B.F.A......making blanks

[willyjixx]

the Full Auto blank gun reminded me of a conversation with a friend.

few months ago i was talking to a freind who is in college an wants to do a film. he was doing it along the lines of an action film. he knows im a shooter (weve been out shootin a few times) an he asked me if there were ways to run blanks through normal firearms safely. i really didnt know. i did mention that military rifles use Blank Firing Attachments for the M-16 and most FAs. i could probably adapt one to my mini 14, but didnt know about pistols. any cluse on how to hollywood up a real weapon. hes trying to keep cost down an use what he has. im not volunteering any of my stuff for liability issues though. any suggestions?

 

[cordex]

Others may have much more helpful suggestions than I, but my first suggestion for converting a real firearm to blank firing is not to do it.

If you are going to point a gun at someone, you darn well better be willing to shoot at them. Accidentally loading a real cartridge into a blank-adapted weapon is a receipe for some pretty messy situations - legally and literally.

Yeah, the military does their own thing, but I still suggest you avoid this at all costs.

I'd recommend airsofts for any film work. Adding sound and even muzzle flash is pretty basic if you're doing digital editing. It requires for the actors to do a little more acting, but that's their job. The better airsofts are pretty expensive, but you might be able to convince a local airsoft club to lend you their weapons in exchange for small parts in the movie or recognition in the credits.

For stage work, a dedicated blank-only prop gun (not a starter's pistol) is the only way to go.

About the only situations that I can think of where you'd really want to use blanks out of a real gun would be for a quickdraw style competition or maybe for salutes.

Take my advice with the usual grain of salt [tm]. I've only worked as a gun-wrangler for a few small-time productions.

 

[Chipperman]

An easy way to get around this is with creative editing.

IE never have the real gun pointed at a real person. Show the gunner up close dropping the hammer, with the bang and recoil. Cut away to victim acting as though they are being shot.

Yeah, you lose some realism; but it would be safe cheap and easy.

This is a college movie, not Hollywood.

 

[BryanP]

Blanks for revolvers are easily manufactured by using a shell casing with nothing but a primer in it. You get a bang and a flash and little else as long as you'renot stupid and put it right up to someone's face. However, people can get careless and screw up. It was an accident involving these kinds of blanks that got Brandon Lee killed.

You might be better off looking at online resources involving film making. They would have more information about how to fake a shooting on film

 

[jsalcedo]

Years ago I read of semi auto handguns converted to blank firing by installing a weak or cut down recoil spring.

Not sure if that would work in all cases.

Gas operated guns would be a different story (blank firing attachment)

However if real guns are to be used during a production I would have them checked and re-checked several times with a sign off sheet for the actor and the inspector.

The guns are to be stored in a locked trunk and only handled by the inspector and the actor for the duration. That is about the only way to be reasonably safe.

 

[Phyphor]

Blank firing guns...

IIRC, Hollywood style blank adapters are internal, meaning inside the bbl of the firearms. Other mods are made to the firearms (lightening cuts, recoil springs are changed out to be made lighter, and venting holes are drilled, ) as well, so if you modified a normal semi-auto pistol to fire blanks, odds are only the frame would be left unmodified.

But rather than go to all that trouble (and blow loads of money on parts. and possibly screw up one of your guns, ) why not get some of these?
Blank firing replicas are relatively easy to get

There's some restrictions, of course, but they're a helluva lot safer IMO than trying to modify one of your own weapons.