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Interesting H82 tin

heres the little tin of the pellets that would be in this kit
6 PELLETS IRRT. SMK
RESPIRATOR
TESTING
-----CS----
GW 330
LOT 58 SPRA

when we were younger we lit some of these and put them down a rabbit hole,it was very funny,until the wind changed we got a faceful!
 

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We used to find loads of them as kids in the early 70s, they also came with a long wand about two foot long, the main structure was a wooden 1 inch dia 24 inch stick with a handle at one end you hold, the rest was a perforated holed metal tube wrapped around it with CS compound inside. The wand was contained in a thick cardboard tube that enclosed the wand up to the handle. The markings were the same colour, grey body with black writing and red band and marked CS irritant. You removed the wand from the outer cardboard tube and lit the end, the smoke emitting through the perforated holes, i believe used for gas mask training, i big thing back then with the cold war going on.
 
Where did you two grow up?!

I remember my dad telling me about the 'gas chamber' he went into during his National Service (RAF Regiment)... suppose it will have been one of these used in there.
 

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​I have this H83 tin. I believe it is for respirator training.

Canister Irritant Pressurised L1A4
 

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I don't know if it is the same in the UK, but in the US the pellets (capsules for us) would be placed on a small grate over a heater. On heating they released a dense cloud of CS smoke. This would be done on a raised platform inside of the CS chamber. I encountered a similar setup at the Swedish NBC Center near Umea, so my guess is that this was for a similar arrangement.
 
I just typed SAS into the search box but no hits. Don't quote me but if I remember correctly, SAS in this case means Special Air Stowage, as no self-respecting aircrew would want to be hindered by the effects of CS if it could be avoided. The wand thing that BMG50 mentioned is an outdoor training device: A member of the directing staff (DS) for an exercise walks around trenches with one lit - it tests whether the troops can "be in time, mask in 9 (seconds)". The tubes of six pellets were used in CS chambers - purpose-built single storey small buildings. Burn a couple or three to get a concentration and maintain the concentration by burning more pellets as people entered and left the chamber. The smokier the atmosphere, the higher the concentration of CS. One of my colleagues in Germany thought it ok to leave a pellet in an ashtray in a German nightclub! I was in Lima, Peru, in 1988, when there were demonstrations against the rising price of food (Peru had galloping inflation) and I heard various bangs and shouts from outside. When I went out I could smell CS and noticed that the locals were as used to it as I was (I qualified as an assistant NBC instructor in 1981 - a three year qualification).
 
AMMOTECHXT said:
I was in Lima, Peru, in 1988, when there were demonstrations against the rising price of food (Peru had galloping inflation) and I heard various bangs and shouts from outside. When I went out I could smell CS and noticed that the locals were as used to it as I was (I qualified as an assistant NBC instructor in 1981 - a three year qualification).
Click to expand...

Do you develop a tolerance to it with repeated exposure?
 
Falcon said:
Do you develop a tolerance to it with repeated exposure?
Click to expand...


We were issued used NBC suits in training, they made your locker smell of CS because the suits couldn't be washed. You got used to the smell, eventualy with exposure, you get used to the effect. Trick is, not to run around like a headless chicken panicing
 
Falcon said:
Do you develop a tolerance to it with repeated exposure?
Click to expand...

Very much so. I used to empty M25 grenades (bursting CS) for training aids. The first few, containing micropulverized CS, were always a bit rough. But after a day or so the results of exposure were significantly diminished. Years later I would have my son do it (with energetics removed), the excuse being "to prepare him for EOD school". After the first day or two he would continue without mask or gloves.

PS- don't know his class number, but yes, he made it through EOD school.
 
SAS,special ammunition stowage,applies to any type of ammunition that cannot be stored below decks on ships(it must be top stowed)
 
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