Philly Teens Reportedly Tried to Set Off 18 M-80s in a Grocery Store

Let’s see what’s going on in Philly:

Police say teenagers tried to light sticks of dynamite inside Philly grocery store. @FOX29philly pic.twitter.com/MrUgwNI5pm

— Chris O’Connell (@CoconnellFox29) June 20, 2023

Not a lot of details out there initially. Apparently the teens fled and the bomb squad recovered the “dynamite,” which was revealed to be a bunch of M-80s:

UPDATE: @PhillyPolice reveal teens attempted to light EIGHTEEN M-80 explosives inside Chew Ave Fresh Grocer store 5:10pm last night. More on this to be said & shown in 2:30pm news conference. pic.twitter.com/BQ0d2mq2cA

— Steve Keeley (@KeeleyFox29) June 21, 2023

Is an M-80 dynamite? Depends who ask. Most people age 40+ will laugh and call these fireworks, because they probably set them off back in the day, but there’s an urban myth that says the M-80 is equivalent to a quarter stick of dynamite. That is not true. The best explanation I could find online was from a guy claiming to be a pyrotechnician who responded to this very question on Quora:

“The M-80 is called an M-80 because that was the military’s designation for it. It was designed as an “artillery simulator” for training purposes. The idea was that instructors could light them near troops who were participating in simulated combat activities, adding stress and chaos to the situation (which is a critical part of such training) by scaring the heck out of the participants. Apparently they are pretty effective for this purpose.

Although it is technically a military training munition, the M-80 really is just a big firecracker. There’s nothing special about it other than its size. And its size isn’t really that special either. At the time they were developed, even larger firecrackers were sold to the public (so was dynamite). The official, standard, military-issue M-80 contains 3 grams of flash powder. That’s sixty times more than what’s allowed in a legal consumer firecracker these days (50mg each), but still far less than what’s in the fireworks used in public displays (which easily contain 20 times as much – several ounces each for a typical 3″ salute shell).

The M-80 is indeed illegal, but it’s not like these kids broke into some mining facility or military joint and stole a bunch of legit dynamite, like the kind Jim Carey swallowed in The Mask. Still, setting off a bunch of M-80s in a grocery store could do some damage depending on how they’re set up.

But nobody was hurt, so we can end it with this clip:

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