Random Thought Thread

Nathan the Machinist said:
I think the problem occurs when you have a firearm with a barrel obstruction loaded with blanks. You could double check it is clear and running blanks but unless you put a light down the barrel to confirm the entire bore is clear you could still launch something from it. I can recall hearing about a serious injury (it may have been a death) from a reenactor firing a musket with an over charge but no bullet and part of the gun itself became the projectile when it came apart. I can imagine a scenario where a fake gun running blanks could kill someone for similar reasons. I'd bet there wasn't a real bullet involved in this accident, just people who are ignorant on how a firearm works.

Think on this for a moment, there are a ton of people who think the entire cartridge leaves the end of the barrel, not just the bullet. A lot of people simply don't know how it works.
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Wait, the entire cartridge shouldn't leave the gun? Maybe I'm packing my reloads incorrectly!
Just kidding, I forget which bad movie showed a cartridge spinning through the air.
I still think with all the cgi that they could make it fool proof for actors. Lee was back in the 90s, we should have come a long way since.
 
In these days of ultra-realistic gas blowback airsoft guns and digital editing it seems stupid to have actual firearms on set, blanks or not. Just use airsoft and edit in muzzleflashes🤷‍♂️
 
Also curious how that went down. Jon Erik Hexum killed himself with a prop gun messing around on set, but he put it right to his temple. With Brandon Lee, a round that had the powder removed but still had a primer was fired, causing the bullet to lodge in the barrel. No one checked it, and then they put a blank in it. When it was next fired, it was strong enough to push the bullet out of the barrel and into Lee.
 
Richard338 said:
I'm not in the movie business, but it is surprising that they can't make prop guns with no capability of harm. It's bad enough at a gun range making sure that everyone is being safe, let alone a movie set where inexperienced people are intentionally pointing them at each other.
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I'm not in the business either, but I remember seeing some documentary that showed realistic prop guns that operate on natural gas to make a pop and flash to replicate gunfire. They look real enough for most viewers, but anyone with real firearms experience can spot them instantly. Bigger studios probably prefer using real guns with blanks to look as real as possible. I remember seeing the gas guns used extensively on Reno 911!.

Notwithstanding some of his personal views, I always enjoyed seeing Alec Baldwin in movies/TV. It's a terrible shame that an avoidable incident like this happened and killed/maimed 2 people.
 
Blues said:
When I went through my first SWAT school via the Ft. Lauderdale P.D. in the late 80's...the wax bullets stung like hell during night training ops where ambushes were set up at a cement factory out in the Everglades.
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We used simunitions in the Army for MOUT training. Similar wax/plastic marking bullets. I was in when they transitioned from MILES gear to simunitions. Those things hurt worse than any paintball ever.
 
Hours of rowing and I feel like I'm not getting anywhere...

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🥳
 
Blues said:
When I went through my first SWAT school via the Ft. Lauderdale P.D. in the late 80's...the wax bullets stung like hell during night training ops where ambushes were set up at a cement factory out in the Everglades.
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Oh yeah. Simunitions are a GREAT negative reinforcement tool. Got to try those out in a shoothouse training class.
 
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91bravo said:
Airsoft is better than paintball, but still hurts nonetheless!
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I didn't realize how powerful those were until I got an AEG. Put up the cardboard shipping box it came in as a quick makeshift target, fired a couple rounds. The plastic BBs made it through both sides (and the packing paper inside) and put little dents in the drywall behind. Oops.
 
jlauffer said:
Also curious how that went down. Jon Erik Hexum killed himself with a prop gun messing around on set, but he put it right to his temple. With Brandon Lee, a round that had the powder removed but still had a primer was fired, causing the bullet to lodge in the barrel. No one checked it, and then they put a blank in it. When it was next fired, it was strong enough to push the bullet out of the barrel and into Lee.
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Never been in the movie business, but I always had the impression that they used prop guns that couldn't fire real ammo (i.e. modded with a barrel that allowed the gas to pass, but wouldn't allow a bullet to pass).

I know starter pistols made in that fashion. They're made specifically for blanks. Won't chamber regular live ammo, and the barrel is made so the gas can exit for the bang and flash, but not an actual bullet.

As Nathan mentioned though, the expanding gas can still have enough force to propel a barrel obstruction (either a broken piece or something that inadvertently got into the barrel), at dangerous velocities.

In the movie 'In Bruges' there's a scene that i thought was pretty cool, displaying the average Joe's cluelessness wrt anything that goes BANG. Some guy tries to rob the protagonist using a gun with blanks, but gets disarmed. IIRC, he then pulls a knife and laughs as he tells the protagonist that the gun he's taken is only loaded with blanks. The protagonist goes, "Oh?" and fires it point blank in the robber's face, blinding him.
 
bluemax_1 said:
Oh yeah. Simunitions are a GREAT negative reinforcement tool. Got to try those out in a shoothouse.
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The only thing that made me feel better was that the instructor, Chris Caracci, (former SEAL, Gunsite instructor, etc), who was a police officer back then, got me in the support side forearm at the same time I got him center of mass.

(Folks may remember Chris as the co-designer of the Benchmade AFCK, and old timers might remember his sub-forum here on BF back in the day.)
 
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