Firing blanks in our rifles

[Bill Ricca]

Rifles must be cleaned very thoroughly after shooting blanks. From PS magazine:

Information

Warning: This is a relatively older thread This discussion is older than 360 days. Some information contained in it may no longer be current.

[Wardog61]

Thanks guys,
I was a U.S. Marine for 14 years so every weapon I own gets cleaned like it is going to be inspected after every use. One round or one hundred, ball or blank makes no difference.
Up until recently, the rifles I used for reenactments were used for nothing but that purpose and their barrels were pretty much smootbores. The 30.06 blanks I've been using in my Garands were original USGI, '43 dated and are dirty as hell. But they go bang every time.
I'm almost out of those and will be using modern equivalents as well as current issue 7.62 NATO blanks. I'm delinking a bunch that I have on hand to use in my M1919 and M60E3. I've also bought up a few thousand rounds of the plastic German blanks. My 1919 loves them, but I'm waiting for warmer weather before I can find out if they work in a .308 Garand.

[Sarge]

Prolonged use of blanks in any semi/full auto weapon WILL cause bore erosion and you'll eventualy have a smooth bore. NO amount of cleaning will prevent this!
This is caused by the blank adapter holding the gases in the bbl. There is no way to avoid it unless you want a single shot. The more rapid/FA fire the quicker the wear.
I have an MG 42 bbl that the bore looks like a shotgun bbl. Needless to say it is the Only bbl that gets used with blanks. My MP 43 is beginning to look the same way - after 25 yrs. I have a Thompson showing signs of the same wear.
A few blanks occasionaly will Not hurt your rifle, it takes 1000s to do noticeable harm.
Sarge