Hi all!
Im in new to me, uncharted waters.
Im retired FD Captain. This passed Memorial Day Parade and Ceremony was flawed, by fail to fires, of our M1903s. I don’t think anyone has done any mechanical maintenance to these old girls, other than polishing and cosmetics. I have not examined them or the blanks, as of yet, but I am told the blanks are ancient surplus, likely from 1918, lol.
I plan on:
1) Stripping the bolts/pins and deep cleaning.
2) Finding some .30-06 brass ( I have no .30-06 rifles) and loading primer only, to test cleaned/ lubed
bolt/pins for function.
3) Repair/ replace any pin that fails to function.
4) I located and am ordering a set of Hornady Blank Crimp dies.
5) I plan on hand loading our blanks from this year forward.
I currently have on hand: H335, H110, HP-38, LongShot. I do have some of Dad’s old BP, but I don’t think that’s what I’m looking for. Ongoing research into blanks, is suggesting fast, pistol powders. Can anyone make a recommendation, on what I have on hand, and starting grain? As I will be footing the bills for this, I’d like to see if I can actually make satisfactorily functioning blanks, before I look into purchasing more of a different powder. Cartridge is .30-06.
Thanks for any help, fellas.