There used to be a show called That’s Incredible. Rumor had it that one of the guests died as a result of a stunt where he tried to catch a bullet with his teeth. That implies that sometimes the stunt was real (or that it was never real and what was supposed to be a blank was in fact a live round). On the other hand this could have just been an “urban legend”. However, I seem to remember an actual stunt of that type, but then again memory is a tricky thing.
So what you are saying is that you think you remember hearing something about an event that is completely improbable and want to know how that improbable event s performed.
Do you want to just take a guess before I give the obvious answer?
I figured that someone had a definitive answer having worked in magic or being familiar with the incident that I am referencing. Were I to speculate I would say the “trick” involves blanks, and slight of hand. However, the possibility of catching an actual bullet cannot be entirely discounted given that someone allegedly died in the attempt (for instance maybe they were using lower velocity “trick” bullets that appeared fast to the audience, but were slow in terms of bullets).
There is a glass pane between the shooter and the bullet catcher. The shooter fires the gun, the glass gets a hole from the bullet and the bullet catcher falls back. Then, when he raises to his feet, he has the bullet between his teeth!
Of course it’s not real! The bullet-catcher has a bullet in his mouth from the very begining. When he falls back, he has plenty of time to put the bullet between his teeth.
As for the glass pane with-a-hole thing, I believe that the shooter actually fires a real bullet. He is probably aiming just a few inches away from the bullet-catcher’s head.
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- Try searching here, this matter has been discussed previously–there was a television show once that featured a female magician who did this trick, but she caught a 22LR bullet in her teeth–while she was holding a small metal cup in her mouth and goggles to protect from the flying glass. The familiar window was in-between, and a hole appeared at the right moment. The lady and the shooter were perhaps twelve feet from the glass, on opposite sides. Before firing, they showed it and the bullet appeared to be a full-length 22LR case, with bullet.
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- Now of course, they could have staged anything for television, but it was suposed to be a documentary on the lady–and from what I know of guns, this could possibly work, just the way she claimed to do it. 22-Shorts do come in full-length cases and they are not very powerful, shot straight at a pane of ordinary window glass they would keep on traveling straight through, and and a small steel cup would stop such a bullet–and probably be holdable in one’s mouth. As to how dangerous it would really be, I don’t know. The shot would be easy, but the consequences of missing pretty frightening.
- I do not believe that there is any way to catch any firearm bullet directly in one’s teeth, without doing damage. For that matter, a cheap plastic BB-gun is powerful enough to chip and even completely shatter human teeth.
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The bullet trick is an old standard. Here’s one site that explains how the trick is performed..
Th stunt is usually preceded with the warning that “people have died attempting this stunt”, but of course, that’s just intended to create excitement. This trick is nothing more than simple misdirection.
We have discussed the “That’s incredible” performance here before, though I failed to find it qwith a search. The performer in question used stage blood to give the impression that the bullet had grazed his lip.
I think this was on that Magic’s Secret’s revealed show. The person had a bullet in their mouth to start off with. The gun fired nothing at all. And the glass broke by electric current or something like that. It was quite some time ago. But I’m sure you can pick up a copy of the series at your local video store.
Call me a skeptic on this. There is no way to ensure that the bullet would travel straight, there is no way to ensure that the shooter would aim properly 100% of the time. Such a setup is much too chancey and in time would very likely lead to a charge of “reckless disregard.”
Yes, several magicians have been killed performing this stunt:
Oops!
Since this trick has become pretty well known – that the bullet (if any) that is fired from the gun isn’t the same one that appears in the performer’s mouth – a variation has appeared where the bullet is marked, then examined for the mark after the trick is done. Of course the exact mark is there.
One way this is done is to use an old-style musket, where powder and bullet are loaded from the front. After loading, both are tamped down by a long rod. In the trick, the rod is magnetic, and after tamping, the bullet sticks to the rod’s end and is brought out when the rod is removed. Sleight of hand transfers the marked bullet from the tip of the rod to the performer, who inserts it in his mouth at an opportune time.
