Help for a wet behind the ears newbie - and blank loads

[pegger]

As for blanks you could try 30 or so grains of BP or Pyrodex. But you will need something to compress it and also hold it in the chamber at a gallop! You couldn't use a wad as it would become a projectile. Over the pond the re-enactors use the green florists foam. Supposed to disintegrate almost straightaway. Give you lots of smoke and flame!

Sorry dumb question alert! So we use florist foam in the long cased rounds and then turps and wax on the top. However in this case would you compress the load then add the foam, as otherwise the foam would be very squished? Or squish everything?

Also can you preload a chamber to take to a venue? Or must it always be done on site. As in it would be convenient to be all set up, remove gun from safe and compete straight away (usually don't have that much time to prepare depending on the venue).