Slackdaddy
My pronouns: Iva/Bigun
- Jan 1, 2019
- 5,940
This was in the early-mid 2000's
My kids and I joined https://mdrocketry.org/
We started with the Estes A-D sized motors, then bought some commercially available reloadable "F" and "G" casings and reloads.
There were guys/gals mixing there own and making larger rockets.
The key is the chemicals were NOT explosives, they burned slow enough not to be classified as explosives.
One of the higher ups in BATFE got a woody and decided he was going swing his Johnson around. Declared all but the Estes sized motors were explosives and you need a explosives lic. even the small "D" and "E" and "F" size stuff we were flying.
Of course they were challenged by the 2 large national Rocketry organizations,, And were clearly shown that the chemicals used are not classified as explosives, so they doubled down and said ANY amount of BP used is illegal (BP was used in minute amounts for the ejection charge.).
We along with many people dropped out of rocketry, As I did not feel like going to jail over the kids hobby.
Years later it took a couple Senators to smack this ass down, and there was an official letter sent saying "All Is Well"
My kids and I joined https://mdrocketry.org/
We started with the Estes A-D sized motors, then bought some commercially available reloadable "F" and "G" casings and reloads.
There were guys/gals mixing there own and making larger rockets.
The key is the chemicals were NOT explosives, they burned slow enough not to be classified as explosives.
One of the higher ups in BATFE got a woody and decided he was going swing his Johnson around. Declared all but the Estes sized motors were explosives and you need a explosives lic. even the small "D" and "E" and "F" size stuff we were flying.
Of course they were challenged by the 2 large national Rocketry organizations,, And were clearly shown that the chemicals used are not classified as explosives, so they doubled down and said ANY amount of BP used is illegal (BP was used in minute amounts for the ejection charge.).
We along with many people dropped out of rocketry, As I did not feel like going to jail over the kids hobby.
Years later it took a couple Senators to smack this ass down, and there was an official letter sent saying "All Is Well"
That really surprises me.
There is actually a book out there on making model rocket motors.
also: https://makezine.com/projects/make-35/homemade-sugar-rocket/
yeah, banning sugar and poop would go over really well with the public. /rolleyes
for 3-5 years? never heard of this. And when and why did they stand down? I used to be into rocketry, but w estes rockets.
I've followed pyro forums and the gvmt cracking down on pyros is pretty much never mentioned, jumping through regulatory hoops sometimes, but rarely.