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Posted: 6/14/2015 11:22:17 PM EDT
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I want opinions on reloading blanks. My Father recently past away Tuesday 6/9/15 from cancer. I was given the blanks from the 21 gun salute. My? I want to reload them so my son and I can hunt with them this year. 30-06 so I can shoot them out of my dads rifle or turn them all into 308 for my son. Some have very light crimp markings from being fire formed. I know their are more cons than pros for the 30-06 but really hoping to use his gun this hunting season with some of those reloaded.
BE KIND ABOUT WARNINGS OF DANGERS RELOADING IN 30-06. |
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Difficulty depends on the kind of blanks, although .30-06 blank cases are not of the same quality as normal cartridge brass and older blank cases are often from rejected lots. Blanks that just use a paper/cardboard wad in the neck are easy to trim and size for use as normal .30-06 brass provided the necks are annealed and the brass does not have any defects (denting, hairline cracks, etc). Star crimp blanks are harder, as they can end up cracking when trimmed and sized due to the brass becoming over stressed when crimped. Sometimes annealing the brass will prevent the necks from splitting when the star crimp is smoothed, other times it does not. These are newer and can come from the same lots as normal .30-06 brass, however the star crimp must be smoothed to get the correct neck length. Because of the issues with varying quality, most avoid loading blank brass and just buy standard cases as .30-06 and .308 are plentiful and cheap. Personally as the brass is from your father's salute, I would be inclined to place it in a display box with his flag and other mementos and just enjoy hunting with his rifle and good memories. |
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You may be able to use the blanks. You may want to barrow a 30/06 trim die and use that to cut the crimp out. Then anneal the case neck. If the cases are proper then use starting loads and test on the range.
If the case are not long enough for the 30/06 then see if you can barrow a 308 forming die and turn them into the 308 and then use starting loads. I just used some 5.56 blanks to form into 7.62x25 cases. But these are little less pressure then the 5.56. |
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Some good advice has been given already. I look at differently. I have some casings from my father's salute as well as from my uncle's. I keep them as keep sakes.
Once you alter them they are no longer original especially if you cut them down to .308s. Why not put one on a necklace or key chain and carry with you while you hunt. 
Motor |
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If I were going to do this, and warnings about soft blank brass be damned, I would be using reduced velocity loads (with a lot less pressure than full power loads):
https://www.hodgdon.com/PDF/H4895%20Reduced%20Rifle%20Loads.pdf "Safe"? I have no idea. Case head failure is no joke. Less likely to lose an eye or finger at "only" 30,000cup at least. |
| Blanks are loaded to high pressures, otherwise they will not cycle. The killer with the cases is the crimp. Takes part of the neck, making the case to short in a bottleneck cartridge. Also the primer is crimped in most rifle blanks, and the flash hole is larger. If you are going to do this, start low and work up. A bolt action gun would be best. And use a chronograph to work up your loads. |
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all of the things said to dissuade you from doing this were also said about 5.56mm blanks, and they were all untrue
lower quality brass - false flash hole bigger - false even the knurling at the base of the case was said to weaken the case - false but in the end you will need to do some research. call lake city and ask them about this info in regards to the 30-06 blanks ETA: link to 5.56 blank to live conversion and testing |
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Blanks have enough pressure to operate a semi auto??
Since when? Every M16, M14 or M60 I've seen firing blanks had to have a bland firing adaptor mounted to the flash suppressor/barrel to get it to work as a semi-auto. At Arlington Cemetary, at least in the mid to late 70's when I was in Honor Guard Co., the firing teams had to manual work the op. rod prior to each shot. I have loaded .223 blanks. They start out with a somewhat shorter neck but my M700 varmint rifle didn't seem to mind. I intend to load some .308 blanks once I get a little more spare time. Having said all that. The OP is experimenting and with experimenting there are risks. |
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There is a reason simi autos have to use a b.f.f. and it has nothing to do with the power of the blank.
A simi auto needs back pressuer to operate. During normal firing the bullet creates the back pressure.when you use a blank there is no bullet to creating the back pressuer so everything go out the muzzle. The b.f.d creates the needed back pressure to operate the bolt. If you dont think blanks have power then look around, they have been used for years to launch grenades and line devices.you can get golf ball launchers tennis ball / soda can launchers for a ar 15,. To launch the heavy loads that takes some power. |
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Raccoons have been killed with blanks and single sections of cleaning rods.
When I was the NCO of a firing party squad we would polish the blank rounds before hand to make it easier to find them and have the blanks be more presentable. From memory of handling spent 30-06 blank rounds they seemed much thicker than Comercial 308 rounds. Good luck making them shoot. Just don't get too upset if you lose a few. |
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