Something I have been working on - long range smoke (100+/- yards) rounds in a ready to load refill format. Will still require hazmat shipping but pricing will be quite reasonable. 30 second smoke generation is the goal with these. Planning for the hulls to be darker subdued type colors with cap the color of the smoke.
Still have to do some testing but these have some promise! These use my inserts to get the high/low lift with 9x17r hogslat dot com blanks and a .35 caliber gas check. I fully expect rims to crack. My idea was to make them cheap so you can reuse the insert by loading a bunch of them up and buy or print the cases in bulk. The pushers are set up to add a nut for weight and I use glue plugs in top and on the back over a 20mm metal disc. The disc is really not needed with the hogslat yellow and blue blanks but I do it anyway. FPS and weights are 88-92 grams for the loaded projectile at average 254fps with the blue blanks.
Swapped a broken stock off my Deftec L8 37mm six shooter with an intact stock from one of my Penn arms 40mm’s. Going to make a spec ops type launcher setup. Barrel is 12”. Was thinking of chopping to 10” or 9”. Custom handguard is being designed and the top rail will be going bye bye as well. Just was curious what the hive mind thinks? Thanks!
Latest “LARP” for the 37mm crowd. Still one more component coming to this series that I am working on. One of my beta testers shot a couple good videos today so here to share! Good smoke trail to see how the projectile travels. Load data - 50gr 777 lift charge (pyrodex 777 pellet) with same as payload charge. Nose cone filled with green chalk.
More of a “to see if it can be done” thing for me. I will hopefully bring the 37mm chalks to market. 🙂👍 40mm will be handled by another party. 😎 new chronograph arrives today via Amazon. Got the Garmin Xero 1 pro.
Just arrived today! Limited supply. High/low alum 6160 for use with 9x17r/380r/38short blanks with a standard .35 caliber gas check. Use to build a custom hybrid shell with the 17ga flanged brass 1.5” raw brass tailpiece. I also have the bases and will be adding the STLs for the bases soon in the usual places.
Are cruising out there in the usual places if you look. 😎 Enjoy and have fun signaling your buddies!
Made these display racks just simple 25rd racks for 37/40mm shells for sitting on the tables. Figure it looks more organized and professional. Need to print 4 more at least. Anyone in central Florida want to stop by next Saturday- please say hi if you do. Sumpter county FL fairgrounds. 😎👍
Had some shells serialized! Going to register them! Had six done for now. Hopefully the NFA will go away and this will become a moot point! Looking forward to FFL/SOT and full scale manufacturing.
Definitely a story behind this one and the m79. Custom built. They were awesome! China lake not for sale. M79 $10k (not mine). I was surprised at how smooth the action was. Was like butter. Not “ratchety” at all. The craftsmanship was beyond reproach! Dream gun for me!
Still have some cleaning up on the prints with the supports and orientation but first print went together properly. These are designed around the pyrodex 50grain pellets. One for the lift charge sideways in the powder cup and a second in the burst capsule. Made three different cone sizes based off the m433 profile. Basic design already proven so will tweak this one some more and get some videos of it.
These fit MILC 2.0 shells machined or printed. The overall height is 1/2” lower than LPs type. These use .35 caliber gas checks, no grub screws or cutting cans. KAK style blanks as well as 380r/9x17r blanks and Bengles blanks all fit. Military 38 blanks are too thick - must ream to 9.8mm which is easily done with a 9.8mm reamer from Amazon. These will work with 37mm or 40mm MILC 2.0 cases.
Tested two rounds. One multi star (payload ignition failure) and one whistle star. Both shells performed perfectly and are reusable. After action and full video coming to my channel. Files will released on the usual places this weekend.
