Recoil: real ammo vs blanks

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on an old Wild West tech from 2004 ( i can't find any appropriate pictures after searching) there was indeed such a machine, in a small shack, with lines through each trigger.

Someone with better Google/Wiki-fu than mine post a picture if you can find it
 
I have not shot blanks personally, but I have heard that they have way less recoil.

So I imagine if the people shooting the rifles are even vaguely familiar with what it is supposed to feel like, the person who got the wax bullet or whatever knows it.

I personally don't think anyone who has a problem with actually firing the live round should serve in the firing squad in the first place. Interesting choice of rifle though. A M94 .30-30? Wouldn't a .223 or pistol caliber carbine have been a more practical choice, especially considering it was done indoors. I can't imagine how loud that must have been.

If I was to be executed and could choose what gun I'd be shot with I'd probably go with a Tommy gun or a 1911. :D
 
first gun i fired was an M60 loaded with blanks, I was about 4-5 years old and considering that it didn't hurt or anything. I would say that recoil is extremely minimal for a toddler to shoot it comfortably.
 
Can you imagine how morbid an experience it would be, if you had the job of setting up the whole thing?
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I'd take that over knowing either of the two people that he had "contact" with that put him in that position.
 
At least a Firing Squad lets the condemned Man die Like a Man, and for it to be approximately instant, whatever his misdemeanors past.

This shows more self respect for the Society which decides to execute him, than, a 'lethal injection', 'gas chamber' or 'electrocution' or 'hanging' would.

The gesture is direct, forthright, effecient, and offers nothing to mystify or soften what is being done...nor to embarass or shame the person by prolongueing the rebuke in dragging things out.

My only complaint, is that they do not honor tradition in the details of allowing the condemned to yes or no wear a blindfold, and, yes or no, have a last Cigarette, according to his preference.
 
Several accounts refer to the authorities loading one of the rifles with a "Dummy" round that has the same recoil as a normal round but would not kil a person. This is different than a "Blank" round. I do not know what it was made of.

NukemJim
 
beersleeper - the reason we see taking a life as absolute is because it is. There is no taking that back. You take a life, and there isn't any going back from that... it will always be there.
 
but the difference between taking one lawlessly,senselessly and needlessly (the act of a criminal), vs lawfully, justly executing a criminal (an act of justice) is night and day.

They are, in fact, opposites, and should not be thought of the same.
 
beersleeper - true, taking one lawlessly and taking one in accordance with the law are different. That isn't where I draw my line. I won't take a life except for 4 reasons -
1. I am in serious danger
2. someone else is in serious danger
3. for food (talking animal here, not human)
4. to end suffering (say not medically feasible to save them.. someone cut in half for example).

That's just who I am. I understand not everyone believes this way. I also understand that soldiers who kill in defense of themselves and their friends in combat frequently have issues with it after the fact (high occurrence of PTSD) so the matter isn't as clean cut as whether the kill was justified by law or not. Having been in situations where I had to put a bead on someone in a combat zone, I know I could have... but it still wouldn't have sat well with me after the fact. It is one thing to know you can. It is one thing to justify it beforehand. It is a totally different thing to be the one behind the trigger. I never had to pull the trigger, but it bothered me that I almost did.
 
Gilmore's brother Mikal wrote in his memoir "Shot in the Heart" that his shirt had five holes indicating "the state of Utah, apparently, had taken no chances on the morning that it put my brother to death" (p. 390).
 
scythefwd - I would say comparing combat is a bad comparison with the situation here. In conventional combat, at the end of the day, the guy on the other end is also a soldier just doing his job, and might well not be that bad a person. Which is a leading cause of why people get PTSD when they start thinking about it. I think executing a felon convicted of a heinous crime would play far less on a persons mind.
 
I'm not sure i'd want to be on a firing squad. I'd have no problem using lethal force in self defense and I support the death penalty but I don't know if I could do the firing squad thing.

Here's a novel idea, since they are already at the prison and I would say its safe to assume they are convicted murderers there already, why not let them do the execution?
 
They don't use a blank, they use an "ineffective" round:

Five anonymous marksmen will each use matching .30-caliber rifles, standing behind a wall cut with five gunports. One of the rifles will hold an "ineffective" round, similar to a blank, which delivers the same recoil as a live round.

http://www.cnn.com/2010/CRIME/06/15/utah.execution/index.html
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The account of the 1996 firing squad said that they used a wax bullet load.

Gilmore's brother Mikal wrote in his memoir "Shot in the Heart" that his shirt had five holes indicating "the state of Utah, apparently, had taken no chances on the morning that it put my brother to death" (p. 390).
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Could a wax bullet make a hole, or would it disintegrate if pushed that fast? Could a wax bullet be pushed fast enough to simulate the full recoil of a live round?
 
With Flash Powder or Blasting Powder, or a very fast Powder type anyway, I imagine a Wax Bullet or a Wax Bullet with a Gas Check, or a Wax Bullet with a Gas Check which is weighted right, could simulate or duplicate normal Recoil.
 
Heck yeah, the blank shooter would know instantly.

If they really wanted to give a "conscience out" to a shooter, they could possibly tinker with one scope to make it shoot wide of the target. Then all of the recoils would be real, but one rifle would miss the condemned.
 
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