Homemade explosive

One homemade explosive, using nitrate and oils, will be described. 

Mix equal parts of explosive and thermate incendiary. A powdered explosive is easiest to use, and TNT may be safely crushed with a wooden implement in a wooden container. Plastic explosive or dynamite also may be used, although in this case the explosive should be placed under the thermate so that the thermate will be directed upward. The thermate can be obtained from the AN M-14 incendiary grenade or homemade as described in the section on improvised incendiaries. ... 

Laboratory ELITE explosives detection device. Similarly to the aforementioned ETK, it can detect traces of mOitary, as well as homemade explosives, by applying the common Meisenheimer and Griess reagents. Because of the addition of a heating device nd efficient swiping for sample collection, the reported sensitivity of ELITE is 2—50 times higher than that of other commercial field tests [102]. For example, ELITE detection limits for TNT, 2,4-DNT, and tetryl were found to be 50, 100, and 50 ng, respectively. Lower thresholds (25—50ng) were reported for PETN, RDX, HMX, and NC [102]. 

To illustrate how improvised explosives are often related to historically rejected formulations a sampling of the anarchist literature will be utilized. The small cross section examined will consist of Guerrilla s Arsenal (GA) [8], Improvised Munitions Black Book Vol. 1 (BB1) [9], Ragnar s Homemade Detonators (RHD) [10], and FMX The Revised Black Book (FMX) [11], It should be stressed that this small cross section examined represents only a fraction of the readily available information accessible through the Internet. These examples are utilized solely to show the overlap of historical explosive formulations and current terrorist recipes. More examples of current-day usage of these improvised materials will be included in the next sections of this chapter. 

The hazards associated with HMTD have not, however, dissuaded criminals, terrorists, or juvenile experimenters from manufacturing and using it. It has been recommended in numerous anarchist publications as the improvised explosive of choice for the preparation of homemade initiators. Over the past several years it has been encountered with increasing frequency by law enforcement officers worldwide. For this reason, as noted for TATP earlier, a basic knowledge of its properties is essential for those in the explosive community. 

Quadrupole ion trap, time of flight, mass spectrometer Quantum yield Research and development Reversal electron attachment detection Remote environmental monitoring units Remote explosive scent tracking Radio frequency Ragnar s Homemade Detonators Receiver operator characteristics (a graphical portrayal of Pd and Pfp)... 

Refs 1) J. Stoffel, Explosives and Homemade Bombs , Charles C. Thomas, Springfield (1972), 144—85 2) R.R. Lenz, "Explosives and Bomb... 

Recent terrorist attacks on October 12, 2002, in Bali, Indonesia, showed that the homemade and industrial explosive bombs present a serious threat to the world community. These terrorist activities generated enormous demand for rapid identification of nitroaromatic explosives at the site of terrorism. The decentralized detection of explosives at low concentrations is fundamental for safety of civilized people. The ideal counter-terrorism detection device should allow the security forces to make the important decision concerning evacuating, barricading, effective decontamination of particular site or efficient pursuing of suspects. 

Erythritol tetranitrate (ETN) (Figure 1) is an explosive first prepared in 1849 [1] with similar properties to pentaerythritol tetranitrate (PETN). ETN is melt-castable, has impressive performance, and is not difficult to prepare, which increases the necessity for understanding its properties from a homemade explosive threat determination perspective [2]. Due to its handling sensitivity, ETN has been involved in recent accidents [3] and should not be handled outside of a dedicated explosives facility. We have recently reported the first X-ray crystal structure of ETN [4], and discussed the influence of crystal packing on the sensitivity of the material, relative to PETN [5]. Another recent publication also discusses basic characterization of ETN [6]. 

Erythritol tetranitrate is a melt-castable, high-performance nitrate ester explosive that has recently become important due to its use in homemade explosives. We have investigated the detonation behavior of ETN using cylinder tests and small diameter unconfined rate sticks. Similar performance properties were observed between ETN and the closely related nitrate ester, PETN detonation velocities for the two... 

Construction of homemade blasting caps is one of the most dangerous and ill-advised procedures in the field of improvised explosives. The resulting end products are extremely unstable and unpredictable. Whenever dealing with high explosives, special precautions must be followed in accordance with industry standards for experimentation and production. Failure to strictly follow such industry standards may result in harm to life and limb. 

Unlike commercial blasting caps, homemade caps can be made as needed and then be boosted by inclusion of extra detonating material. These more powerful caps work well with sleepy homemade or mili tary-grade explosives, both of which can be quite difficult to detonate. 

