I'm sitting here watchign Face/Off and it might not be the best example of reality and guns but this is a general gun in movies question; When people fire guns in movies, why don't their hands jerk like in real life? I mean come on, firing a .45 in each hand and his hand, i've watched in slo mo, doesn't even budge. There's fire and flash and shell ejection but it just doesn't seem to effect the actor. Is it movie magic, something they learn, light loads? What makes it so easy for them?
Guns in Movies Question
- Thread starter RonGoode
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Some of the actors (or perhaps the directors) are savvy enough to add fake recoil when they "shoot". I remember seeing a Gunsmoke episode where a shooter's revolver would recoil sometimes and not at others. It was so obvious he was forgetting to add the recoil.
Guns in most of the Clint Eastwood movies, his early, middle and the latest ones all seem to display recoil when required.
Guns in most of the Clint Eastwood movies, his early, middle and the latest ones all seem to display recoil when required.
Blanks that have ALOT of powder in them... that and the 2 .45's that "Castor Troy" were using were comped...if I am not mistaken they were a custom item that either Colt or Springfield were offering several years ago...Tricked out and Gold plated if I remember correctly..LOVE THAT JOHN WOO!!!!
Paul "Fitz" Jones
Moderator - Emeritus
Dirty Harry
I have heard a number of times living close to Hollywood that Clint actually carried a 41 Mag in his Dirty Harry Movies for its lighter weight was easier to carry, find a holster for and stick in someones face.
Fitz
I have heard a number of times living close to Hollywood that Clint actually carried a 41 Mag in his Dirty Harry Movies for its lighter weight was easier to carry, find a holster for and stick in someones face.
Fitz
BluesBear
member
Except that a model 57 actually weighs a little more than a model 29.
The .41 rumor has been around for years and that's just what it is, only a rumor.
Watch the Dirty Harry movies and you'll see that they were indeed .44s.
The .41 rumor has been around for years and that's just what it is, only a rumor.
Watch the Dirty Harry movies and you'll see that they were indeed .44s.
labgrade
Member In Memoriam
From what I've gathered - could be pure BS, or true = I dunno - many of the movie-guns use propane to add a flash = zero recoil, & the expended brass is merely a function of the design, or after-affects.
Movie-guns do not apply the "laws of physics" as we'd suspect for actually firing a live round, since they never do.
Ergo, they can do anything they want since the whole thing is made up anyway, right?
Movie-guns do not apply the "laws of physics" as we'd suspect for actually firing a live round, since they never do.
Ergo, they can do anything they want since the whole thing is made up anyway, right?
Son of John
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Harry
If you remember Magnum Force, the 2nd Dirty Harry, and the shooting range scene with the 4 bad cops, Clint tells them he shoots a 44 special load in his heavy Model 29 Smith and gets less recoil than their .357's. I've shot this combination and he's right, it is a very light recoiling load.
Part of the Dirty Harry image was all the other cops would pull a puny .38 snub out and Harry would pull out this huge cannon. No one ever notes it but he also used a .458 magnum "sniper" rifle against Scorpio in the first movie. This was even scarier than the model 29 as a carry weapon...
No way can you shoot like these guys in the movies with no recoil or muzzle flip. Clint was the closest to showing some real recoil in all his pictures.
If you remember Magnum Force, the 2nd Dirty Harry, and the shooting range scene with the 4 bad cops, Clint tells them he shoots a 44 special load in his heavy Model 29 Smith and gets less recoil than their .357's. I've shot this combination and he's right, it is a very light recoiling load.
Part of the Dirty Harry image was all the other cops would pull a puny .38 snub out and Harry would pull out this huge cannon. No one ever notes it but he also used a .458 magnum "sniper" rifle against Scorpio in the first movie. This was even scarier than the model 29 as a carry weapon...
No way can you shoot like these guys in the movies with no recoil or muzzle flip. Clint was the closest to showing some real recoil in all his pictures.
George S.
