Category Archives: Boomershoot

Boomershoot is a long range precision rifle event with high explosives as the targets. This is about Boomershoot in general and sometimes just explosives.

Playing in the dirt

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This last weekend Caleb and I went out to the Boomershoot site again. I needed to move some dirt and the bulldozer was going to be less than a quarter of a mile away so I borrowed it for a couple hours.

The photos with me in them are by Caleb. The others were taken by me.

The prime objective was to smooth some dirt we had roughed up putting in the “well”:


This is where we frequently park when working at the Taj.


It’s now much smoother. We also planted grass and raked the seeds into the dust to wait for the fall rains.

The secondary objective was to make the outdoor assembly line area more hospitable. The ground is uneven and if it has rained recently it can be muddy.


We put up a table in the foreground area and assemble targets here.


A close up of the signs above the door.

I moved more dirt in so there would be less of a step between outside and inside:


That old bulldozer is old enough it could retire. I think it is 63 years old now. I wonder if we could sign it up for Social Security benefits or something.


Here Caleb is putting the “decorative stones” in place where we walk and stand while assembling the reactive targets.


This is, essentially, the final result of our work.

After taking the last picture above we put in three more “Roman Cobblestones” for the legs of the canopy, spread grass seed around and raked the seeds into the dust.

I thought of one more thing that needs to be done before next spring. There needs to be some steps made to get from this top area down to the “well” pump. It’s a steep area that will be slick when it’s wet.

After playing in the dirt we tested out the new explosive grade ammonium nitrate.

All previous Boomerite was made with AN from a farm supply dealer. The explosive grade material has much smaller prills than the older stuff and the one batch we mixed up was not as sensitive as previous tests indicated with the old material. We’ll have to do some more tests sometime. It is probably good enough however.

It would not detonate with Federal American Eagle .22 LR ammo at a distance of 10 yards. This corresponds to an approximate target velocity of 1175 fps. It would detonate every time with CCI Stinger .22LR from 30 yards away which corresponds to an approximate target velocity of 1450 fps.

Enough columns on the spreadsheet

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For years Ry and I tested new reactive target recipes for Boomershoot. When our hypothesis for making an explosive which could be easily detonated with long distance rifle fire were proven false Ry would lament that we didn’t have enough columns on our spreadsheet. There was some variable, which we didn’t know existed, that was critical to our understanding of explosive detonation. Literally it was true that I had (have) a spreadsheet with lots of different variables that we thought might be critical to make our explosives better. Some of those included:

  • Flammability limits (acceptable ratios of fuel to oxygen where ignition can occur)
  • Heat of vaporization
  • Specific heats (including those for phase changes)
  • Flash point
  • Auto ignition temperature
  • Heat of combustion per unit mass
  • Heat of combustion per unit of oxygen
  • Heat of combustion relative to specific heat of the materials
  • Temperature of decomposition of the oxidizer

Our experiments yielded no obvious corelation between any of our hypothesises and the real world–until the last couple of days.

The title for the column on the spreadsheet we apparently were looking for is Ω. In explosive engineering terms (rather than electrical engineering terms which is what first comes to mind with that symbol) this is the weight ratio, expressed as a precentage, of the oxygen remaining or required (expressed as a negative number) for complete combustion of all the fuel in the explosives. For example, TNT, C7H5N3O6 has end products of CO, H2O, and N2. That carbon monoxide (CO) could have been converted into carbon dioxide (CO2) and more heat if there had been enough oxygen around. It turns out that Ω for TNT is -74%. For RDX (the active ingredient in C-4), C3H6N6O6, Ω is -21.6%. From my earliest attempts at reactive target explosives I started out with stoichiometric ratios. This would give me the most bang for a given mass of components. That is, no excess fuel and no excess oxygen left over after the reaction was complete. It was ultimately discovered via both experimental results and hints found on the Internet that maximum sensitivity was not achieved with stoichiometric ratios. It was more sensitivity when the explosive was oxygen rich. From some of my “new” books on explosives I found that “Ω” is a measure of that “richness” or “poverty”. I modified my spreadsheet to calculate Ω for various recipes.

