Pyrotechnics

"I say we take off, nuke the site from orbit. It's the only way to be sure."

Right, before we start. Blowing things up is not big and not clever. It is, however, great fun.

Disclaimer: Pyrotechnics are dangerous, if you're not responsible enough to use them properly, then do us all a favour and don't. If you attempt to modify them, then don't come crying to me if you blow your hand off. Follow these simple rules when playing at sites:

Only use pyrotechnics supplied by that site, or agreed for use with the site owners. Failure to comply with this may result in their insurance being invalidated, you being asked to leave the site or both.
When you have lit a pyrotechnic, deploy it immediately. Smoke grenades (especially military smokes) get very hot and will give you serious burns if you hold onto them.
Try and avoid throwing pyrotechnics directly at people. Yes, you need to lob it in their general direction, but don't throw it at their head like you're at a coconut shy. Not only is the dangerous to them, but if they're bigger than you it may also be dangerous to you...
If a pyrotechnic lands next to you, leave it alone. Yes, you may be out of the game (if it's a BB grenade) but at least you'll have all your fingers.
If a pyrotechnic fails to detonate, notify a Marshall so they can make it safe. Do not attempt to recover and do not attempt to re-light.

All that aside, pyrotechnics add a little spice, as well as a tactical element to a game. They're great for clearing out bunkers, or putting covering smoke down so you can move. Below are some of the pyrotechnics you will commonly come across:

The basic, but loud, Mark 5 Thunderflash. Doesn't do anything apart from go bang, but you can carry loads of them. The stick shape makes them easy to throw, but there's not a lot of weight behind them.

Moving up, this is a BB grenade. Much more useful, in theory. However, standard issue seems to be about as effective as throwing flashbangs, and also fairly light. As you can see from the glue at the bottom of this particular grenade, it's been modified. Do so at your own risk.

I cut the centre with a sharp knife and open the bb. There you will find the explosive charge, surrounded by a small packet of BB's. Cut the packet away, and glue the middle back together. Now, cut open the base and use contents of bag, plus additional BB's to fill grenade. Then re-glue base. This will give you a nicely weighted and more effective grenade, without doing anything dangerous like changing the charge.

New on the scene, the PDL cork grenade. These are about as effective as the normal bb grenades, but look a lot cooler. They also explode fragments and a cloud of white powder when they go off. They're made in Italy by Pensieri di Leonardo (PDL). The only problem with them is getting a charge for them as they ship without one as standard due to restrictions on the transportation of pyrotechnics across Europe.

The large Liberty(Enola Gaye) smoke grenade. This gives a small amount of covering smoke. Not much use when there's any sort of breeze, but can be effective in enclosed areas. Only lasts 10 seconds or so. There is also a small Enola Gaye smoke grenade, but it's really not worth bothering with.

Sadly I only have a few of these left now, but they're great smokes. Initiated electrically, they produce volumous clouds of orange smoke for about a minute. This totally obscures everything and gives you a proper smoke screen. Better still, I got them for the same price as the Enola Gaye ones. To see just how effective these are, take a look here. And that's just one of them...

Military issue smoke grenades. Oh yes, this is what you want. >:) They come in two basic kinds, Signalling smoke, and Screening smoke. The signalling smoke comes in a range of colours and can be used indoors (well, it'll be unpleasant, but won't kill you). The screening smoke comes in grey only and should not be used indoors as it puts out a lot more smoke and is also carcinogenic.

Both of these grenades start producing smoke as soon as the handle is released and get extremely hot. Do not hold onto them once they are going. Caution should be used when deploying these in forest areas, especially in summer as they are a definite fire hazard.

One further point I'd like to make. I get a lot of mails asking "Where can I get pyro's, grenades, flashbangs? Will you sell me some?". Firstly, I'm not a retailer, nor do I wish to be. It's hard work, you don't make that much money out of it and there are all sorts of regulations to comply with to do with storing and transporting explosives. The stuff that I get comes from a friend of a friend and infrequently at that. This is how it is with surplus stuff. Secondly, the only place I know (in the UK, I have no idea about the US) that sells these things is Enola Gaye. If you want something that they don't sell, then you'll have to track it down the hard way. Militaria fairs, army surplus, that sort of thing.