homemade blanks?

[Dalton Masterson]

Sounds like fun! An unknown combatant... sounds fun too...
DM

[Short Knife Johnson]

Yes sir, I'll fade into legend like "Jim the Nailer."   

I'm trying to sell the idea to have some of the treeline shooters mill about inside the Fort then slip out when the time is nigh.  Then leave some personal effects behind.  I have a really distinctive hat.  But I think they want to be a slave to history.

Well, I should return to my tinkering, and put an episode of Deadwood on the DVD player to get me in the mood. lol 

[John William McCandles]

Use oasis floral foam it is for live flowers and will crumble if rubbed between your fingers.
Cut it into 1" strips, put your powder load into your case and pack it with a wooden dowel, then using the cartridge mouth cut a plug of foam and pack it, do this twice so you end up with 2 compressed plugs. This is the procedure I use for .44 Colts, 5 in 1's and shotgun blanks.
For the 5 in 1 blanks I have a die for these from C&H that does a roll crimp, most reenactment groups don't allow the star crimped brass blanks. Starline sells 5 in 1 brass.

Check over on The Gun Fighter Zone for more info on blanks and reenacting.


Regards
JW

[Montana Slim]

My 1873 is also a "vintage" rifle....feeds and shoots my blanks just fine...course, they are the proper length..and have an extra taper from running it thought the normal (final) roll crimp station..same as I'd use for a bullet.

Slim

[Short Knife Johnson]

Oh I don't doubt you .445 Supermag setup works well.  Just that I'm working with limited resources here.

All of my normal channels for obtaining the abnormal stuff failed, so I gathered up what was at hand

I do apologize for the monster photos.  If I let any details a little fuzzy (I'm naturally bad at explaining stuff) please just ask.

Load cartridges as one normally would.  I placed a .430 card wad on top of the powder at the level of the shoulder/neck junction.  Sorry, crappy and out of focus, but I was trickling with one hand and using my photographic apparatus with the other.


The prescribed layout for the cardboard strips.  Note the length actually turned out to be 6 5/16" not 1/4".  The 6 1/4" strips worked, abut were a bit loose for my liking and feared they would disintegrate in the bore.  It was surpriing to me how that little big made a difference.


Strips of cardboard ready for loading into case.  They were soaked in water for a minute or so to make them more pliable for my purpose. I roll crimped them in place like a normal bullet.  I didn't get a pic of the wax coating step, it required two hands, but use your imagination.  They were coated in wax after being seated in the case.


The finished product, wrapped paper "bullets" coated lightly in beeswax.


Well?  What do you think?

[Short Knife Johnson]

OK, I just got back from the latest demonstration, and I am pleased to say the Homemade .44 WCF blanks Mark II version have been approved for use against Her Majesty's Armed Forces.  Under the direct supervision of Grant the firearms curator, I fired 5 rounds and all of them had no effect at the 30 foot mark.  The paper bullet literally vapourized as it hit the open air.  The last batch mainly came unravelled, but this was mere shards.  Which is good, because I was all out of ideas.

Just goes to show... where there's a will, there's a weapon. 

[major]

Short Knife
Did you ever read this article about making blanks for a 44-40 Spencer?
http://www.9thnycavalry.webeditor.com/publications/spencer_article.html
This may be easier than what you are doing.
Terry

[Short Knife Johnson]

That's not a bad setup.  Finding .410 shells around here is problematic, but that could work very well.  That will be kept in mind for next year.

To load me a box of 50 the way I conjured up took about 2 1/2 hours and no extra equiptment.  Our little skirmish lasted around 6 minutes.  Worth every minute.

[Wolfgang]

Short Knife
Did you ever read this article about making blanks for a 44-40 Spencer?
http://www.9thnycavalry.webeditor.com/publications/spencer_article.html
This may be easier than what you are doing.
Terry

Very, very interesting about using the Spencer and loading blanks for it.  Sounds like the way to go for Civil war reenectments . . . ya get to shoot a whole lot more than someone toting a "front stuffer" ! 

[major]

Short Knife
I have been suscesfull in getting a good supply of once fired 410 huls from this guy.  papcharlie2@copper.net
Terry