Every summer, folks flock to the Fireworks Factory Outlet in Cody, Wyo., and cram their arms full of sparklers and bottle rockets and Roman candles. But at the checkout counter they reveal their true hearts’ desire.
“Do you have any M-80s?” they’ll ask.
Bill Smith, the owner, can only shake his head.
The famously potent M-80 has been banned for amateur use since 1966, classified by the federal government as a dangerous explosive. Every year, the Consumer Product Safety Commission stages a gruesome public demonstration in which M-80s and other fireworks obliterate melons and blow the heads off mannequins.
That has hardly diminished their appeal.
Developed by the U.S. military a century ago to simulate artillery fire, the M-80 doesn’t send up fizzy sparkles or wash the sky in color.
Instead, it makes noise: a brain-rattling, ear-scorching, gut-slamming ka-BOOM that makes an ordinary firecracker sound like a kazoo tweet.
By law, a firecracker sold for on-the-ground consumer use can contain no more than 50 mg of explosives. An M-80 has at least 3,000 mg. (Contrary to urban legend, that is not equivalent to a quarter-stick of dynamite, which typically contains at least 20,000 mg.)
The device, which looks like a red toilet-paper tube with a fuse sticking out the center, can still be legally manufactured by those holding a federal explosives license. Federal and state officials sometimes distribute them to farmers to scare away wildlife encroaching on their crops.
But there’s also a black market of bootleg M-80s hastily made from paper tubes, hot glue and explosive powder. “Thump junkies” besotted by big bangs risk life, limb and a federal prison sentence of up to 10 years to play with the devices. Some post the results on YouTube, boasting about blowing up a vast array of objects such as a guitar, a gingerbread house, some metal chain and 30 empty cans of Bud Light.
The CPSC estimates there were at least 100 injuries from illegal fireworks last year, most of them among teens and young adults. “An M-80 can amputate your hand,” says Scott Wolfson, a spokesman for the agency.
Overall firework-injury rates have plunged in recent decades, as the government has stepped up regulation and inspection of fireworks. State and local authorities have also imposed restrictions, and in many areas outright bans.
Thirty years ago, there were 38 injuries per 100,000 pounds of fireworks used. Now, there are less than four, according to the American Pyrotechnics Association, which represents the $940-million-a-year fireworks industry.
But authorities say homemade and black-market fireworks remain highly dangerous because they’re not inspected or tested for safety. Some have very short fuses. Others are contaminated with explosive dust and can denote if jostled or exposed to heat.
Colin Bradley, who runs Web site Pyro Universe, says this time of year he gets several emails a day from amateurs asking advice on making M-80s. His reply: they’re crazy to take the risk. “I certainly understand the allure of a big boom,” he says. But M-80s “shouldn’t be used by average Joes.”
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