Pretty simple question really. I’m interested in loading up some blank shells for my S&W 500 revolver. I’ve found a few places online that would sell me already loaded blanks but I can’t find the materials (wadding and special dies?) anywhere that would let me load my own shells. Can any doper point me in the right direction? Is this even possible?
Can I ask why, and what your budget is?
You can buy reloading machines, but most of them aren’t cheap and take some practice to get working. As for loading blanks… You could load almost anything under the crimp, but remember to load light charges and **Blanks are still potentially lethal. **
I’ll second that blanks are still quite dangerous. You can still kill someone from a point-blank shot, and seriously burn them from a ways away. If you do this, make sure that you mark both your blanks and live shells well so you don’t get confused.
You are aware that powder for blanks is quite different from powder for “real” ammo? Burn rate for .30 NATO blanks is probably somwhere in the vicinity of shotgun powder, i.e. a lot faster than normal rifle powder. If you know someone who’s into blackpowder shooting, I’d check with them. Blanks are a lot easier with blackpowder.
I’m of course assuming that you are familiar with handloading. I wouldn’t recommend this to anyone who isn’t; handloading a quite effective way to rid yourself with a finger, an eye or at least a gunvif you don’t know what you’re doing…
That would be quite a blank. I’ve never seen a blank for a big-bore handgun before.
I assume you’re speaking of a typical reloading press similar to this one. That’s the press I have and I’m just learning how to use it under the tutelage of my father. Assuming it’s even possible to load blanks on it, I assume I’d need special dies. If you’re referring to a different type of machine then please provide a link.
I didn’t know that about the difference in burn rate but I’m not surprised. I’m learning to handload from my father. He’s been doing it for 60 years and he had no clue how to go about producing blanks so I’m assuming at the very least I’ll need to track down some excellent documentation on the loads and process.
Or maybe I just need to give up on the idea entirely. I want some blanks but they’re not worth going broke or getting killed for them.
On re-reading the OP: Since it’s for a revolver, I’d check with the guys who do Cowboy Action shooting. I wouldn’t be surprised if a dose of BP similar to a .45LC load, with some wax and/or a cardboard disk on top, would do the trick.
But for Og’s sake: Check with someone who’s experienced in these things before you try anything. Don’t take anything you’ve read on an Internet discussion forum as even remotely reliable. Especially when it comes to handloading…
From my experience one problem you get with doing smokeless ones for revolvers is that the primer tends to back out on discharge and freeze up the cylinder. Drilling out the flash hole to a larger size can reduce this tendency (but too large and the primer’s got no support).
What are you proposing to use these things for?
Do NOT use candle wax, which can and does emerge in a solid lump, and I have seen two serious injuries caused by this.
What do you plan to do with these? This seems like an awful lot of trouble to go to just to have an expensive, dangerous noise maker. I’m seriously asking you, what is the point? To be able to haul that big ol’ hogleg out and fire it into the air at parties? To frighten birds? What? Blanks are far from safe, and here we are talking about a high pressure round fired from a pretty darn expensive gun. “Why?” seems like a very valid starting question.
Surely much lower pressure than a standard round and safe for the gun if the blank is properly loaded?
I have no answer for the OP, but I’d avoid black powder. It is a pain to clean up and poses serious risk of corrosion if not cleaned up promptly and throughly. The residue is hygroscopic, and the left over Sulphur and nitrate compounds can form various acids when they combine with water from the air. In general, cleaning agents intended for smokeless residue are not up to the task. Lots of hot soapy water is the preferred method, then you have to get it all dry and oiled before that causes rust.
Lower than a ball round, yes. But, there is still going to be high temperature, high pressure gas exiting the bore. There may also be fragments of some type of wad, depending on how the blank was constructed. This is not a kid’s cap gun we are talking about.
As far as harming the gun, black powder and improper/inadequate cleaning will do that quite nicely. For a gun as costly as the OP’s, gumming the innards up with corrosive residue for the sake of making some noise seems ill-advised.
How on earth would you confuse the two? Wouldn’t you notice the bullet sticking out of one and not the other? 
Three guesses why a replica of a 9mm pistol will use 8mm blanks.
Is that a single stage press?
If you had a multistage/progressive press, you could manually take a clean case (with primer seated), put a very light and measured charge (that you’ve found elsewhere, hopefully from calling an ammunition manufacturer or something – how much risk you want to take is up to you) and then progress the press to the next stage, instead of placing a bullet and then crimping, since it’s a revolver you could use anything (a small piece of cardboard with light wax coating to seal the edges so the gun powder doesn’t fall out) to seal the tip.
Remember, always keep it pointed in a safe direction, there still may be a lethal or very dangerous projectile that comes out of the end. And please, for the love of Og, make sure you inspect the firearm before, and after, shooting blanks to make sure there’s no fouling in the barrel (either from the blanks, or that could be forced out by the blank). Also, do me a favor and don’t home brew your loads, find sites online which are reputable (iirc federal ammunition used to run a site with loads, and most powder manufacturers will give you spreadsheets based on your caliber), whether you’re shooting real bullets or blanks, guns can be dangerous and lethal, be safe and take care.
Since you’re using a revolver, not a semiautomatic, you should only need to seal the end, not create a fake bullet to ensure feeding. That makes your life easier, and safer.
Yup, that’s right. Cleaning is a chore when you use BP.
Anything you can do on a multistage press, can be done on a single stage press. It just doesn’t go as fast (which can be a big advantage, especially for novice handloaders, since you have a better control over what happens)
You’d still have the problem that normal smokeless powder is a lot slower than blank powder. Without the bullet, you don’t get the pressure that normal smokeless needs to go bang the way it should.
For an illustration of the differences, do the experiment. One small pile of ordinary smokeless, one small pile of smokeless for blanks and one small pile of BP. A match to each, but keep back. The ordinary smokeless burns slowly, the smokeless for blanks burns notably quicker, and the BP goes WHOOP (and probably takes out your eyebrows in the process 
)
I wouldn’t try loading blanks with ordinary smokeless. There may be blanks to be bought, AFAIK the CA guys use blanks for the “quick draw” competitions for safety reasons (no cite, though, just some unclear memories to back up that claim)
Im aware – I just have no experience with single stage presses, therefore I couldn’t tell you the best way to use a single stage press for this job, I could only really instruct you on how to use a square deal b a single stage at a time.
As for smokeless versus black powder – I still don’t recommend using black, because its somcorrosive, in such an expensive gun. It’s borderline impossible to clean. There are faster burning smokeless powders, you’d just have to use the fastest burning one you can find, coupled with the right blank. Ita not going to produce the same bang that the .500 normally would, but you really don’t want it to for most situations… You’re using your 500 for a starter pistol, you’d like to be able to hear after, I assume?
I’m still curious what the point of making these is. How much call does one have for firing blank cartridges in a huge revolver primarily designed for hunting? I’ve owned guns most of my life and have never fired blanks outside of the military.
More than anything else, it’s just simple curiosity. I don’t especially need them for any purpose but I was trying to find out if it was possible/practical/safe to do so. There’s no dark purpose in mind here. I wasn’t planning on using them to frighten anyone or for any illegal or cruel purpose. I just thought it might be interesting to be able to turn out a few.
Many thanks for all the kind and useful applies.
One of these days, I might actually learn to type, spell or maybe even (dare to dream) think. Please insert “replies” as appropriate.