how to fire blanks

[dewnmoutain]

What would be the best way to shoot blanks from a muzzle loader? Just dump the powder down and fire? or should I shove a patch down there to keep the powder nice and tight? :stir:

 

[capt_turk]

Stuff a wad of toilet paper or a cotton ball on top of the powder.

 

[Snakebite]

A very long time ago I went to an event where they were firing blanks and they would seat a patch on top of the powder.

They would point the guns in the general direction of the people down range, but there was a good 50yds between each other and they NEVER pointed directly at anyone. Even then I wasn't real comfortable with the whole situation.

I don't know if you're talking about a situation like that or if you're just talking about shooting blanks. Once I had a wasps nest on my fence and I loaded up a light charge with a patch over the powder to take care of the nest, and it worked! Very well. Just remember that blanks can be very dangerous.

 

[dewnmoutain]

With it being the 4th, I am wanting to show my nieces and nephews what it was like to fire a muzzleloader back during the civil war and revolutionary war. Just give them an idea of what it was like to fight back then, make them appreciate the sacrifice that our forefathers did for our independence.

 

[Snakebite]

That's cool. I bet they will like it. Never too young to get them interested.
:thumbsup:

 

[rafterob]

I'll use a little spit patched ball of newspaper, that way I don't worry about it catching fire. You have to have a little bore resistance, if you just put powder in you get more of a whoosh than a bang.

 

[nkbj]

Maybe a couple tablespoons of cornmeal?
Do we need a blank test?

 

[Black Hand]

What would be the best way to shoot blanks from a muzzle loader? Just dump the powder down and fire? or should I shove a patch down there to keep the powder nice and tight? :stir:

Without something firmly-packed above the powder(I prefer paper towel), you don't really get a bang/crack, but more of anemic-sounding poof/whoosh. And nobody wants a poof/whoosh coming out of their gun...

 

[cynthialee]

Be careful with blanks!
I still have the small remnant of a scar between my breasts when a foolish friend of mine shot me point blank with a blank back in my late teens.

 

[RADeO]

+1 to Cynthialee! There was a TV actor about 30 years back who killed himself by holding a blank-loaded revolver against his head. The dummy never stopped to think that all that pressure had to go somewhere!

 

[M. De Land]

I wonder if a 1/8 inch beeswax lube cookie would do the trick and be safe? I would think it would totally break up and melt in the conflagration, leaving nothing but gas and fouling to be expelled.
I know it tends to stay together and come out in chunks behind a projectile but think it would probably disintegrate in a blank charge with nothing ahead of it to support it's mass. Mike D.

 

[SamTex1949]

Many years ago at the Texas Folk Life festival the Alamo ML Club set up a mountain man camp. one of the things we did was shoot blanks at an old wood fence (maybe 20/30 ft away). We soon noticed holes in the fence! Those patches were punching holes ! Take care and be sure of your target and beyond!!

 

[Wes/Tex]

Though most re-enactments now prohibit any wadding what-so-ever, I always got a bigger BOOM with some sort of wadding. Besides the normal paper, etc., I've got good results with clover and pink Easter basket grass. One was a San Jacinto Day festivity which covered the lt. governor with clover and the other was a gubernatorial inauguration parade which covered the Bergstrom A.F.B. marching nco group with pink rain! I'm a bad boy!!

 

[Eljay]

I wonder if an overpowder card would be enough to make a decent sized boom over a little powder in, say, hypothetically, a Howdah pistol.

 

[RADeO]

If you put maybe 40 or 50 grains of cornmeal or Cream of Wheat atop the powder charge and then rammed down a thin cardboard wad, that should do the trick.

 

[Bob E]

Back in the days of yore when I was a CW reenactor we made blank rounds in paper cartridges using aprox 70g powder. at many events we just tore open the cartriges and charged our rifles with powder only. Many if not most event organizers didnt want the papers used as wadding. Admitidly this didnt produce an impressive discharge but it is probably as historically accurate as you can get shooting blanks as to rate of fire. Bob E

 

[cowpoke1955]

When I was with the SAR Color Guards, we made cartridges out of cigarette papers tied at both ends with cotton thread. Tear open one end, pour the powder down the bore, wad up the paper and ram it home, prime and fire. Each would hold approximately 50 grains of FFFg. Enough to make a boom and smoke. The crowd loved it. E ben though the paper and thread is nothing but ashes when they come out, always point in a safe direction.

 

[Hawgeye]

Bingo, I sport a small half-moon scar in the center of my forehead from the waxed card wad. My former friend was not smart, but he was a good shot.