# bullet catching **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 16, 2001, 5:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bullet-catching/76523 "2001-08-16T05:39:05Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Anal\_Scurvy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c57346/32.png) [@Anal\_Scurvy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anal_Scurvy)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2001, 5:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bullet-catching/76523/1 "2001-08-16T05:39:05Z")
how does bullet catching work? I’m searching Google now, but the best I can find is a few vague hints that I can only assume at. ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Amazing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2001, 5:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bullet-catching/76523/2 "2001-08-16T05:52:34Z")
Catching bullets in your teeth, you mean? Your assistant fires a gun loaded with blanks in your general direction. Meanwhile, you’ve hidden a bullet under your tongue. You manipulate with your tongue so that it goes to the front of your mouth. Then reach into your mouth, and voila, Captain Amazing has captured a bullet with his teeth! ---
**Author:** ![GIGObuster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gigobuster/32/421_2.png) [@GIGObuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GIGObuster)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2001, 6:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bullet-catching/76523/3 "2001-08-16T06:17:02Z")
Try [About.com](http://About.com) ‘s “Information about the deadliest magic trick ever performed”. > **[Magic](https://www.thesprucecrafts.com/magic-4162943)** > > Are you interested in performing magic? Get tips from the experts and impress your friends and family with your newly-mastered tricks. Looks like very few details are revealed. As they say: magicians never do. But the **Captain** told. However, the reason why magicians have died before is because in those occasions a real bullet was used. So remember: do not try this at home, even blanks can go wrong, remember Brandon Lee. Ben Robinson shows what else can go wrong: [http://www.magictricks.com/library/injury.htm](http://www.magictricks.com/library/injury.htm) ---
**Author:** ![Anal\_Scurvy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c57346/32.png) [@Anal\_Scurvy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anal_Scurvy)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2001, 6:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bullet-catching/76523/4 "2001-08-16T06:17:14Z")
what about the people who got shot attempting this trick, what did they do? That’s it? That’s disappointing, though I can make it fit the info I got. If it’s that straightforward, how come it’s killed so many magicians? Carelessness? Bad luck? ---
**Author:** ![kesagiri](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/7ba0ec/32.png) [@kesagiri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kesagiri)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2001, 6:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bullet-catching/76523/5 "2001-08-16T06:21:33Z")
Stupidity. The case of Brandon Lee is a fine example. ---
**Author:** ![Anal\_Scurvy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c57346/32.png) [@Anal\_Scurvy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anal_Scurvy)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2001, 6:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bullet-catching/76523/6 "2001-08-16T06:24:31Z")
that’s really insulting to me that I couldn’t figure that out. I’m looking for the webpage again, but I found a chart in my searches of how the twelve dead magicians died and one of them alledgedly got dizzy from performing the stunt too many times and fell off a cliff. Does this mean he did a different variation of the stunt, or does this mean the chart was made by a magician? ---
**Author:** ![Anal\_Scurvy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c57346/32.png) [@Anal\_Scurvy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anal_Scurvy)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2001, 6:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bullet-catching/76523/7 "2001-08-16T06:27:08Z")
[http://www.magictricks.com/library/dangerous.htm](http://www.magictricks.com/library/dangerous.htm) Well, I guess he might’ve been disoriented from blanks or something. I give up. I’m going to bed. I will be able to make logical assumptions tomorrow. ---
**Author:** ![Evno](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/c68b51/32.png) [@Evno](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evno)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2001, 6:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bullet-catching/76523/8 "2001-08-16T06:27:29Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by kesagiri \* > \*\*Stupidity. > > The case of Brandon Lee is a fine example. \*\* It’s not right for you to claim Brandon Lee was killed by an act of stupidity, unless you refer to the person who inspected the weapon before it was fired. ---
**Author:** ![kesagiri](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/7ba0ec/32.png) [@kesagiri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kesagiri)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2001, 6:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bullet-catching/76523/9 "2001-08-16T06:42:17Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Evno \* > \*\* > > > [@](#): > > > > \*Originally posted by kesagiri \* > > \*\*Stupidity. > > > > The case of Brandon Lee