Baldwin shooting and "blank" guns

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Maddow had this guy on as an expert in firearms and their use on filming sets. He does a great job of correcting terminology the media is (mis)using. I was a little annoyed at Maddow presenting basic firearm safety as though they were obscurely buried rules in union safety protocols.

One thing is still bugging me. At 6:07 or thereabouts, the guy says that blank guns cannot receive live ammo but doesn't say why. He just clumsily taps the live round against the cylinder. Anyone have insight on that? My understanding is that blank cartridges are the same diameter as live rounds. So, I don't think having the openings in the cylinder be smaller would work.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uAqOv-1GFOI



I will give him props for one thing. At one point he is pointing out the difference between a "misfire" and an "accidental discharge", and that guns don't just "go off". He points out the trigger, but before demonstrating how the trigger works, he opens the action and shows it to the camera that it is unloaded. Even though he'd already showed it empty multiple times, even though he was the only one there, even though it was probably the only gun in front of him.

Re: Baldwin shooting and "blank" guns

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lurker wrote: Tue Oct 26, 2021 10:56 am it appears that ordinary guns are used as movie props.
Yes, got that. But he specifically says there are guns made to only fire blanks that cannot receive live ammo. So, that leaves me wondering if they are made for blank cartridges with a smaller diameter than their live counterparts. I've never heard of such a thing and he doesn't go into detail.

Re: Baldwin shooting and "blank" guns

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I was confused about the $5 million dollar gun that frontsight posted where it says "the gun was altered to accept blanks". Did they mean only blanks? Never heard of that.
Product Description
Known as The Bapty, this revolver was used by Indiana Jones throughout the production of the motion picture Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark. Raiders of the Lost Ark is the first movie in the adventure film series made famous in the early 80’s by creator George Lucas, director Steven Spielberg, and actor Harrison Ford. Featuring serial number 37891, this revolver is a British contract Smith and Wesson Hand Ejector MKII revolver. Chambered in .455 Webley, the gun had been altered to fire blanks for safety on the movie set. This revolver was carefully selected and uniquely modified prior to the start of filming. The barrel was cut from six inches to four and a custom one of a kind Baughman-style steel front sight was installed. A patina was applied to the factory bluing to offer it the well worn look we would expect of the gun carried by the famous adventurer. It features Smith and Wesson factory diamond patterned walnut grips with gold medallion inlays. A standard lanyard ring sits underneath the frame
“The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing,”

Re: Baldwin shooting and "blank" guns

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A friend of mine years ago had a pistol that looked like a Beretta 25 cal semi auto. but it only fired the starter pistol blanks. You couldn't load anything else. Back in the dark ages when Men were Men and the women swoon. I was in high school ROTC. We shot blanks in the 03 Springfields during the color guard and Star Spangled Banner presentation at the start of the football games. We also used them when we had our annual maneuvers using the M1s Now the blanks were easy to spot as they had no bullet and the end of the 30/06 cartridge had red wax sealing it. They were easy to identify as blank rounds opposed to dummy round that has what looked like a bullet attached but also had holes drilled into the case. Later when the air Force was rendering honors at my Dad's funeral they fired the salute and later gave us the cartridges fired. the cartridge had a sealed beveled top with holes in it. I assume so it could feed easier into the chamber and the holes would be sealed until the rifle was fired. It might also allow for more pressure to allow the rifle to cycle? But the big thing in both cases they could not be mistaken for a live round.
Facts do not cease to exist because they are ignored.-Huxley
"We can have democracy in this country, or we can have great wealth concentrated in the hands of a few, but we can't have both." ~ Louis Brandeis,

Re: Baldwin shooting and "blank" guns

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Yes a starter pistol or an alarm gun is modified, but a regular gun can be used with blanks. We still don't know who owned the guns and who loaded the blanks, I asked it on the other thread. These are guns of a particular period in time, not something available in any gun shop. The armorer's father is Thell Reed a well known armorer and stunt man, so they could be his guns loaned to his daughter. Did they load the blanks or were they commercially made? And what was packed on top of the powder, paper, wax or plastic?
"Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but not their own facts." - Daniel Patrick Moynihan

Re: Baldwin shooting and "blank" guns

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TrueTexan wrote: Tue Oct 26, 2021 1:22 pm A friend of mine years ago had a pistol that looked like a Beretta 25 cal semi auto. but it only fired the starter pistol blanks.
But how? How are the blank cartridges different that they can be loaded into the blank gun that live cartridges cannot? I understand the cartridges are visibly different without the projectile. But the gun doesn't care about what they look like. So what prevents the live rounds from being loaded? Particularly in a revolver?

Re: Baldwin shooting and "blank" guns

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I've loaded blanks for some of my guns, just for something different to do. Revolver is easy, while auto presents some challenges. The crimped cases need nothing more than a little BP and primer. The .45 ACP will manually feed from the mag. but of course not cycle in unmodified gun. The paper wad that I use over powder comes screaming out and is probably dangerous out to several feet or so. Somewhere I have a blank firing adapter for my AR which lets it cycle with blanks. There is a very small range for powder charge with the AR fitted with BFA, between not quite enough and violent extraction. Makes them kind of tricky to load. I have no experience using Pyrodex or smokeless w/blanks. Years ago when I had the opportunity, I collected fired M-60 blanks for use in .45ACP shots shells. While forming the cases many would crack and even break in half, I guess that brass is not quite the same as for ball.
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This isn't going well, is it?

Re: Baldwin shooting and "blank" guns

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You can find blank cartridges in many popular calibers.

https://www.westernstageprops.com/Blank ... s/1822.htm

These will fire from real firearms, although in the case of semi-automatic firearms they will probably not cycle the action. Some of these blanks also work in NON-fireams like starter pistols.

https://www.lcsupply.com/collections/blank-pistols-ammo

These are made so that a real cartridge would not fit, and they don't have a barrel that a bullet could go down.

You can modify a firearm so it can still take blanks, but can no longer use bullets. Revolvers do not use gas pressure to cycle the action, to get blanks to cycle a semi-automatic you increase the back pressure by closing off most of the barrel.

These blank firing adapters can be permanently installed or easily removed.
Old School
The best upgrade for you firearm is always instruction and practice.

Re: Baldwin shooting and "blank" guns

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lurker wrote: Tue Oct 26, 2021 5:32 pm have you done business with cdvs? they're on my list of shops to try.
Have looked at them for components but never dealt with them before. All this Hollywood business made me think about blanks again, that's when I found that I lost my adapter, and started shopping. Probably should not use BP in the AR anyway, as there is a smokeless powder for that job, just very hard to find. Anyway with the price of stuff and lack of stuff don't want to waste it on smoke and noise alone.
This isn't going well, is it?

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