Most break repeater shells in a firework

On Friday, 7 July 2000, an eight-break repeater shell was successfully fired into the air at Goodwood Racecourse near Chichester, UK, by Kimbolton Fireworks Limited.

The black powder charge or lift is ignited by the hand fuse which explodes beneath the multi break shell contained within the mortar tube. This violent explosion forces the multi break shell out of the tube into the sky to a height of about 122m 400ft . At the bottom of the first shell is a two second delay which is lit when the lifting charge explodes. Therefore two seconds into its flight the first shell will burst blowing a mass of stars into the sky. This is turn lights the next shell above it. Again a two second delay is lit which then explodes the second shell.

This is repeated until the last shell is lit. The whole multibreak shell or cylinder shell remains intact as each shell contained inside explodes. The difficulty with these shells is to ensure a sufficient gap between each break and that all the shells are lit. The limit to these shells is the old adage, what goes up must come down. The most number of breaks is limited to how high the shell goes in the first place and how many breaks it can let off before it comes back down to the ground. It is therefore very difficult to make a shell which can do any more than 8 breaks.