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So, just how lethal are blanks?

My dad told me a story that when he was in army basic training he saw a guy get killed by a blank. Supposedly the blank hit him in the chest at the right moment and his heart stopped.
 
dravnx said:
My dad told me a story that when he was in army basic training he saw a guy get killed by a blank. Supposedly the blank hit him in the chest at the right moment and his heart stopped.
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I've heard the same thing about people wearing body armor being struck by a .22.

The question for this, though, is what came out of the barrel from the blank?

Most blanks that I know of use crimping, and, so, shouldn't be ejecting anything (normally).
 
From my understanding, there is a small cardboard wad.
 
That would be why he is (now) an expert.
 
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Sylvester Stallone said that on the set of Rambo IV he did a demonstration where they put 200lbs of meat into a dummy and shot it with the 50cal blank. He said he thought it might knock it over or put a dent in it. Instead, pink mist. He then apparently was able to cut a stand of bamboo trees down with blanks.

Was a good read. Blanks are deadly AF.

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/t...-interview-rocky-rambo-tulsa-king-1235254384/

No one has shot more blanks than me. On Rambo IV, I wanted to show what a .50-caliber could do to a human being. We took a dummy and filled it with 200 pounds of beef. I thought, “When I fire, it will knock the dummy over.” There were no bullets in the gun. It was just the force of the compression in the shell. But it turned the dummy into mist. It blew it apart. Then I turned the .50-caliber to a row of bamboo trees and it literally cut them in half. This is without bullets!
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Actor Erik Hexum was killed by a blank. He shot his own temple with the gun.:(
 
I spent 4 days in a Fort Ord hospital with my eyes covered from an m14 (7.62) blank to the face at about 5 feet. Besides the wading, there is a lot of burning and unburnt gunpowder exiting from the muzzle. Five particles were removed from my left eye, and I picked small hard crystals from my face for a year after. It was like being hit with a red hot frying pan. Dumbshit drill sargents forgot the blank adapters, that are small plates attached to the muzzle to deflect the debris. FTA
 
bobl said:
I spent 4 days in a Fort Ord hospital with my eyes covered from an m14 (7.62) blank to the face at about 5 feet. Besides the wading, there is a lot of burning and unburnt gunpowder exiting from the muzzle. Five particles were removed from my left eye, and I picked small hard crystals from my face for a year after. It was like being hit with a red hot frying pan. Dumbshit drill sargents forgot the blank adapters, that are small plates attached to the muzzle to deflect the debris. FTA
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I remember playing beer hunter at Ft Ord in 82 while an ROTC cadet. Beer Hunter is 2 beers, one shaken up to bursting, the 2 beers are placed in front of 2 cadets that pull the tabs at the same time. Someone gets a beer shampoo.
 
NorCalBusa said:
That would be why he is (now) an expert.
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Tragic event - obviously - but that is pretty damn funny.

Gotta love Hollywood actors. Most of them are anti-gun except for:

1. Any role that requires them to use a gun as long as they are getting paid a ton of money.

2. Their personal phalanx of armed bodyguards.
 
....a friend thought he was shooting blanks...wife got pregnant anyway.
True story....;)
DT
 
Just laying out some basic Science & Logic here:

As an Army gun aficionado, I've been around guns for about thirty years, as an armorer, ammunition, & range guy, dealing with multiple calibers, from 5.56mm and 7.62 & .30-06 rifles to .50cal HMGs to 75mm and 105mm howitzers.

Any non-fired ammunition contains some amount of igniter/propellant, be it the primer (igniter) or gunpowder, black or smokeless (propellant).

On impact of the firing pin striking the primer and the primer igniting/burning the gunpowder, the gunpowder converts to heat, smoke, and gunpowder debris, all contained within the barrel, the smoke expanding until the volume of smoke reaches its limit, depending on the volume, regardless if the smoke is pushing a projectile/bullet or not.

If the material is a bullet, the bullet is pushed out of the barrel at the speed designed by the powder manufacturer. If the ammunition is a blank, the packing material could be a dab of waxy paint covering a crimp (5.56), a small disk of paper (7.62/.30-06) or a cardboard/wax disk the diameter of the round (75mm to 105mm).

The firing of the primer contains enough combustion to fire the gunpowder. The firing of the gunpowder for a live round contains enough heat & smoke to propel a bullet hundreds of yards at very high speeds, supersonic in most cases. For blank rounds, enough powder to cycle the 5.56 or 7.62/.30-06, and for the 75mm or 105mm, enough to blow out that burning cardboard/wax disk several hundred feet.

The potential damage starts at the muzzle and ends when the heat & smoke reaches dissipation distance from the muzzle, depending on the amount of gunpowder.

I would STRONGLY advise not being anywhere near the end of any weapon if there's the potential for heat & smoke.

This pic is a 75mm WW2 Pack howitzer firing a 1-pound blank round (DODIC C025) and the burning black power has not yet reached maximum distance. You can see burning embers still being propelled, and the fireball itself is rotating as an effect of the rifled barrel (note the red/yellow at the muzzle). The "safe" distance for this burning mass is probably close to 30 feet. Decibels produced at the muzzle are approximately 177dB. Black powder is being used as it creates more-visible smoke & fire, if smokeless powder is used, there's less "shock & awe" for the audience.
 

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