For my new M6. need .410 flares.
can't find online.

Me too. I remember seeing them online a couple of years ago but I believe the company that was selling them went out of business (at the time their website cited federal firearms regulations as a reason). I've checked all the marine supply retailers I could find but no luck.

I hope you like your M6. I liked mine well enough to go out and get another one to keep behind the seat of my truck.

Terry

Gee. How hard can it be to make a flare? If I had reloading gear...Hmm...maybe there's a market here?

Quite possibly. I think it is more a function of the caliber than anything else. There are loads of specialty 12-gauge shells out there, for everything from signaling to shredding door locks. .410 is not as common as it once was, and the manufacturers are strictly supply and demand. No overwhelming demand, no supply!

Seriously, if I had a reloading bench, some time to think and a plan of action, what's actually invoved in making a flare? Some burning stuff, a parachute, some wire...really, there's got to be a recipe out there.

Did you read the post of how the BATF (plus another initial they had added that I don't remember.) may view such shell reloading?

Next thing you know, you might see some horse trailers suddenly appear on your front lawn and--------------------------------?

Buy the commercial stuff that is available, your home insurer will love you for it.

Bountyhunter

Haven't noticed them lately, but check out an issue of Shotgun News, if you can't find them there, you probably won't.

Troy

OK, seriously. Imagine if I decided that there's a market - a small market, but a market nonetheless - for .410 flares in red & white.
I'll take the following logical progression:
- It is possible to legally purchase flares in other larger sizes...
therefore
- It is possible to legally manufacture flares

HOWEVER
The .410 shell is not a "popular" size, so there may not be a market for these flares large enough for a company to take on...

BUT

It may just be a matter of market size, not BATF rules.

Of course, putting a toilet paper tube on the end of your barrel and taping a spring-clamp to the barrel turns your Winchester 30-30 into an illegal "assault rifle" so I guess anything is possible.

Still, I'm amazed that the .410 flare would just drop off the face of the earth like this.

Springfield Armory USED to have them (late 80s?), I haven't seen them in their catalog or on their website for years though. <img src="images/graemlins/frown.gif" alt="" />
gino

Try Sarco in NJ, they seem to have everything, or access to it. They run ads in Shotgun News on a regular basis.
Good luck.

Martin, was looking at your old post on .410 flares. I don't know of any source but Orion has a large selection of various flares including a good looking 12 gauge flare. Take a look:

http://www.orionsignals.com/Marine/Products/aerial.html

They make some good hand held flares. I bought a bunch at WalMart when they discounted them. They would definitely get someone's attention. As I remember, they were about four or five inches long and about the diameter of a 12 gauge shell.

Fairly easy.

Making a reliable one, with predicatable burn time... not so easy. Particularly considering your package.

Martin, in looking over the Orion page a little closer, it says the 12 gauge flares are to be used in a 12 gauge launcher . If they were fired in a shotgun the length (of the flare) might exceed the length of the chamber and cause the barrel to go boom so I suspect they should NOT be used in a shotgun. I post this for the benefit of the shotgun impaired folks. Don't want anyone to get hurt from reading this. <img src="/images/graemlins/crazy.gif" alt="" />

What's his package got to do with making flares???

Sorry... just...couldn't...re...sist <img src="/images/graemlins/blush.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/images/graemlins/shocked.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/images/graemlins/laugh.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" /> LMAO