Making Own Blank Cartridges

[iRONM4N]

Gents! I have a blank fire m1 thompson and I like to make the blank cartiges for myself.
It's operating 45 ACP rounds.
My question is wich is the best rifle ammo to cut to 45 size? What are the correct measure for it? I have all the tools to get started to make my own blanks.

[reconbob]

Atlantic Wall uses cut down 7.62 NATO cases to make their blanks. The usual process is

to cut the case, run it thru a die which puts on a shoulder, then crimp it. I had a requirement

for blanks here and tried this and it did not work for me. The wall of the case was so thick it

would not crimp, so I reamed out the cases to make the wall thin. It would crimp OK but the

rifle case is much more tapered than a .45 case and when you tried to put the shoulder on

it was loose in the die and you'd get a shoulder on one side or the other but not even all

around. Attempting to do this was such a failure that I ended up machining blanks from

aluminum bar stock.

Now, Atlantic Wall makes 1000's of .45 blanks from 7.62 NATO brass so they've got it

figured out. Quite likely they have special tooling to do it.

Its very time consuming to cut and dress the cases to get them ready to load. You might

want to think about just buying blanks.

 

Bob

[2ndArmored]

If you've still got an itch to make your own, try a .44 Auto case. It's got the same dimensions as a complete .45 ACP cartridge. https://www.starlinebrass.com/brass-cases/44-Auto-Mag-Brass/

[deerslayer]

I bought starline blank 45 Acp brass. Had to buy large quantity though...

[Chief762]

Starline has a very good article on their webite regarding blanks and how to make them.

[2ndArmored]

I bought starline blank 45 Acp brass. Had to buy large quantity though...

Indeed they do make a shell with the same specs as a live .45 ACP. It's not listed as a regular item on the website. When I bought 'em many moons ago, there was a 5000 round minimum. The .44 Auto has essentially the same dimensions and you can buy as few as 500.

[iRONM4N]

Thanks guys for the info! will chek the 44 Auto case and make a few test rounds in the upcoming weeks and see how its gona work!

[Wayne W]

Here is a few articles with some info on making 45 ACP shotshells. Just leave out the shot, shot wad and use thin cardboard to hold the powder in. CH4D makes a rose crimp die for 45 ACP blanks, then use some Duco cement to close up the hole in the nose.

 

http://www.ammochannel.com/45-acp-shotshells-handloaded/

 

http://www.avr-developers.com/45shotshell/hl80.html

 

http://www.avr-developers.com/45shotshell/45_shot_cartridges.pdf

 

Got this 2" cut off saw from harbor frieght and fixed it up for cutting brass.

 

http://i995.photobucket.com/albums/af79/Wcube2/TSMG/2014-05-27113154.jpg

 

The Lee Quik Trim dies and cutter can be set up to give you a consistent trim to length.

 

.308 cases for the wide extractor groove same as on the 45 ACP case.

Trimmed case length, Roll crimp 1.250, Rose crimp 1.290

[reconbob]

This photo clearly shows the problem I was having. I have a CH4D die set - a shoulder die

and a crimp die. A .308 case, because of the taper, slides to one side or the other when you try to

put the shoulder on with the result that you see - one side gets the shoulder and the other side is

straight:

 

http://i51.photobucket.com/albums/f392/reconbob/IMG_5581_zps3a8365fb.jpg

 

Are you saying that if I use a .41 magnum seating die followed by a .41 magnum sizing die I will get a correct shoulder?

 

Bob

Edited November 23, 2014 by reconbob

[Wayne W]

When I started making blanks it was with the RCBS Shotshell dies and then got the CH4D blank die set. Someone sent those articles when I got into making 45 ACP shotshells.

 

I just grabbed a rough cut 308 case and ran it through the CH4D shoulder and crimp dies. It is a little hard to see but the shoulder does go all the way around the case. Maybe you need to have a talk with the folks at CH4D about your die set.

 

 

http://i995.photobucket.com/albums/af79/Wcube2/TSMG/308caseCH4Dshoulder.jpg

 

http://i995.photobucket.com/albums/af79/Wcube2/TSMG/308caseCH4Dcrimp.jpg

[iRONM4N]

Wayne thanks for the advise and share your expirance! Yesterday I tooked out my Tommy for test shooting and with cout down 308 blanks it worked just as it should. But when I tried a cut down S&B 7x 54 and S&B 8x54 the round stucked in the chamber. Some times it did fire one of them but the round also stucked. ( they where factory made ) They are 45 ACP size blanks on the box.... I thinked about using sand-cloth to polish out my chamber a bit.

[iRONM4N]

The interesting part is that my brothers thompson is running well with both 7x57 and 308 Blanks.....

Left side is the 308 the right is 7x57
http://www.kepfeltoltes.hu/141123/DSC_1369_www.kepfeltoltes.hu_.jpg
http://www.kepfeltoltes.hu/141123/DSC_1368_www.kepfeltoltes.hu_.jpg