Here is a partial (I have three times this number of recorded experiments) table of various Boomerite recipes and my best approximation of Ω:

Recipe Ω
Boomerite 1998 1.2%
Boomerite 1999 2.4%
Boomerite 2001 9.2%
Boomerite 2002 8.3%
Boomerite 2003 19.4%
Boomerite 2006 16.2%

There were other variables that changed as well such as packaging materials, fuel used, ratios of oxidizers, catalysts, size of the particles, and packing density which also affected the sensitivity. But the correlation with Ω is very strong. Each year the sensitivity increased and Ω, a measure of the excess oxygen, was a significant component of that increase in sensitivity. It also can be too high–obviously if there is no fuel at all and only oxiderizer it’s going to be a minor explosion at best. But this gives me a reason to revisit old fuels and try something a little bit different this time.

Side note: The most recent recipe on the web is not what we actually use. What I publish is always at least one “generation” behind our “latest and greatest”. Ω for the web recipe is 20.1%.

Libelous rumors

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It’s amazing what people will say about you and how messed up they get the facts. And it’s amazing what you can discover if you just look through your log files.

A case in point:

A commenter to one of my posts said something that piqued my interest so I went looking for their IP address in my log files. What I found shocked me. The log files lead me to the comments here. The article itself is very factually based as near I could tell. It was the comments that went off the deep end and got libelous:

By Ralph Wiggan, 8-11-07

Any word on if they are going to close down the training facilities Jason Hamilton received instruction at or the sporting store he bought his firearms at. I hope they don’t close down that long ranger sniper explosive shooting course that takes place near Orofino. Jason Hamilton is said to have attended that regularly with his friends.

I don’t keep a list of previous attendees but I think I would recognize a name of someone that attended more than once or twice. I don’t recall Jason Hamilton ever attending Boomershoot. I also just looked and don’t see any email addresses with an obvious connection to his name on the Boomershoot announcement list.

By Steve, 8-11-07
Ralph I think that shooting event you are referring to is called boomershoot. Its run by a guy I think is fairly well know around sandpoint, Idaho and might also have connections to Aryan nations. I heard he runs in Anti circles to throw the ATF off. He has a CD on how to make explosives, encrypt and hide messages and hit targets at long range. I believe it can be downloaded from a couple of P2P sites, but I can’t remember which. He likes to post about hitting the second amendment reset button a lot and shooting Jack Booted thugs. That whole group is being watched pretty close by several watchdogs groups like the southern poverty law center.
Wow! We lived in Sandpoint for about two years. We left Sandpoint in 1992.
If you count attending an anti-Aryan nations meeting where I saw a Reverend Butler and a few cohorts for the first and last time as “connections to Aryan nations” then I guess they got me. I’m not sure what “runs in Anti circles” means and I have been extremely forthcome and open with the ATF. I have an ATF, type 20, license to manufacture high explosives. It is my belief that we are on very good terms.
I have given out a CD to Boomershoot 2005, 2006, and 2007 participants. It includes videos of Boomershoot history, copies of the exterior ballistics program Modern Ballistics, and the recipe for Boomerite to make reactive targets. I do know how to encrypt and hide messages and I do share that technology with people and I have put that on the Boomershoot CD. Microsoft also shares technology for encryption. Encryption is an essential part of a free society. And if things get really bad, as in totalitarian regimes such as China, North Korea, Iran, Afghanistan, etc., being able to hide your messages, encrypted or not, is also extremely important.
My post where I mention “shooting Jack Booted thugs” is entirely in the context of preventing genocide. You can see it here. Be sure and check out the pictures and see if what “Steve” says is anywhere close to the truth in regards to both Aryan Nations connections and advocating shooting “Jack Booted thugs” in U.S.’s current political environment.
If I actually had “connections” with the Aryan Nations they would be rather strained with my advocacy of gay marriage, my Jews in the Attic Test, being a founding member of the Palouse Pink Pistols, and getting positive press for teaching gays to defend themselves with firearms.
“That whole group is being watched…”? What whole group? Boomershoot is put on for the Lewiston Pistol Club by Ry and I and, for a few days out of the year, some friends and family. If the SPLC wants to watch or even participate they are quite welcome!
By Mike G, 8-12-07

Just because Joe Huffman went to a few of their meetings doesn’t make him a member.

