Print PDF
Favorite
Email
Because yelling will make you lose your voice, it’s important to carry a whistle just incase you get in a jam. For example: When I went mountain biking with a group of friends I crashed plenty of times. Luckily, none were serious. However, if I had a bad crash, I would of had to wait until someone pedaled back to me. Unless that is, I could signal them somehow.
To signal for help with a whistle you sound three blasts. Do this in a consistent interval until help comes. The plus side to this whistle is you’ll have a conversation starter when help finally comes.
To signal for help with a whistle you sound three blasts. Do this in a consistent interval until help comes. The plus side to this whistle is you’ll have a conversation starter when help finally comes.
Remove these ads by
Signing UpStep 1File out a notch
Before you start, clean out the brass with dish soap and cotton swabs. Clean inside and out until the swabs come out completely white.
Grip the shell in a clamp. Make sure to clamp the primer side of the shell or it will collapse. Also if you don’t have a wooded clamp you can improvise to protect from scratching up the brass with something like an old leather belt.
Using a ¼” triangle file, file a notch ¼” down from the taper line on the shell. Make sure to keep the leading edge of the file at 90 degrees. See the pictures. Keep filing until the trail edge of the file is flush with the shell wall.
Remove any burs.
Grip the shell in a clamp. Make sure to clamp the primer side of the shell or it will collapse. Also if you don’t have a wooded clamp you can improvise to protect from scratching up the brass with something like an old leather belt.
Using a ¼” triangle file, file a notch ¼” down from the taper line on the shell. Make sure to keep the leading edge of the file at 90 degrees. See the pictures. Keep filing until the trail edge of the file is flush with the shell wall.
Remove any burs.
| « Previous Step | Download PDFView All Steps | Next Step » |
There are some folks, on there, who sell empty brass for people to make craft projects with. I have some various types... but they're all bigger than .223
The good thing is that, on the website, you can get quite a few for just a few US Dollars. Pay through paypal, or other method, and have them shipped right to you.
In America, if you want to own empty shell casings, it's not illegal...now if you have a few hundred thousand casings, that might cause a bobby to ask Questions, but it's still not illegal.
As far as empty v/ loaded brass, I'll leave that for the thieves to guess which ones are loaded...
Just make sure you have some very hungry hogs near by....makes it easier to hide the bodies. j/k
Look for 5.56 x 45 mm ammunition.
Could we use an old artillery shell? THAT would be something else...
could you leave the 223 shell by its self and it work
or could you take a 22 shell and just file the cap off?
Yes this was about making a whistle from a .223 shell & a .22 shell....but who says it HAS TO BE a .223 empty shell? why couldn't you make a whistle from ANY empty brass shell??
The bigger the shell, the louder the sound...right? I know someone that hunts a lot with big bore rifles & he always has empty shells...I think I'll try making a whistle from one of his shells....I don't remember what calibur they are, I just remember that his shells are about 2x - 3x the diameter of a .223. :-)
BTW, TY for sharing Sir. I fully enjoyed reading this, & because of how well it was written, it was easy for me to follow. Great pics too! they helped a bunch.
TY Again. :-D
Great I'ble! Mr Balleng!
but with me being disabled, I have more time on my hands than I know what to do with...so I'll find out tomorrow(09-OCT-2011) when I start making the whistle...but like I said, you are probably right.
TY Sir for the input, much appreciated.
But, the basic problem is that- no matter what the caliber is- many countries BAN the ownership of anything that is the same as a military CALIBER. And in many countries, that includes the empty casing.
Here is the U.S., that is not the case, [No pun intended.] and there are often dozens of empty brass carridges, of many types, styles and sizes, availabe for free, to pick up- if you go to any firearms range for your own preactice time. I have litterally thousands...
This project does need a bottlenecked cartridge to succede, and you can use up to a .30-.06 or 8mm Mauser and still get pretty good results. And it is correct that the smaller the internal capacity, the louder the tone will be, but the harder it will be to use-especially in colder weather.
The .223/5.56mm NATO casing is about as perfect as it can get, but if you cannot legally acquire th ose, you can try soldering a couple peices of brass or copper tubing to make the same basic shape, and cap the far end.
Good luck!
The bell reducer would be too large and heavy. I was thinking along the lines of duplicating the .223 to .308 sized brass for those who cannot acquire fired cartridge cases [Might be a bad thing to ask your local militia member to hand you some fired rounds!]
If you have a similar sized brass/copper pipe, solder a closure on one end, cut the notch on the other, and solder in a smaller diameter length of pipe with half a cap, as in the Instructable, you should be able to duplicate the whistle nicely.
Question: Does it NEED to be stepped down at the blowing end?
The .308 casing is closer in size to a Bosuns Whistle... that's the one I would like to build. Anyone??
Here are basic case dimensions- length: base diameter: neck dia: .223/5.56mm brass: 1.76"/44.8mm: .370"/9.41mm: .25"/6.29mm .308/7.62mm brass: 2"/51.3mm: .475"/12mm: .35"/8.9mm 7.62x39mm brass: 1.5"/38.6mm: .436"/11mm: .337"/8.56mm Thickness @ neck appx .021"/.54mm