are there any small compact flareguns for diving?

[james croft]

I cary a MK13 day/night flare taped to my knife sheath. Been down with it over 130 many times' with no problems. All metal construction with a "poptop" type lid on it to make it completely waterproof. It has a roman candle type night flare that will light up a huge area as well as smoke day flare that makes a large orange cloud that is very noticable. I can't tell you where to buy them as this stuff is military issue. I just rinse it off good after each dive and I have never had one fail to ignite. The label wears off quickly but you can tell the night side from the day side by the braille method. It has a series of raised dots on the night side. I would suspect a marine survival company that maintains life rafts, etc may be able to locate some. Also they can get signalling mirrors (heliographs) with the sights on them. Avoid the plastic mirrors like the Gerber as the silver seems to diappear after being in salt water a while. Get the military milspec stuff if you can.

 

[lairdb]

I cary a MK13 day/night flare taped to my knife sheath. Been down with it over 130 many times' with no problems. All metal construction with a "poptop" type lid on it to make it completely waterproof. It has a roman candle type night flare that will light up a huge area as well as smoke day flare that makes a large orange cloud that is very noticable. I can't tell you where to buy them as this stuff is military issue. I just rinse it off good after each dive and I have never had one fail to ignite. The label wears off quickly but you can tell the night side from the day side by the braille method. It has a series of raised dots on the night side. I would suspect a marine survival company that maintains life rafts, etc may be able to locate some.

IIRC, the civilian model of the MK13 is the "Pains-Wessex Day and Night Signal" p/n 55960 (as known in boat shops and the like) or "KC-13" in some other markets. Note that it's only guaranteed waterproof to 30m depth; there's a pressure cannister available to take it down to 150m. The MK 124 MOD 0 and the MK 4 are very similar critters.

Remember that these are pyro, and thus difficult to ship, difficult to travel with, and at their root, high temperature fiery things. Better than floating off forever? Sure. Better than a GPIRB? Not nearly.

 

[Spoon]

What does your government say about flares? There was a firearms maker, H&K, who designed a small flare gun years back. Unfortunately it was classified as a firearm in some areas. Lots of red tape. Air travel is also an issue. I would think that UPS and the other shippers would classify them as hazardous items, add $20 to the shipping bill.

BTW, the company in that link above has a less then wonderful reputation in the firearms world.

i am familiar with h&k aka heckler & koch i have one of their firearms, i do remember seeing a flare though as well

 

[Falco]

Is this the HK flare launcher

http://www.hkpro.com/image/efl.jpg

 

[MikeC]

Falco, you got it correct. I always wanted one even though I had no need for one. As I mentioned, for some warped reason, maybe because it came from a firearms maker, they were considered a firearm by some countries and many of the US states. The legal hassles hurt sales in the US. Another issue is the small amount of material that could be loaded in the cartridge. I can't imagine the flare being very noticeable.

 

[Bill51]

Another problem with the little HK unit is that it’s only a 19MM cartridge and doesn’t have the altitude or “hang time” needed for effective searches on water. They work pretty good on land where the rescue target is not moving and you can take a little time to find them (before they move away from you again) and where you might have a clear visual line to the target (not covered with waves).

The bigger HK P2A1 is a full sized 26.5MM SOLAS approved unit that will put a flare over 200 meters in the air as opposed to the 19MM only getting one 65 meters up. Even the 12 Ga. guns used by many boaters while technically CG approved for near shore use, don’t get a flare high enough to be used off shore.

 

[BigJetDriver]

Try this site for EPIRBS:

http://www.seamarshall-us.com/scuba-diver-locator-beacon.html

 

[Bill51]

Try this site for EPIRBS:

http://www.seamarshall-us.com/scuba-diver-locator-beacon.html

Not to be too technical a geek, but that’s not an EPIRB, it’s half an ELT or a PLB. An EPIRB needs to be able to transmit on 406Mhz as well as 121.5 and needs to be able to transmit a unique identifiable code to the satellite – and preferably needs a GPS feed to reduce the initial satellite locating time to under 90 minutes minimum.

While a 121.5 Mhz homing signal can be located fairly quickly with the properly trained staff and equipment, there aren’t too many boaters with a 121.5 DF aboard, so you’re still stuck waiting until the USCG or CAP gets alerted to bring in their DF gear. I can see where that would be a handy device to have on an oil rig or similar application where you could have your own 121.5 DF equipment onsite, but I can’t see too many dive boats doing that.

 

[patymeboy]

i want to cary the type of flare that Mike Nelson used to blinde Lenard Nimoy when he tried to free his brother from Alcatraz

 

[jrockosaurus]

Sorry, but this is one of my pet peeves. There have been several threads discussing CDs, and the just don't work. Period. If you are going to carry something, carry a mirror.

have an old hard drive laying around? yank it apart and use the platters for your mirror. then you can use the actuator magnets for the fridge too