TAKE A FLAMETHROWER … TO YOUR PLACE
|| By FITSNEWS || The most compelling scene from the 1992 film “Scent of a Woman” featured former U.S. Army colonel Frank Slade (portrayed by Al Pacino) addressing the Baird School’s disciplinary hearing on behalf of his newfound friend Charlie Simms (portrayed by Chris O’Donnell).
“If I were the man I was five years ago I’d take a FLAME-THROWER to this place!” Slade exclaimed.
American Rhetoric has a great recap of the exchange, and you can watch the video below …
(Click to play)
(Vid via)
Well, Colonel Slade, allow us to commend to your attention the XM42 … the world’s first commercially available handheld flamethrower.
That’s right …
“Start your bonfire from across the yard, or kill the weeds between your cracks in style,” the device’s website recommends, among other possible uses.
32 comments
If they send me a few review units, I’ll gladly review.
Forest fire fighters and farmers, I believe, have been using flamethrowers for years.
This is true I’ve seen them using them here in California
They usually use something called a drip torch to start back fires. It’s a can of oil and gas mixed that you pour out rather than project. I’ve used one a few times, nothing like a flame thrower. They come in sizes from hand carried to helicopter hauled.
Is it on Amazon yet?
What is another name for a bouncer in a gay bar?
Plus 10
There used to be a great “exotic ammo” manufacturer or distributor in the SC upstate.
“Dragon’s Breath” was a shotgun shell that blasted out burning thermite.
“Sgt. Sluggo” shot a bag of fine lead granules for shooting a door off its hinges or shooting out the lock, but without a bunch of dangerous lead projectiles going much farther.
They had explosive slugs for shotgun shells but you had to install the explosive.
What a loss! Craft beer but no craft ammo (to go with the beer on a Red Bank Saturday night).
“Frangible” rounds (like Sgt. Sluggo) are readily available via “Cheaper Than Dirt”. They can be had in every caliber/gauge from 9mm to 12 guage.
Just because you can make something doesn’t mean you should. Sounds like something out of Breaking Bad. What would you even use that for?
Frangible rounds (ammunition that disintegrates on contact) are much safer in a home defense situation as they will not normally penetrate a wall. When they hit a target, they transfer all of the energy of the round and then dissenters into very small particles. Air Marshals carry with frangible rounds so they don’t risk damaging the aircraft. Combat Engineers and SWAT breach teams carry a shotgun with this type of ammo in it to remove locks or hinges from doors without risk of ricochet. A twelve gauge slug of compressed powdered lead will blow a dead bolt lock completely out of the door or quickly wreck the hinges so that the door can be opened without exposing the breacher to enemy fire.
Use it to crisp red fire ant nest and cook flying mosquitos.
Anybody else on here besides me that has actually fired a US Army flamethrower? This wimpy XM42 can’t hold a candle.
Fired a M202 FLASH but never a flamethrower, you can have’em both. I’ll start my fires the sane way, from 1,500 yards away with a M198 or M106A6 155mm howitzer and some white phosphorous rounds.
Screw paying with fire up close and personal.
Let some other poor sap light the fire for you with a nice big drum of fougasse….
A little gas, a little oil, some detergent and a kicker charge…
Watch out folks…the COL’s officially gone old school!
Old school Hell, we built expedient flame devices out at the Udari Range complex for fun a couple of years ago. It’s still taught at the Engineer Officer Basic Course.
Just because you’re still doing doesn’t mean it’s not a classic! Carry on, sir, but watch those eyebrows… ;-)
Classic or not, like most things that involve C-4, it’s a whole lot of fun!
Things don’t usually become “classic” accidentally – Johnny Cash, the ’63 Corvette, homemade napalm…
’63 Vette, yes please… Cash on the stereo…
Even his covers are badass:
https://youtu.be/eJlN9jdQFSc
https://youtu.be/N8i5NLyXZdc
https://youtu.be/o22eIJDtKho
My grandfather stood by with a rifle while a buddy smoked Japs out of holes on Okinawa.
He told me it was his worst memories of the war.
I got to fire a LAW rocket, throw a hand grenade and bop bop bop a .50 cal but no flamethrower. I can’t remember if I shot a grenade launcher or not.
Is this covered under the 2nd Amendment?
No more or less than playing with a lighter and a can of hair spray, a potato gun or a wrist rocket.
I thought people were allowed to have firearms. I guess people can have fire arms, too, though.
More like arm on fire…
It’s what the founding fathers would have wanted.
For $899? Seems reasonable, I guess.
It looks ideal for zombies. I don’t know what I’d use it for. Maybe starting the grill or something like that.
Heck, you don’t even need to start the grill with it, you can do the entire job right then and there.