is a fine example. \*\* > > It’s not right for you to claim Brandon Lee was killed by an act of stupidity, unless you refer to the person who inspected the weapon before it was fired. \*\* Well…yes. The person who inspected it was stupid. Of course, if it were to be me the gun was pointed at and the trigger pulled, I’d want to look at it too…no matter what assurances that there were blanks in there. ---
**Author:** ![gryphil](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e68b1a/32.png) [@gryphil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gryphil)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2001, 6:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bullet-catching/76523/10 "2001-08-16T06:50:52Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Captain Amazing \* > \*\*Catching bullets in your teeth, you mean? Your assistant fires a gun loaded with blanks in your general direction. Meanwhile, you’ve hidden a bullet under your tongue. You manipulate with your tongue so that it goes to the front of your mouth. Then reach into your mouth, and voila, Captain Amazing has captured a bullet with his teeth! \*\* What about Pen & Teller (and other magicians) who have an audience member mark the bullet and casing before firing, and match it after the shooting? A plant? ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Mudd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f14d63/32.png) [@Larry\_Mudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Mudd)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2001, 8:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bullet-catching/76523/11 "2001-08-16T08:02:34Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by gryphil \* > \*\*What about Pen & Teller (and other magicians) who have an audience member mark the bullet and casing before firing, and match it after the shooting? A plant? \*\* Your suspicion should be raised by the detail that this trick is usually done with an old-fashioned rifle that does not use cartridge-style bullets. The rifle is primed from a powder-horn, the marked slug is put into the bore, and then “tamped down” with one of those long pokey-things. (Excuse the esoteric jargon…) The key is the pokey-thing. It is magnetic, and actually removes the bullet, which the magician usually delivers to his mouth while arranging a blind-fold. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2001, 8:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bullet-catching/76523/12 "2001-08-16T08:25:49Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by kesagiri \* > \*\* > > > [@](#): > > > > \*Originally posted by Evno \* > > \*\* > > > > > [@](#): > > > > > > \*Originally posted by kesagiri \* > > > \*\*Stupidity. > > > > > > The case of Brandon Lee is a fine example. \*\* > > > > It’s not right for you to claim Brandon Lee was killed by an act of stupidity, unless you refer to the person who inspected the weapon before it was fired. \*\* > > Well…yes. The person who inspected it was stupid. Of course, if it were to be me the gun was pointed at and the trigger pulled, I’d want to look at it too…no matter what assurances that there were blanks in there. \*\* It was blanks; the object that killed brandon lee wasn’t a bullet as such (accordint to Snopes anyway) > [@](#): > > Brandon Lee (died 31 March 1993) > A stunt gone wrong during the filming of The Crow cost the son of Bruce Lee his life. A blank fired from a .44 magnum revolver felled him. He died hours later in hospital. The metal tip of one of the dummy bullets had somehow pulled loose from its brass casing. When the dummies were unloaded and replaced with blanks, the metal tip remained behind in the gun’s cylinder. As soon as the blank went off, its explosive force propelled the dummy tip through the gun barrel – and into Lee’s body. ---
**Author:** ![Odesio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/odesio/32/20003_2.png) [@Odesio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Odesio)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2001, 9:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bullet-catching/76523/13 "2001-08-16T09:05:02Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Larry Mudd \* > \*\* > > Your suspicion should be raised by the detail that this trick is usually done with an old-fashioned rifle that does not use cartridge-style bullets. > > The rifle is primed from a powder-horn, the marked slug is put into the bore, and then “tamped down” with one of those long pokey-things. (Excuse the esoteric jargon…) > The key is the pokey-thing. It is magnetic, and actually removes the bullet, which the magician usually delivers to his mouth while arranging a blind-fold. \*\* Penn & Teller do this trick with a modern revolver of some kind. I think it is a .357 Magnum. Marc ---
**Author:** ![Darqangelle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ecccb3/32.png) [@Darqangelle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darqangelle)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2001, 10:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bullet-catching/76523/14 "2001-08-16T10:33:58Z")
[QUOTE] \*Originally posted by kesagiri \* \*\* > [@](#): > > Well…yes. The person who inspected it was stupid. Of course, if it were to be me the gun was pointed at and the trigger pulled, I’d want to look at it too…no matter what assurances that there were blanks in there. \*\* Actually the handling of the gun was stupid. That you can blame on both the wrangler (who inspects, loads and hands the gun to the actor), and the actor (who shouldn’t have pointed the gun directly at Brandon in the first place). No matter what occurs