The early blanks were live rounds that had wood heads, and the adapter would shred them as they exited the muzzle, so that only splinters would fly out. Which was still dangerous, so they couldn't fire them directly at the actors.
The same still basically applies to today's blanks, especially given the tendency to put in extra powder to get the huge muzzle flashes that you see on screen. At close enough range, the gas from the muzzle flash can still penetrate a person's flesh and would badly burn them. But even when the actors are far enough away, they avoid shooting directly at them as a safety precaution.
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