By Ralph Wiggan, 8-12-07

You say Joe Huffman puts on that event and he brags about training people to shoot jack booted thugs! WOW. Sounds like this Jason Hamilton took that advocacy to heart. Given what happened in Moscow I’m surprised there hasn’t been more media attention on that.

If someone thinks Hamilton, while on his murderous rampage, was engaging in activities that I advocated they are living in a fantasy land.
By Steve, 8-13-07

See for yourself:

“If it ever becomes necessary to start shooting tyrants and “jack booted thugs“ in our country I want as many people on my side as possible. And I want them to have the equipment and the skills to be able to hit head and chest sized objects many hundreds of yards away.”

Yup. I said that. And I stand beside that statement. Apparently some people have a reading comprehension problem. I said, “If it ever becomes necessary…“. And if you read the rest of the post, short of mental problems, I don’t think you can avoid understanding my definition of “necessary”. From the post itself, “…it is the prevention of those sort of genocides that is my primary motivation.“
Someone needs to be more careful of the facts and of what they write and it’s not me.

Teaching and demonstrating how to use explosives

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Kevin sent me an email today asking if I had seen this:

TAMPA – Two Egyptian students at the University of South Florida were indicted Friday on federal explosives charges, but prosecutors would not say whether the men planned to carry out an attack or hurt anyone.

Ahmed Abdellatif Sherif Mohamed, 24, an engineering graduate student and teaching assistant at the Tampa-based university, and engineering student Youssef Samir Megahed, 21, have been held in South Carolina since Aug. 4 when they were stopped for speeding and authorities found explosives in the trunk of their car.

They were indicted by a grand jury in Tampa on charges of carrying explosive materials across state lines. Mohammed also faces terrorism-related charges for teaching and demonstrating how to use the explosives.

Referring to the “teaching and demonstrating” aspects Kevin then asked, “So running the Boomershoot makes you a criminal, or are you safe because you’re licensed?”

The answer to the first question, “Have I seen this?” is no. The other two questions are not so easily answered.

I’m almost certain running Boomershoot doesn’t make me a criminal. But as we know from experience with the Second Amendment and the lack of politicians and law enforcement being prosecuted under 18 USC 242 for enforcing illegal laws infringing the 2nd Amendment our government doesn’t follow the letter or even some vague shadow of the law. They will do basically whatever they want and then find a law, or loophole in the law, that gives them plausible authority and justification for their actions. Numerous example abound:

  • The early restrictions on firearms were aimed at, and only enforced, when the suspect was black.
  • Literacy tests for voting required that the prospective voter could read the newspaper–and blacks were given a Chinese newspaper to read for their test.
  • In New Jersey–“the legislative branch may as a matter of sound public policy and without impairing any constitutional guarantees, declare the act itself unlawful without any further requirement of mens rea or its equivalent… When dealing with guns, the citizen acts at his peril.”

So with that caveat, no, Boomershoot does not make me a criminal.

As to the final question, “Are you safe because you’re licensed?” I’m probably safer but as long as I’m alive I will never safe from harm. My license gives me visibility with the ATF and they can comfortably call me up and ask what is going on or ask if I know something about some event should the need arise. They can come out and visit the Taj Mahal where I make and store my explosives and can inventory it (my inventory is zero 99+% of the time). It is my belief they will be less likely to send the SWAT team on an early morning visit when they can sit down over a meal at the local restaurant and chat about things (as they have done on more than one occasion).

