Back in the 1950's and 60's there were things called "Cap Rockets" that were fun to play with.

They were like a small Mortar with a tight-fitting Projectile that was propelled by a large "single-shot" cap filled with black powder. (Not the kind of small roll caps or disc caps used in toy cap pistols.)

The mortar was a steel hemisphere about 1" in diameter and about the same depth. The Projectile was also a steel hemisphere that was a tight fit into the Mortar, and was stabilized by 2 vertical feathers cast in hardened tar.

To use it, you would go to a large concrete area of at least an acre, like a big parking lot, but with no cars. You would peel off a cap from the sheet of single-shot caps (there were about 80-100 on a sheet), each cap consisting of a circular mound of black powder about 3/16-1/4" in diameter, and sealed in red paper.

You would place this cap face-up on the bottom of the Mortar, then push the projectile down tight against it.

Then you would toss the Mortar/Projectile combination about 10-15 feet in the air, and the feathers acted like stabilizing bomb fins, allowing the rocket to slam down vertically on its base and detonate the cap.

The Projectile would be launched with a bang about 100 feet in the air, and the feathers would slow down the descent so the projectile's bottom would not become deformed upon impact with the concrete. The brightly-colored feathers would also help you to locate the rocket if it should go beyond the parking lot into grass or weeds.

The only place where I can find these, including the ammo, is in England. I think these rockets used to cost about a dollar, and a sheet of big single-shot caps were about 50 cents.

You could have an afternoon of fun for $1.50, and all you would have to buy after that was another sheet of caps!

Of course, the Government had to take that away from the kids, too..."unsafe", you know!

That's all...
HAL

two things, one was a little rocket ship that you could slide one of them big square caps in, some unscrew the nose to get to the cap chamber, and toss it into te air. whan it hit it popped the cap. the other type was more like what you described. they had a two piece affair. the chamber end had a stick handle and you would put the cap or caps in it, then put the projectile piece with the feathers into that on top of the caps. then hit it on the ground, like hitting with a hammer, and when the caps went off it would launch the projectile part into the air. more caps, higher flight. do they still make them big caps, or are they to dangerous for the kids these days? john

...that didn't launch the projectile into the air. They just made a noise and didn't go anywhere.

HAL

plastic and propelled by water and compressed air to what seemed as hundreds of feet. Amazing little toy, probably illegal nowadays.

...but the exploding cap types were more fun.

HAL

I remember them very well. We put 2-3 caps between the cups and threw them
hard against the street; they really flew up there. It seemed they went at
least 150-200' high. We also threw them hard against a concrete wall from
about 20' away and ducked before they fired. It was a precursor for juevinile
Darwinian awards, I guess. I think that was in the early 1950's in southwest
LA.

Tony G

HAL