Speeding Up 100 Shot Thunderking Dual Fused

[joewad]

For the past few years I've always concluded my shoot with a wall of 100 shot Thunderkings (TKs) and Battle Of Color (BOC). Crowd enjoys this more than the finale of 2.5, 3 and 4 inch mixed with salutes. I am fortunate enough to live within driving distance of 5 - 1.3 distributors and have shot TKs and BOCs from each over the years. In the past I have always shot Lidu's or similiar 100 shot TKs because they run in the 25-30 second range. I want to switch to Lynch's TKs because they have probably 25-30% more thump and comparably priced. Unfortunately, they last approximately 50 seconds and I want to cut that in half down to 25 seconds.
When lighting the primary fuse will running a piece of end exposed blackmatch from the tube number 1 to the secondary blackmatch fuse of a TK work? I've seen Dave do it with larger bore of 2 and 2.5" cakes to speed them up and it worked but will the first shot of a TK have enough flash to light the exposed quickmatch?

[RalphieJ]

I punch an additional hole in the first tube and one in the last and connect them with gray fast fuse.

[kevinwetzel]

I punch an additional hole in the first tube and one in the last and connect them with gray fast fuse.

That's exactly what I do unless I'm electrically firing then I'll match the first and last tube and let them meet in the middle and fire the last tube 0.5 seconds after the first tube fires to stagger the shots a bit.

[BMoore]

I'm pretty sure those Thunderkings have primary and secondary quickmatch/e-port leaders plus a visco leader. If it were me I'd cut off the ports and splice the two QM leaders together. You light the visco which in turn is going to hit the first tube and ignite the quickmatch simultaneously passing fire to the other side of the cake. I also use a mix of thunderkings and Battle of Color for my finale. Definitely a crowd pleaser.

[PyroJoeNEPA]

Not sure if the last row on your cakes is a ""fast row"--but why not just poke it in the middle of the cake and light it from there--let it go from the middle to the front & middle to the back???Then you only have one ignition point to deal with.

[joewad]

All good answers but let me clarify an omission on my part. I securely wrap 4 100 shot thunderkings together into 1 "block" of 4. I normally shoot either 16 or 20 100 shot TKs at one time from 4 to 5 stations (1 "block" per station). The BOCs are shot by blocks of either 6 or 8 each depending upon whether I have 2 or 3 cases (12/1). And I am satisfied with creating 1 ignition point for each block of BOCs. I'll connect all 4 primary fuses/black match of each TK to create 1 point of ignition with e-match. And use 1 of the above methods listed above for each cake per block. Thanks for all your help, any other suggestions appreciated.

I think PyroJoe is correct, the last part of Lynch's newer 100 shot TKs are speeded up. So I believe I will be poking somewhere in the middle of each cake while also lighting the primary fuse of each cake. Since in a block of 4.

Do I break through the middle shot to place the blackmatch or just the foil?

[joewad]

Not sure if the last row on your cakes is a ""fast row"--but why not just poke it in the middle of the cake and light it from there--let it go from the middle to the front & middle to the back???Then you only have one ignition point to deal with.

Do i just break the foil and place the exposed blackmatch just inside the tube or have to go further down tube?

[PyroJoeNEPA]

Do i just break the foil and place the exposed blackmatch just inside the tube or have to go further down tube?

If you can expose the fuse on the side of the tube in the middle & poke there & insert & tape the black match you will be 100% sure of ignition.
Putting the black match inside the tube should work--but the pressure of the gasses coming out of the tube could blow it out.
Good luck however you do it. Gonna be an attention getter!!!

[RalphieJ]

"but the pressure of the gasses coming out of the tube could blow it out".

Not if you expose 1" of fuse outside of the paper and pack a wad of newspaper down on top to confine the space.....

[cptnding]

"but the pressure of the gasses coming out of the tube could blow it out".

Not if you expose 1" of fuse outside of the paper and pack a wad of newspaper down on top to confine the space.....

I've exposed the black match with success several times. Never thought to put a wad of newspaper on top. My worry is always humidity here in the south. Solves the problem. Great idea if you don't want to poke in the middle. Or if you don't have a poke on hand at the time. Thanks for posting that.

[joewad]

"but the pressure of the gasses coming out of the tube could blow it out".

Not if you expose 1" of fuse outside of the paper and pack a wad of newspaper down on top to confine the space.....

The exposed blackmatch and newspaper wad inside the tube or between tubes where fuse is?

[RalphieJ]

The exposed blackmatch and newspaper wad inside the tube or between tubes where fuse is?

Inside. Even with a cap on top of the insert, the lift charge will ignite the exposed match if confined with the wad of paper. I've even experimented with one extra insert per tube, removing the internal paper plug, adding a tiny bit more BP to the primary charge (I highly recommend stout tubes and that the shell insert have a thick, strong plug), and dropping the insert of choice and sealing that off with the original cap. I got the idea from some pre-loaded 1" color and salute mortars from South America (Class B) that I obtained in the early '70's. A low break may occur on occasion, but as always, distance is our friend. One last thing, those SA shells were bottom fused with a BP slurry.

[joewad]

Inside. Even with a cap on top of the insert, the lift charge will ignite the exposed match if confined with the wad of paper. I've even experimented with one extra insert per tube, removing the internal paper plug, adding a tiny bit more BP to the primary charge (I highly recommend stout tubes and that the shell insert have a thick, strong plug), and dropping the insert of choice and sealing that off with the original cap. I got the idea from some pre-loaded 1" color and salute mortars from South America (Class B) that I obtained in the early '70's. A low break may occur on occasion, but as always, distance is our friend. One last thing, those SA shells were bottom fused with a BP slurry.

My concern is the "target" middle shot of where the black match goes. How do you get the target end to work where the blackmatch goes in. I understand the ignition on the first tube but am confused on where to place the destination end of blackmatch in the center tube to speed up the cake.

[joewad]

My concern is the "target" middle shot of where the black match goes. How do you get the target end to work where the blackmatch goes in. I understand the ignition on the first tube but am confused on where to place the destination end of blackmatch in the center tube to speed up the cake.

Where does the blackmatch go that's either into or next to the center shot to speed it up??