[cottontop]

My son called me this morning and said that he had acquired a couple of cases of 5.56 mm (.223) military blanks that he wants to give me. Here are the questions:
1. Is there anything corrosive in the case or the primer and if so, what would I clean the bore with so that it would not be affected?
2. Are the cases reloadable?
3. Are they berdan primed or are the primers crimped?
They are not very old (10 years or so)
cottontop

[JonM]

actual military issue from US surplus is not corrosive just dirty as hell. you can reload them as blanks but not live cartridges. you will need a blank crimp die. most are crimped primers.

if you do shoot them off (its a LOT of fun) just dont shoot live ammo right afterwards without cleaning. blanks can increase pressure of live rounds to unsafe levels due to the extreme fouling.

cleaning you can just use clp nothing special needed since it is just burnt residue.

you will need a standard A1 or A2 flashider to attach the blank adaptor. without an adaptor it wont cycle the rifle.

[c3shooter]

Also, please remember that blank does not mean harmless. The military blank firing attachment serves to partially diffuse the jet of gasses that come out of the barrel. There HAVE been many cases of folks hurt or killed by blanks at point blank range.

And as the guy up there just said, they can be reloaded as blanks- but the case shape does not permit their being loaded as ball ammo.