# Maddening weapons use in film **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 29, 2014, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/maddening-weapons-use-in-film/694337 "2014-07-29T17:06:36Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Malthus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/85f322/32.png) [@Malthus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malthus)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2014, 10:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/maddening-weapons-use-in-film/694337/41 "2014-07-29T22:37:55Z")
> [@thelurkinghorror](#): > > Kill Bill (the second one?), rock salt shells. Which by the way, doesn’t work. From my memory, he shot her from essentially point blank range - he was sitting right behind a door, and shot her when she opened it. At such short range, even rock salt could possibly be dangerous. ---
**Author:** ![thelurkinghorror](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7c8e57/32.png) [@thelurkinghorror](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelurkinghorror)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2014, 11:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/maddening-weapons-use-in-film/694337/42 "2014-07-29T23:48:41Z")
> [@Ranger\_Jeff](#): > > Semi and full auto firearms need to be modified to fire blanks. If they aren’t, often you’re going to have to manually work the bolt/slide after each shot. To fire 21 gun salutes, the Honor Guard had to attach Blank Firing Adaptors (BFAs) to M-1 Garands, M-14s, and M-16s. And the adaptors are so [realism-breaking obvious](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/eb/US_Navy_101013-N-3013W-430_Construction_Electrician_2nd_Class_Carl_Harms%2C_from_Lake_Odessa%2C_Mich.%2C_assigned_to_Naval_Mobile_Construction_Battalion.jpg) they don’t use them in movies much. I think they were used in _Tigerland_ but that was intentional. > [@Malthus](#): > > From my memory, he shot her from essentially point blank range - he was sitting right behind a door, and shot her when she opened it. > > At such short range, even rock salt could possibly be dangerous. [Maybe at point blank](http://www.theboxotruth.com/the-box-o-truth-33-rock-salt-in-a-shotgun/). But also he was waiting for a trained killer and should’ve probably packed heavier. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Strangelove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr.strangelove/32/6613_2.png) [@Dr.Strangelove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Strangelove)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2014, 12:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/maddening-weapons-use-in-film/694337/43 "2014-07-30T00:00:49Z")
> [@Hypno-Toad](#): > > Also, if you want to see scary gun handling, watch the detective in _Plan 9 From Outer Space_. Cringe inducing. Ha ha, yes. Gun as pointing device? Check. Use gun to adjust hat? Check. Scratch nose with gun? Check. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Tooth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c67d28/32.png) [@The\_Tooth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Tooth)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2014, 12:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/maddening-weapons-use-in-film/694337/44 "2014-07-30T00:12:52Z")
> [@control-z](#): > > I think it would be easier to list movies that got gun usage correct. Terminator 2 wasn’t bad IIRC. They make the effort in Archer as well, it seems to me. ---
**Author:** ![x-ray\_vision](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/x-ray_vision/32/351_2.png) [@x-ray\_vision](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/x-ray_vision)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2014, 12:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/maddening-weapons-use-in-film/694337/45 "2014-07-30T00:20:21Z")
> [@Grestarian](#): > > I haven’t seen the movie/scene, so I don’t know what make & model 9mm pistol the guy was using. It was a [SIG Sauer P226](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SIG_Sauer_P226). See _The SIG-Sauer P226 is seen held by Neil Baxter (Gary Cole)_: [http://www.imfdb.org/wiki/A\_Simple\_Plan](http://www.imfdb.org/wiki/A_Simple_Plan) ---
**Author:** ![slowlearner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@slowlearner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/slowlearner)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2014, 12:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/maddening-weapons-use-in-film/694337/46 "2014-07-30T00:39:49Z")
Instant death from thrown knife, notably in The Magnificent 7 when James Coburn outduels a pistoleer flinging his itty bitty switchblade from 30 feet deep into the guy’s heart. Even if he beats the guy to the draw 10 times out of 10 he’s going to get a few rounds in return every time. ---
**Author:** ![ExTank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/35a633/32.png) [@ExTank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ExTank)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2014, 1:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/maddening-weapons-use-in-film/694337/47 "2014-07-30T01:31:29Z")
Switching emphasis, parrying edged weapons (especially cutting swords) with the edge instead of the flat. :mad: ---
**Author:** ![Trinopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/2bfe46/32.png) [@Trinopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trinopus)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2014, 1:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/maddening-weapons-use-in-film/694337/48 "2014-07-30T01:44:43Z")
> [@Morbo](#): > > Even if you’re not talking about **For A Few Dollars More** , you’ll still really enjoy [this](http://youtu.be/sqZF8XD9Pk4) scene. > > Especially the end of the clip - admittedly I don’t know much about guns, but I’m having trouble figuring out why shooting a hat in mid-air would make that exact same noise every time, like it ricocheted off…something metallic…in the middle of the sky. 🙂 That was fun! Thanks! I was actually thinking of another movie, but I’m damned it I can name it. Ah, well! Very much the same problem: exactly the same sound effect with each shot (at least from each gun.) And, yeah… How do you shoot a hat off someone’s head and make it jump upward that way? Where’s the fulcrum for the levering of the force vector? Doesn’t add up. (As for the ricochet sound, maybe he’s got a wrought-iron hat-band!) ---