I saw a Penn & Teller variation on this variation once (sorry, no link), and P & T, who always like to one-up their colleagues and fool armchair amateur magicians like me, marked a bullet but made sure everyone saw that there was no contact between performers so the bullet could be passed. I have no idea how they accomplished the trick, but I will go waaay out on a limb here and suggest that Teller did NOT actually catch a normal muzzle-velocity speeding bullet in his mouth.
Ianzin, you ever perform this trick?
Who marked the bullet? If it was either Penn or Teller themselves, there’s no reason they couldn’t have similarly marked another bullet previously. Usually, however, the magicians have an audience member do the marking, so that it’s supposedly random. If this was the case, I’d suspect a confederate, placed in the audience, and “chosen” randomly. Of course, he also previously marked a bullet in the same mannner. My WAG.
This is how Chung Ling Soo met his death trying to perform the trick :-
" Another of Chung’s tricks was “bullet catching”. When that one went wrong at the Wood Green Empire, London, in 1918, there was no sending a telegram to Ritherdon’s; Chung was killed.
This is how the trick was done. The old muzzle loading guns which Chung’s attendants fired at him were devised so that a blank charge exploded in a secret barrel, and the actual bullets were not discharged. Then the illusionist “caught” bullets (which he had previously palmed) by dropping them on an earthenware plate held up in front of him.
However, the guns were dilapidated, and on the fatal night some of the powder trickled through from the secret barrel into the one which held the bullet. So the real bullet was discharged, and Chung killed in full view of a horrified audience. Years after his death there was controversy as to whether it was suicide, murder, or just an accident, but the inquest decided on the story above, and returned a verdict of “Accidental Death”.
( quote from the *This is Bolton * web site ).
The famous gun maker and ballistics expert Robert Churchill was called in by the police to investigate the cause of the accident. His examination of the gun soon proved why the trick went wrong . I think the secret barrel was actually located in the space normally reserved for the ram rod.
Penn: “Like all magicians, we have magic wands. Colt Python .357 Magnum ‘magic wands.’”
Teller: “…”
I’m gonna go with the theory of the “random audience member” being in cahoots with them and marking the bullets to match the pre-marked ones they already had. (they both shot at each other, for those who haven’t seen it)
It has been a while since I saw the P&T trick, and I only saw it once, so I can’t verify or refute the speculations offered here. But I’m reasonably hip to common conjuring tricks, and I remember the bullet markings were shown up close. I think it is more likely that the same marked bullet was transported surreptitiously than a confederate used or two bullets marked.
P&T are the experts. And I highly recommend their TV show and DVDs, Bullshit!. No bullets, but lots of mudslinging and some naked women.
Also, I’d be worried that a low velocity bullet would change direction when it hits the glass and end up hitting someone in the face.
You know, that list prompted a safety precaution I’d never really considered in these sorts of magic tricks …
" ‘The Black Wizard of the West’ (1922): his wife purposely fired live bullets at him"
:eek: Note to Penn Gillette: do not name Teller in your will …
My favorite was this one:
In the dark recesses of my memory I recall seeing this on TV. This memory would predate That’s Incredible.
As I recall, the performer/magician held between his teeth a small cup-like device which was intended to catch the bullet. I don’t remember any breaking glass.
After the shot was fired the magician stood up with this stunned, really rattled expression on his face and a small stream of blood running from his lip. The shooter had apparantly just missed the bulls-eye but caught enough of the cup to stop the bullet. In looking back, I suspect that the bloddy lip was all part of the act, but it sure creeped me out at the time.
How ‘bout you get yourself up in a balloon, and you strap yourself into the gondola, and you’re up a thousand feet, and a .22 round is fired straight up at you, and, it’s painted day glow orange so you can see it, and just as it reaches it’s upward travel and starts to fall back to earth, you stretch out your neck, and CATCHITNIYOURTEETH!..Huzzah!
Just as plausible, no? 
The bullit trick is always presented as a death defying stunt, as opposed to a trick, which is all it is.
A big part of the secrets of some magic tricks is that they just lie to you. When they say that this is a dangerous trick, that is not true. Likewise, when they tell you that “no camera tricks” are used, that may also be a lie. And a lot of, if not all, studio audiance “volunteers” are on the payroll.