Tested them Saturday - lower profile than other high/low chambers and just use a standard gas check (9mm/35 caliber) to achieve the high/low pressure curve. I used three of Benglesbullets 5” MILC cases loaded with my newly designed finned body chalk round. The new bodies are set up to take any of my nose cones - smoke short medium or long and are reusable. Range with the RWS yellow 9x17r averaged 120 yards with me aiming at a 45 degree angle. The projectiles did stabilize and hit nose first. One chalk nose broke as designed- it was a newer version with thinner walls. No velocity results as I do not have a chronograph yet. I will be getting one here soon when I retire and do this full time. I posted the video on my YouTube channel but you cannot see the track of the projectile with the iPhone camera. So that’s on the upgrade list too! lol. Next set of DT MILC 2.0 shells are ordered and will be compatible with most all launchers. There will also be an option for the LMT owners out there since rim thickness seems to be the hang up on their compatibility with other launchers. My new shells will be dimensionally the same OD/ID and rim thickness with Bengles shells. I have reached out as well to several of the other vendors with an invite to join us in a standardization program based off those dimensions to make the 37mm community more flexible and less expensive. A lot of good things on the horizon so stay tuned and if you are able to form 1 your 37mm in your state - we will be having some great items available for 37mm DDs specifically coming soon. Thank you all for your support as well. I am working every day to make our community safer and more fun with professionally made products. We thrive on you - your ideas - let me know. Maybe we can make it for you!
The cores and 1st gen shells (Tac79/gl06/B&D twl 37 only) are listed on my eBay DixieThumper
Made in USA by a small business- these work with 9x17r/380r/38short and 38SW blanks. The latter will need a press to insert properly. These fit any MILC 2.0 type shell -3d printed or machined. Use with a 35 caliber gas check (aluminum or copper) and some tissue paper to push the check to the top or hot glue(I prefer the hot glue as the spent blanks pull the gas check remnants with them when de-capping) before seating the crimped blanks. Blanks with gas checks loaded in them will just insert. The relief hole in top is .250”
These are 6160 aluminum and professionally machined by a small machine shop in New England.
😎👍 hopefully more of you all can get into smokeless blank powered 37s and 40mm users should be able to fit rounds easier with the lower profile and cheaper costs.
DixieThumper new designed 3d printed pusher with custom redesigned nose cone. I am testing these and so far they are performing beautifully. Will add a video to my YouTube as soon as I get one put together. Key design takeaways - as shown the whole unit with chalk and ready to load will retail at $5 ea with 50 or more at $4 ea.
pusher designed with male threads that are protected by special design of the windscreen. They impact normally and give a big cloud of chalk due to design. The bottom of the windscreen protects the pusher threads. Pusher is filled with hot glue and has a metal disc in the rear to protect and distribute pressure from the blanks. These so far work great with the RWS/Blitz crimped blanks and Bengles bullets crimped blanks. To reuse the pusher simply recover, heat the remaining portion of the windscreen with a butane lighter until it becomes soft and then peel it away from the pusher. Wipe off and reuse. If you use the standard 212 casings - put the gas check in first and either a small dab hot glue to hold it or some tissue wadded up to push the gas check to the top and insert the blank behind it.
These will replace my first design and will be very economical to shoot. Spare windscreens will be available and priced later but will be under $1 ea.
Form 1s are pending for my design. Just wanted to see if there is a consensus on type of filament that is best suited for 22 and 9 for a fixed mount design. Considering PETG but wanted to check with everyone on their personal experiences. Thank you!
Ok got around to putting these test rounds together. In these I am using the 1” mortar shells for fireworks signaling and wildlife control. You can put anything in it that is in a 1” tube - build your own flare or smoke or off the shelf smokes will work too. Will post video of the test results when completed.
Load data: 50 grains pyrodex 777 over Remington STS 209 primer. The OTS mortar shells are stripped down and have a custom printed push disc that is fused and inserted in the bottom of the OTS mortar shells. A small flash charge is added as well as some fuse segments to ensure good ignition. This will give an additional buffer between the lift charge (50gr 777) and the payload. This adds an extra 1-3 seconds travel time to maximize distance in the air for good height as well as provides an additional layer of safety to the user.
Once testing is complete- these will start sailing. 😎🫡👍🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸
So I have loaded the 1” mortars this way for a long time but in aluminum shells. They work fine in the aluminum shells but I have to sleeve the 1” tube mortar shells in a 1.25” cardboard tube which is kind of wasteful to me. So I thought about a custom design just for these shells. Sat down and came up with this. Still going to modify the nose cap some more but it acts as part of the shell to help stabilize in flight. If you have watched my videos you will see it works well with the fireworks rounds. So will be testing it out soon.