**Author:** ![Fubaya](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/c2a13f/32.png) [@Fubaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fubaya)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2014, 2:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/maddening-weapons-use-in-film/694337/49 "2014-07-30T02:46:18Z")
Guns with no kick whatsoever. An example is in A Million Ways To Die In The West, which is a comedy so I’ll give it a pass. Seth McFarlan empties a six shooter at some bottles and the pistol doesn’t budge even a fraction of an inch. > [@slowlearner](#): > > Instant death from thrown knife I love when the tip of a knife, arrow or throwing star only sinks into the person about 1/4 inch and they die instantly. Who knew so many vital organs were little more than a paper cut away. ---
**Author:** ![FordTaurusSHO94](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/f07891/32.png) [@FordTaurusSHO94](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FordTaurusSHO94)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2014, 3:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/maddening-weapons-use-in-film/694337/50 "2014-07-30T03:22:11Z")
Not a movie, but I hate reading about someone “easing off the safety of their Glock” in book. ---
**Author:** ![smiling\_bandit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9a140/32.png) [@smiling\_bandit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/smiling_bandit)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2014, 3:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/maddening-weapons-use-in-film/694337/51 "2014-07-30T03:23:02Z")
Possibly the single most irritating thing for me is where supposed firearms professionals wave guns around, deliberately walk in front of each other’s lines of fire, and generally act in the most unsafe manner possible. I see this one is nearly every movie that actually has supposed professionals. ---
**Author:** ![Trinopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/2bfe46/32.png) [@Trinopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trinopus)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2014, 3:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/maddening-weapons-use-in-film/694337/52 "2014-07-30T03:35:18Z")
> [@FordTaurusSHO94](#): > > Not a movie, but I hate reading about someone “easing off the safety of their Glock” in book. Um… Okay, spell it out for a dummy. What’s wrong with that? > [@smiling\_bandit](#): > > Possibly the single most irritating thing for me is where supposed firearms professionals wave guns around, deliberately walk in front of each other’s lines of fire, and generally act in the most unsafe manner possible. I see this one is nearly every movie that actually has supposed professionals. This really, really stood out for me in the Second “Die Hard” movie, the one set in the snow-bound Washington D.C. airport. Bruce Willis’ character is showing how the submachine guns are fitted to fire blanks. So he shoots off a few rounds…in a room full of policemen…and there isn’t any reaction. Nobody shoots him dead, which is minimum for that shit. No one hits the deck. Nothin’. They all stand around and look vaguely interested. Terrible gun discipline, and shitty direction. Real policemen would react very energetically. ---
**Author:** ![x-ray\_vision](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/x-ray_vision/32/351_2.png) [@x-ray\_vision](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/x-ray_vision)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2014, 3:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/maddening-weapons-use-in-film/694337/53 "2014-07-30T03:37:47Z")
> [@Trinopus](#): > > Um… Okay, spell it out for a dummy. What’s wrong with that? Glocks don’t have external safeties. ---
**Author:** ![blue\_infinity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blue_infinity/32/2817_2.png) [@blue\_infinity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blue_infinity)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2014, 4:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/maddening-weapons-use-in-film/694337/54 "2014-07-30T04:04:27Z")
> [@Malthus](#): > > Dramatic weapon physics that apparently dictates that anyone hit by any sort of projectile in the movies must fly backwards with great force. There’s a particularly eye-rolling example in **Django Unchained**. Django is standing at balcony overlooking the entry area. He shoots a woman who is standing in the doorway to a room on the left. She gets thrown \*not \*away from him, but at 45 degree angle, through the doorway. :dubious: ---
**Author:** ![Airman\_Doors\_USAF](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e36b37/32.png) [@Airman\_Doors\_USAF](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Airman_Doors_USAF)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2014, 4:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/maddening-weapons-use-in-film/694337/55 "2014-07-30T04:25:57Z")
Two that drive me absolutely bananas, mostly because I’m a gun guy: 1. _Taps_: When the kid is shot outside the gate with General Bache’s 1911, he says “There was a round in the chamber, I forgot”. Well, when you chamber a round in the 1911, the hammer stays back. At that point you should engage the thumb safety if you’re smart, but with the hammer back like that it’s patently obvious that a round is chambered. You might be saying to yourself right now that he lowered the hammer manually. Fine, but then the gun cannot fire because it’s a single action weapon. During the fight, the hammer was down and it fired. Impossible. 2. _Daredevil_: When Electra’s father is killed, she picks up one of his bodyguard’s Glocks and fires at Daredevil. She fires it empty, but she keeps pulling the trigger. Click, click, click. Oops. A Glock slide locks back on the last round, and since the Glock is a hammerless striker-fired weapon the firing pin must be reset by racking the slide, something recoil does nicely but an empty magazine does not. The trigger would stay back and no amount of pulling on it would result in a click. Those two are the ones that drive me batty, the first because it’s an integral part of the plot and the second because it’s so conspicuous in the scene. I could go on with the endless magazines, the man-portable minigun, etc., but why bother? They’ve been done to death, we all know about them. ---
