56-50 blanks

[Tuolumne Lawman]

Howdy to the camp,

Well, both units I re-enact with allow Spencers, so that is my official re-enactor arm.  I use the plastic blanks made by Keenesaw Cannon Co. but they only hold about 10 grains powder.  In an Armi Sport, they are re-usable with a small patch of masking tape over the nose.

A pard of mine back in CA is using the Ten-X blanks, crimper brass.  Anyone use them?  Anyone reload them?

[72nd Indiana]

I use the Ten-X blanks. They give a better bang than the plastic ones and tend not to jam (except for the 1st round on occasion). I don't reuse them, since I don't want to risk the crimp breaking at a reenactment and they tend to corrode before I can clean them up at home. Plus, I probably need a press of some sort, as I could never unseat the primer.

[Grapeshot]

I have a question about Blanks for the .56/.50 Spencer.  Dixie Gun Works sells some plastic ones that are described as only needing a shotgun primer pressed in.

To get anykind of realism don't you need at least 15 to 30 grains of powder to get a good BANG?

Of course I could just be missreading the description in their catalog.

[Tuolumne Lawman]

I have been using the plastic ones.  with primers alone, they are a joke.  They hold about 10 grains of FFFG, and give a small under-boom and some white smoke.  Once they are fired, a small piece of masking tape over the hole in the nose will keep the powder in better than crumble foam, which takes up room.  I drilled some out on a drill pressand made them hold about 20 grains, and that was better.  They split, though, about 30% of the time.

I am going to try the Ten-x blanks, and see if there is a way to reload them.  Maybe cut off a little of the crimp and use crumble foam.

Anyone have a few empty ten-X blanks I can play with?

[major]

Guys
I hate to keep beating the same drum but for blanks the Spencer in 44-40 works better than trying to make it work in a 56-50.  And in the long run it's a lot more economical.
http://www.9thnycavalry.webeditor.com/spencer_article.html
Terry

[Tuolumne Lawman]

Believe, me, I thought long and hard about the blank issue, even before you came up with your awesome 410 ones!  It just seemed blasphemous to haave a Spencer in anything but a modern (read center-fire) incarnation of the original.  That's why I plan on going back to a 45 Colt Henry when I can get another one (supposed to have two author ones coming).  I do my 200 grain bullet in a 45 Schofield case with 28 grains BP to duplicate the henry rounds.