i know that you can increase the stablity of acetone peroxide and decrease the stability of ammonium nitrate my mixing the two together.

i also understand that the mix above is cap sensitive and can be used as a booster charge to successfully detonate ANFO. these two advantages make the mix quite useful.

what i want to know is how should i make this?

what ratio should i use if im gonna use an AP cap to set it off and i want it to detonate ANFO?

should i bake the ammonium nitrate to remove the water before mixing it with the AP? if so, then should i add a fuel oil so it doesnt soak up more moisture?

whats the best way to make this stuff?

I tried another 1:1 ration this weekend with no success. I think however my cap must of had a piss poor crimp. I hear the cap go pop, like a cap gun, a second later a big fire ball. It was the last of my AP as well so I didn't get to try again.

What I do is this. Make sure both are dry and the AP should be clean as well (no remainining acids, acetone, etc). Pick your ratio (I'd stick with 3:1 AP:AN for actually explosions, 1:1 to see if you can get it to work). Always place the AP on top the AN befor mixing. The added weight of the AN on top the AP could set it off, it probably won't but safety first. I put on some gloves and kinda knead the mixture till all is worked in. Then using a wooden tongue depressor I mix the stuff.

I use 1/4" Al tubing cut to 3" long. I crimp one end shut and add in this order, tamping lightly with a q-tip:2g AN, 5g AN:AP, 10g AP. Some times I can't fit all of the 10g of AP, usually 8g will go all the time though. Tamp just enough to remove air from between the grains, don't try to forcefully compact. With the other end of the qtip I try to clean the dust off the inside edge of the cap. Insert a fuse, making sure the fuse is contacting the AP. Lightly crimp the cap around the fuse. Seal each crimp with epoxy, and allow to dry.

AP is flame sensitive as well as shock sensitive, but when mixed with AN it will only burn if it hit with flame. You have to insert the cap so as not to allow any sparks to hit the AP first, you want the shock from the cap to detonate the mixture, sparks will only cause deflagration.

I came across some 200mL specimen cups that work great. They look like urine sampe cups. I fill those with the AP:AN mix and attach the lid, taped on. Using a knife I cut a small slit in the side, more toward the bottom. The slit is just big enough that I can kinda force fit a cap inside. I place the cap about 2" into the container, this way the fuse is 1" away from the slit and I haven't had sparks hit first yet.

200mL volume is about 300g of the mixture. These are quite impressive. They sound like thunder after a very near by lightning strike and will do a bit of damage. Give yourself at least 1.5min on the fuse, I usually do 2min. You can run about 150yds, find cover (should be preplanned) and have enough time to settle down and watch. After I settle down I have about 30sec before detonation.

I have a dream about filling a 5gal bucket with the stuff, but no place to set it off.

um, im a bit ashamed to ask this, but how do you crimp a pipe?

and about those piss cup bombs. were they filled with only acetone peroxide, or the mix of acetone peroxide and AN? what was the cap filled with? and if i can get a 2:1 mixture of AP to AN to detonate, will this be a booster charge powerful enough to detonate some ANFO?

and how do i get the ammonium nirate "dry"? should i mix it with the AP right after baking it?

and one more thing: is it safe to powder ammonium nitrate prills in a household blender?

i ask a lot of questions, dont i?

Unstable, just crimp pipe for caps by sticking it in a vice and closing it or use a pliers. You can use your blender to grind up prills, but I would clean out the blender before you eat out of it again. (Duh) You can get ammonium nitrate dry by putting it in the oven. (Its very hydroscopic)

Ammonium Nitrate decomposes at 210'C, so Id recommend heating it at around 180'C for an hour. Allow it to cool down in an airtight container and keep it stored like that untill you are ready to use it.
If you overheat it this is what you get.

NH4NO3-----> N2O + 2H20

Get it wrong and youd better hope you aren't laughing too much to turn the oven off.

I think I cooked mine at 100 degrees fahrenheit, for a couple hours. It doesn't take much to get the water out. I'm not sure what that is celcius, I need to use a conversion formula, I'm not eduacated on the metric system.