So what’s the story with “teaching and demonstrating how to use explosive” being a crime. It’s typical MSM getting details wrong. What is misleading about the newspaper report is what the law actually says versus what they reported. Here is the actual law:

(p) Distribution of Information Relating to Explosives, Destructive Devices, and Weapons of Mass Destruction.—

(1) Definitions.— In this subsection—

(A) the term “destructive device” has the same meaning as in section 921 (a)(4);
(B) the term “explosive” has the same meaning as in section 844 (j); and
(C) the term “weapon of mass destruction” has the same meaning as in section 2332a (c)(2).

(2) Prohibition.— It shall be unlawful for any person—

(A) to teach or demonstrate the making or use of an explosive, a destructive device, or a weapon of mass destruction, or to distribute by any means information pertaining to, in whole or in part, the manufacture or use of an explosive, destructive device, or weapon of mass destruction, with the intent that the teaching, demonstration, or information be used for, or in furtherance of, an activity that constitutes a Federal crime of violence; or
(B) to teach or demonstrate to any person the making or use of an explosive, a destructive device, or a weapon of mass destruction, or to distribute to any person, by any means, information pertaining to, in whole or in part, the manufacture or use of an explosive, destructive device, or weapon of mass destruction, knowing that such person intends to use the teaching, demonstration, or information for, or in furtherance of, an activity that constitutes a Federal crime of violence.

So, unless I know that someone I am teaching, demonstrating, or providing information to about explosives intends to use it in an illegal manner, technically, I am fine. But, numerous times in the past people have claimed to know what I was thinking even though they were clueless. I don’t think like other people and when people are certain I must know or think something they are frequently wrong. Therefore I can’t be certain that some zealous prosecutor won’t decide I must be thinking something bad and decide to prosecute me.

There is a short side story to this law and Boomershoot. It was Dianne Feinstein that introduced the above law in 1995. It was this law, by Ms. Feinstein, specifically aimed at the Internet and the growing “militia movement”, that helped motivate me to create what is now known as Boomershoot and put information on how to make reactive targets on the net. I was, and am, deliberately thumbing my nose at her with Boomershoot by treading as close as I can but still staying within the law.

I have no idea what they were looking for

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Someone in Greece was looking for “boomershoot survialist shop”? Whatever… they ended up finding my blog.

Your guess is as good as mine.

Domain Name   (Unknown) 
IP Address   213.249.57.# (Mega TV, Tiletipos)
ISP   PANAFON S.A.
Location  
Continent  :  Europe
Country  :  Greece  (Facts)
State/Region  :  Attiki
City  :  Athens
Lat/Long  :  37.9833, 23.7333 (Map)
Distance  :  6,097 miles
Language   Greek
el
Operating System   Microsoft Win2000
Browser   Internet Explorer 6.0
Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 6.0; Windows NT 5.0; .NET CLR 1.1.4322; .NET CLR 2.0.50727)
Javascript   version 1.3
Monitor  

Resolution  :  1280 x 1024
Color Depth  :  32 bits

Time of Visit   Aug 27 2007 10:16:29 am
Last Page View   Aug 27 2007 10:16:29 am
Visit Length   0 seconds
Page Views   1
Referring URL http://www.google.gr…rvivalist shop&meta=
Search Engine google.gr
Search Words boomershoot survivalist shop
Visit Entry Page   https://blog.joehuffman.org/category/boomershoot/
Visit Exit Page   https://blog.joehuffman.org/category/boomershoot/
Out Click    
Time Zone   UTC+2:00
Visitor’s Time   Aug 27 2007 8:16:29 pm
Visit Number   185,007

