Shooting old wooden blanks

[trevi]

So I have been thinking of buying some old rifle ammo blanks to shoot and save the brass. Is this a good idea? Can you reload Berdan primed brass? Will the wooden projectile affect modern gun barrels?

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[Camelfilter]

No.

Not worthwhile.

No.

 

[trevi]

No.

Not worthwhile.

No.

What about pulling the wooden bullets out and replace with an actual bullet?

 

[Camelfilter]

Good gosh, NO.

Caveat, least ways not without a LOT of risk/skill/knowledge.

What kind of powder, projectile etc etc.

Might it be worthwhile? Might be, might not be.

Truly depends if "others" have done such ahead of you, and use there BASELINE to go from. Or, unchartered territory.

Baseline to work from? Sure, if you think worthwhile.

Unchartered territory? Nope. Not for me, can't say as to thee.

 

[trevi]

I supposed I could have answered my own question had I came across this J&Gsales article. Nice!

6.5×55 Swede ammo with wooden bullets?

This is original Swedish military issue M14 6.5×55 Mauser ammo, with a wooden bullet. Here at J&G we have some of this interesting ammo in stock and we get asked, “What would I do wi…

jggunsmith.wordpress.com

 

[Certaindeaf]

I supposed I could have answered my own question had I came across this J&Gsales article. Nice!

6.5×55 Swede ammo with wooden bullets?

This is original Swedish military issue M14 6.5×55 Mauser ammo, with a wooden bullet. Here at J&G we have some of this interesting ammo in stock and we get asked, “What would I do wi…

jggunsmith.wordpress.com

.."

• Paint the bullets a more normal color and use it for historical display, or for museum and reenactment use."

I wouldn't do that

 

[Unka-Boo]

There are a ton of threads on Gunboards in the swede section about this. It works fine, you are just using the blanks for primed brass. Pull wod bullet, discard powder, refill with rifle powder, seat bullet.
I have a case of those just for that endeavor.

 

[Certaindeaf]

Prolly be just the ticket for vampires.

 

[Member 5605]

I know a guy who shot those wooden blanks.

I wouldn't have but he enjoyed it. They went sideways about 3' in front of the barrel.

 

[oldcorpgunny]

My dad brought home a stripper clip of 8MM Mauser ammo from WWII. They had wooden bullets. He said that at the end the Germans were trying everything to prevent the allies from winning the war. I saw similar attempts with VC weapons during the Vietnam debacle.

 

[gmerkt]

When I was a teenager in the 1960's, those 8mm German blanks could be bought. I think they cost a nickel apiece. We bought them, thinking they were "last ditch" material made at the end of the war. Not so, they were blank cartridges. We tried to see what impact they would make. At very close ranges, we never could see any evidence of a hit. Maybe the wood bullet just combusted or disintegrated.

The powder used in any blank cartridge is way too fast to be used for propelling an actual projectile.

 

[oldcorpgunny]

When I was a teenager in the 1960's, those 8mm German blanks could be bought. I think they cost a nickel apiece. We bought them, thinking they were "last ditch" material made at the end of the war. Not so, they were blank cartridges. We tried to see what impact they would make. At very close ranges, we never could see any evidence of a hit. Maybe the wood bullet just combusted or disintegrated.

The powder used in any blank cartridge is way too fast to be used for propelling an actual projectile.

Yes, perhaps they were blank cartridges. none the less, ol' pop thought that the "Krauts" were down to using wooden bullets. Several years ago, I was at a gun show and bought a case of "Limited Flight" bullets in 7.62 X 39MM. The projectiles were plastic. I never fired a single round and ended up selling them to someone else.

 

[P7M13]

I think there was one thread here, and a few others out on the web about those 4K round lots. One guy actually did buy them, replace the bullet and powder, shoot it and then drill out the flash hole to make it a boxer primed case.
I thought, what a lot of work to save what amounts to be a few pennies apiece overall. Might as well step on your kak while you're at it.
But, the dumpster divin', cheap ba'tard in me was really attracted to the cost! No, I didn't....

 

[gmerkt]

Yes, perhaps they were blank cartridges. none the less, ol' pop thought that the "Krauts" were down to using wooden bullets.

Yeah, that's what we thought too. But these many years later, I've thought if they were so short of copper and lead as to use wood for bullets, they would've been short on brass as well. The wooden tipped blanks we had then had brass casings. By the late war years, the Germans were using steel casings on most of their small arms cartridges. So if they'd really intended to use non-strategic materials, such "last ditch" rounds logically would've had steel casings. And maybe they did have some steel cased blanks and I just never saw any. But they were still blanks and not designed for lethal results.

The Germans were pretty clever with chemicals. I'm thinking if they'd come up with a substitute bullet, it might've been made with some kind of synthetic petroleum-based material crossed with powdered iron or some such. Which would've flown much better than wood and with lethal effect.

I was at a gun show and bought a case of "Limited Flight" bullets in 7.62 X 39MM.

I'm not familiar with these. I wonder if these were designed for riot control? The east bloc governments were always afraid of internal resistance. Like E. Germany, 1953, Hungary, 1956, Czecho. 1968, numerous Polish uprisings beginning in 1956, etc.

 

[Unka-Boo]

Yeah, that's what we thought too. But these many years later, I've thought if they were so short of copper and lead as to use wood for bullets, they would've been short on brass as well. The wooden tipped blanks we had then had brass casings. By the late war years, the Germans were using steel casings on most of their small arms cartridges. So if they'd really intended to use non-strategic materials, such "last ditch" rounds logically would've had steel casings. And maybe they did have some steel cased blanks and I just never saw any. But they were still blanks and not designed for lethal results.

The Germans were pretty clever with chemicals. I'm thinking if they'd come up with a substitute bullet, it might've been made with some kind of synthetic petroleum-based material crossed with powdered iron or some such. Which would've flown much better than wood and with let


I'm not familiar with these. I wonder if these were designed for riot control? The east bloc governments were always afraid of internal resistance. Like E. Germany, 1953, Hungary, 1956, Czecho. 1968, numerous Polish uprisings beginning in 1956, etc.

East German training ammo...plastic core in the bullet, intended for short distance and indoor ranges.

The "wood blanks" are all training ammo, almost all use it in conjunction with a muzzle device that is reverse rifled so the bullet disintegrates.

 

[deadeye]

I have the 7.62x39 painted green wood ones, shot at an empty soda box and looked more like a shotgun pattern than a rifle. Pretty much splintered as it exited the barrel. Been saving them to maybe load up some hunting rounds for a mini 30. I've given away boxes to people for the novelty factor but still have quite a bit. Maybe use it for rats inside a barn, look pretty funny hunting rats with an AK.....LOL. I would think it would work fine after pulling the wood and powder and just skip the sizing/ primer eject die and go from there.