is there an age restriction on blanks like on ammunition?

not that I know of. State/Local laws may vary.
I figure if my friends in NJ can buy them they "must" be ok.  Of course your laws may vary.

i emailed Swanson for some hot blanks and they said you have to be 21. i dont understand since you can buy live rounds at 18.

also,  i know you cant use a GI BFA with Hot blanks, but what about a hollywood BFA with GI blanks?

The Hot blank adaptor will not work because of the size of the hole.

Hold on I'll post some pics to compare.

OK take a look at this pic...


On the left is the BFA for the yellow M4 carbine. in the middle is a BFA for a SKS M59/66 Yugo and on the right is the red M16 BFA (I painted it black when I was in the Army) and in front of that is a hollywood BFA for hot blanks.

take a look at the little  hole on the M16 BFA. see that? that is were the gas vents. Now look at the hole on the hollywood BFA see how big it is in comparison? the hotter blank needs the larger hole to operate. If you use the GI blanks on a hot blank BFA the rifle will not cycle. If you use a hot blank on a GI BFA... well you can see where you may have a problem.

a side note is.. notice the hole on the M4 BFA is larger than the hole on the M16 BFA. I read that due to the shorter gas system it needed a larger hole.

The hole on the SKS BFA is large becuase the blanks have more oomph to cycle the sks. also that SKS BFA is almost 2 pounds! it is a heavy mo-fo!

hope this helps

im not following.

what are hot blanks? as opposed to regular blanks?

USGI blanks the M200 are what you can call... "cat fart" blanks. they have just enough juice to barely cycle the M16.

Hollywood hot blanks are just that.. HOT. they not only cycle very strongly, but they are very loud, almost but not quite like a real shot. and they are flame throwers. This is why all the guns in movies have a huge fire ball when fired.

We had a bunch of hot blanks for our ARs and some .308 blanks for the semi-M60 and the ARs were 5 times louder than the M60 blanks.

Where is a good source for hollywood blanks? and is the adapter necissary?

Swanson Blanks

yes you need the hot BFA for the hot blanks or you will just have a "bolt action"

thanks CB1 for that comparison!

One note to add to CB1's excellent material: there are "Hollywood-style" hidden blank adapters sized for GI blanks.  It is CRUCIAL to keep such adapters separate!  It could be disasterous to fire a hot Hollywood blank through a GI sized adapter!  You CAN tell the difference by the size of the orifice in the adapter (Hollywood blanks use a much larger hole), but mistakes happen so KEEP THESE THINGS SEPARATED.