Water for the Taj

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One of the suggestions I received from my Boomershoot 2007 crew was to have more water available for cleaning up the equipment, first aid, and fire supression when we are making the targets. What I typically do is bring about two or three gallons of water and we are very stingy with it as we clean the tables, mixers, blenders, bowls and other kitchen tools we use to mix up the Boomerite (I just updated this page with new information so visit again even if you have seen it many times before). It was a great idea. I tried boring a hole in the ground with the plan of having a real well. This was in June and being it was a dry year I had nothing but a dry hole. It would have water in it April and early May but if I ever wanted to do some experiments in the middle of the summer I would be stuck bringing more water in. So after discussing it with Ry, my brother and Dad I settled on putting a “tank” in the ground to collect rain water and ground runoff. The tank had to be at least two or three feet underground so it wouldn’t freeze in the winter. On the farm it frequently gets down to -10 or -15 F for at least a few days. In the winter of ’68/’69 it got down to -30F and didn’t get above -20F for nearly a week.

There was already drain tile around the foundation of the Taj Mahal so I just had to extend the tile a bit to the tank and provide a means of getting the water to the surface. Here are photos, mostly taken by daughter Kim, from August 5th when Kim, her husband Caleb, and I worked on supplying water to the Taj:

IMG_6062Web.jpg
Caleb dug the ditch from one end of the tile line to the hole which I dug for the “tank”.

Caleb isn’t much bigger than Kim so even though he is nearly thirty years younger I moved a lot more dirt than Caleb. Of course most of the time I also used a bigger shovel. While Caleb and I moved dirt Kim put the two new tables into the Taj.

IMG_6076Web.jpg
Me, making sure the plastic 55 gallon barrel was deep enough underground to avoid freezing.

IMG_6099Web.jpg
Kim and Caleb working on the plumbing for the barrel.

IMG_6102Web.jpg
Still working on the plumbing.

We managed to get it all plumbed except for the joining of the two tile lines. We decided the angles were such that we really needed a “T” inside of the “Y” I had purchased. We filled in almost all of the dirt and went home. We were tired, very dirty, and pleased with our accomplishment.

Then last Sunday, the 12th, I finished off the project.

On the way back to Moscow as we went through the not even a wide spot in the road known as Joel we saw this:

IMG_6121Web.jpg

Boomershoot 2008 prep

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Last weekend Kim, Caleb and I spent some time working on a water supply at the Taj Mahal. Kim and Caleb are on their belated honeymoon at Lake Tahoe today so I finished it off by myself.  And since we have WiFi onsite I’m blogging from the Taj. I’ll post more pictures of the intermediate steps later but here is the final result:

Quote of the day–Paul W. Cooper

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The field of explosives engineering incorporates a broad variety of sciences and engineering technologies that are brought together to bear on each particular design problem. These technologies include chemistry, thermodynamics, fluid dynamics, aerodynamics, mechanics, electricity, and electronics, and even meteorology, biology, and physiology.

Paul W. Cooper
1996
Preface to Explosives Engineering
[Chemistry? Check. Thermodynamics? That class was lots of fun. I got an A+ in it. Fluid dynamics? Check. Aerodynamics? Check–see Modern Ballistics. Mechanics? Check, Electricity and electronics? I have a BSEE and MSEE. Meteorology? I’ll keep the explosive events to a size that shouldn’t be affecting the weather. Biology and physiology? Not particularly–That’s what the flak jacket, mask, gloves and apron are for–keeping explosives components, by-products, and accelerated objects out of my body.–Joe]

Posts that get attention

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Interesting. My most recent post about the TSA is getting more and more attention. Most recent is this mention in a forum:

If you really need to believe that you’re safe when you get on a plane, don’t read the above. If you want to realize what a bullshit fantasy “safety” through a “security” agency is, then take the red pill and click the link.

I like how he expressed that. Very nice. I remember one time not too long after 9/11 Ry was having Thanksgiving dinner with us and our extended family at my parent’s place. Somehow Ry (software tester extraordinaire–finding flaws is what software testers do) and I started talking about all the vulnerabilities in our country that someone could use to cause us great damage. We were rattling things off so fast that someone had to raise their voice to get in a command to “STOP”. People didn’t want to know. They wanted ignorance. This is baffling to me, but whatever.

