PSA for new gun owners who don’t know the difference. Blanks are dangerous!!

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CaptJoshuaCalvert@reddit

I've never seen a blank IRL, is confusing these a real thing outside movie sets?

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Glum-Contribution380@reddit

Yes. Militaries and reenactors use them.

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TheAngelsCharlie@reddit

Unless you’re filming a movie, why on earth would you need blanks OR dummy rounds? Especially as a new gun owner?

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Stormdove216@reddit

Because dry firing can cause damage to the PIN if it's not hitting anything. The dummy rounds give it something to hit and absorb the energy impact.

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OleRockTheGoodAg@reddit

To my knowledge, this is still true for a good chunk of firearms out there today, surprised it took 15 responses for someone to say it. Do it for the Firing Pins.

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While it's speculation in everyone has an opinion on it, some say you can dry fire without it and be fine, others say you should probably have it bumping up against something. I'll take the ladder and just put in cap just to be safe. It's not hurting anything and if anything you possibly have an added benefit of preserving your hammer and pin so why not go the extra step to preserve your gun even if it's not actually true at the end of the day you know?

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OleRockTheGoodAg@reddit

Basically, it's my stance as well. And as everyone else has already mentioned, you get unlimited function practice too. All for like 10 bucks?

Not surprised I'm being downvoted

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Stormdove216@reddit

Yeah I'm surprised you're not downvoted me too. But that's the reality of it a lot of gunsmiths, "the professionals" recommend using bumper caps and there has to reason for that, I mean these guys literally build the guns... Even if at the end of the day it's not true why take the risk and damaging your gun over time with dry fires when you can just put in a one bumper cap or 5 for dry fire and training preserve your gun parts. I honestly just rather not risk it. Guns are expensive gun parts are expensive and if it turns out the be true you could be damaging your weapon. I just rather not take the chance. Also they're not just for that you can use them in practice so there's multiple benefits vs no downsides to using them so you might as well just use them..

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BlindMan404@reddit

Gunsmith here.

We advocate for using dummy rounds mostly out of an abundance of caution. Most guns can be dry-fired safely without them, but some can't either due to elements of the design, age and wear, or potential manufacturing flaws.

Basically better to use them and avoid the potential for an issue, even if it's unlikely. That said, I dry fire most of my guns without dummy rounds fairly often. I'm not, nor should I have to be, worried that my Glock 19 or FNX or Springfield XDS is going to break a striker/firing pin. If that does happen something was already very wrong with the part.

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Stormdove216@reddit

Thanks for the reply..I think I basically said this but I'm glad you clarified..

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Stormdove216@reddit

Yeah they're all good for practice as well. I got about five rounds I want to buy more to actually fill my whole magazine but they're good for practice as well. Help you get used to loading your magazine pulling around out of the chamber or you know handling rounds in general with the firearm in a safe way the only downside to the ones I got is they have this weird coating on them that seems to scrape off so they look like they're all beat up. I wish the weight was more accurate to an actual bullet though, like a loader gun with a magazines a lot heavier than having a magazine full of bumper caps

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BlindMan404@reddit

We used to sell a lot of blanks to people who trained hunting dogs, local school coaches for their starter pistols for track and field events (and one guy who used them to fire a cannon during football games), and the local veterans organization who had an honor guard for funerals.

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RandoAtReddit@reddit

Blanks are used for military funerals. I was on funeral rifle squad when I was active duty Army, and I have been to a military funeral (WWII vet) with the rifle team provided by the local VFW.

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risbia@reddit

Put a random dummy round in a magazine when shooting at the range to practice reacting to a failure to fire

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GhostC10_Deleted@reddit

I used to do this alot as a newbie, pour dummy rounds into the pile of ammo on my bench and load my mags blind. Good way to deal with flinch or malfunction drill.

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Fuegodeth@reddit

I love using a laser snap cap for practice. I have dummy rounds for my G17, but the laser one is what I keep coming back to. The snap cap doesn't get ejected each time, but it's great for feeling the trigger pull, and aiming the sights. To get it out I lock the slide open and use a stylus from my tablet to push it backwards.

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hikehikebaby@reddit

Whenever I have a friend who wants to learn more about guns, I start by bringing out an unloaded gun and helping them learn how to handle it, load it, and unload it with snap caps. It's a good way to help new shooters become more comfortable and practice essential skills without the risks associated with live ammunition.

