Making blanks

>>32869401
A rosette crimp will let you make that front shape. To make blanks cycle, you need a partially closed off barrel, which is why militaries use a blank firing adapter when condicting blank training.

There are custom barrels you can buy that are set up for blanks already, or you can make your own if you are handy.

>>32869486

I can buy a blank firing gun for less than a barrel will cost me, and with considerably less hassle. Damnit. But I will look for that rosetta crimper anyway, if only to get an idea of price and availability.

I would suggest against it. Pleanty of people have died from blanks.
It normalizes aiming at things you don't intend to kill, any thing slid into the barrel can become a projectile, you can mix up magazines and have live bullets when you intend to fire blanks, or vice versa if you need to defend yourself, also people do stupid shit with them like pretending to an hero and actually an heroing.

Still, do what you want
SHALL

>>32870433
You don't have to tell him to not be retarded, you could as well tell any person on /k/ 'oh don't get a gun its dangerous if you treat it like a toy you can shoot yourself!'

also OP, if your pistol has a threaded barrel you could make a blank adapter by just welding over a thread protector or something, might be something to consider if you're interested in other applications a threaded barrel has to offer like a compensator or suppressor

>>32869401
I've got an additional question. Could you just use hard wax to keep the powder in as opposed to crimping the casing like that?

>>32871762
Yes but they may not feed well since it'll be flat faced, and the wax will likely become a projectile to some degree.

>>32869401
You'll want to use taller brass like .38 super. Crimping 9mm brass will make the OAL very short.

I am not going to pour warm wax into a shell filled with powder granulate. Nu-uh. And welding will not happen with any pistol of mine. Knowing that I can't make this happen without doing work on the barrel is enough to deter me, really. But I am curious none the less. For one thing, take a look at the bottom of that bottom of the shell on that first pot picture. I don't even think my pistol will accept something shaped like that. Perhaps someone owning an actual blank firer can tell me how that work out?

>>32869401
C H Tool and Die sells star-crimping dies. Other methods would be a factory roll crimp (Lee factory crimp die) with an overshot wad or piece of sheet styrofoam cut out with an empty piece of brass. Star crimps are faster and more secure but render non-reusable cases.

You're gonna play hell getting blanks to cycle in semi-auto guns since they need significant backpressure to cycle, and that backpressure is normally created by the bullet. Most rifles can easily have a blank firing adaptor bought or fabbed for them but pistols are difficult (or at least expensive).

Powder charges are normally extremely light and done with a bulky powder like Red Dot or Trail Boss, further complicating getting blanks to cycle in semi's.

>>32872535

I am fascinated to get this insight into it, I really am. Right now I have trouble even seeing why anyone would want to make dies for it - is the demand really that high? For the special effects guys I can see the see the use but right now I seem to be looking at a hefty investment in time and work to be making a rather useless bang.

>>32872731
There's a big market for exhibition shooters and special effects guys.

One of the primary reasons they're so popular among Cowboy Action stuff is it's a safety precaution for things like quickdraw competition, and to save your horse's hearing for mounted competition (a low-charge blank will still pop a balloon at ~5ft while being hearing-safe).

For that stuff, Starline makes "5 in 1" brass designed specifically for blanks.