**Author:** ![Trinopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/2bfe46/32.png) [@Trinopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trinopus)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2014, 4:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/maddening-weapons-use-in-film/694337/56 "2014-07-30T04:56:44Z")
> [@x-ray\_vision](#): > > Glocks don’t have external safeties. Grin! That certainly puts the kibosh on that description! > [@Airman\_Doors\_USAF](#): > > . . . she picks up one of his bodyguard’s Glocks and fires at Daredevil. She fires it empty, but she keeps pulling the trigger. Click, click, click. Oops. A Glock slide locks back on the last round, and since the Glock is a hammerless striker-fired weapon the firing pin must be reset by racking the slide, something recoil does nicely but an empty magazine does not. The trigger would stay back and no amount of pulling on it would result in a click. . . . Is this also true of most other automatics? I’m thinking of the classic Colt 45 auto pistol, and, same thing. You get one click, but after that the trigger is inert. Are there any automatics where you can get a whole bunch of empty clicks? ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2014, 5:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/maddening-weapons-use-in-film/694337/57 "2014-07-30T05:01:01Z")
> [@thelurkinghorror](#): > > [Snap caps](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snap_cap). You can make do with a dummy bullet or other things, but this is safer for rimfire. I have those but the name just wasn’t coming to me when I was writing the post. ---
**Author:** ![thelurkinghorror](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7c8e57/32.png) [@thelurkinghorror](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelurkinghorror)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2014, 5:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/maddening-weapons-use-in-film/694337/58 "2014-07-30T05:15:49Z")
> [@FordTaurusSHO94](#): > > Not a movie, but I hate reading about someone “easing off the safety of their Glock” in book. When I hear the term “easing off the safety of their Glock” I release the safety catch of my Browning. 🙂 Die Hard 2 brings in at least 5 baffling falsehoods about Glocks in one single paragraph: “Luggage? That “punk” pulled a Glock Seven on me. Know what that is? A porcelain gun from Germany. It doesn’t show up on airport x-ray machines… and it costs more than you earn in a month.” [ol] [li]There is no Glock model 7. 17 is the flagship model.[/li][li]It’s not porcelain, that would suck to drop. Polymer.[/li][li]It’s an Austrian company. It could’ve been made anywhere, but I don’t think Germany is one of these places.[/li][li]Being a majority metal by weight ([83.7% apparently](http://diehard.wikia.com/wiki/Glock_7)), it most certainly gets detected. You can’t make slides out of plastic if you want a pistol known for its reliability.[/li][li]I pity the security guard who makes less than $6000 a year.[/li][/ol] While searching for the quote, I found this [Cracked list](http://www.cracked.com/article_19781_6-stupid-gun-myths-everyone-believes-thanks-to-movies.html). “Guns go off when dropped” is one of the most common stupid ones. Glocks and other DAO guns do not have external safeties, but they have other types of safeties, as does any gun made in the last several decades. ---
**Author:** ![Airman\_Doors\_USAF](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e36b37/32.png) [@Airman\_Doors\_USAF](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Airman_Doors_USAF)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2014, 5:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/maddening-weapons-use-in-film/694337/59 "2014-07-30T05:51:14Z")
> [@Trinopus](#): > > Is this also true of most other automatics? I’m thinking of the classic Colt 45 auto pistol, and, same thing. You get one click, but after that the trigger is inert. Are there any automatics where you can get a whole bunch of empty clicks? Sure. Virtually every DA/SA handgun made can be dry-fired repeatedly without actuating the slide. My Sig Sauer P239 operates that way, and the Beretta M9 does as well. There are lots of other examples. ---
**Author:** ![Trinopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/2bfe46/32.png) [@Trinopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trinopus)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2014, 6:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/maddening-weapons-use-in-film/694337/60 "2014-07-30T06:42:28Z")
> [@Airman\_Doors\_USAF](#): > > Sure. Virtually every DA/SA handgun made can be dry-fired repeatedly without actuating the slide. My Sig Sauer P239 operates that way, and the Beretta M9 does as well. There are lots of other examples. That’s Double-Action Semi-Automatic? I’ve never handled one, and didn’t even know they existed… I’m a frustrated writer, and sometimes I write firearms scenes. But I have a friend who is a retired LEO, and he proofs me for blunders. Why can’t Hollywood and the TV studios make that trivial investment? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/maddening-weapons-use-in-film/694337.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/maddening-weapons-use-in-film/694337.md?page=4)