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[RC] Shooting Blanks (was: Newest Equestrian Sport) - k s swigartEd said: it's called "cowboy mounted shooting." the ammunition is .45 caliber long colt, blanks, loaded with black powder. the balloon targets are burst by the flaming granules of black powder. there is no paper wadding or rock salt. Most "blanks" use some kind of paper "wadding" to seal in the powder. Which is how that actor back in the 80's killed himself by playing Russian Roulette with a gun loaded with a blank. Any round has to use SOME kind of something to hold the charge in the cartridge. any type of projectile would not be "spectator friendly." Unless the gun is put right against the baloon, there has to be SOME kind of projectile that pops the balloon. A "projectile" is anything that is launched across a distance, so even if it is only flaming granules of black powder that are travelling across a distance, these would qualify as projectiles. The only mounted shooting I ever saw, the shooting was done with regular old blanks....the ones where the charged is sealed into the cartridge with paper. And yes, it was the paper projectile that popped the balloon. And this makes perfect sense. If you want to pop a balloon by shooting a blank with a paper wadding in it, what it needs to be successful is to be a good shot. If you want to pop a balloon by shooting a charge that has nothing that comes out of the muzzle of the gun holding it in (if there even is such a charge) so that the only thing coming out of the gun is, in essence, the muzzle flash (that's what the flaming black powder is), the skill you are testing is not the accuracy of the shooting, but rather who can get their horse close enough so that the muzzle flash can reach the balloon. There is usually some unburned black powder that comes out of the muzzle as well, and this will project further than the muzzle flash, however, it also scatters pretty quickly after leaving the barrell, so counting on that to pop the balloon would also be rewarding getting close rather than rewarding a good shot. kat Orange County, Calif. =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Ridecamp is a service of Endurance Net, http://www.endurance.net. Information, Policy, Disclaimer: http://www.endurance.net/Ridecamp Subscribe/Unsubscribe http://www.endurance.net/ridecamp/logon.asp Ride Long and Ride Safe!! =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
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