Blanks + New Year = dumb

[BADUNAME37]

When I was young and foolish I went out back at my folk's home (I was about 15) and shot my 20 gauge shotgun into the air over the acres and acres of woods we had behind our house.

While I was shooting, someone was on the phone telling me the correct time by the Bell System Time Recording.

I guess I must have fired over a dozen shells or so when I was told that the phone went dead. Sure enough, I had been shooting up in the air, but had completely forgotten about the overhead telephone line coming into the house!

The next morning, you could see the line where a pellet had hit it, one of the conductors was stripped a bit and separated upwardly!

The telephone repairmen did not appreciate coming out first thing on New Years Day, although I bet he was paid well that morning!

I was LUCKY I did not hit the 100 amp service entrance triplex wire leading from the utility pole in the woods up to the same location where the telephone wire was connected! A pretty-much DIRECT hit from a 20 gauge modified choke with like 6 or 7.5 shot would have made a bit of a lighting show of sparks, I would think!

I remember for the phone line, they just put some kind of crimp on it with a holder of some sort to take the tension off of the crimp. I don't remember them running an entire new wire. They were there for about 25 minutes, and I remember there was icy-crust on top of hard-pack snow which made everyone slip-slide all over the place!

A number of years later when I dated a girl who was the daughter of one of the linemen, he would never let me live that one down - or whatever the phrase is.

 

[SharpsDressedMan]

Gosh, there ought to be a list of those arrested for gunshots pinpointed by these systems, as arrests are public info. It would be interesting to see if any of these systems result in solutions to crimes, prosecutions, etc, or are a waste of time and taxpayers money........

 

[Sistema1927]

The Albuquerque Police go under cover from 15 minutes to midnight to 15 minutes after. That is because we have no lack of idjits who fire live rounds into the air on New Year's eve. I found a .40 slug in my driveway last year, and most years someone within the immediate area lets rip with a machine gun.

 

[bigfatdave]

Zoogster, it would be amusing to know what will cause false positives on such a system, and flood it with hits every Tuesday, wouldn't it?

 

[Iam2taz]

Ah man, we always fired off guns, banged pans, lit fire works and a number of other redneck things. Oh, wait, yes I did grow up in a trailer hood.

But then, that was 35 years ago.... Time flies when you are having a fun! While I don't live in a trailer now, I do still have a pick em up truck.

 

[Hanzo581]

While your friend is a few fries short of a happy meal, he was at least being safer than many that fire live rounds in the air. But really you did the right thing, take no part in it.

 

[mcdonl]

I love all the people with the live free, give my country back, etc... sig lines who are all about telling people what they should and should not do. Here is a bit of advice for ya.... DUCK....

 

[barfer]

Excerpt from Shotspotter Field Report

I obtained a copy of the shotspotter implementation report generated for my city. The report was generated 4 years after implementation of the system. I thought it was interesting how local LEO's thought that the system didn't help them any in their work for any purpose other than "pattern recognition." Also, nearly none of them thought that the system would increase the likelihood of making arrests.

 

[SharpsDressedMan]

Not sure what it costs, but except for accumulating shooting pattern info, the cops questioned don't seem to have much use for it, or much faith in it, to help them in their jobs.

 

[ny32182]

How exactly would you make a "blank" that would give the desired "BANG" with standard reloading equipment and materials?

The bang has to come from pressure, and unless you have a special constricted barrel, or special super-fast powder, how are you going to build that pressure with no bullet present?

 

[birdshot8's]

He could have loaded full case of black powder with card over powder and heavy roll crimp.

 

[89yj]

You could use a cap and ball revolver and only use the percusion caps. They make a pretty good bang with a bit of flash and smoke.

 

[goon]

I've heard reenactors load C&B revolvers with a powder charge, then use that planting foam as tamping. It disintegrates on firing so there's no projectile to be concerned with. With a musket they generally don't use wadding because it makes a potential projectile and could start a fire and means you also have to use a ramrod.

My thinking is this -
You got reenactors... maybe fifty of them on the field. Surrounding them are maybe hundreds of spectators. They're all shooting blanks every which way at each other. I'm not calling this unsafe - I plan to get into reenacting myself and I know that safety measures are taken to protect them and the spectators. But still, all those guys shooting all those blanks surrounded by all those people - that's safe.

