any movies been made shooting real ammo?

[Squid]

I'd think they would at least do a few 'tight' shots with a gun loaded with something that would recoil semi-realistically.

Probably some "big Hollywood" and CA state reg against it.

I've heard the SAG has some big regulation against real booze on the set.

Well, I've heard the porn film industry in leaving CA due to new regs(or threat of).

I don't see why with a few common sense precautions some key scenes couldn't be done with real ammo, then the other half of guys shooting the other direction done and spliced together.

I just get the feeling nothing else would be as realistic, with concussion waves hitting actor's faces etc.

[Arkangel]

Act of Valor had scenes where live ammo was used.

[Bill Carson]

Brandon Lee, Jon-Erik Hexum

[tuolumnejim]

A bunch of the older 50's and earlier flicks used live ammo, a buddy of mine that's since passed gave me an ammo can of .50 API years ago that was un-used from "They Were Expendable".
And yes before the API police show up that was relocated to Nevada years ago.

[Ribkick]

I'd think they would at least do a few 'tight' shots with a gun loaded with something that would recoil semi-realistically.

Probably some "big Hollywood" and CA state reg against it.

I've heard the SAG has some big regulation against real booze on the set.

Well, I've heard the porn film industry in leaving CA due to new regs(or threat of).

I don't see why with a few common sense precautions some key scenes couldn't be done with real ammo, then the other half of guys shooting the other direction done and spliced together.

I just get the feeling nothing else would be as realistic, with concussion waves hitting actor's faces etc.

FUD They never shot blanks.

[Mesa Tactical]

A bunch of the older 50's and earlier flicks used live ammo, a buddy of mine that's since passed gave me an ammo can of .50 API years ago that was un-used from "They Were Expendable".

Hmm, the 1950s? In what capacity were they using live ammunition?

Back in the 1920s and earlier they were definitely using live ammunition for many of the squib effects we are used to seeing in action films. For example, when there are shots hitting a telegraph pole our hero is hiding behind, that would have been a stunt shooter firing live ammunition into the post, inches away from the actor!

Of course, up until the 1950s a midway shooting gallery (including the one in Adventureland in Disneyland) would have used real .22 rifles.

I don't see why with a few common sense precautions some key scenes couldn't be done with real ammo, then the other half of guys shooting the other direction done and spliced together. I just get the feeling nothing else would be as realistic, with concussion waves hitting actor's faces etc.

Have you ever been on a movie set? It's a confused mess with dozens of people wandering around. It's the last place I would want to see guns and live ammunition laying around.

We employ the usual common sense precautions with our guns, the most important being NO LIVE AMMUNITION IN THE GUN STORAGE ROOM. Firearms accessories designers and movie prop handlers can become too casual with guns, and adding live ammunition into the mix is just asking for trouble.

[delta9]

Jon-Erik Hexum

Jon-Erik Hexum fired a blank directly into his temple and the wad had enough blunt force to shatter his skull

[Ribkick]

Jon-Erik Hexum fired a blank directly into his temple and the wad had enough blunt force to shatter his skull

So did Jason Lee, Bruce Lee's son.

[delta9]

So did Jason Lee, Bruce Lee's son.

I thought he was killed by a real bullet?

[Ribkick]

I thought he was killed by a real bullet?

Sorry, we're both right. BRANDON Lee, not Jason. And it was a blank.

[chrisf]

I thought he was killed by a real bullet?

He was.

[twohi2play]

I read somewhere that in the movie Abyss they used live ammuntion.

[Ribkick]

[Squid]

Santa Cruz boardwalk shooting gallery had real .22 in 1970s. 22 shorts IIRC in semi-auto rifle.

Yeah, you could've turned and sprayed the crowd. I don't think they had any fancy safety gismos back then.



PS-that whole Lee thing sounds fishy. How does a bullet get lodged in a hyper-safety setting and no one notices?

[SilverTauron]

Santa Cruz boardwalk shooting gallery had real .22 in 1970s. 22 shorts IIRC in semi-auto rifle.

Yeah, you could've turned and sprayed the crowd. I don't think they had any fancy safety gismos back then.



PS-that whole Lee thing sounds fishy. How does a bullet get lodged in a hyper-safety setting and no one notices?

Revolver is shot off set at the propmaster's range where a squib round gets lodged. Armorer loads blanks into it unaware of the squib load, resulting in the incident. Its VERY easy to miss a squib load if you're not experienced-I had one this summer, and the recoil just felt intangibly "different". Only when I looked down the breech and saw blackness did I realize just how close I came to a kB! story.