Can Anything Be Done With Blanks?

[Dutchman]

U.S. Blank, Model 1909 were the ones made from rejects off the ammunition line. This one below is a good example of one that was damaged and then made into a m/1909 blank.

I has a rounded groove in it partially around the mid-section. Fairly deep. It got caught on something that rotated it around and imprinted the groove.

While I've seen full powered loads that used m/1909 Blank cases it's really not a good idea as you don't know what the defect was if it's not obvious. It could be something to do with the pickling process that weakened the brass. Is it really worth it?

[BerdanIII]

7.92x57mm Platzpatrone 33 - 15.4 grains of Nz.Pl.Patr.R.P. - maximum 16,675 psi in brass case, 20,300 psi in steel case (Ringbuch der Infanteriemunition, Vol. 1, 5-1-1941).

"Prior to the introduction of steel cases and in order to conserve on brass consumption, it was common practice to use once fired brass for reloading into blank ammunition. A brass case was graded and given an identifying mark of a knurled ring around the case body. This marking was known as a "Sorte ring" and cases were loaded twice in this manner…When the steel case was introduced as a substitute for brass, any further need for "Sorte Ringe" disappeared. Rejects from normal steel case production and increased production in general offered a ready supply for blank ammunition, and millions of cases per month were allocated for just this purpose." German 7,9 mm Military Ammunition 1888 - 1945

Blank, Cal. .30, M1909 - "Second-grade cases may be used in the assembly of blank ammunition." (Catalog of Standard Ordnance Items, 1944)

"In the manufacture of these blank cartridges, cases are used which have been fired, or which have slight defects, rendering them unsuitable for use in ball cartridges." (Description and Rules for the Management of the U. S. Magazine Rifle Model 1903, Caliber .30)

There was no information on the pressure produced by 7.62x51mm NATO blanks in The Military Cartridges Caliber 7.62x51 mm NATO, their development and variants. There is nothing regarding the use of second-class or sub-standard material for blank manufacture. The plastic training cartridge DM18 with its 10.8-grain bullet develops a maximum pressure of 21,334 psi.

Converting 7.62 NATO Blanks, R.G. Ahlefeld, Handloader No. 27, Sept.-Oct. 1970 describes the process of turning blanks into .243 WCF cases. Neck-reaming was necessary to reduce neck wall thickness and the converted blanks weighed 181.0 grains to the commercial Winchester case's 177.80 grains.

[3006guns]

Even though it's been brought up, I have to kick in my two bits worth.......DISCARD THE POWDER! It has absolutely NO value in bulleted ammo, so don't even think about it. Concentrate on saving the brass and consider it a great gift.

[acemedic13]

we drop a q-tip with one end of it peeled off in the barell, and then put a blank in behind it. It will kill a rat at about 10 feet and is hell on dogs and cats too. In panama we used to dump some of the powder out and load a cleaning rod in there, it would make short work of those damned monkeys that rasied hell on our A.O.

I AM NOT SUGGESTING DOING THIS...IT IS STUPID AND YOU CAN GET HURT!!!

About the golf ball launcher, you can buy them at cheaperthandirt.com for your AR-15 all day long. I have one here, its a hoot!

[coleman]

Golf ball launcher, Ohh boy what fun. made one for my cetme. online metals has dom tubing 1.875 x .095 wall 1.685 id. about $9.44 per foot. made a adaptor for the threads and welded it to the tubing. golf ball dia 1.685 had some tight some loose shot both no problems. got 308 german blanks(dans ammo) about $50 k golf balls of flebay about 10c. Been shooting a old demo car it will leave a dent about 3/8" deep or more, have had them split about half way thru. i wont shoot targets staight on as the golf ball my bounce back and not have time to duck as fast as they fly out. shooting up in the sky they will just about go out of eyesight. if you dont have a big open area to shoot em just plan on loosing at least half of the golf balls or miore. Be safe coleman

[Dollar Bill]

FWIW, I asked the same question on the CBA forum and Ed Harris was kind enough to reply: "Blank cases are not subject to the same quality controls or inspection standards as service ammunition, so cups having major or even critical category defects such as intermediate draw scratches, nonmetallic inclusions or laminations routinely get through. I would not attempt to load blank cases for any bulleted ammunition.

The best thing you can do with fired blank cases is sell them for scrap."

For those of you who are not familiar with Mr. Harris, it's my understanding he was chief engineer at Ruger after working in the Ordnance Dept. I generally take his advice as gospel, as he is the most knowledgeable shooter I have ever conversed with.

[bmac10]

I have read where people use @ 5grains of blank powder with a 150GR 30 cal lead bullet fr @ 1000 f/s loads - in "regular" cartridges, not the blank cartridge

[eb in oregon]

I at one time made a mess of 7.62x25 cases out of 5.56 blank cases. Standard cases were hard to find at that time (Starline has them now as do others) and I was loath to use up my standard 5.56 cases.

They work fine, and they have been reloaded multiple times.

eb