No just the live ammo, the gun still works just fine. In fact that's still not a good analogy, since at least some guns won't fire properly with blanks, but in the analogous case, it still fires, just doesn't have any effect on the "target". But that can be a "Good Thing", if you've already hit the target as much as you wish to.
You are absolutely right! Thanks for the clarification.
I read your post twice, and as well thought out as it is... may I paraphrase?
I’m shootin blanks, but I still knock em dead.