No - it's not crazy. I have a White Ultra Mag, and the manual suggests firing a "squibb load" before shooting to foul the barrel. This is about 50 gr of powder with no bullet or anything else.
It goes, "Pfooooof!" I wouldn't think it would be much fun on the 4th - nobody more than a ccouple hundred feet away would hear it.
Then, you gotta clean it

IM jaybe