The Oldest Flares ??

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Halcytwo

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I have just been to sort out/ update a recent new purchase, that is lying in the South of France.
The vessel was built & launched in 1994.
The flares I found on board had an expiry of 1996 !!!
Any one ever found any older ????
Considering this boat has been extensively sailing in the Med for the last 18 years I find that incredible.
As for the VHF well that looked like it was used on Noahs Arc.
 
Our last boat had flares with an expiry date of 1986 on board when we purchased her in 2010. The boat was built in 1981, so they were probably purchased to equip the boat then.
 
Yep. When I bought Ladybird in 2010 she had three parachute rocket flares which expired 1978. They were the oldest, but there were handheld red, whites and smokes, all out of date. It looked as though every time a coastal set expired a new one had been bought and the old ones kept. There were dozens of them. My local chandlers, god bless 'em, took them all for disposal.
 
We had some 1989 ones. Let off the hand helds about 5 years ago - they all worked fine: whites and orange smokes as normal, but reds were a bit pale and pinkish. Let off a 1989 parachute red a couple of years ago, which also worked fine and was a good colour.

(Of course, such things need to be done with safety measures, and in a location which is both legal and can't result in a false alert.)
 
LittleSister said:
We had some 1989 ones. Let off the hand helds about 5 years ago - they all worked fine: whites and orange smokes as normal, but reds were a bit pale and pinkish. Let off a 1989 parachute red a couple of years ago, which also worked fine and was a good colour.

(Of course, such things need to be done with safety measures, and in a location which is both legal and can't result in a false alert.)
Click to expand...

Lagos Marina in conjunction with the local Maritime police organise an annual flare firing event to enable yotties to learn about flare (great hands on training) & get rid of their out-of-date flares.

I believe flares up to 15 years out of date have been successfully discharged.

The results are posted annually on lagosnavigators.net
 
I handed in my very pistol last year as I cannot get replacement shells
The 10 shells that I handed in with it were purchased from Captain O M Watts in 1971
I had discharged some of the originally purchased white ones & there was no problem
The police station where i handed them in were reluctant to take the shells
When I took the pistol back & jokingly offered to let them off in the high street the female officer grabbed the lot
Did not see the joke!!!!!
 
phanakapan
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Default Old flares

Now what you need is some seriously old flares. Well, when I say some, I mean 35-40, 3 barrels full. And when I say seriously old, I don't mean 1994. OH NO, TRY 1965!!! That's what I inherited with this boat, and spent a looooong time trying to get rid of them, from Brighton. Now IF you have a goodly ancient hoard like I did, then you can call Portsmouth coastguard, and in your best 'I'm a pathetic female who doesn't know what to do with the nasty ickle leaky powdery flares' voice, ask for help. They will send a bloke all the way from Pompey who will put on a full welders face mask and gauntlets, examine your flares and then refuse to take them because they're too dangerous.(in his opinion- they weren't that bad looking to me- who knows?) You then await the arrival of the Navy bomb squad who will be seriously pissed off about the call out but who will take them away for you, after having a long conversation about the completely ridiculous situation where usually law abiding people are being tempted to dump their flares illegally or dangerously simply because there isn't a sensible way for sensible people to get rid of their out of date flares.

I was asked at the time by Portsmouth coastguard not to tell this story: they were actually incredibly helpful but obviously can't do it for everyone- my case was particularly extreme. However I agree with the Bomb Squad major- there must be a better way of dealing with this because sooner or later there WILL be a casualty because some kids have happened upon some discarded flares that have been improperly dumped.

So, I don't have a good suggestion for the OP- other than maybe take them to France in a well sealed box marked 'Out of date- do not use- awaiting disposal' in case they board you, and then get rid of them in France itself.

Sorry, this is a cut and paste of an old post of mine; but I think I win the 'oldest flares' competition so far!
 
phanakapan said:
phanakapan


So, I don't have a good suggestion for the OP- other than maybe take them to France in a well sealed box marked 'Out of date- do not use- awaiting disposal' in case they board you, and then get rid of them in France itself.
Click to expand...

Last summer I tried I think 8 different places before a fire Brigade took them off me - it was the third one I tried, the others telling me that it was against the law to take them. Then I discovered a few more flares at the bottom of a cubby hole.

Hint for the future: flares don't float.
 
Daydream believer said:
I handed in my very pistol last year as I cannot get replacement shells
The 10 shells that I handed in with it were purchased from Captain O M Watts in 1971
I had discharged some of the originally purchased white ones & there was no problem
The police station where i handed them in were reluctant to take the shells
When I took the pistol back & jokingly offered to let them off in the high street the female officer grabbed the lot
Did not see the joke!!!!!
Click to expand...
Shells for very pistols are still available. You'd need a fire arms certificate though to buy them. If you'd kept the pistol on the boat that would have been reason enough for acquiring the certificate.
 
Not strictly on the subject, but my Dad had a box of 1959 issue thunderflash mk8s (?) on the shelf in the garage, left over from his days in the TA. He only threw them out when they moved in 96... And they still worked... :-D
 
We found flares dating back to the early '80 when we bought Hinewai - some looked very dodgy.

Back in Oz though, you can just take them to the local law so we boxed up some 50-odd flares and wandered into the police station.

Nice young PC behind the desk took one look in the box and evacuated the front office. Grizzed old Sergeant, muttering under his breath something to the effect of "Bloody Wuss", wandered back in and carried them out to the explosives box out the back.

We too have a couple of flare shoot days in Melbourne where you can, and learn how to, let off flares, but these were way past "Oh, let's see if they still work".

I have read somewhere that the best way to get rid of old flares in this country is the wander into a cop-shop and claim you found them on the side of the road?
 
Alas there was no joke; a person with a section 5 weapon and 'ammunition' in a public place is never a good thing - I'm surprised you didn't get arrested.

Interestingly, the Verey pistol is a section 5 weapon but left on board a 'ship' or within the confines of an 'aerodrome' no licence is required. Ammunition is still available today but for licencing purposes you would either need your local constabulary to grant you a Firearms Licence for it or get the supplier to deliver it straight to your 'ship' where it must be kept in secure storage.

Daydream believer said:
I handed in my very pistol last year as I cannot get replacement shells
The 10 shells that I handed in with it were purchased from Captain O M Watts in 1971
I had discharged some of the originally purchased white ones & there was no problem
The police station where i handed them in were reluctant to take the shells
When I took the pistol back & jokingly offered to let them off in the high street the female officer grabbed the lot
Did not see the joke!!!!!
Click to expand...
 
Woodlouse said:
Shells for very pistols are still available. You'd need a fire arms certificate though to buy them. If you'd kept the pistol on the boat that would have been reason enough for acquiring the certificate.
Click to expand...

I would love to know where from.
I searched for ages without any success.they are obtainable overseas but no one would ship them
I tried France & offered to collect them
I even tried shells from a different very pistol but they needed a longer barrel
At the time i had firearms cert plus european licence
I have considered buying a newer pistol because they are great for white warning flares
I used it a couple of times
Even the plastimo white penshells are a job to get even in france & now that chandler has disappeared i believe
 
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