Floral foam used as wads

WaddWatsonEllis · November 18, 2010, 11:12:46 PM

I volunteer often in Old Sacramento and at times have fired 'blanks' in mock gunfights.

When I use a normal wad, I get good reaction from my pistols a .44 '51 Colt Navy (i.e. the Gun that Never Was).

Howeverm the Old Sacramento people want us to use the green floral foam used in flower decorating. I have borrowed foam from others and have not had much luck with it ... every time I have used it, the cap fies but the powder does not .... the wading is only pushed about halfway down the barrel .

Any suggestions?

hellgate · November 19, 2010, 12:31:09 AM

I think you have to tamp it down with the rammer but a good place to check in it is with a Civil War re-enactors group as they fire blanks toward each other (at a safe distance) and one of them could give you the info on how they load blanks for the C&Bs.

WaddWatsonEllis · November 19, 2010, 12:59:34 AM

Hellgate,

Good idea!

I have some friends that were reenactors ... I'll check with them ....

Meanwhile, any ideas?

santee · November 19, 2010, 05:27:19 AM

WWE,
we use floral foam without issue. I use about 3/4" chunk and tamp it down good with a wood dowel (to the point where there's no give). Are you maybe using too much?

Montana Slim · November 19, 2010, 08:27:01 AM

For C&B blanks, I use a .45 Colt case as a cookie cutter (made a rod/plunger with a small bolt & nuts) to make florist foam "plugs". I make these about 1/2 - 3/4 inch long. Load with a charge of 25 grains or so of powder & ram 1, 2, or even 3 of these "plugs" until you have a tight load. If you don't have enough powder & wads, it won't work as well. Careful not to load out too far to the end of the chamber or you may get a chainfire. Some folks take the cylinders out to load, but I've done well with the built-in tool.

Regards,
Slim

Noz · November 19, 2010, 08:45:32 AM

I've never done it but I have heard of folks using cornstarch tamped down over a small bp charge to make blanks.

Sgt Scott · November 19, 2010, 09:09:27 AM

Folks,
I am a civil war reenactor and use cap-n-ball as well as a spencer. With the CnB I use about 25 grains FF Black powder and fill the barrel with cream of wheat (breakfast cereal) then tamp down with the loading arm on the pistol. As I rotate the cylinder each chamber will fill with cream of wheat then tamp down real hard. Make two passes to make sure each chamber is full. I have carried these on horseback for many miles with no problems. I have used as much as 30 gr BP with superb effect. I have tried floral foam for same and about 1/2 inch plugs seems to work.

I use floral in my spencer as well. Same load, about 30 grains followed by about 1/2 to 3/4 inch floral foam followed by forming anc crimping the end. For .45 pistol loads such as in cowboy shooting most use only Black Powder and crimp the ends. With Black Powder should work fine.

Good Luck,
Sgt Scott

Adirondack Jack · November 19, 2010, 09:54:59 AM

I worked with some folks doing a movie for a film competition. For cartridge gus we used store bought blanks. For the '51 Navy used by one character, we used this exact recipe and it worked superb, even in the cold, freezing rain we had that day.

15 grains BP (or Pyro), top off the chamber all the way with corn STARCH, ram with the rammer, top off a second time, ram again. This time you will get enough resistance to actully compress the powder, and the corn starch will be immobilized. They go Bang nicely, and there is no solid ejecta except any unburned powder. The corn starch adds to the appearance of smoke but there is no chance of a wad hitting anyone. We used this load in a shootout scene at about 25 feet with no problems.

WaddWatsonEllis · November 19, 2010, 10:33:27 AM

Thanks!

This is my first experience with black powder and foam ... it was less than a good experience!

I think my problem is that I was not using a rammer dowel, and with outh the volume of a ball between the guns's ramrod and the foam and powder, there was imply not enough compression .... go fgure!

So I will get some 7/16 (7/16=.437caliber) dowel and try that in my .44s ... at a range where I can play with it....

And since I am using no ball, I am loading 40 gr of fffg into my Pietta .44 and Ruger ... and I 'think' my previous measurer was about 30 gr ... so I should have a bit more volume ...

boilerplatejackson · November 20, 2010, 10:17:37 PM

In the Civil War Reenactment unit I belong to (members of MCWRA) we utilize stale coco puffs cereal.
They are cheap enough, and go boomfh very well.

WaddWatsonEllis · November 20, 2010, 10:40:18 PM

Boilerplate ...

The idea sounds great!

The only problem is that the US and the State Park Rangers insist on floral foam ....

So I think I will stick with the Goex and floral foam ... tamped down by a 7/16" dowel ...

Delmonico · November 23, 2010, 06:01:37 PM

The group I work with uses vermiculite in the cap and ball revolvers when they do the Hickok/McCandless fight at Rock Creek Station. Also there is one or two well trusted armourers who do all the loading. Never have had a problem.

Angel_Eyes · November 24, 2010, 05:54:10 AM

Just in case any Brits are reading this and need to use blanks in C&B revolvers, cornstarch is known as Cornflour in Britain.

The 'floral' stuff I believe is what we call 'oasis', that green foamy stuff used in flower arranging.

It's good, isn't it, when you have to interpret between 'American' and English!!

AE (Scottish!)

Del, are you sure it's vermiculite you use?
I've just 'Wiki'ed' it and it appears to be a clay-mineral type of substance.

WaddWatsonEllis · November 24, 2010, 09:43:06 PM

Angel Eyes

George Bernard Shaw once made the comment the England and the US were two distinct countries separated by a common language ... LOL

GopherG · November 25, 2010, 02:59:57 AM

There is two very differnt type of floral foam. You want to make sure to get the one with the tite grain, made for wet arangments. When you lightly rub a finger over it, yo will get a nice fine dust. The other looks like regular styrofoam with lots of air bubbles, and can melt sending out chunks of 'molten lava'. I use a .45 colt case that I cut off, as a plug cutter.

WaddWatsonEllis · November 26, 2010, 09:41:55 AM

GopherG,

Thanks for the heads up ... I was just about to go to a floral shop and order some of this; now I will make shre that I am getting the 'wet arrangement foam' ... Thanks!

Delmonico · November 26, 2010, 04:06:03 PM

Quote from: Angel_Eyes on November 24, 2010, 05:54:10 AM
Just in case any Brits are reading this and need to use blanks in C&B revolvers, cornstarch is known as Cornflour in Britain.

Del, are you sure it's vermiculite you use?
I've just 'Wiki'ed' it and it appears to be a clay-mineral type of substance.

Yep, it's the stuff they sell with potting soil at the garden shops. It's very light weight and the group I worked with tested it against floral foam and found it quit damaging a sheet of paper even closer than the floral foam.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vermiculite