Anyway, on to what makes particular posts interesting…

Uncle and Existing Thing (via Uncle) linked to my TSA post. I was thinking Uncle would link to it when I made it. He links to almost anything of mine that is a little out of the ordinary (honest, I have only made him one offer for a free position at Boomershoot–which he hasn’t acted upon. I don’t think that constitutes bribery). Thinking about what makes a post interesting I made the connection to the recent career advice from Scott Adams (via Kim). I have expertise in more than one field and combining that expertise with a somewhat rare political viewpoint (pro-freedom) increases my “value”. In this case it was my expertise in explosives and (computer) security.

I keep wondering if there is a way to combine all my hobbies in an interesting way. But at least for me guns, explosives, and sex just don’t mix.

Poetry in Motion

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My son, Alex and I went to the range last weekend.  He wanted to confirm zero on his rifle before the start of hunting season, and I wanted to do the same with a 50 caliber muzzleloading caplock rifle.

I don’t know how explain this, but it wasn’t until we were half way home that I again realized the fact that I had any problems or concerns in life at all– they had completely gone away for the time we spent at the range.

I hadn’t experienced anything like this in, I don’t know how long. Talk about “Zen and the Art of the Rifle” which is the title of one of Oleg’s recent posts.

Alex had some of his custom ammo left over from the Boomershoot, and since the bullet manufacturer says their VLD is also a decent hunting bullet, he decided to use that accurized load for hunting this year.  I won’t tell you the size of his 200 yard group (he fired a total of four rounds that day– three at 200 and one at 50, to get a first-hand feel for the difference in POI) partly because it would be bragging, but mostly because you wouldn’t believe it anyway, coming as it did from a “mere” Ruger M77 MKII.  I had to explain to him that this was something remarkable, and yet maybe I shouldn’t have bothered.

It was one of those few days in life wherein one can truly say one was “at peace”.  But you don’t realize its happening until its over.

Bomb help request from the U.K.

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I received a request for help making a bomb this morning:

—–Original Message—–
From: [someone] @hotmail.co.uk
Sent: Wednesday, July 25, 2007 7:21 AM
To: joeh@boomershoot.org
Subject: Bomb making

Hi I have recently saw your website regarding bomb making.
I was pretty confused by it to say the least lol, so i thought i would send
you an e-mail.

I would like to know how to make a bomb, where the chemicals are easy to
obtain.

I saw a section where the people where not specifying the force of the bomb.
One which would maybe break or even crack a brick wall would be good.

Thanks.

My response, which was also Bcc’d to Scotland yard (the originating IP address resolves to a cable customer in Cardiff, Wales) with the email header:

—–Original Message—–
From: Joe Huffman
Sent: Wednesday, July 25, 2007 8:50 AM
Subject: RE: Bomb making

That you were confused indicates you don’t have enough brain power for me to trust you with that sort of information.

The only people I would help build a bomb are the U.S. Military and our allies.

-joe-

Golf anyone?

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Get your golf ball launcher here. Teaser material from the site:

Each launcher fits ANY NATO standard 22mm flash suppressor or grenade launcher.—M-16/AR-15, Yugo SKS, FAL, CETME/G-3, PTR-91, Galil, MAS 49/56, FR-7, FR-8 and many more.

Lot of other interesting stuff on the site too. You can find videos of “reactive target” shooting also and what a one or two pound charge of explosives will do to a car.

Iodine is now a controlled substance

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Via Tamara and Oleg we find out that iodine is now a controlled substance. Apparently it can be used in the production of meth. I just want it to make explosives.

I have some very fond, as well as scary, memories of my first home-made explosives which were made with iodine crystals.

This is what you get when people start believing you can prevent crime. There is no end of what they can and will justify once they buy into that repulsive concept. Legitimate crime control consists of punishment of those who injure others.

