Only slightly related....

When I heard/read talk of blanks I have to think back on Gary Gilmore's execution. My uncle was the supply officer at the Utah State prison at the time and was responsible to provide the guns and ammunition. Oddly the only guns they had 5 of were Winchester 94's. Not having blank ammo my uncle asked my dad to provide the "blank" required. My dad was an ammunition engineer working at Tooele Ordnance Depot at the time and made a cartridge with a wax bullet for the execution. It may or may not have been lethal but it met the requirement. What people don't know is that the rifles were all pre-loaded with the hammers at half cock before the shooters entered the room and stepped behind the guns. The shooters never cycled the actions, just brought the hammers to full cock and fired on command.

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