I have a Deer/turkey hunting friend that is a retired us army veteren and was in vietnam in the 1960s& saw lots of action/was in the battle they made the movie about ...we were soldiers...he is now in the Honor guard and has been for years and they do the 21 gun salute with blanks in 30-06 caliber,he wants me to find out how to help him reload 1000 rounds for the honor guards ceramonys. How is the crimp made and what kind of powder and charge weight is used? He said something about just enough to make a loud noise and he thought maybe wax in the end would work to plug up the end? Also he says he thought a low charge like 30grains of pyrodex would work but he doesnt reload and is not familer with reloading,but he does blackpowder hunt so he knows a little about pyrodex?He gave me a round to show me what they had been useing and i will post it here,its got a red color on the end and the brass is military.Iam gonna try to help him figure this blank reloading stuff out and give him some brass and stuff,I just need a plan and need you guys to help me figure how to build these blanks or any info on makeing these for the honor guards 21 gun salute blanks...where would i buy a crimp end tool die?
Here is a couple pics of his blank,he said he thought it was made in sweden or norway but wasnt real sure where they got them/he wants to make there own,I guess hes having a hard time getting them?...also is there a place to just buy these things,may be cheaper to just buy a case of them as much as reloading componants /brass/powder have gone up?Heres the pics.. maybe some one is familer with this kinda reloads???Any help or input is greatly appreciated....

I had at one time thousands of 06 blanks they had what looked like a wax paper wad with a round crimp on them. With a charge of a very fast smokeless charge ( lots faster then bulls eye) when I get home I'll see if I can fine any of them and do some more checking

Thanks,I shook the round and it feels like its about half full,He came to me for help because he knows i reload my own ammo,i got a old lee press iam gonna give him..& bunch of old brass & stuff,hes a good friend and allways helps everyone anytime,a real good man for sure.

I would think a fire forming load should do the job quite nicely. For med to large volume cases I use 20% to 25% of a mid weight charge for that cartridge, using bullseye or similar burn rate powder. A wax plug and /or wad to hold the powder in. No need to do the metallic crimp.
Just like other reloading, start low and work up to the effect you want.
And yes you should be looking for pressure signs.

muck

CH4d sells the crimping die, not cheap tho.

http://www.ch4d.com/catalog/?p=19

Here's a thread on handloading blanks, the reply by YellowLab has the data he uses for 30-06.

http://www.thefiringline.com/forums/showthread.php?t=216985

Here is a pic of some on gb that are from ww2 in a link,they look to have the wax in the end/pretty neat.There is a guy saleing new 30-06 blanks star crimped for 55.00 a 100 rounds on there,I didnt know there were so many different kinds,there were some blanks with wooden bullet tips,that i thought was wild...Thanks bigtime for all the help from everyone.

If you want to buy em, here's a source...

http://www.joeswansonsmotionpictureblanks.com/

Thanks wrongtarget,I just sent them a e-mail,I called my friend and he said he had run out of places to buy them & was at alost,hes really glad to find some new sources..at the cost of brass and powder so high for reloaders ..maybe we can get a deal on some factory stuff..and not come out to bad.

I order one of these for my father in law's VFW back in Minnesota , 5 or 6 years ago...

They came thru CH4D.. they are the only company in the world supposedly that makes them...

They screwed up and shipped me 2 of them... I ended up giving one to a VFW in Albany MN, when a fellow forum member was looking for one for that VFW post...

CH4D never charged me for the second one.. these are a custom ordered item....I told them they had duplicated the order, so they just told me to keep it...

Last fall my father in law got ill and died in January.. he was 83...

HIs VFW post sent me Rosette crimp die back, since they no longer are using M 1 Garands for their funeral ceremonies...

as far as powder and primer.. a pistol or rifle primer will work fine...

both of these VFWs were using 3 or 4 grains of Bullseye for powder... not much is needed since the rifles are pointed up at a 45 degree angle..

If these guys are just looking to load a thousand rounds or so, we can work something out.. I'm not looking to make any money off of this at all...that goes double when we are talkng veterans...

I'd like to hang onto this die just because it is rare and hard to get ahold of..I had to wait like 6 months for it...

drop me a PM if I can be of assistance...

cheers
seafire

Joe Swanson...isn't that the crippled cop on Family Guy?

When fireforming 6mm Ackley cases I started at 10% fill with Unique. You could go lower, and just fill with cream of wheat if the guns will ever be fired not point somewhat skyward. Just cap it off with some canning wax or similar.