Identifying INERT Cartridges on Movie/TV Set

[Bekeart]

Yesterday I watched an old Gunsmoke episode, Unloaded Gun.
The story had Matt's unloaded gun as an essential part of the story.
Deputy Chester had cleaned Matt's pistol and "forgot" to reload it.
There was an image showing six cartridges lying on the desk/table.
Was only a quick view, but I thought that one cartridge looked like it has a dented/fired primer.

Thanks to GOOGLE I was able to find two different portions of the image showing cartridges, cleaning rod, and cleaning rag.

Now it looks as if the cartridges definitely have dented or possibly missing primer.
That would be a GREAT way to identify an INERT cartridge on a production set.
Do any of the members have knowledge relative to such safety measures?

Gunsmoke, episode Unloaded Gun

Unloaded Gun (1961)
"Gunsmoke" Unloaded Gun (TV Episode 1961) - IMDb

Bekeart

 

[NYlakesider]

I have seen machine gun belts on some of the history type channels that have no primers in the cases. Thirty cals and 50 calls. Funny they appear to fire ok.

 

[bgrafsr]

I have seen machine gun belts on some of the history type channels that have no primers in the cases. Thirty cals and 50 calls. Funny they appear to fire ok.

It's done with "smoke and mirrors".

 

[Ron In MD]

I always laugh at the scenes that shows someone pointing a revolver which is obviously empty of bullets.

 

[Muley Gil]

I always laugh at the scenes that shows someone pointing a revolver which is obviously empty of bullets.

Or a 1911 with the hammer down or a semi auto, such as the Beretta 92, S&W M39/59, with the safety on.

Last night, I watched a rerun of the series "Hunter". The premise was that a copkiller was shooting officers with "silicone bullets" that would penetrate Kelvar vests. The bad guy was armed with a Colt Single Action Army.

In one scene, Dee Dee McCall, Hunter's partner was searching the bad guy's trailer and finds a box of "Wolf Silicone Bullets" and the end label read ".45 Colt". When opened the box, she took out a cartridge that was loaded with a creamy white coated bullet. BUT, the round was obviously a bottle necked .44-40. I'll bet those whistled down the bore of the bad guy's hawgleg!

 

[soFlaNative]

Edge of the seat stuff with DVR rewind.

 

[Jeff423]

On TV I've seen a bunch of fired primers in "loaded" weapons. But the best one was last week when I saw a "bandit" with a bandolier of blanks.

 

[raljr1]

Or a 1911 with the hammer down or a semi auto, such as the Beretta 92, S&W M39/59, with the safety on.



Last night, I watched a rerun of the series "Hunter". The premise was that a copkiller was shooting officers with "silicone bullets" that would penetrate Kelvar vests. The bad guy was armed with a Colt Single Action Army.



In one scene, Dee Dee McCall, Hunter's partner was searching the bad guy's trailer and finds a box of "Wolf Silicone Bullets" and the end label read ".45 Colt". When opened the box, she took out a cartridge that was loaded with a creamy white coated bullet. BUT, the round was obviously a bottle necked .44-40. I'll bet those whistled down the bore of the bad guy's hawgleg!

Aren't the 5 in1 blanks necked down like 44.40?

Robert

 

[Alpo]

Aren't the 5 in1 blanks necked down like 44.40?

Robert

5-in-1 blanks are just 38/40 blanks. They can be used in 38/40 rifles and pistols (that's two), 44/40 rifles and pistols (and two more, that's four) and 45 Colt pistols (and one more makes five).

 

[raljr1]

5-in-1 blanks are just 38/40 blanks. They can be used in 38/40 rifles and pistols (that's two), 44/40 rifles and pistols (and two more, that's four) and 45 Colt pistols (and one more makes five).

So my memory, flawed as it is, has not yet abandoned me completely.

Robert

 

[Muley Gil]

Aren't the 5 in1 blanks necked down like 44.40?

Robert

Yes, they are. However, the blanks are crimped at the end (IIRC). These appeared to be loaded cartridges with a "silicone" bullet.

 

[rwsmith]

Mare's Leg....

I'm not sure if the cartridges on Steve McQueen's cartridge belt were 'dummy' rounds but they wouldn't fit his gun. The Mare's Leg was a 44-40 but he put 44-70s in his cartridge belt so his would look bigger.

 

[Kiwi cop]

The Quick and the Dead

Last night I wathced the Gene Hackman/Sharon Stone/Russel Crowe movie The Quick and the Dead.

Crow's character, Cort, was given an old cap and ball revolver rechambered for cartridges. From the barrel I thought it an 1860 Army, but in the scene where the blind boy throws Cort a bullet after failing to kill Spotted Horse with his one round Cort calls for a .38 Long Colt cartridge which hould have made the gun a converted 1962 Navy.

But could the 1851/62 have been chambered for the "long" Colt cartridge? Ahhh... Probably not as the "Navy's" bore of .375-.380 would have caused the .38 "Long" Colt's .357 bullet to rattle down the barrel.

Still, Hollywood, right?

 

[BigBoy99]

I've seen several war movies where the belts for the machines guns have cartridges with holes drilled through the the cases. However, long burst are done with this modified ammo!

GIs hauling linked belts for the M1916 Browning Machine Gun where every primer had been dented from a firing pin but the proper spire point bullet was in each case.

Also I've see machine guns using belted 7.62x51mm blank ammo "killing" lots of the bad guys.

 

[The Last Standing Knight]

I remember the Rambo movie where he was using an M-60 machine gun firing blanks at computer screen. I found it laughable....but the 0331's I was with didn't and were rather vocal about it! (Marines will know what MOS an 0331 is)

Ever seen the opening credits of the first Hawaii Five-O back in the sixties? Shows a flat latch S&W M60 with a spinning cylinder and five 38 special dented primer cartridges in the pistol before the operator swung the cylinder closed "Hollywood " style.

I still laugh when I see both scenes.

 

[The Last Standing Knight]

I always laugh at the scenes that shows someone pointing a revolver which is obviously empty of bullets.

Like Sean Connery's Webley-Fosberry in Zardoz!

 

[Drm50]

The bad guys in 1870s with bandoleers of bottle necks and have Win 94s and D/A revolvers from early 1900s.

 

[Stevens]

It seems a couple of actors have been accidentally killed by real bullets that were supposed to be blanks.
Steve W

 

[GreyOwl]

Can’t remember what the movie was the other day but they were blazing away with a belt fed machine gun and the belt never moved����

 

[NYlakesider]

Can’t remember what the movie was the other day but they were blazing away with a belt fed machine gun and the belt never moved����

I have seen that before and you many times will see Thompson's firing away and the charging handle does not move.