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Why Different Size & Type Mortars in Reloadable Kits?
While shopping at the consumer firework distributor you chose to purchase your fireworks at, you may notice or have noticed that there are different sizes and types of mortars that come with your reloadable mortar kits. Some mortars are made out of cardboard while others are made out of HDPE pipe, not PVC. If you were to make a mortar out of regular PVC pipe if a shell were to not come out of the mortar it would shatter the PVC into little slivers. PVC is more brittle that HDPE. When it comes to the length of the mortar some are 10", 12", 14", 15", and 18" in length. While these differences in the mortars seem to be small and won't make a difference when it come the performance of the shell, you are wrong. This article will explain the impact of using a different mortar with a shell that did not come with that kit.
| Cardboard Mortars Vs. HDPE Mortars The first difference you may notice when you purchased or will purchase your mortar kits is that there are two types of mortars that can come in kits; cardboard and HDPE mortars. If you are going to be using both types of mortars in your show you need to pay attention to which shells came from each kit with these two types of mortars. While it is okay to fire mortars that came with a cardboard mortar in a HDPE mortar, the reverse is not advised. All shells that comes with a HDPE mortar, generally are more powerful and if fired from a cardboard mortar most likely will destroy the cardboard mortar. When it comes to card board mortars there are variation with those types of mortar in the thickness of the wall. Your normal 1.75" cheap festival balls come with a cardboard mortar, and so does the AS-1(Pictured to the right). However the AS-1 mortar wall thickness is almost four times as thick as the inexpensive festival balls tube. Even though both kits come with a cardboard tube I would not recommend shooting shells that came with the AS-1 in a Small Festival Balls kit's mortar. |
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10", 12", 14", 15", and 18" Mortars
Most all reloadable mortar kits come with a mortar of one of these
lengths. The main reason you need to pay attention to the length of the
mortar that your reloadable mortar kit comes with is that, the fuse is only
long enough to be fired from a mortar of that length. If you have a shell
that came with a 12" mortar the fuse was only designed to come out of the
mortar by an inch or two. If you try to shoot that mortar from a 18"
mortar the shell will not be able to rest on the bottom of the mortar and
still be able to light the shell. To light the mortar shell
you would have to hold the fuse and light it, then drop the shell into the
mortar, which is not recommended to do. With shells that come with a 18"
mortar you can fire them out of shorter mortars, the only difference is
that the height that the shell reaches won't be as high when compared to
shooting it out of the 18" mortar. All kits that come with an 18" mortar
are generally HDPE mortars so remember if it comes with a HDPE mortar it
only fires from a HDPE mortar.
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