With the old single-action revolvers, it was a common practice to leave one chamber empty, and leave the hammer down on it. The problem with those old guns is that the firing pin is literally resting on the cartridge, and all you have to do is give the exposed hammer a good rap with something and the gun would go off. Very dangerous. You could fire the gun by accidentally dropping it, or even walking along and banging it against something.
A good six-gun shooter, by the way, could draw and fire the gun accurately in less than a quarter of a second, and even though the gun is single action, they could fire two or three rounds so fast that you could hardly tell that three separate shots were fired.
As an addendum, there have been the odd westerns that showed the carrying and use of the single action revolver carefully. I can’t remember the movie, but I can recall seeing someone loading a Colt Single Action Army and leaving the last chamber empty. And I can also remember at least once seeing someone draw his gun and cock it, and then before holstering it spinning the cylinder back to the empty spot. I imagine they did this as a matter of safety even on the movie sets. A .45 blank can do a number on you if it’s fired at close range - Jon Erik Hexum was killed with a blank round - he held it close to his temple and fired as a joke, and the blast fragmented the inside of his skull and send bone shards into his brain. I’ve seen a .45 blank blow a hole through 1/4" plywood at close range, just from the blast and wadding.
Not to be a know it all, but it is my nature. In order to load an old six shooter correctly leaving the hammer on an empty cylinder one must do the following:
Load one cartridge, rotate the cylinder and skip the next chamber and then load the next four rounds. After the last round is loaded, the hammer will be resting on an empty hole.
That depends on a lot of variables. I’m a cameraman and have been shot at quite a few times. ( I detest guns, so one experience along these lines was one too much). One particular situation addresses your quote above.
I had to run by a line of cops, kneeling and firing at the bad guy. ( James Russo, who really is a bad fellow ). I was covered head to toe in cloth, including one glove on my right hand. Left hand had to be uncovered.
There were maybe…7 extras acting as NYPD that night. The Armorer on set and his assistant were extremely vigilant. He, in fact, never assumes that anyone knows how to handle a gun- on set or off set. He had a meeting with the extras, camera department, producer and director and D.P. He laid out the scenario, and we had to obey it or the guns stayed locked up.
“Cops” kneel down, and raise right/left hand up into the air high, as though they have to ask for permission to pee.
I ( as Steadicam Operator ) tell the Armorer I’m ready.
We roll Sound, get speeding, and roll camera. As Sound is coming to speed, the Armorer and his assistant move quickly along the line, placing a gun into the hands of each “cop”.
I roll camera, and announce speed on camera. The Armorer says " LOWER GUNS" loudly, The “cops” assume firing position, and I run by them as they fire their guns. The second the Director says “cut”, that Armorer was screaming and I do mean screaming, " GET THE GUNS UP IN THE AIR NOW !! ". Nobody screwed around, nobody waived a gun. These were real Glock 9mm weapons, firing full-load blank rounds.
Armorer and assistant take guns from upraised hands, re-load with fresh clips, get ready to re-set for next take.
And, so on. We only did about 3 or 4 takes. My eyewear was badly pitted, my left hand had a few small bloody spots. The rest of me and my gear was just fine.
Any Armorer who assumes that an extra being paid for a non-speaking day role is an expert in handling real firearms is no Armorer. Sorry, but that is the way it really works. Nobody assumes that guns are going to be handled properly. A good Property Master or Armorer will take the time to teach a leading actor/actress how to handle their firearm. In the case of extras, the assumption must be that they are unaware of safe firearm handling tactics, and behave accordingly.
The one time I was almost shot at without it being discussed first? A Civil War recreation scene for History Channel. I was supposed to run past a row of soldiers, up to an Officer type who was gonna yell at his men. Apparently, that group of Recreation Devotees had other plans. According to how they did that battle, it was time to fire their rifles. With packed gunpowder, but no balls. I luckily heard someone make a remark about where they were gonna fire, and I shut the production down immediately while we all stood to the side and got our gun-totin’ ducks in a row.
It turns out that a Prop person had told the group they could figure out when they should shoot, and we’d just film it. The Armorer on set lit into the Prop person, they worked out their stuff, and we all went back to work.
Ahem. I got my shots and when it was time to fire their rifles, I knew where to run. Heck, I did a tracking shot near a fully loaded canon and arced back just in time for them to fire it. God, the ground shakes so hard when it fires…
I am going to have to say that All of the Dirty Harry movies and Saving Private Ryan have excellent representation of how to properly handle firearms. In Dirty Harry they use speed loaders for revolvers correctly and they do a fine job of it. Saving Private Ryan was pretty accurate on how to load and unload weapons of the World War 2 era. **Saving Private Ryan and the Dirty Harry movies are awesome. Check Magnum Force out when you can.
Band of Brothers. Better than Saving Private Ryan, IMO (different, I know). Excellent handling of that finest of rifles, the M1 Garand. I don’t recall any incorrect firearms handling in BoB, and it usually pisses me to off to no end when I do see it…
I take that back. Now that I think about it, I can think of at least one instance of a 1911 being improperly handled. (And oft-abused firearm in movies; some technical directors don’t seem to understand single-action and accurate hammer positioning)
Not really the same thing. But I have helped some people on very-independant movie shoots. The original scripts and directions called for true realistic gun handling and shooting. But by the time it was ready to shoot it was decided that A: They didn’t have the money for the extra people to handle the safety restictions and B: most of the people had other daily jobs, and were pretty fatigued during the shooting. So they decided to shoot(film) without any live rounds or blanks on set for absolute safety(after wrangling up a new set of guns that can be dry-fired). The realism wasn’t great, but these movies wern’t going to win Oscars anyway, and you get the message that they are shooting.
How about when the shooter is told to “drop it!” …and he does?
I am not an expert by any means but I’d NEVER throw any gun on the ground/parking lot/concrete floor much less across the freakin’ room! Every time this happens in the movies or tv I expect the damn thing to go off and shoot somebody. Is there ANY firearm that is “safe” to toss on the ground like a used candybar wrapper? :dubious:
Most modern firearms will not go off from an impact. Most defensive handguns have what is called a “firing pin block” that only lifts when the trigger is pulled.
The thing that always bothers me about firearms in film is the amazing bullet stopping capabilities of the most common items. I’ve seen people shielded from bullets by interior wood doors, plaster walls, dining room furniture, once even a park bench. Try ducking behind a wooden door when someone fires a .45 at you. You’re shot, and you’ve got a lot of splinters besides.
Or a Bill Door.
In the Army, they called that the difference between Cover and Concealment. Concealment will hide where you are, but won’t stop bullets. Cover will stop bullets. Knowing one from the other was considered a key skill.
Contrary to popular myth, guns very, very, very rarely “go off”. Almost every case (I’d guess 99.5%+) of cases you hear on the news where they say the gun “went off” was actually negligence on someone’s part, violating one of the four basic rules of gun safety. Of course, the media has never been averse to making it sound like guns have a mind of their own, and do things of their own volition…
In any case, any halfway decently made, modern gun is practically safe to drop from 100 feet onto concrete if you were so inclined.
I seem to remember a scene from The Fugitive when the marshalls are charging into a tunnel as a group, then you can almost see everyone take a breath and chamber rounds while holding their guns away from everybody else. That struck me as a lovely gesture- not wanting to accidentally shoot your friends or bystanders while running at top speed!
