Hello all, I was just wondering what brands of chems to buy for flash powder. I will be ordering from pyrotek http://www.pyrotek.org
and will be using Potassium Perchloride and Alumnium Powder. I was just wondering what brand of chems works best. Also, I am on a slight budget so I was wondering if the Potassium Perchloride listed under the
"chemical specials" section of that site as military grade ultra pure will work? Please give me your input on this topic as I need help! And also what ratio for those chemicals do you recommend? I heard a 2:1 ratio of Potassium Perchloride to Alumnium Powder, but that just seems all to easy to me Thank you

um, i think you mean potassium perchlorate. the one that u mentioned seems good, but it doesnt tell the mesh. at a low price like that, u can assume the mesh is pretty low.

u want at least 200 mesh to be safe.

and that ratio is correct. 2:1 of potassium perchlorate to aluminum powder. why would it seem too easy?

oops sorry about that wrong spelling, yes I did mean perchlorate. That ratio just seems a little easy... thats all i was just unsure about it. But anyways..... you say i need at least 200 mesh of both of the cemicals? And one more thing... I have read somewhere that spherical aluminum powder didn't work in flash powder, only flake. Can anyone verify this? I do not want to bug the hell out of you guys, all I want is for you more experianced people to tell me what brands of aluminum powder and potassium perchlorate to buy so I can do it right the first time. Thanks

spherical works, but not well. flaked works a hell of a lot better and burns fast as the dickens. if your budget permits, get atomized. it will work better than anything. except of course, high mesh magnesium powder. that'll make the powder more powerful than the stuff in m-80's, but its more expensive, which is why fireworks manufacturers dont use it.

Okay, I can get either 600 mesh magnesium powder or 600 mesh german black flake aluminum powder, both for 20 bucks a pound. Which one should I get?

go with the magnesium, more power and more brisant.