during filming, the screen shows only a 2-dimensional image. The camera has no depth perception. You can point a gun at something that is well away from the actor and the camera (and thus the viewers at home) will not be able to tell the difference. Even the bullet-catching trick that is done on stage has the weapon pointing safely away from the magician. You can’t tell from the audience because acts on stage are set set so far back that you loose the perception from your seated position. So, in the case of Brandon Lee, whoever fired the blank shouldn’t have pointed the gun at Brandon in the first place, but worked together with the cameraman and the actor (who, IIRC, was flipping through the air at the time) to figure out where was the safest place to aim while still appearing dangerous to the viewer. I’m certain a few people got fired that day. ---
**Author:** ![mmmiiikkkeee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/edb3f5/32.png) [@mmmiiikkkeee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mmmiiikkkeee)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2001, 10:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bullet-catching/76523/15 "2001-08-16T10:35:06Z")
Yes, the thing with Brandon Lee was one Unsolved Mysteries years ago (I taped it). The whole thing was an incredible coincidense and was the result of several people taking unsafe shortcuts. I think the bullets were bought from a pawn shop along with several other items for the “movie pawnshop”, and were stored in some guy’s trunk for a while (first thing that shouldn’t have happened although it wasn’t to do directly with the accident). There was a scene where they were showing the gun barrel turning as it was fired, so they needed some dummies or whatever they’re called. Instead of buying proper ones, the tech guys took some of the real bullets, pryed the slugs out, emptied the powder, and then set off the primers with a nail or something… then put the slugs back in. During the filming of the scene, they heard a small “pop”, but didn’t really investigate. One of the primers had not been set off when they made the empty bullets, but did when the gun’s hammer hit it. This had just enough oomph the lodge the slug into the barrel where it sat unnoticed (why they didn’t notice the bullet with the missing slug was another case of carelessness I guess). When they filmed the scene where the gun was fired, it was loaded with blanks. The actor fired the harmless blank (with no slug) at Brandon, but the charge shot the real (unseen) slug out the barrel, and… it was curtain time. The magician bullet thing has been on TV too, on one of those “secrets revealed” shows. I’ve forgotten the details, but others have provided them here. ---
**Author:** ![Darqangelle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ecccb3/32.png) [@Darqangelle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darqangelle)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2001, 10:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bullet-catching/76523/16 "2001-08-16T10:35:41Z")
I just looked over that last line and figured I should add “no pun intended” 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Darqangelle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ecccb3/32.png) [@Darqangelle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darqangelle)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2001, 10:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bullet-catching/76523/17 "2001-08-16T10:39:36Z")
what mmmmiiiikkkkeeee said, but I just want to add that no matter if there is a real bullet or a blank (or anything stuck in the barrel), the gun should NEVER have been aimed directly at the actor (or any actor) in the first place. This simple practice avoids disaster. ---
**Author:** ![mmmiiikkkeee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/edb3f5/32.png) [@mmmiiikkkeee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mmmiiikkkeee)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2001, 11:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bullet-catching/76523/18 "2001-08-16T11:35:01Z")
Yeah, I had meant to mention that too. It sounds very bad, but the guy apparently had a pretty good shot as Brandon was running during his final scene. I don’t see the sense in pointing a gun right at an actor in a wide-angle shot when the audience wouldn’t know the difference on-screen. Yet another over-looked safety measure… ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Mudd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f14d63/32.png) [@Larry\_Mudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Mudd)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2001, 11:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bullet-catching/76523/19 "2001-08-16T11:41:21Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by MGibson \* > \*\* > Penn & Teller do this trick with a modern revolver of some kind. I think it is a .357 Magnum. > > Marc \*\* I can’t imagine how it could be done with a common bullet. Anyone? ---
**Author:** ![Joe\_Cool](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ecb155/32.png) [@Joe\_Cool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joe_Cool)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2001, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bullet-catching/76523/20 "2001-08-16T15:53:57Z")
[Here](http://us.imdb.com/Title?0089461) is a link to an instructional video on catching a bullet in your teeth. Remember, you do not need to look far to find the master, and the glow comes from within. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bullet-catching/76523.md?page=2)