Shootin' blanks & flash in the pan

[Daven]

Still new to BP and just wonderin'...how exactly do you shoot a blank? Do you need to run a patch down after the powder? Is the patch just to keep the powder from dribbling out, or do you need to hammer it down a bit to compact the charge? Is something more substantial than a patch needed, and if so what?

And on a flinter, if you have no charge in the barrel and touch off a little 4F in the pan -- just to amaze your friends and confound your inlaws -- does this require a cleaning of the barrel to keep out rust?

Thanks again for advice.

 

[WRussell]

You need something on top of the powder or it just goes woosh. The tighter, the louder. Just don't send smoldering 'fuses' into dry brush and that sort of thing. I've used aluminum foil. It seems to burn up in the flash.

Definitely clean afterwards, even if it's just primer in the pan.

 

[No Deer]

Blanks don't generally require any kind of wadding or packing, just make sure you keep the muzzle up. I always just dumped the powder, banged the side of the breech with my palm to settle the powder, primed and touched it off. The problem with wadding a blank is that you will have a smoldering wad,or a projectile of some sort if using aluminum foil, somewhere out in front of you, or into a crowd if in a parade.

One of the groups I am associated with only allows one grain per caliber for blanks (ie. .50 cal = 50 grains of powder). More powder makes a bigger boom. :grin: A little wadding makes it boom bigger too.

Also, some groups do not allow ramrods to be carried on the field for reenactments. Too many have been fired downrange. So, if you don't have a ramrod, you can't pack in the wadding.

Just a couple of things to hopefully help answer your question.

 

[Toomuch_36]

A light patch of aluminum foil (about two layers) will keep the powder in and dissintegrate completely when fired.

Toomuch
.......
Shoot Flint