Straight from the FM 3-23.30:
1-7. SMOKE HAND GRENADES
“Smoke hand grenades are used as ground-to-ground or ground-to-air signaling devices, target or landing zone marking devices, or screening devices for unit movements. Smoke hand grenades are ignited by pulling the safety pin and releasing the safety lever. After the safety pin has been pulled, the safety lever will not be released until the grenade exits the throwing hand. Once the safety lever has been released there is no way to stop the grenade from functioning. When the grenade is fired in place, the firer will keep his face turned away from the grenade. After releasing the safety lever, the firer will quickly move at least 10 meters away to avoid contact with incendiary particles and fumes emitted during burning.“
If you’re using this in an urban type setting I’d recommend you have a respirator of some type on; the stuff sucks to breath in, especially HC smoke.
Because this is not an explosive and non-lethal I’d like to share the how to. Here is the recipe for one hell of a smoke bomb!
4 parts sugar
6 parts potassium nitrate (Salt Peter)
Heat this mixture over a LOW flame until it melts, stirring well. Pour it into a future container and, before it solidifies, imbed a few matches into the mixture to use as fuses. One pound of this stuff will fill up a whole block with thick, white smoke!
Some notes on Salt Peter: Salt Peter has been used for making toothpaste for sensitive teeth, it is found in explosives and can increase the shelf life of meats and other foods. You can purchase Salt Peter at many garden stores such as Tractor Supply, Home Depot and Lowes. Potassium nitrate occurs as a mineral niter and is a natural solid source of nitrogen. Potassium nitrate is one of several nitrogen-containing compounds collectively referred to as saltpeter or saltpetre. Major uses of potassium nitrate are in fertilizers, rocket propellants and fireworks. It is one of the major constituents of gunpowder (blackpowder) and has been used since the Middle Ages as a food preservative.
Some low grade smoke bombs such as those used in fireworks utilize sodium nitrate as opposed to potassium nitrate. Sodium nitrate is a chemical compound also known as Chile saltpeter or Peru saltpeter (due to the large deposits found in each country) to distinguish it from ordinary saltpeter, potassium nitrate. Just like gunpowder this is less effective in smoke bombs. The mineral form is also known as nitratine, nitratite or soda niter. Sodium nitrate is a white solid which is very soluble in water. It is a readily available source of the nitrate anion, which is useful in several reactions carried out on industrial scales for the production of fertilizers, pyrotechnics and smoke bombs, glass and pottery enamels, food preservatives, and solid rocket propellant. It has been mined extensively for these purposes.
Anyway, have fun; if you live in the basement don’t set this off in your mom’s house, and don’t burn yourself.
Jon
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