Is Shooting Blanks at a Pistol Range a Thing?

[mmc45414]

If there is GSR residue would it not be unique to blanks? Are they not typically loaded with black powder?
We can speculate that your question is rooted in if you should consider this dood credible, and I would say this is sketchy.

[Robh]

I have never heard of this practice in my life.

A consensus is emerging! Thank you everyone.

[HeavyDuty]

GSR= gun shot residue?

Yes, sir.

[HeavyDuty]

If there is GSR residue would it not be unique to blanks? Are they not typically loaded with black powder?
We can speculate that your question is rooted in if you should consider this dood credible, and I would say this is sketchy.

That’s a good point - I think I read once they are black power or pyrodex.

[HeavyDuty]

A consensus is emerging! Thank you everyone.

Hang around and enjoy the fun!

[Cookie Monster]

I'll add to it the consensus instead of working.

I've been into firearms as a hobby for a decade, taken 500 hours of instruction, always buy ammo in 1000 round cases, and check PF way too many times a day.

I do not even know where to buy blanks, have no desire to use them, and have never heard of such a thing.

Stay around and enjoy, get a Glock 19, a good training class, a case of ammo, and start dry practicing. Orange holsters and AIWB carry is optional for the first little while.

[Wondering Beard]

The only logical thing that comes to mind is the use of "snap caps" or other inert training ammunition as being a common practice. It is possible that someone could confuse the term "blanks" with some of the more accurate vernacular used to indicate inert training ammunition.

"Snap caps", "dummy rounds", "safety trainers" are some ways to refer to these products. A-zoom, ST Action Pro, and various other companies make this type of inert training ammunition.

I could definitely see somebody mistakenly referring to these products as "blanks". They don't actually "fire", but you can mix them in with live rounds to purposely induce a malfunction during live fire, or to safely practice administrative gun handling skills without any live ammunition. There are several extremely good reasons that a person would want to do this during training.

Actually firing "blanks", like you would find on a movie set, is something I've never seen. They would be way more expensive and harder to find than regular ammunition simply because of economy of scale. Inert dummy rounds on the other hand are quite common.

Thank you! That is something specific I can follow up on.

That's why I wondered if you had heard your guy correctly. However, those snap caps/dummies/etc.. are for use in the home not the range. To go to the range and just use snap caps is truly weird (and might even get noticed by the range officers -something to follow up on as well, if he ever went to any range).

The extra information you have provided doesn't make me feel anywhere near confident about the credibility of that individual. I get the feeling that if he's lying to you about something as benign as going to the range (where if he had shot that gun with the mix of ammo found, the gun would have malfunctioned), he's lying to you about stuff that's more important.

[HCM]

I am reluctant to give all the details. But suffice to say, it was a remark that couldn't be part of any defense, it was just a small part of a larger conversation about someone's use of a gun over the years. When someone is nervous and being questioned, they say weird things, that really doesn't help them, and hurts them as far as being believable about the more critical issues. And I could just have the one in a million oddball that shoots blanks at a range. Gun in question is a Ruger P89 loaded with 9mm and .32 bullets at the time it was seized.

Again, thanks for the insight.

IME mixed ammo / wrong caliber ammo in a gun is a red flag associated with criminal activity.

Re: your earlier question, blanks are used in theatrical/film productions and in some types of tactical training. No reasonable or normal reason I have ever seen to go to a range and shot blanks. However there are “blank only” guns that are not legally firearms which are often used for these purposes.

What I have seen is people who have used blank fire, inoperable and “dummy” guns to try and scare or intimidate people in robberies and confrontations. They get away with it sometimes but doesn’t end well.

[HCM]

We seized a pistol once that had 9mm Parabellum, .380 and 9mm Makarov ammo all in the same magazine.

I'm sure about that part. I want to say the pistol in question was actually a .40, but I might be wrong about that.

9mm will chamber and fire in .40 pistols though it will cause malfunctions.

[frozentundra]

That's why I wondered if you had heard your guy correctly. However, those snap caps/dummies/etc.. are for use in the home not the range. To go to the range and just use snap caps is truly weird (and might even get noticed by the range officers -something to follow up on as well, if he ever went to any range).

The extra information you have provided doesn't make me feel anywhere near confident about the credibility of that individual. I get the feeling that if he's lying to you about something as benign as going to the range (where if he had shot that gun with the mix of ammo found, the gun would have malfunctioned), he's lying to you about stuff that's more important.

I have used "dummy rounds" at an indoor range on many occasions. There are plenty of very good training related reasons to do this. Now that the whole '.32 rounds mixed in with 9mm' comes to light, I kind of doubt that's what happened in this case. However, it doesn't change the fact that inert training rounds have great utility at pretty much any shooting venue.