Of course, it’s also possible that (in other movies) they’re having a misfire and are too ignorant to tap & rack, but after already firing 16 rounds out of a Beretta? Unlikely.
What else I love to hate in movies is when somebody shoots someone with a 9mm and the victim flies back 15 feet. Simple physics reveals why this is horseshit.
But the biggest crock I ever saw regarding guns in movies is in the movie Elephant, where the minors buy an “assault rifle” via an internet auction site like GUNBROKER and get it shipped directly to their home, no paper work, no background check, no FFL needed… I wonder how many people watching that tripe actually thinks it works like that.
That was the “Brady instant background check” (as it’s called). That was an actual background check. That’s exactly how it works. Theres a phone number the dealer calls, after the prompt the SSN is entered and the dealer learns if the number goes to the name the buyer gave (what’s on the I.D. shown) and if they’re clear to purchase a weapon.
You should know the facts before making disparaging posts like this.
They were meant to factual and funny. Where were my facts wrong?
I can accept that I’m a terrible comedian, but I’m not really a homicidal maniac, and I fully support the right to bear arms. I was just making fun of the “precautions” because I think they’re more there for the do-gooders and hysteriacs than for any real safety.
Well, you came across as though a kid could walk into a gun show and buy a gun, and that’s not happening. Not even the Columbine killers did that. they needed someone else to.
You also infered that the background check was phony.
But one is done over the phone using an SSN. It is instant. If you bought the gun where you’re from, Mississippi, there is no waiting period. There doesn’t seem to be anything sinister in how you got your weapon, although you infer it.
Back to my other post, the movie Elephant infers that a kid can buy an “assault weapon” using on-line auction sites and have it shipped to their home. This just isn’t the case. I use Gunbroker all the time to buy/sell. One needs to either have an Federal Firearms License, or have the weapon shipped to someone who does, and have them transfer it to you. Using a stolen FFL is of little use as the firearm must be shipped to the address that appears of the license (a file copy of the FFL has to be sent with payment). What this movie infers is pure lies.
In my dream world, gunshows would also sell clues, in which case you might have one of those too.
If it was a decent show you also could have bought some some cases, powder, primers, a set of dies and a press so that those boxes of bullets could have served as something other than paper weights.
Many double action revolvers, and not a few DA autos have a “hair trigger” once manually cocked…telling the person looking down the muzzle “All I have to do is think about it, or maybe get a little nervous, and your dead.” But as ealier respondants have noted, it’s just hollywood BS done for dramatic effect.
I found the easiest was to keep a bullet out of the first chamber was to shoot the first smart-ass, condescending, know-it-all that I saw. Then I could go about my business.
Rather than be pissed at me, you should focus your ire at the one I was actually making light of: whomever trained you to keep an empty chamber in the revolver.
If you’re going to hold a job that is high risk enough that it requires a firearm, at very least you deserve to have an instructor that knows what they are talking about.
Hey, as I indicated, it was many years ago. I was trained to shoot, issued the firearm and instructed on how to handle it while I was carrying it. It very well could have been without a modern safety device. I knew that if I fired even one bullet (much less five) there was going to be a lot of 'splainen to do. The last thing I wanted was for that sucker to go off in any way, shape or form while it was in my possession.
Duty revolvers have been safe to carry fully loaded for almost a century.
I stand by my belief that your instructor did you a disservice.
But I remember being taught some things in the academy in the very early 80’s then a few years later having another instructor be shocked at the goofy shit we were told. This is one reason why training & standards has become so uniform.
Or how about when he’s holding a Glock, but maybe he hasn’t fired any rounds yet. He finds out it’s actually empty when he pulls the trigger in someone’s face. ::Click:: Nothing. But then it’s, ::click, click click click::
The first one we have to give him. Maybe it was empty and someone he just didn’t realize it. But the subsequent trigger pulls??? ARGHHHHH WTF! You can pull the trigger more than once on an unloaded Glock without resetting the damn thing.
Oh… and speaking of “clicks”. Surefire lights DO NOT CLICK when you turn them on/off!!! FUCK!!!
I forget the movie, it’s been a few years, but there is a scene where a guy makes a comment about leaving the safety on a revolver. Now, I’ve been in law enforcement for going on 25 years, and I’ve been a licensed gun dealer for almost 20. I’d bet that somewhere there is a revolver with a manual safety, but I’ve yet to see one!
Back to the OP, cocking a revolver or pistol in the movies is almost always for dramatics. There is something frightning about hearing that click. But as mentioned earlier there are real life reasons to cock an otherwise double action weapon. Just not that many of them.
Some police issue Webley Mark IVs (and perhaps earlier models) were equipped with a manual safety, I believe, as were a couple of 19th Century German revolvers. There is also the Webley-Fosbery Automatic Revolver, which is a bit of an odd case because while it is technically a revolver, is uses a recoil operated action, mounted on rails, to advance the cylinder and cock the hammer; thus, in operation, it is more like a single action autoloading pistol (save lacking a spring-loaded magazine) rather than a traditional double action revolver.
It should go without saying that you’re not going to see any of these firearms in the duty rig of your local police officer. However, there is an add-on safety for S&W revolvers (the Murabito safety), which has allegedly been installed in thousands of firearms. (Why you would want to do this is somewhat lost on me, but to each his own.)
While we’re at it, a silencer on a revolver? Not only not terribly effective but possibly ill-advised as well. And those silencers that are about the size of a D-cell battery? Not happening. While I’ve seen silencers that are quiet enough shoot without hearing protection (which are about the size of a beer can) I’ve never heard one that makes the “pssst” sound that is so popular in movies.
Actually, it was the Webley Mk III revolver (in .38/200) issued to the Royal Straits (later Singaporean) Police that had a safety catch, not the Mk IV
Unless you live in India, Rhodesia, Tanzania, or many other parts of the former British Empire, where the police are often still carrying firearms dating from Independence
The only revolver which can be effectively silenced is the Nagant M1895… a revolver with a “Gas Seal” mechanism which enables a silencer to function effectively when attached to the end. The NKVD were known to use them during WWII.
Really? I used several when I lived in NZ (on rifles and handguns- silencers are totally legal and unrestriced in NZ!), and almost all of them made the “Shunk” noise often heard in movies- very quiet indeed. One of the Sterling .22 rifles I used had an integral barrel silencer, and when you fired it the only thing you could hear was the “click” of the firing pin striking the base of the cartridge- and you’d see a hole appear in the target (or a bunny rabbit suddenly fall over) downrange.
Of course, if you silence a gun using Supersonic ammo, it will never be totally quiet (you still get a Sonic Boom as the bullet passes the sound barrier), but a silencer used in conjuction with Subsonic ammunition is surprisingly effective at reducing noise- much like you see in movies.
:eek: :smack: 