The Movie Shooter

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Good Ol' Boy

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Maybe this has been discussed before but in the beginning when Swagger and Donny are getting attacked by the chopper, Swagger breaks out what appears to be a semi Barrett 50, but he racks the charging handle every time he shoots.

Am I missing something or is this just Hollywood?
 
Remington 700 on the barrel, bolt action.



Ah, i just watched further, and while I am not an expert, it does appear he is racking a semi. It also looks like there is a fail to eject at one point perhaps the ammo was loaded down blanks, and it just did not have enough energy to cycle correctly.

d
 
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The Barrett got dirt in it and wouldn't cycle, I always wondered that also and saw it on one of those pop up video things.

They were talking about it and when the question came up, they said that the gun got dirt in it and failed to work. So they had to rack the bolt for every shot.

I would've thought that a Barrett could get some dirt in it and keep on working. Guess not!
 
Yeah, that part is kinda stupid. Shooting a very high caliber round next to an animal or human isn't very smart.

Quick way to ruin a dogs hearing is to shoot to close to them. They can go deaf, just like humans. The difference is, we know better and we should think about our four legged friends.
 
Yeah, I lost a lot of respect for every movie that showed the SPAS-12 in pump action or jammed.

In all the years I owned one, never had a failure. Use the proper ammo and the gun will always work!

Having the folding stock and carrying handle always made shooting one handed awesome. I wish I still had mine, even though my Benelli Super 90M3 is a better gun.
 
I remember movies where someone cocking a revolver had the sound of a pump shotgun being racked dubbed in.

Never was sure if everyone involved was just completely clueless or if it was on purpose. Like the exterior shots of the jet airliner in the movie Airplane that had the sounds of a prop plane dubbed in.
 
I remember movies where someone cocking a revolver had the sound of a pump shotgun being racked dubbed in.

Never was sure if everyone involved was just completely clueless or if it was on purpose. Like the exterior shots of the jet airliner in the movie Airplane that had the sounds of a prop plane dubbed in.
Every time I watched that movie I saw or heard something new. I think that may have been on purpose there are so many little Easter eggs in it.
 
You're so right!
I guess I like all of Stephen Hunter's books. Especially the ones about Bob Lee. The movie was entertaining but would have been more so if I hadn't read the book. They kind of butchered the whole thing up.

Honestly my favorite is "Hot Springs," the first in the Earl Swagger trilogy. But they're all good up until recently where they've gone downhill a bit.
 
I loved that Airplane movie. Took me awhile to catch on to the propeller noise, but it's always funnier to me when it takes slow old me a while to catch on to a gag.

Old western movie stuff I took for granted before I moved out to Colorado and began to actually shoot real guns:

I love it when a bullet ricochets "Pweeeeeeeeeng" in a closed room. I suppose it's possible, but come on, huh?

I also love watching them swing their revolver down from an upraised position without any pretense of aiming and hit their target with extreme accuracy. I think there's actually a name for that, "throwing the bullet" or some such.

Then there's shooting the gun out of someone's hand. Yeah, right.

I could go on.... the Lone Ranger's silver bullets...

Terry, 230RN
 
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Honestly my favorite is "Hot Springs," the first in the Earl Swagger trilogy. But they're all good up until recently where they've gone downhill a bit.
I wish they'd make at least one of the Earl Swagger books into a movie. Pale Horse Coming would be my first pick, then Hot Springs, then G-Men.

Any of Hunter's books made into a movie sorely needs to be produced and directed by Michael Mann, of course... then stupid movie errors such as the one the OP notes wouldn't happen.

Hunter did put out one book, Soft Target, that seems as though it'd translate to a screenplay. Dirty White Boys was one of my favorites.
 
the movie was well enough done I wrote that off. These are recoil operated, and more sensitive to dirt. Also possible he didn't want to shoulder it due to the extreme recoil in that break your collarbone position, and was letting it float, the rifle equivalent of "limp wrist".
Like the others here, that scene with the dog on the mountain was far more questionable.
 
Maybe it didn’t like blanks

My thought. Getting an automatic to appear to function on blanks can be a major prop shop project.
They don't always bother, I recall one movie scene of a woman dealing with an unfaithful spouse; racking the slide of her nickel plated Star every shot.
 
The movie and the book show the difference between the old and new. I think the movie was up dated from the era the book covered to entice the younger crowd which is what movies are really made for. The book was old school and the movie new school so the firearms used would be revelant to the younger crowd and attract more viewers. I enjoyed the book and I enjoyed the movie and allowed for the mistakes which you have to do in ALL movies and most novels for that matter. It took me a little time into the movie to reconcile the new with the old and enjoy the show. I read novels and watch movies to enjoy the overall story. To focus on picking apart and dwelling on technical boo-boos in either detracts from that so I just ignore them.

Hunter has written a lot of really good novels but IMO has slipped down considerably in his last few endevors.
 
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I loved that Airplane movie. Took me awhile to catch on to the propeller noise, but it's always funnier to me when it takes slow old me a while to catch on to a gag.
Apparently the Abrams-Zuckerberg-Abrams team, since they were ripping 6 or 7 airplane disaster movies (Terror in the Skies being the main one), they tried to use as many different "airplane noises" as possible. On purpose.

They did that, some, in the sequel, but it didn't "work" as well.

A bunch of the recent stuff on screen no longer uses blanks (BBC productions are required to use "reduced noise" blanks). The flash and noise are installed in post-production. Which means the actor has to make the gun move for the pew-pew parts.

Will be interesting to see if the prop houses start using CO2 versions to get the "actions' to move, and do all the rest in post.
 
I quit worrying about accuracy in the movies and concentrated on the demise of crooks, commies and politicians. I like Kate Mara, too. I've read every Hunter book at least three times and critiqued several to him. Pale Horse was the cheapest theft ever but I've read it four times and it gets better each time. Earl, Bob Lee, all good
 
Will be interesting to see if the prop houses start using CO2 versions to get the "actions' to move, and do all the rest in post.

Oh, they do that plenty on TV and low budget movies these days, you can usually see the small barrel for airsoft guns and everything. It's sad and distracting but it's part of the game.

Probably why I mostly only watch older stuff and don't much worry about new shows and movies.

I will say in terms of CGI muzzle flashes and empty cases out of airsoft guns there are a number of Hong Kong and Korea produced films that do a much better job than most of the stuff out of Hollywood
 
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