Shooting Blanks?

[Little Wattsy]

To make bang and smoke I am thinking I will just take a MLer and drop in 35-ish grains of powder, fold up a cleaning patch and shoot into the air.
A) Do I need a patch or could I just tamp the powder with the jag?
B) Am I missing anything obvious?
C) Quite probably posted in the wrong area but its a powder and shoot question.?.?.?

 

[Bill Hall]

About an inch of toilet paper over the powder makes a good boom. Bill

 

[BadHorse]

To make bang and smoke I am thinking I will just take a MLer and drop in 35-ish grains of powder, fold up a cleaning patch and shoot into the air.
A) Do I need a patch or could I just tamp the powder with the jag?
B) Am I missing anything obvious?
C) Quite probably posted in the wrong area but its a powder and shoot question.?.?.?

i do shows here in california, and all you need to do is poor some powder in and give it a tamp, it will make an awesome boom! in my 50 cals i use around 60 gr. oh yeah, and with out wadding you dont need to worry about chasing down the burning wadding

 

[Little Wattsy]

To make bang and smoke I am thinking I will just take a MLer and drop in 35-ish grains of powder, fold up a cleaning patch and shoot into the air.
A) Do I need a patch or could I just tamp the powder with the jag?
B) Am I missing anything obvious?
C) Quite probably posted in the wrong area but its a powder and shoot question.?.?.?

i do shows here in california, and all you need to do is poor some powder in and give it a tamp, it will make an awesome boom! in my 50 cals i use around 60 gr. oh yeah, and with out wadding you dont need to worry about chasing down the burning wadding

Good Point!!

 

[morehops]

I've shot my ML'r for years on the 4th. a wad on top of the charge makes a bigger bang. Most of the time I just pour in a charge and make sure that I keep the muzzle pointed up,put on a cap and BOOM! I've put some big charges down the barrel (100+ gr) but I have to warn you it can rattle your brain bucket!! I also remind the fireworks dudes that I'm the only one staying legal (at least in my state of PA ).
have fun and enjoy your 4th!

 

[necchi]

I make "blanks" with cigarette papers.
I went to the local shop and asked for the biggest I could get.
I have a 3/8 OD brass tube, roll'm around that, pull it down a bit and twist the end. Then fill it with powder,(whilst it's on the tube)pull it off, pour a bit out and twist the other end.

They's about 35-40 grains, bit one end off, pour it, then pack the paper on top.
The sound IS different without something on top of the powder.
If you have nothing, then you need twice the powder for BOOM, or it just goes Poof.
The cig paper is WAY to small to burn after leaving the muzzle, the whole thing just shredds to tiny pieces.

 

[Zonie]

You folks who live someplace where shooting a firearm is legal are lucky.

Although Arizona has very few laws that prohibit someone from owning a firearm places like Phoenix have some very stiff laws about shooting one inside the city limits.

There's a law that makes it illegal to fire a gun into the air and the police have installed microphones all over the place.
If the microphones pick up the sound of a shot they can triangulate the location of the bang.

Even if I was shooting blanks I'd have a H of a time proving it if the long arm of the law pulled up in front of my house.

 

[mykeal]

Tamped powder will suffice. I know that because...well, just read this thread . Read the whole thread because there are some interesting updates near the end.

 

[paulvallandigham]

The "Boom" Comes from compressed powder. I found that powder alone would only "BOOM" if I doubled or tripled the charge I usually use with a PRB, unless I found a way to compress it with SOMETHING. 3X the normal powder charge uses MORE POWDER, and its weight(mass) to compress the powder, and that makes a very good "BOOM".

I could cut back on the amount of powder used by using a double charge, but putting a dampened cleaning patch down on top of it. The moistured from wiping the patch on my tongue adds Weight, and helps hold the cleaning patch after its tamped in place.

If I used paper, as in a Paper tube carrying a pre-measured charge to ease loading while marching in a parade, the paper came out as confetti, and caused NO fire hazard. I even used Orange paper once to make my paper tubes, stuffing the tube down the barrel After pouring in the powder. It added color to the confetti which many folks along the parade route liked. If I could have found red,white,and blue paper, I would have used that the next year to make the tubes!