You can also sneak them into a magazine to induce malfunctions or help diagnose recoil anticipation & sympathetic movements.

It's a one time $5 cost that's well worth it.

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DesertKitsuneMarlFox@reddit

reenactments come to mind

i almost only have blanks for my garand and my buddy’s first gun is going to be a garand and it’ll also probably see almost nothing but blanks

average person probably isn’t doing that though

otherwise they are useful to load into a mag at random for malfunction drills as they almost certainly won’t cycle the action

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Next_Quiet2421@reddit

Bout to day I use them to practice clearing shortstrokes, it's harder to notice something went wrong when the gun when bang versus other options like dummy rounds, still doesn't feel like a real round but I've definitely missed a few under pressure

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mkosmo@reddit

Dummy rounds (aka snap caps)? Function checks, demonstrations, and non-live drills are why I have mine.

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Talon_Company_Merc@reddit (OP)

I’ve seen one too many videos of people not knowing blanks are dangerous, and killing pets or hurting themselves. A lot of people think they’re completely harmless

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Underwater_Karma@reddit

Jon-Erik Hexum would likely agree if he were still alive

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throwthisaway556_@reddit

I keep dummy rounds for every caliber i own, they’re good for practice and function checks

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SnooDogs3903@reddit

Dummy rounds are good for practicing mechanics/muscle memory and dummy rounds are also used in go and no-go gauges. Pretty useful.

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AntiNumbers@reddit

Dummy rounds are useful for several reasons. One, off the top of my head, would be malfunction drills.

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Unlikely_Anything413@reddit

Dummy rounds are good for practicing loading , clearing etc

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skylinesora@reddit

Dummy rounds are fun to drill with

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SayNoToStim@reddit

Blanks can kill

I also feel really bad for laughing at this. It's not ok.

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NiceGuysFinishLast@reddit

Jesus I wasn't prepared for that. I feel terrible for laughing.

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Mechanizoid@reddit

Me too... poor lil' guinea pig. :'( Some people shouldn't have pets (or guns, tbh).

I still busted out laughing though. This is some Tom & Jerry level physics.

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JustynS@reddit

Brandon Lee died as a result of a blank loaded into a gun that had unknowingly had a squib.

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Pathfinder6a@reddit

Back in my Army days, we used to shoot cleaning rod sections into trees with blanks.

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Stumpy_Dan23@reddit

LMAO are you the reason why BFAs are a thing?

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Pathfinder6a@reddit

My Masonic lodge makes a lot of money with golf ball launchers during our golf tournaments.

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definitelynotpat6969@reddit

Sounds like my kinda lodge, brother!

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fancy_pigeon257@reddit

For those who fool around with blanks, would you olay with a live firecracker?

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Franklr_D@reddit

I never fool around with blanks. But fooling around with fireworks and running the risk of maiming yourself for life is part of our national identity here

Filling PVC pipes with play dough, cement, flash powder, shredded pingpong balls, magnesium dust, and then sticking a fuse in it is something every kid does. Right?

Right??

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PandorasFlame1@reddit

I got my partner square in the eye with the dummy round from my Mauser. They can still hurt you, especially from a rifle with a VERY healthy extractor.

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noimpactnoidea_@reddit

Lol, I did the same to my wife with a live round. Failure to fire, I rack it, it smoked her in the forehead. I didn't think an extracted 5.56 could make someone bleed

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TheMalformedLlama@reddit

…why was the barrel pointed at your partner’s face? Lol

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PandorasFlame1@reddit

I don't think you understand how dummy rounds work even after looking at the picture

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TheMalformedLlama@reddit

Yeah I realized after rereading that I’m an idiot, my bad lol

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vinnayar@reddit

It took me a reread to get it too

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Talon_Company_Merc@reddit (OP)

Fair enough lol

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awesome_jackob123@reddit

I’ve trained with a lot blanks in the Army over time. Outside they’re loud but nothing unbearable if it’s one or two.

One day after a training exercise I had almost a whole mag left of blanks. I was instructed to go back into the connex building and burn my remaining ammo.

It was in that day I understood how loud they are, especially when they echo off metal walls.

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noimpactnoidea_@reddit

We have 14.5" 7.62 blank rifles, and let me tell you. Firing those indoors is not a pleasant experience.

