Firing blanks with blank firing device?

[Hamster]

Hello,

has anyone military training experience with shooting blanks with the M3/M3A1 during his service time?

 

I know the military blank rounds M9 (introduced in 1942) but I wonder why there is no blank firing device mentioned in any manual.

Does the weapon work in fullauto when shooting blanks without any device fixed to the muzzle?

 

Thanks

Michael

 

[jim c 351]

Hamster,

To the best of my info the M3 was never provided with a Blank firing adapter.

The M3 will not fire full auto without a bore restriction and neither will the 1911 operate without a bore restriction.

!n 1942 the 45 blanks were used for signaling.

The M3 SMG's you see in the movies have a restriction in the barrel and will not shoot ball ammo.

Jim C

[Got Uzi]

I might be mistaken but there was a rash of barrels being sold that had thread on the muzzle awhile back. Someone told me that these were made to fit a blank adapter on.

 

Another way that you could set up an M3 to fire blanks would be to tap the bore and insert a pipe plug that has a small hole drilled in it. But to answer your question-there has to be something to force the bolt to blow back-the round going down the bore does this so the weapon is allowed to cycle as designed.

[Hamster]

Hello,

thanks a lot for the replies.

 

I do not want to convert a gun to fire blank rounds. I was just wondering about the fact that a blank round was introduced by the military, but no blank firing device can be found in the manuals and parts lists.

So what did the soldiers do with the blank rounds? Did they cock the weapon by hand after each round that was fired (sounds a bit strange to me)?

[jim c 351]

Hamster,

To the best of my knowledge the M3 was not used to fire blank during field exercises, and certainly not while I was in the army. I was in the 1st Cav. in Korea in 1963. The tanks all had a M3A1 guns on them. The crew members also had 1911 automatic pistol. Neither was used to fire blanks. Blanks were fired out of the M14 rifle and the M60 MG. We didn't fire blanks out of the 50 BMG either.

Since I never examined a M9 blank I don't know if it would feed out of an M3.

The US Army had a blank with a rim that would only work with the 1917 revolvers, and were used for signaling. I've never examined one of these either.

And finally , any automatic gun , without a bore restrictor, would have to be operated manually.

Jim C

[ACARLG]

Raising this topic again, why can't an M9 flash hider be fitted with a reduced-bore restricting washer as a simple Blank Firing Device?

[jim c 351]

Since the flash hider is not threaded to the barrel, it would probably get blown off before finishing 1 mag.

Jim C

[inertord]

USGI M9 blanks will cycle thru a magazine, although they are somewhat difficult to find anymore. I have a M3 barrel from Stembridge that was internally blank adapted at the muzzle with a threaded insert. Have never tried to fire it.