Quote of the day–Sean Flynn

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I was watching “Fight Club” (again) last night and thinking how lucky we are that you were never fashion-seeking enough to have embraced nihilism.

Sean Flynn
17:34 July 9, 2007
[In an IM chat with me.–Joe]

Barb was right

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Remember what Barb said yesterday?

She was right.

Oh, side note. Kim and Caleb made nearly all the explosives for Boomershoot 2007. It’s nice to have him in the family.

Stupid engineer

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The guy that drove the Jeep into the airport then tried to blow it up wasn’t a medical doctor as was originally reported:

THE terror suspect critically ill in a hospital burns unit is an engineer with the skills to make the explosives used in the Glasgow and London attacks.

It has emerged that Kafeel Ahmed, who allegedly drove the Jeep into a Glasgow Airport terminal last Saturday, is a doctor of engineering, not medicine.

Police believe he may have made the two bombs found in vehicles in London, as well as the one in the foiled Glasgow attack.

Ahmed, 28, who was previously thought to be called Khalid, has a masters degree in aeronautical engineering and a doctorate in computational fluid dynamics, a highly specialised subject in which computers are used to simulate the flow of fluids and gases.

The bombs from London and Glasgow consisted of gas cylinders, petrol and a detonating system using mobile phones.

Aeronautical engineering isn’t normally about making explosives for bombs–although occasionally that is the inadvertent outcome. But still one would think a good engineer would be able to make something work and would also know enough to do some tests. But it could be he didn’t have any practical experience. Schneier called it Terrorist Special Olympics in the UK.

As Ry and I discovered some things that you think would be incredibly easy are not. For example, we spent a couple years, off and on, before we came up with a exploding fireball target that worked. See Project Fireball for both our successes and our failures. And even with all our experiments we occasionally change “some little thing” and we get a failure. As Ry puts it, “We don’t have enough columns on the spreadsheet.” I recently purchased some ammonium nitrate from a new supplier. The old stuff was fertilizer grade material which took us a couple years of tweaking our recipe, containers, and procedures before we got reliable detonations at Boomershoot. The new stuff is explosive grade. We will do extensive tests and probably make some changes before trusting it for an actual event.

I think it’s Hollywood that changes our expectations of both the ease and the effect of explosives. In the recent U.K. cases we can probably thank Hollywood as well as a stupid engineer for the failures of the terrorist bombs.

More testing

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It looks like Ry and I have some more testing to do. We just make fireballs when we could make fuel-air explosives. We’ve known about F-A explosives for a long time but it’s a much tougher problem than the fireballs. You need some very good timing on the second explosive charge.

Maybe someday–certainly not for this 4th of July.

Quote of the day–Rick Butte

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I feel like a school boy anticipating his first piece of tail.

Rick Butte
June 29, 2007
[Referring to his anticipation of Boomershoot 2008.–Joe]

Boomershoot 2008 update

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Today is a good day. I got the last of the new ammonium nitrate stored away at the Taj Mahal. I even had room for one more bag:

I wasn’t watching really close since I was on vacation and it will take me a little bit of effort to figure out exactly when Boomershoot 2008 filled up but it is completely full now. This is ten months before the actual event! There will be some cancellations so send me an email if you want to be put on the waiting list.

Just a few minutes ago I completed the last of the important electrical work and have verified it is all working correctly (this blog post is made from the Taj Mahal using the new power supply for the WiFi access point Boomershoot2).

Quote of the day–National Counter Terrorism Security Office

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Terrorists generally select targets where they can cause most damage, inflict mass casualties or attract widespread publicity. VBIEDs can be highly destructive.

National Counter Terrorism Security Office (U.K.)
Police explosives experts prevent carnage at the Tiger Tiger Club
[Just in case you have forgotten, I gave you the minimum evacuation distances for Vehicle-Borne Improvised Explosive Devices (VBIEDs) here. It’s only a matter of time before we see them in the U.S. You should be prepared.–Joe]