1919A4 and blanks

[smle-man]

Fellow 1919 owners: I've been looking for an affordable blank adapter for my 7.62mm 1919A4 to use at the range for people who want to shoot the gun but could care less what they hit.

I found one on the 1919 forum for $35 http://1919a4.com/forumdisplay.php?6...919a4-Building
Sold by a chap who goes by 'greaser'. The device is a press fit into the booster and comes with several insert/restricters to tune your gun for the blanks. I bought another booster and JB welded the device into the booster because the one I bought was eroded to the point that the device wouldn't stay in with a friction fit.

German surplus 7.62 blanks are about .09 each delivered from Dan's ammo. The device and the blanks feed and fire perfectly in my gun for 1/4 of the price of ball ammo. If all you want to do for someone is to have the gun fire, make lots of noise (the blanks seem as loud as ball ammo), spit out links and fired cases, this is the way to go! I painted the altered booster bright yellow so I don't forget and try to shoot ball through it. That wouldn't go too well.

If you want to explore getting one, go to the forum at the link and post a request to greaser. He's a nice guy and his product is top notch.

[pitfighter]

Hi SMLE,


I bought mine here - http://www.guiettemfg.com/catalog.html

But, my Israeli refurbed .308 semi-auto 1919A4 required a spacer to allow the belted blanks (shorter than live rounds) to cycle - and after losing this spacer a bunch of times, I had it brazed in place - basically negating the use of live rounds permanently.

I have most of my guns set up for the lower power German and Austrian blanks, as they are safer and kinder to the guns, and it is now so easy to add to the muzzle blast in VFX, especially when you have smoke, shell cases, + sparks from the blanks - it looks very organic.

However, the 1919 was a pain with the low power blanks so it was configured to run with Joe Swanson's full flash .308.
A brutal blast, but it ran pretty well - with some practice the stunt double could loose it off pretty quickly.

Most of the close ups are my semi - the wide shots are a FA .30-06 from ISS.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g18qz0mhJHY

post script - the hot blanks eventually rattled the rivets off this home-build (not mine) and we had to have it re-built.

[smle-man]

Mine feeds perfectly without an adapter with the German GI blanks, nary a problem. So far the $35 BFA that I installed is working well. I've heard that blanks can be hard on a 1919 so it seems that the German blanks are a good choice. I have some U.S.G.I. blanks also but I'm hanging onto them for nostalgia's sake.

[pitfighter]

German and Austrian blanks are also good choice for the money.

[CSACANNONEER]

I really need to find the adapter I have and try to set it up. I'm sitting on 6-10 cases of blanks and it would be fun to run a few 250 round belts.

[pitfighter]

You'll get an arthritis in your finger - lol.

Need to get a crank -

On plastic blanks - I have friends who run it in belt feds flawlessly - however - I probably run quite a lot more than them - ran into this issue two or three times, I now only run Austrian brass in the 42's:
The aluminum "headstamp" was ripped off, leaving the plastic blank body in the breech but causing enough pressure still to send back the bolt to chamber a second blank, crushing the hot plastic into the barrel, deforming the unfired blank and locking up the gun, in a real mess.
Nothing harmed on the gun or actor, but a twenty minute delay!

[smle-man]

You'll get an arthritis in your finger - lol.

Need to get a crank -

On plastic blanks - I have friends who run it in belt feds flawlessly - however - I probably run quite a lot more than them - ran into this issue two or three times, I now only run Austrian brass in the 42's:
The aluminum "headstamp" was ripped off, leaving the plastic blank body in the breech but causing enough pressure still to send back the bolt to chamber a second blank, crushing the hot plastic into the barrel, deforming the unfired blank and locking up the gun, in a real mess.
Nothing harmed on the gun or actor, but a twenty minute delay!

I see what you are saying, time is money! The USGI all brass blanks are the best in my opinion but hard to find these days.

[pitfighter]

I haven't tried them -

I am cheap - I find a reasonably priced source for a LOT of blanks, and then get the firearm adapted to that blank - lol.

The pathetic thing is I still buy into the BS - in real life these long barreled guns really didn't make much of a flash - a spark or two - but, it always feel's wrong unless you get a a two foot plume of flame on a movie - but, totally unrealistic.