Live rounds are not allowed on movie sets. Instead, guns are loaded with inert dummy rounds that look like live ammunition or blanks that make an explosive sound and muzzle flash when fired, or are left unloaded. Investigators have not been able to establish where the live rounds found on the "Rust" set came from.
Live ammunition was used in the film - in interviews, actor Aleksey Kravchenko has described actual bullets passing some 10 centimeters above his head.
Reed said that using live ammunition helped the actors get the feel of a firing a gun, so they would know how to do the recoil during a scene. After the production wrapped, he said that Kenney wound up with the ammo can and about 200-300 reloaded rounds. Reed said he wanted to get it back.
All the time. And not just in old movies: Blanks only simulate a gun being fired, and they didn't have the same type of squibs we have today so for the effect of bullets hitting walls or windows…often real guns with real bullets were used.
These are bullets made from molds that replicate the old style bullets used in the 1800s. Typically round nose flat point (RNFP), truncated cone flat point (TCFP), semi wadcutter (SWC) and round nose (RN).
The Colt Frontier Six Shooter Revolver and the Winchester Model 1873 or the Winchester Model 1892 in .44-40 WCF caliber were one of the most common combinations seen in "the Old West".
But for a franchise filled with fight scenes and guns, every shot heard by audiences wasn't actually fired in real life; it was instead created by a team of sound designers and editors. "Chad is a proponent of never using real guns on the set," said Mark Stoeckinger, supervising sound editor.
Reed brought a can that included live ammo, and after the training, Kenney took the rounds home, according to the affidavit. Reed said he made several attempts to get the ammunition back from Kenney, but that Kenney told him to “write it off.” The can included .
On film sets, the person most responsible for safety is usually the First Assistant Director, and as a result they will also inspect the firearm – a task the director, producer, camera operator or cinematographer may oversee, too.
Most guns in TV and films started life as a real gun
If you like period war films, chances are good that you've seen an actor wield a gun whose pre-Hollywood existence had it being fired in anger. There are exceptions if a gun is never shown being fired.
In “No Country for Old Men” The suppressor on Chigurh's gun was specially made for the movie. Such a device didn't exist so the Coens had one invented.
Prop firearms are either real guns or specifically made to be blank firing only. Blank ammunition has a cartridge that when fired produces realistic effects such as noise, smoke, a muzzle flash and recoil, they contain gunpowder but does not have a bullet.
Gutierrez-Reed to show him the gun so he could check its barrel for obstructions, and for her to then open the revolver and spin it so he could see the contents of its chambers. Then he would call out “cold gun,” signaling to the crew that the gun did not contain live rounds.
Props used in movies for ammunition look like this: Blanks - designed to make a flash and a bang, come in different weights. Note that they look like real ammo till you get to the pointy end. There's no bullet, just a swaged casing to keep the charge in.
Reed and Kenney worked together on the earlier production, according to the filing. Reed told investigators that Kenney had asked him to bring live ammunition for actor training with live rounds at a firing range, according to the affidavit for the warrant filed by the Santa Fe County Sheriff's Office.
In August 2022, FBI forensic testing and investigation of the firearm determined the Pietta .45 Long Colt Single Action Army revolver could not have been fired without a trigger pull from a quarter cocked, half-cocked, or fully cocked hammer position.
“The gun Alec Baldwin used in the shooting that killed Halyna Hutchins has not been destroyed by the state. The gun is in evidence and is available for the defense to review,” said Heather Brewer, spokesperson for New Mexico's First Judicial District Attorney's office.
Nobody is primarily seen using a Custom Marlin 1894 Lever Action Rifle. This weapon needs to be manually rechambered after firing, making it extremely impractical for close-quarters combat.
The practical reason for this is because blank-firing prop guns have no projectile, meaning very little mass is pushed out of the barrel, hence minimal recoil (Newton's third law) — it is not true that they have none, however, or they would not even be able to cycle their own action.
John Wick (Keanu Reeves) uses a Heckler & Koch P30L fitted with a custom compensator as his primary firearm through the film. He swaps it for a Glock 26 during the Red Circle Club shootout when the P30L runs out of ammunition.
Quick draw and hip shooting was a rare skill in the West, and only a handful of historically known gunslingers were known to be fast, such as Luke Short, John Wesley Hardin, and Wild Bill Hickok.
Doc's weapon of choice early in his western career was an 1851 Colt Navy revolver given him by his uncle, one of four. The remaining three pistols were given by Uncle John to his own sons. Later Doc carried a nickel-plated . 41 caliber Colt Thunderer or the .
Packard in August 1885 called "packing a gun" a "senseless custom," and noted about a month later that "As a protection, it is terribly useless.” Old West cattlemen themselves also saw the need for gun control. By 1882, a Texas cattle raising association had banned six-shooters from the cowboy's belt.
