Question about triple 7

Sacramento Johnson · July 15, 2009, 07:39:18 PM

Howdy!
Normally shoot goex BP, and lube with ballistol and clean with balistol and water, but will have to use 5 in 1 blanks made with triple seven soon. What can be used to prep a six shooter before using this stuff? What's a good cleaner afterwards? (Have zero experience with subs incliding triple 7). Thanks!

Howdy Doody · July 15, 2009, 07:54:23 PM

Nothing. Absolutely nothing. 777 cleans with water, windex, ballistol equally as well.

You will find no barrel buildup other than a powdery light soot. You do not need natural bullet lubes either. You can shoot smokeless bullets or in your case nothing at all in blanks.

You are aware I am sure that 777 is more powerful grain for grain than most true blackpowder and other subs too.

Ok, now I am curious what you are going to use the blanks for. Innocent Bystander getting out of line? Blanks are good for training.

Adirondack Jack · July 15, 2009, 08:13:04 PM

I've shot a lot of Trip 7 and find the best idea is to get the cylinder of yer shooter CLEAN before ya start. Get all the old lube, powder fouling and lead from yer smokeless bullets out of it, and then go shoot. Especially with blanks, the gun will profit from the face of the cylinder and the cylinder bushing being wet with ballistol or olive oil before ya shoot, so ya don't develop drag throughout the day.

If I had to make blanks, lets say in a .45 case, I'd start with about 20 grains VOLUME (mebbe 15 gr in .38) of 777 topped with a plug of florist foam snugged down on top the foam. try one or two and if the primer backs out, compress the powder 1/16" FIRST (use a dowel) then plug with snug foam. That ought to give ya a good burn.

Howdy Doody · July 15, 2009, 09:36:00 PM

AJ I know her pretty well, she shoots nothing but BP and always has. Big bore stuff and a 10ga shotgun. Sacramento is not very large either. She puts a posse in awe when she blasts away.

So, she has BP seasoned guns. I do too. I found that 777 just shot fine. No bore issues at all. Sacramento uses ballistol, where I use breakfree, but that is shooters choice.

The only blanks I ever made was shotgun. I cut the hulls about in half, packed in the powder as you described and topped it with an overpowder card and then cemented it in with elmers white glue. They worked pretty good like that.

Adirondack Jack · July 15, 2009, 10:06:03 PM

HD, yep, a seasoned gun is gonna work.

I just now remembered a SUPERB way to make blanks of any caliber ya need (even shotgun)..

I learned this when I served as firearms instructor/safety officer for a student film. The director was also acting, and he wanted to use his cap and ball pistol in a scene, so we couldn't use commercial 5 in 1 blanks like we did in the the .45s.

He used pyrodex, but 777 would work nicely too, as follows. Drop a charge of powder into the chamber (he used 15 grains of Pyro in his 36, 20 would be plenty in .45, and maybe 30 in 12 ga, front stuffer or cartridge, they all would work the same), then filled the chamber to the top with corn STARCH (not corn meal), rammed it tight, topped off a second time with corn starch, then rammed it again. What he ended up with was a solid plug that was durable yet turned back to dust on firing. No top card was used at all. the actor's gun worked perfectly, no charges got loose from jarring when other chambers were fired, etc. (The only downside to C&B is the safety officer has to stand there and monitor the loading of the guns, wasting time on the set. for cartridges, ya can of course make em up ahead of time)

Ya could easily do this with cartridges, using a dowel and a seating die on the press to compress the cornstarch on top of the charge. For 12 ga enough starch to half fill the case would be plenty. The cornstarch adds to the smoke effect, yet sends no large particles downrange. Of course we still practiced shooting NEXT TO the target (another live actor) and kept dueling parties 15 or more feet apart.

Howdy Doody · July 16, 2009, 03:06:20 AM

Great tips A.J. I might try a cartridge or two.

I was asked to make up the blanks so that a dozen of us could shoot them off at the end of the Pledge of Allegence at a big match.
The reason I cut the hulls down in length was so no one could possible mistake one of them for something else, plus I need to get rid of the crimped end anyway. We only asked SXS shooters to light them off and they were plenty loud and got a good response.

Fiddler Green · July 16, 2009, 09:12:22 AM

OK,

I'll ask: Why do you have to shoot blanks? And, why with 777.

Bruce

Sacramento Johnson · July 16, 2009, 07:46:31 PM

Howdy Pards!
Howdy, you made me laugh out loud!! (You should have seen IB's face when I told him about your post! Good one, Pard!!)
Thanks for the info! So you can prep with breakfree when using triple 7? Very interesting! Can you clean up with it as well?

Now as for why, well, I'm to go on a horseback riding trip in a few months to some of the places relevant to the events of 1881-1882 in Tombstone. Period correct gear is encouraged, and 5 in 1 (filled with triple 7) blanks are to be supplied. (I'm as curious as you regarding exactly how these are going to be used; details have not been given out yet.) Thought I'd make sure my six shooters work with those cartridges/powder before I got there...

Howdy Doody · July 16, 2009, 10:24:43 PM

Sacramento, Breakfree is the lube I use. You can clean your guns easy with windex with vinagar, not with ammonia, because ammonia will take bluing and that fake case coloring too. I get the windex I use at Lowes in a spray bottle. I also use it for shooting true BP too. The breakfree I use to lube my guns after cleaning, including my cylinder pins and of course to protect the cylinder and bore.
I know you like Ballistol, but to me it smells like old tennis shoes and I have had the innards of C&B pistols rust up from it, since it does not do anything about dispersing the water that is mixed with it. It has just been breakfree for me for years. There are other product too, like when I started I bought into the natural stuff deal, since I shoot mostly Goex myself as you know. I like flames. I started in with the virgin olive oil lube, the peroxide and murphy's soap and all the old timey potions. Never could get any bear grease, but I wouldn't mind trying it.

So, while you have IB in training, send him out for some windex with ammonia and give that a whirl.
As far as the 777 goes, you are going to be amazed how easy that stuff will clean up. You could even use plain water if you had a mind to. Fact is, you can not clean your for days on 777. I know you would never do that, since your guns, especially that shotgun have names.