My club has changed its rules for parade marches, so that NO ramrods can be taken along the route. They don't want us firing anything out of habit out of the guns, except powder and smoke( and flame). So, I now use more powder, and simply limit the number of times I fire the gun. I still go through a couple of pounds of powder along a typical parade route, shooting my .50 cal. rifle.

Oh, The Barrel is Really FILTHY when we finish( Surprise! :shocked2 I pour water down the barrel after plugging the TH, let it sit a bit, and then pour the gunk out. That tends to soften the crud sufficiently that I can then pour both Soap and Water down to begin my NORMAL cleaning routine.

 

[brubincam]

-----would the alumanum 's in craft dept work-----sparkly

 

[brubincam]

-----what did i write ???---would the aluminum sparkles in the craft stores work-----

 

[paulvallandigham]

They might. I think they are likely too light weight to get down the barrel, particularly in any kind of breeze. It would depend on how many of them you put down the barrel to weigh enough to compress the powder to make it "BOOM".

In my .50, I found that 100-120 grains of FFg powder would produce a good enough " BOOM" to please the crowds. You could reduce that 15-20% if you load 3Fg powder. That is with NO wad or paper, or anything on top of the powder.

Obviously, If the bore of the gun you are firing is larger, you will need to load more powder. If its smaller, less powder should do.

 

[Norinco]

Has anyone tried blank powder?

 

[deseeb2001]

On the subject of firing into the air, quite a few years back there was a guy in the central part of the state who decided that the area above the town was a perfectly legal place to fire his black powder cannon (with ball). He would set up on the hillside on one side of town and fire at the hill on the other side. Most residents didn't take too kindly to that, as I recall. I guess different people have different interpretations of what "city limits" entails.

 

[paulvallandigham]

Blank Powder is 7Fg powder, and would be much more dangerous to put down your barrel than even Priming powder- 4Fg.

If blank powder were used, it would have to be a very small amount- I would start with 1/4" of my normal shooting load, and PUT NO Wad of any kind down on top of it. The "BOOM" created at the muzzle will be the air in the barrel rushing out of the muzzle above the speed of sound.

 

[Waterman]

I must have fired many thousand blank rounds at re-enactments. Usual load is an 80 grain paper cartridge of 3F. Bite or tear off the end, prime, pour remainder of powder down the bore, discard paper cartridge, quick thump of the butt on ground and Bob's your uncle.

The resulting "bang" is not the same as it would be if wadding were used, but drawing ram rods and adding wadding at re-enactments is discouraged.

It is useful to note that keeping the barrel (muzzle) elevated using this method is a good thing.

Cheers, Bill

 

[Poor Private]

I agree with Waterman, I also reenact the civil war. I must have went through 100# of 2f powder over the years. The normal reenactment load is 6o grains for as enfield/ springfield .58 cal. but those smooth bores need to go up to 80 grains. Most event rules will state the grains allowed to be fired. Now when we do parades like mem day, or the like we do parade loads--120grains bigger cloud of smoke, bigger bang. But we still don't ram.

 

[Waterman]

Zonie,

My Lovely Bride says that I can shoot blanks on the deck anytime I want to here in Tidewater! She also says that she won't post bail!!!

Cheers, Bill

 

[Poor Private]

I always celebrate coming back from an event, by giving the neighbor hood a couple of parade load salutes. And if I have been playing a member of Morgan's Raiders I may have a loaded pistol or two that needs emptied :grin: for cleaning. Tis a good thing my side of the road is considered country, and across the street is considered residential, even different counties. :blah:

 

[daven1834]

I do six BP gun shows a week. To make blanks, I use 65 grains of fffg, and 65 grains of cream of wheat mush. Pack it in good and tight. Big bang and lots of smoke. I use one of the five 50 cals. that I own. The facility furnishes the BP,the caps and the flints. It has turned out to be one of the popular show that we do. Dave