Movie guns
 

I'm doing a presentation on movie special effects and thought I really need something about guns hehe. Where can I get some information about guns that are used in movies? The one gun that comes to mind specifically is the minigun in Terminator 2.

Here is info on the M134 minigun like the one used in T2 http://www.fas.org/man/dod-101/sys/ac/equip/m134.htm

You know not to sound totally out of my mind, but do you think it is possible for someone of arnold to fire a M134 from the hip. I mean I used to handle them all the time and I know their weight but if someone can support the weight can they do it or would the recoil continusly propel them backwards.

I think if you could hold on to it and lean in you could sustain the fire but I don't think it would be too accurate. Even if you tried to "walk" the bullets into the target. Sure would be fun, though lol.

The blank firing M134 from Predator was auctioned off not to long ago, IIRC.

Where was it actioned and how much did it go for? Got Link

I doubt you could, I mean that thing is capable of 6000 RPM lol. Maybe on the 2000RPM setting you could get a few rounds downrange though. There are other things that make it where it wouldn't be a good dismounted weapon anyway, the main one being weight. For it to be portable you would have to lug around some sort of power supply, plus I don't think anyone could haul the ammo load needed to make it useful lol

IIRC, the minigun used in T2 had the cyclic rate dropped way down, to something like 4,500 rpm.

It goes without saying that they were shooting blanks, which have pretty much no recoil.

Some producers still use blank firing guns of various types, but the trend is to use dummy guns and insert the firing and noise "in the back room", courtesy of Industrial Light and Magic or some similar outfit. The actors fake recoil when necessary.

The main reason is simply money. The "magic" method costs a lot more than blanks, but when blanks and blank firing guns are used, insurance costs go through the roof. If the movie's superstar, who usually has a handsome face and a head of full of coke, decides to pop himself off with a prop gun blank, millions of bucks go gurgling down the drain.

So we see gun flashes that come out of the air somewhere near the gun muzzle, no smoke, and plastic cartridge cases that seem more numerous than the shots that supposedly produced them.

Jim