Blanks

[BrianWilson]

Looks like my daughter is branching out from barrels and reining into mounted shooting. Anyone got any experience or advice on making 38/357 blanks?

 

[jpm]

you can buy them cheap enough or just put a magnum primer in the brass and that would probably be loud enough

 

[EddieCoyle]

you can buy them cheap enough or just put a magnum primer in the brass and that would probably be loud enough

With primer-only loads, there's nothing to slam the case head back into the recoil shield, so the primers back out and lock up the revolver.

You're better off buying blanks.

Keep in mind that if you try to roll your own, you will be responsible for whatever comes out of the barrel as a result of the stupid tricks that people are likely to recommend in this thread.

For example, I once saw a block of cream of wheat go through a piece of plywood.

 

[jpm]

With primer-only loads, there's nothing to slam the case head back into the recoil shield, so the primers back out and lock up the revolver.

oh that's interesting, never heard about that before!

 

[Matt_SERE]

ETA:I was thinking CAS not mounted. But here are options for that if people find this is a search.
Spitfire Wax Bullets
Basic Starter Kit

Just pushing in the wax can push the primers out. It is covered starting @ 4:25. Good luck.


View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lo-y3lC5864

 

[NavelOfficer]

With the X-Ring bullets, primer flash holes are drilled out a bit to help prevent primer back-out. You might find this helps keep things intact. Just mark them so they are designated for this sole purpose and won't get mixed in with your regular brass stock.

As a matter of fact, I have a partial box of .38 Special blanks (Remington). IIRC, these have the enlarged flash holes, too. If you are ever down my way, you can have them.

 

[IPSC_DRL]

With the X-Ring bullets, primer flash holes are drilled out a bit to help prevent primer back-out. You might find this helps keep things intact. Just mark them so they are designated for this sole purpose and won't get mixed in with your regular brass stock.

I have used the X-ring rubber bullets for practice before with Win-Clean brass as it has the enlarged flash holes. Worked well.

Be safe.

 

[BrianWilson]

So it looks as though they are 45 LC loaded with black powder. The commercially loaded ones are star crimped, calibrated to break a balloon out to 20 feet and are not cheap. $50/100. Competitions you have to use their's apparently.

It doesn't appear reloading them is at all difficult, but seeing as my daughter has a pretty lucrative career, and when you are talking the horse world ammo costs are not even an infinitely tiny little nearly invisible blip on the radar, best path is to take advantage of Eddie's sage advice, and let her husband buy them.

Tell me that doesn't look like one hell of a good time though.


View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kzllplG0x2I

 

[1919FAN]

C&H sells all the dies to make crimped blanks and 5in1s as well.

 

[jtnf]

Keep in mind that if you try to roll your own, you will be responsible for whatever comes out of the barrel as a result of the stupid tricks that people are likely to recommend in this thread.
For example, I once saw a block of cream of wheat go through a piece of plywood.

I have GOT to hear this story!

 

[gerrycaruso]

Many years ago when I was young and didn't know any better, I shot the head off a poisonous snake with an M16 and a blank. A friend was blown off a bar stool by a nitwit who thought a blank wouldn't cause any harm.

 

[Hummer]

In the purges in Russia hundreds of thousands were killed with 7.62X54 blanks pointed at the back of the heads of victims from a foot away.

Worked with a guy at FLETC who was in the Marines Corps at Parris Island in 50s and they opened the golf course and rattle snakes were everywhere. He was at the rifle range and got the call to come kill the snakes so he got some people with M1s and went to ammo dump and drew a couple cases of 30.06 blanks and went to the golf course and filled two 55 gal drums with dead rattlers. He said the blanks would kill them from about four feet away.

About 20 years ago this actor was playing around in Hollywood and put a 45 revolver up to his head and shot himself with a blank and killed himself right there on the set. He was just playing around and thought the blanks were harmless.

We got reports into the Army Small Cal Lab about troops trying to use blanks to launch sections of cleaning rods which caused failures of the cartridge and destruction of rifles.

I used to load 357 mag blanks with 5 gr. Bullseye and pushed charged cases though blocks of paraffin. Shot the at carboard boxes from five feet and apparently the wax melted/vaporized or something as there was no big holes in boxes, just small ones. Never pointed them at anything. Just used them for noise makers.