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From: ee5391aa%triton.unm.edu@ariel.unm.edu (Duke McMullan)
Newsgroups: sci.military
Subject: Re: Improvised Munitions Handbook
Message-ID: <1991Jun18.074334.14866@amd.com>
Date: 17 Jun 91 00:22:38 GMT
References: <1991Apr16.041238.27484@amd.com>
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From: ee5391aa%triton.unm.edu@ariel.unm.edu (Duke McMullan)


wilf@niksula.hut.fi (Johan W. Wikman) writes:
>I've managed to get my hands on a book that I find rather
>interesting. The front cover looks something like:

>TM 31-210
>Department of the Army Technical Manual
>IMPROVISED MUNITIONS HANDBOOK
>Logo: United States of America, War Office
>Headquarters, Department of the Army 1969
>It's got approx. 260 pages and it contains the following seven chapters.

Yeah, the IMH grew out of research during the Johnson War ;^) to teach
Special Forces types how go on their own without the usual kind of
supplies.  Later, it was bound into a field manual for the army.

It's slow, tricky and a pain in the backside, but you _can_, with
patience and care, manufacture fairly high-quality munitions from
"civilian" stuff.  You have to know what you're doing, and you can blow
your asterisk away if you're not careful, but most of this stuff looks
good to me.  (I've only tried a few of the receipes, and they weren't
the high-explosive ones.)

IMH is essentially the contents of two volumes called the "Black Books"
(which are available elsewhere).  I've seen adverts to the effect that
the BBs have a _lot_ of stuff not in IMH.  Bilge.  I've compared 'em.
ONE item in the BBs doesn't seem to be in IMH...one of the
shaped-charge variations, I think.  If I'm wrong about that, please let
me know.

There is also a vol. 3 of the BB series that contains stuff _none_ of
which is to be found in the IMH.  My favorite is the castable
incendiary...aluminium and plaster of Paris...neat, huh?  We've tried
it...it burns _ferociously_!

This material seems to have been researched at the Frankfort Arsenal
back in the early sixties.

There are some new books out which carry on this "tradition"...the
Black Book Companion, The Anarchist Arsenal and The Anarchist Cookbook,
all from Paladin, come to mind.

NOTE:  Someone mentioned that venerable volume, The Anarchist's
Cookbook.  Forget that one.  It's not only very old, it's very wrong
about lots and lots of details, and about some general concepts.  The
author may have had some real interest in what he was writing about,
but he had very, very little real experience...else, he'd have _known_
that a lot of his stuff won't work.

BTW, that refers to both chemical and electronic stuff.  He gives a lot
of schematic diagrams, mostly for bugging transmitters, etc., but
they're the vague sort of things that require a _lot_ of electronic
expertise on the part of the builder to get 'em to work.

The book is interesting, but I consider it junk from a practical
standpoint.