[SML] : Re: Stage Pistol?

[Duncan Mahoney]

Tim asks:

"Anyone know why blank pistols tend to be unreliable?? Is it the blank
ammo?? I shot .22 rifles competitively for years and had only 1 or 2
duds in the entire time, but have had many instances of misfires with
blanks".

Well as has been pointed out $30-40 only buys so much quality in a firearm shaped object.  The cheap .22 cal. blank guns tend to have a light hammer and a hammer mounted firing pin, and pretty crummy indexing.  Step up to a blank gun costing over $100, and you can get better features like a floating firing pin, better hammer spring, cylinder stop, etc.  But it's still made of pot metal so it won't be reliable forever.  One trick to eke out a bit more reliability from a double action blank revolver is to train the performer to only use it in single action mode.

I tend to prefer productions use .38 cal. blank firing revolvers.  They give you the most versatility in blank loads, assuming you are willing and able to load custom blanks yourself, or have a vendor who will. 

 .22 cal. blanks are only available in 3 "loudnesses".  The .22 /6mm Flobert " acorn" blanks, the .22 CCI smokeless short, and the .22 Winchester black powder short blanks.  There's also a Fiocchi .22 long blank, but it is too powerful for many blank firing guns.  Availability of .22 blanks is also tied to the larger .22 cal. ammunition market, so shortages happen (Winchester blanks are currently out of stock at about half the vendors I deal with...YMMV).  

 .32 cal. blanks are available in a few different loads, but availability has been spotty lately due to shortages.  Many years ago I used to handload blanks in this caliber, but the supply of .32 Smith and Wesson short brass seems to have dried up in the market. 

 The .38/9mm rimmed blanks are based on .38 short Colt brass, which is obsolete but still available from Starline.  I'll buy full loads, and sometimes half-loads, as the components to make a blank cost almost what the manufactured blank costs.  But any other power level we make in-house so we can customize the sound to the Director's desires.  

Semi-automatic (and full auto) blank guns are another issue entirely.  None will cycle with anything less than a full load, and they are usually louder than the Directors want in any of the smaller theaters.  We should lobby the blank gun manufacturers to make up some "half load guns and ammunition".  But judging by the huge number of vendors on the net, I'm guessing theatrical use is a pretty small part of the "things that go bang but aren't really guns" market.

Duncan Mahoney
Director of Technical Direction
Associate Professor of Theatre Practice
University of Southern California School of Dramatic Arts