Are blank rounds harmless? What do they do?
In: Technology
Generally speaking (because there are so many different kinds of ammunition), a blank cartridge is identical to a cartridge intended for live fire, with one **crucial** difference- live cartridges have a bullet affixed to the front or cap of the case, which- when acted upon by the ignited propellant in the case, will be pushed through and out the firearm barrel towards the target.
Since blank cartridges have no such bullet, there is no projectile with which you could endanger a target at ordinary firearm engagement distances. For this purpose (and at these ranges), blanks can be practically considered harmless.
However, when firing a blank, you still create a controlled explosion in the gun that must be capable of creating the impact to cycle the cartridge (ejecting the spent cartridge and loading the next one), producing heat, rapidly expanding gas, blisteringly loud noise, and other such theatrical elements leaned on in military exercises. You’ll note that any of these things are dangerous if you get too close; I still have a bit of tinnitus from my service days.
The *real* danger of a blank, though, is that since there is no bullet pushed through the barrel to remove the primer and propellant left from the firing of a previous blank, the inner barrel gets obscenely dirty over the course of a blank-fire exercise, necessitating hours of rifle disassembly and cleaning between training operations. Boo.
Source: trained and instructed as an ammunition specialist in the Armed Forces for several years.
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