In preparation for this book, 54 prototype blasting caps were constructed. Most went off with a nice report, but none would detonate commercial explosives. Despite numerous attempts to compress or enclose the primary mixtures, all were too slow to do the work. Most provided enough power to throw pieces of dynamite horn shattered cartridges, but they simply would not detonate the powder. And experienced explosives handlers know that, compared to military or homemade C-4 or any other military explosive, commercial dynamite is relatively easy to detonate. 

Explosives can and should be used in a very precise manner. Since it is virtually impossible to make consistent, precise primers and powder at home, I don t do either I purchase all of my blasting supplies commercially. If ever I had to use totally homemade explosives, I probably could. But right now, concerns about holding variables to an absolute minimum, personal safety, and doing a good, professional job override any other requirement pertaining to explosives. 

Primer powder from five large pistol primers is sufficient to make one standard blasting cap. Use the powder from seven disassembled primers to construct one over sired blasting cap necessary with some homemade or military explosives. 

MUNITION - The only munition this explosive would even be remotely good for, would be some type of homemade fragmentation grenade. 

Typical organic peroxides, which have been or may be used by terrorists are so-called homemade explosives (HMEs) triacetone triperoxide (TATP), hexameth-ylene triperoxide diamine (HMTD), methyl ethyl ketone peroxide (MEKP) and diacetone diperoxide (DADP) (Fig. 1.14). 

Usually explosives can be categorized as military, commercial and homemade (HME) explosives. HMEs are energetic formulations that can be created at home . The term HME has been used to cover a wide range of materials from pure explosive compounds, such as triacetone triperoxide (TATP), that can be synthesized from readily available articles of commerce or pentaerythritol tetranitrate (PETN), as pentaerythritol can be purchased in bulk for paint use to home-made variants of explosive formulations, such as ammonium nitrate fuel oil (ANFO), that are used in very large commercial blasting operations. 

Using some of his father s old books, chemistry texts from the library, and ideas he picked up in his high school classes, Linus figured out for himself how to make homemade explosives mixtures of potassium chlorate and sulfur that went off when a trolley car ran over them (the company sent a man to Linus s house to put a stop to it) and an unstable iodide of nitrogen that popped loudly when disturbed—a sort of junior-grade nitroglycerine that proved very popular at school. Acid spills ruined his pants and ate the ends off brooms. He once set fire to the wooden walls with molten phosphorus. 

I liked his account of "raiding" the house of a 17 year-old who blew himself up with homemade explosives. Conrad seems to blame Desert s IMPROVISED MUNITIONS BLACK BOOK. 

Last year, the squad raided an Escondido house after a 17-year-oId boy blew himself up with homemade explosives. Ten pipe bombs and a how-to text titled "Improvised Munitions Slack Book" were found. 

The best methods require getting under the hood. Explosives are placed as near the occupants as possible. The fuse, homemade, commercial or safety, is wrapped a few turns around the exhaust manifold. After a few minutes on the road the exhaust manifold gets almost red hot and ignites the fuse. 

Semtex is the plastique most widely used by terrorists around the world. In what is the first book to focus solely on Semtex, noted demolitions expert Seymour Lecker sets the record straight about this powerful but misrepresented terror weapon. He tells you what it will and won t do, its strengths and its limfkations, and how it compares with its U.S. counterpart, C-4. Lecker also details the explosiveness, materials, manufacturing procedures, storage characteristics, dangers, and conditions of use. Find out the vital facts about Semtex before you re confronted with a situation where what you don t know can hurt you. Homemade Semtex is for information purposes only. 

There are many ways to classify explosives, some of which are military, civilian, high-order, or low- order. Few bombings involve military explosives (e.g., PETN, RDX, TNT), because their availability is severely restricted. The most commonly used explosives are dynamite and homemade mixtures containing black powder, smokeless powder, or chlorate and sugar. Table E24-1 lists several explosives and their common abbreviations. The structures of several of these are shown in Table E24-2, p. 580. 

Low-order explosive mixtures made from commonly available chemicals have been termed improvised mixtures. The majority of the improvised mixtures used in criminal bombings in this country fall into two categories homemade black powder and homemade flash powders. These mixtures usually are confined in some container, such as a section of capped pipe, and initiated with an external burning pyrotechnic or homemade fuse. Homemade black powder is a mixture of potassium nitrate, sulfur, and charcoal. It is usually poorly made, and unconsumed particles are abundant in the bomb debris. The components of this mixture can be identified chemically using techniques described previously. 

---