Member
Like labgrade said "Movie-guns do not apply the "laws of physics" as we'd suspect for actually firing a live round, since they never do.
Ergo, they can do anything they want since the whole thing is made up anyway, right?"
That explains why cowboys in the old movies got way more that six shots out of their "six-shooters"
Ergo, they can do anything they want since the whole thing is made up anyway, right?"
That explains why cowboys in the old movies got way more that six shots out of their "six-shooters"
Justin
Moderator Emeritus
Mechanical movie guns seem to fall under 3 different categories (at least based on the scarce info out there regarding Hollywood armourers.)
1)Real weapons adapted to fire blanks. As I understand it, the barrel is plugged but with a small hole in it to allow the gas to go through. The plug is what allows enough pressure to be generated to cycle the action and eject the brass. The small hole lets you see the flash.
As to why you don't see recoil, it's basic physics. For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. If you're using a force to push a 230 grain bullet down the barrel of a gun, then logic dictates that there will be a force equal and opposite to that, ie recoil.
If you aren't pushing anything down the barrel of the weapon then there is going to be an equal and opposite force applied to nothing. So a force of nothing in one direction results in a force of nothing that is equal and in the opposite direction.
2)Guns that aren't guns at all, but use some form of flammable gas to do muzzle flash. These are mostly seen as scifi guns. Since they aren't really guns, they don't generally cycle or eject brass.
3)I have no idea what it's called, but several years ago a group of guys at one of the practical effects houses designed a new type of movie gun that uses a non-flammable powder and can be safely discharged as close as 18 inches from another person. IIRC, the first movie that used this type of design was 'Alien: Resurrection'
Of course the above three categories don't include other varieties of prop guns, including plastic/rubber non-firing replicas, or stuff like custom designs or airsoft.
As to the whole 'why did he just fire 27 rounds out of a revolver, or cock the hammer on his Glock' those are generally continuity and/or foley errors. (So even if the director, actor, and everyone else on set know what is proper it is possible for the movie to get messed up in the post-production process by someone who doesn't know- editor, foley artist, etc.)
1)Real weapons adapted to fire blanks. As I understand it, the barrel is plugged but with a small hole in it to allow the gas to go through. The plug is what allows enough pressure to be generated to cycle the action and eject the brass. The small hole lets you see the flash.
As to why you don't see recoil, it's basic physics. For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. If you're using a force to push a 230 grain bullet down the barrel of a gun, then logic dictates that there will be a force equal and opposite to that, ie recoil.
If you aren't pushing anything down the barrel of the weapon then there is going to be an equal and opposite force applied to nothing. So a force of nothing in one direction results in a force of nothing that is equal and in the opposite direction.
2)Guns that aren't guns at all, but use some form of flammable gas to do muzzle flash. These are mostly seen as scifi guns. Since they aren't really guns, they don't generally cycle or eject brass.
3)I have no idea what it's called, but several years ago a group of guys at one of the practical effects houses designed a new type of movie gun that uses a non-flammable powder and can be safely discharged as close as 18 inches from another person. IIRC, the first movie that used this type of design was 'Alien: Resurrection'
Of course the above three categories don't include other varieties of prop guns, including plastic/rubber non-firing replicas, or stuff like custom designs or airsoft.
As to the whole 'why did he just fire 27 rounds out of a revolver, or cock the hammer on his Glock' those are generally continuity and/or foley errors. (So even if the director, actor, and everyone else on set know what is proper it is possible for the movie to get messed up in the post-production process by someone who doesn't know- editor, foley artist, etc.)
Justin
Moderator Emeritus
Oh, and incidentally, not all muzzle flashes show up onscreen. This is because the flash from the shot being fired occurs between frame exposures on the camera. "Die Hard 2" is an example where you can see this happen several times.
Back in the day, they just put up with it, though there were a couple of attempts to correct it. The M16/M203 Al Pacino had at the end of 'Scarface' had a mechanical device in it synced to the cameras on set such that the gun would fire only at a time when a frame of film was being exposed. (I'd be really curious to see how that setup worked.)
