Whew! Thank you Jesus, God is good.

I had always heard of the old timers doing some wild stuff and thought it was cool. But as usual I have to figure some screwy spin to put on it, make it mine.

** For Entertainment and humor only...

The guys found you can shoot an empty .45 ACP casing from a .475 LB, it's OD is 0.475. Just for target shooting and a goof. I also read how back in the 60's guys made .470 Nitro jacketed bullets using .30-06 brass etc. There is a great old article in the ancient Handloader magazines.

I took note that a 9mm/.380/.223 is about 0.401" and the .44 Mag. case is around 0.452", minus the rim. That is bad enough but I got to thinking how about aluminum? Those useless CCI Blazer Berdan empty cases. A friend donated some .44 Mags and I turned the rims off, modded and sized the cases to an uniform 0.452", shortened them and got goofy. I was told the practice was to shoot them open end first so as not to blow out the primers and lose pressure.

First I found they wouldn't chamber. My revolver chamber throats are .4515". So I ran the noses through a .429" sizer, that fixed the issue. Onward ho. First round over the chrono with 3.0 gr. Bullseye made a nice quiet bang. It ran 450 fps and hit dead nose on and no tilting right at POA. Cool! Problem was the 1.3" projectiles weighed only 37 grs. and offered very little resistance to burn the powder. Next round went PIFTTTT, a squib. Party's over.

Back at the shop I disassembled and began work with a coated and protected brass range rod 3/8" dia. I beat the snot out of it with a 3# brass hammer. It would not budge at all! The bore is 0.451" and I found the largest pin gauge to pass was 0.443", and I had a 0.452" thin, light, very grippy, empty aluminum casing stuck half way down the .45 Colt barrel. I lubed it, heated up the barrel with a torch, pounded some more. It did not move a fraction of a millimeter! Next I tried the hydraulic press. I'll spare the precautions I took not to damage the gun, there were many and much forthought. Using a 1/4" thick x 2" wide steel plate run short through the frame window I placed a 1/4" lead shim between the gun and plate to protect the forcing cone of the barrel. Another special brass rod pushing straight down through the bore. I worked it till I found I had bent the 1/4" thick steel plate. Cripes! So far I had not put a scratch on anything, nor moved the obstruction even slightly.

Some consultation with a wise old fellow, he provided no instruction or approval of any method (I said he was wise) he gave understanding comfort. I thought it over really well. I knew any firing of any projectile behind the obstruction was certain destruction and bulging of the bore. Strike that foolishness. Since it is a revolver with cylinder gap, and that stuck projectile was so, so light, I got to thinking..."what about a blank"? The surplus gases would vent at the BC gap and hopefully the projectile would be punted down the bore to continue as the first had done. I could repeat process if it was fruitful at all. Would a blank even go off? Would it just go pifffftttt? Could I make an open case .45 Colt Blank?

I constructed a .45 Colt blank with a case full of dense fast burning AA#7, capped with a very thin bullet lube wax cap maybe 1/16" thick just to hold the powder in place. Now I'm stupid but not THAT stupid. I needed remote firing. Didn't want to scratch the gun either in the chance it did not blow the whole works into orbit. It might just go PIFFFTTT. I found a box, no grips or ejector assy. just firing assy. and made provisions for it to hold and provide remote firing by string. I got it all set, all notified, and hid behind a wall. BOOOOOOOOM! The box was blown up from the BC gases but the obstruction was discharged at extreme high velocity in the general direction toward N. Korea. I checked all for bulges, scratches, function, it worked. Praise the Lord.

I later found a friend whom said that he found Winchester actually made a lube groove and lubricated JACKETED bullets for their line of "Silvertip" aluminum jackets. A useful nugget of information garnered a bit late. Overall it was a interesting experiment I likely could have done without, but I did learn a whole bunch.

As I said I would NEVER want anyone to try any of the silly hi-jinks I play with. I never want to have to do that again! My story is for funny entertainment only. By the wonderful grace of God I get my day by day and I know, and acknowledge, where it comes from. I love everybody and hope we all have safe fun. You know they didn't have video games when I grew up.