While in the Air Force security police a friend was part of the honor guard at 273 Vietnam era funerals. He never wanted to be in the military and preferred that duty over guarding bases. They shot blanks through fully functional Springfields that were not chrome plated.

To prevent hitting the man in front of them while spinning them in parades they practiced twirling their Springfields standing close to the wall. Also synchronizing their twirl was important to prevent over lapping rifles from clanging into each other. To get the rifle started spinning they moved one foot to the side away from the grounded rifle butt then swung that foot back over kicking the butt with the side of their foot. You could start with present arms.

By the way, their handguns were S&W Model 15s.