I would imagine that nowadays they just correct it digitally in post.
Back in the day, they just put up with it, though there were a couple of attempts to correct it. The M16/M203 Al Pacino had at the end of 'Scarface' had a mechanical device in it synced to the cameras on set such that the gun would fire only at a time when a frame of film was being exposed. (I'd be really curious to see how that setup worked.)
I would imagine that nowadays they just correct it digitally in post.
Paul "Fitz" Jones
Moderator - Emeritus
My source
My source was the owner of a special effects company that lived nearby in Arleta California a suburb in San Fernando Valley of Los Angeles. I was really interested in his work (my having been an explosives simulator man in the guard)but had so much overtime as a marshal did not have the time for friendship and he was gone on location a lot so we could hardly get together.
I did get a bunch of information however so I was able to complete my booklet on How to make your own Fireworks which I sold at gun shows. He said it was because they could not get a 44 in time for the shoot but who knows as he may have been funning me.
Fitz
My source was the owner of a special effects company that lived nearby in Arleta California a suburb in San Fernando Valley of Los Angeles. I was really interested in his work (my having been an explosives simulator man in the guard)but had so much overtime as a marshal did not have the time for friendship and he was gone on location a lot so we could hardly get together.
I did get a bunch of information however so I was able to complete my booklet on How to make your own Fireworks which I sold at gun shows. He said it was because they could not get a 44 in time for the shoot but who knows as he may have been funning me.
Fitz
romulus
Member
I would like to know why revolvers in movies, when the cylinder is spun (before being slammed shut for dramatic effect 
) make that clicking noise, sort of like the playing cards you'd tape to a bike wheel as kids. All the revolvers I've owned are silent when you spin the cylinder
) make that clicking noise, sort of like the playing cards you'd tape to a bike wheel as kids. All the revolvers I've owned are silent when you spin the cylinder Kor
Member
That clickety-click noise comes from the spring-loaded indexing pawl clicking against the ratchet pads at the back of the cylinder, and in order to make that cool noise you have to get the cylinder bolt at the bottom of the frame window to drop out of the cylinder bolt notch so the cylinder can free-wheel in the frame.
With a single-action revolver, all you have to do is half-cock the hammer, or with Rugers, flip open the loading gate. With a double-action revolver, you have to pull the hammer back slightly, or press the trigger slightly(I do this using my middle finger to pull the trigger back with my index finger stuck behind the trigger to keep the trigger from going back far enough to actually drop the hammer).
I remember that Massad Ayoob once actually recommended that you do this (slowly and gently) after loading a revolver to be used for self-defense, to make sure that the cylinder would in fact rotate freely and not get bound by a cartridge that was out-of-spec or that had a high primer.
Of course, Hollywood revolvers make that cool sound when their cylinders are open, not closed, but if the actor on screen is spinning his cylinder before flicking it closed with his wrist, he's gotta have the effect so it sounds as cool as it looks. A gun that doesn't make a cool noise when the actor is futzing around with it is just sooooo blase...
With a single-action revolver, all you have to do is half-cock the hammer, or with Rugers, flip open the loading gate. With a double-action revolver, you have to pull the hammer back slightly, or press the trigger slightly(I do this using my middle finger to pull the trigger back with my index finger stuck behind the trigger to keep the trigger from going back far enough to actually drop the hammer).
I remember that Massad Ayoob once actually recommended that you do this (slowly and gently) after loading a revolver to be used for self-defense, to make sure that the cylinder would in fact rotate freely and not get bound by a cartridge that was out-of-spec or that had a high primer.
Of course, Hollywood revolvers make that cool sound when their cylinders are open, not closed, but if the actor on screen is spinning his cylinder before flicking it closed with his wrist, he's gotta have the effect so it sounds as cool as it looks. A gun that doesn't make a cool noise when the actor is futzing around with it is just sooooo blase...
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