dangerous experiments....who knows, I may even share a little with someone who comes up with something that would make a great YouTube video.
Lastly, is there a form of thermite type material that uses pure magnesium? It seems like a good material to start a thermite / thermate reaction.
Yes, actually Magnesium can be substituted for Aluminium as the two metals behave in very similar manners, with the more active of the 2 naturally being Mg.
I have tried Mg powder with CuO and Fe2O3, and the results are an increase of reactivity and sensitivity. The more dangerous obviously being the Mg+CuO which is VERY explosive.
I'll caution you that Incendiary rounds if not made properly can ignite inside your gun, rather than at the point of impact not to motion that the by products are corrosive as heck. I have seen some recipes calling for KClO4/Mg and or NaClO4/Mg. (KClO4 + Mg is commercial flash powder for use in squibs and flash bangs )
and is dangerously sensitive to moisture.
Other chemistry points to the use Sodium Peroxide and Magnesium which is EXTREMELY
sensitive to moisture.
WWI and WWII the chemistry of the day called for White Phosphorus.
Good luck getting that nowadays.
A round containing finely milled Mg+Fe2O3 or CuO+Mg might be something to try?
:thinking: New experiment.?? ?
Hopefully I have shed some light, not pun intended on the subject of making
exotic ammo ...
Obtaining Mg powder must be done through
http://www.skylighter.com/mall/chemicals.asp
there is a serious declaimer for anyone
purchasing from them.
Mg powder is quite dangerous as it can ignite easily.
Fe2O3 is red iron oxide and will work for miking thermite,
magnetite balck iron oxide or Fe3O4 is useless for this.