But one guy standing on his porch shooting blanks into the air with the nearest neighbor fifty yards away in his own house - that's just too dangerous to contemplate.

I just don't see the danger. With no projectile and pointed into the air, I'd say a blank is way more safe than an eight-year-old with a slingshot.

I agree that discharging a gun in town/city limits is stupid. It's dangerous with live ammo. It's stupid with blanks because you're doing something illegal, but unless you point a gun loaded with a blank at someone at very close range and fire, they're pretty much harmless. We shot them at each other in the Army - hundreds of 18 year old testosterone crazed guys running around shooting blanks at each other - and you know what, we all lived through it.
And (GASP!) it was actually a lot of fun!
And I'm sure others have been to a military funeral. I have, at a cemetary in a populated area. Twenty- one blanks were fired from Garands at my grandfather's funeral and there were no casualties.

So I say if you live in a rural area and want to shoot some blanks on any holiday or pretty much on any other day of the week, do whatever makes you happy. If you're not hurting me, I have no reason to complain.

 

[Sgt.Sausage]

Remember: Blanks Can Kill [1]

I wouldn't have handed blanks to someone for this. No way. No how. Let 'em buy there own where I don't get named in a lawsuit.

**

[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jon-Erik_Hexum

 

[SharpsDressedMan]

Going back to the original post, and based precisely on the facts given, I would have done the following. First, if any of my REAL friends had come to me, and asked me to load them some blanks, for whatever reason, I would gladly have done it. I really don't care what my friends use their blanks for. If they are my friends, I TRUST them, and I want to help them, and loading a few blanks would be a no brainer. I load all the time, and often give LIVE, RELOADED AMMO as gifts to FRIENDS. I do not worry about my FRIENDS. I like to think this makes me a GOOD FRIEND. I do not have idiots or people that I do not trust as friends.

 

[whalerman]

OK. Here's my take on it. If you shoot off a whatever that goes boom within a city boundry law enforcement will investigate and attempt to determine the source of the boom. NOT the ammo, the device used to make the boom. If that device is designed to fire live ammuntion, you will be ticketed or arrested for firing a weapon inside a city limit. If it is a sound making device, and not designed to fire live ammunition, it is not classified as a firearm, it is defined by law as a CEREMONIAL AND SIGNALING DEVICE. An example might be a signal cannon or a plastic flare gun used by boaters. If the coppers find you're using one of them, they can't cite you with having a weapon, because by law, it isn't a weapon. But they can charge you with disturbing the peace.

I find it interesting up in my part of the world, as I live on the Canadian border of NY state. The Canadians are even more strange than we are about firearms. But you can take cannons back and forth over the border without a problem. Reenactors do it all the time. They're not considered firearms.

As far as blowing things up on New Year's Eve, I don't favor it. Fourth of July is another matter altogether.

 

[elcaminoariba]

Lots of nanny style, finger wagging drama in this thread. Makes me sick. Discharging blanks is no different in any meaningful way than firecrackers and it essentially turns a revolver into a signal pistol (which is probably legal in almost every city). I know there's this desire to beat people over the heads with technicalities so we can feel morally superior, but come on. Let's come back to reality here. It's just not a big deal. If a city makes it a felony to discharge a firearm in any way, including blanks, then I wouldn't recommend it, but we gotta stop trying to be people's moms all the time, especially when they're trying to do something safely. If you wag your finger at a friend who asks you to make them some blanks, maybe you'd rather he stopped being honest, and stopped caring, and just fires off LIVE rounds into the dirt or something. You're not his mom. Be consistent with the pro gun mentality and give someone the benefit of the doubt that they're not going to put it to their temple. Make him some blanks, charge him for cost, and what he does with them is HIS problem. You advised him on the city's law, and hopefully he'll go to another city to discharge them. Sheesh.

This thread has aggravated me to the point that I will get some .38 blanks and touch off one at the stroke of midnight next year. Since firecrackers always accompany new years midnight here, I'm not worried about someone over dramatizing my signal pistol.