A guide to western blank fire pistols and other replicas that go bang!

Sorry about the long title but you will see why as you read on!

This is based on my understanding of the law and options available to us in the UK.

So, you want a Cowboy gun that goes bang? Well these 3 options are the main ones available.

1. A blank fire pistol that uses blank cartridges in a purpose-built replica. The most common calibres are rimmed 9mm (centre fire), .22 short and .22 long (both rim fire). Other calibres are available for rifles, semi auto and auto guns. You can normally used .22 short in a pistol designed for .22 long but not the other way around. Rimmed 9mm is also used in blank fire grenades. Adaptors are available to convert 9mm to take .209 primers.

If your blank fire pistol is made of metal a simple rule is that it must NOT be front venting with a totally clear barrel. The safest option is to have a side, top or bottom venting pistol. The laws regarding blank fire pistols vary from country to country, in many EU countries front venting is allowed so take care when buying from abroad. There are a couple of exception to this rule. - 1) Stafford Hill and Trinity pistols have a special front venting baffle systems in the barrel that is UK legal. 2 ) There are other systems of baffles that have been used in the past and are still be UK legal, but be sure you are happy it is legal before you buy! Side blasters are always legal.

2. A purpose-built pistol that uses Plug Fire Cartridges (PFC). This is a system developed in Japan to fulfil the requirements of their strict laws. These are legal in the UK. The system uses a reloadable cartridge that takes 1, 2 or 3 caps in either 5mm or 7mm size. Once loaded these cartridges are loaded like blanks and fired in the normal way. These can also be front venting as they do not take a normal cartridge.

3. If you have a section 1 or 2 firearms licence you could buy blanks of the correct calibre and use them in your gun. But it will be front venting, so check with the game organiser first. You may also wish to consider how you will secure your firearm during a game. This does not really help with pistols unless you have a section 5 or section 7.3 licence………….

These options you should NOT take.

1. Do not buy a front venting metal blank fire pistol from abroad.

2. Do not make or get some blanks for an obsolete calibre pistol. *

3. Do not covert a deactivated weapon to fire blank cartridges. * Any parts of a deac that have been modified by the deactivation process are inspected at the proof house and stamped with a mark. Any attempt to further modify these parts is illegal. You can modify unstamped parts.

4. Do not covert a non-blank fire replica to fire blanks. The replica may not the strong enough and you will end up in hospital and the winner of a Darwin Award!*

*I have used 5mm PFC caps in deact, replica and obsolete calibre percusion guns and consider this legal. No modification of a deactivated part has taken place and a PFC cap is not a firearm cartridge component and they are quite low power. They work well with percussion guns and hammer shotguns.

So, having gone through all of that we have the following options with the cheapest first!

1. Denix replicas – The Peacemaker family in the Denix range can be used with Denix made cap fire cartridges. They are crap with the Denix caps, a little better with normal toy gun caps and quite good if used with 5mm PFC caps. Available in black, silver and gold in a variety of barrel lengths. Does not strip like the real thing. I have a black 4 ¾” version and really like it. It has weathered to a nice patina and Denix do different grips that fit. From about £60 upwards.

2. Bruni Blank firers – The starting point price wise for a 9mm blank firer. Not as nice as more expensive ones but works well. I think they only come in 5 ½” barrels in black, silver and orange! The VCR Bill does not apply to firearms of a design pre-1870 designs, so most people consider the Peacmaker revolver exempt from needing a defence under the VCR Bill. You should not need to buy an orange one!! From £110 upwards

3. Chiappa/Kimar Blank Firers – The next step up in 9mm blank fire quality. Much nicer than the Bruni in visual quality and operation of the action. It uses a frame mounted firing pin rather than hammer mounted. This makes “fanning” a little less painful! Available in 4 ¾” barrel length in silver and black. Fully strip-able. From £140 upwards.

4. Schmidt Blank Firers – A high quality pistol often in .22 and a smaller frame size. Nice colour case hardening and bluing. Some come with two interchange cylinders one in 9mm and one in .22. Fully strip-able. Available second hand from about £225 - £350

5. PFC pistols – A range of Japanese pistols from makers such as Tanaka, CWC, Hudson. Marushin etc. Normally plastic and front venting but very realistic. I have a Tanaka that is great. From about £225 – £350 new or second-hand.

6. Uberti/Pietta – High quality 9mm blank firers out of the same factories that make the live firing versions. Lovely colour case hardening and blueing. Available in a range of styles and finishes, even engraved ones! Spares easily available so they can be rebuilt if you buy a broken one cheap. Prices from about £200 for a tatty second-hand one to £650 for a top range new one.

7. Jaeger/Adler - A German make of quality 9mm pistol. A variety of types available including engraved examples. Secondhand prices from £300

8. Trinity/Stafford Hill – This is the one that breaks all the rules!! A UK legal front venting all metal blank firer. Not made any more but still legal as it has a baffle system in the barrel that stops it from being able to fire real bullets. Very good quality, prices from £700 upwards! If you can find one for sale at any price!!

With the help of Johnny 'Didn't Run' Fisher, Chris Thomas, Nic Saunders and a couple of others we put a range of blanks and caps through their paces and measured the sound level from each. I down loaded a sound level meter onto my tablet, I didn't try to calibrate it so this is more of a comparison test. So the results are -

9mm fiocchi blanks in a Bruni revolver 82dB
8mm fiocchi blanks in a Bruni Winchester 79dB
.22 short blank in a revolver 79dB
.209 conversion in a Bruni revolver 81dB
5mm Japanese plug fire cap 82dB
7mm Japanese plug fire cap 80dB
Super Disc caps 79dB
Supermatic caps 78dB
Montecarlo caps 78dB

9mm blanks give the best bang for your buck! If you fire a lot of 9mm blanks you can get a set of convertors to allow the use of .209 shotgun primers in your 9mm pistol. Not a lot of difference in the bang and can be half the price. While the Japanese plug fire caps can be equally good, they are hard to get hold of. Don't pass up a .22 blank firer as they are not far off the mark noise wise. Of the normal caps, the Montecarlo ones did not always work in the Denix pistols or on my shotgun, but I know other people like them. I think the Super Disc and Supermatic caps were equally good and reliable. they are also dirt cheap and easy to get hold of on eBay and similar. A load of those plus a Denix revolver and you can blast away all day for not much money!