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WolfieAK@reddit

Similar story, only with live rounds. My friend was Navy and was stationed in Iraq. One of the buildings was secured and just inside the entrance was a man trap with two Marines in guard. They had a barrel of sand and the procedure was anyone coming in had to remove their mag, empty the chamber, and discharge into the barrel to price you did it before you could continue.

Naturally a butter bars comes in, drops his mag on the floor and discharges a live round into the barrel. Everyone had a good laugh once they got their hearing back.

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GhostC10_Deleted@reddit

WHAT?

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WhoNoseMarchand@reddit

Whenever we were on field ops and were given blanks, I'd feed them to the bush monster. Pull that charging handle back until they're all gone. No rifle cleaning for this guy.

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awesome_jackob123@reddit

This was the same day we got brand new M4s too. Nobody cleaned the factory grease out of them, and nobody could figure out why they didn’t cycle.

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Stumpy_Dan23@reddit

how about we treat all ammo as live rounds

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PrestigiousOne8281@reddit

Because not all rounds are live, and dummy rounds are pretty obvious. I keep dummy rounds in a couple of my mags & I know they’re dummy rounds because they’re bright orange, and I put them there.

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Stumpy_Dan23@reddit

Well, no shit

What Im saying is just b/c you have a mag loaded with dummys doesn't mean its safe to point the gun at anyone

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rlo54@reddit

So you’re saying I should stop dry firing with blanks?

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CanadianPenguinn@reddit

Real men dryfire with live rounds

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dubbs911@reddit

Well that isn’t a dry fire is it?

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rlo54@reddit

Definitely isn’t wet

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StressfulRiceball@reddit

speak for yourself mister

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rlo54@reddit

waifu noises intensify

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chargnawr@reddit

What!?

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rlo54@reddit

It’s how I’ve always done it. Makes it more realistic.

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GhostC10_Deleted@reddit

WHAT?

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rlo54@reddit

It’s how my daddy did it and his daddy before him.

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c-lab21@reddit

Did you get to meet either of them?

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rlo54@reddit

At least once

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MapleLettuce@reddit

MAWP

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Zoshchenko@reddit

What is the purpose of this?

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CrazyUncle-Dave@reddit

Which one?

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No-Organization3228@reddit

When I was a private, we used to shoot steel cleaning rods into trees out of our m4’s powered by blanks…was way more impressive than I initially thought it would be.

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Glum-Contribution380@reddit

Why was that done?

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Nebakanezzer@reddit

It's a bot copy pasting a comment from further up

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No-Organization3228@reddit

For the same reason we threw rocks at each other - we were young, bored and unsupervised.

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GritCato@reddit

This is great!! Do Magazine vs. Clip next. And then do Cartridge vs. Bullet vs. Casing

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Talon_Company_Merc@reddit (OP)

Actually…

That’s a good idea

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Wotown22@reddit

I’ve never seen a blank in my life.

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JoshuaTreeFoMe@reddit

"Of course you can't fuckin' see, I just shot a blank in your fuckin' eyes!"

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aguyindenver62@reddit

I've shot thousands of rounds of blanks running combat training teams and never had a problem other than occasional jams and lots of cleaning afterwards. Now if you look down the barrel or are close when someone shoots in your direction, that's a different story...

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Kelend@reddit

I've shot thousands of rounds of blanks running combat training teams

If you were shooting blanks then you were using an adapter to allow your firearm to cycle, this blocks the muzzle

It looks like this:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blank-firing_adapter#/media/File:US_Navy_101013-N-3013W-430_Construction_Electrician_2nd_Class_Carl_Harms,_from_Lake_Odessa,_Mich.,_assigned_to_Naval_Mobile_Construction_Battalion.jpg

You would know you can't look down the barrel.

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Quw10@reddit

Slight benefit of the doubt without knowing where they did all this but AK BFAs or at least the ones I've seen still have a hole you can see down the muzzle through and G3 ones still have an opening on the end as well.

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pollodustino@reddit

I once negligently discharged a blank when fucking around with my dad's old .44 Special in my 10x10 office.

Took about an hour for my ears to stop ringing. I've never been that stupid with ammo ever since.

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CheeseMints@reddit

Blank rounds you don't care if you lose

Dummy rounds will get you down on your belly humping the earth

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USArmyJoe@reddit

Please send this to every news anchor ever.

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BPC1994@reddit

If this helps even one dummy (no pun intended), then it was worth wasting 3 seconds of everyone else who sees this’ time.