I've never known anyone to reload crimped blank ammo. There might be some plastic blanks that could be reloaded, but I've never used them.

Live ammo is brass and powder. What I've heard is that black powder and brass casings are getting shorted.

I was just curious.

Well, some airsoft replicas have a nice blowback effect, add some CGI and bang, you have a cheap prop for low budget shows:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C1XCEiTBjr4

Or entire movies.

http://www.imfdb.org/wiki/Raid:_Redemption,_The

Airsoft replicas with blowback and added digital effects do have a place even in shows that otherwise use blank firing. For example I noticed some instances in Banshee where blowback airsoft pistols are used where people are shot at close range (a time I remember this was in the final episode Siobhan uses a blank fire Glock apart from at one point where she shoots someone at close range who is in the same shot where it switches to an airsoft Beretta 92FS).

Realistic airsoft guns are a major boon on the industry. The most obvious advantage is for low or no-budget productions, where it's cheaper to just mime fire a gun or a gas blowback pistol than go through the process of purchasing a blank gun or converting a real gun, buying blank ammo, and (if you're smart) hiring an armorer. It also helps amateurs get started in film, as they're able to make good action shorts with realistic weapons.

For major feature films, there's other advantages. You've got everything I said before about how they're cheap and require no ammunition or armorer on set. They're also safe to use for close shots where blanks could injure or kill an actor, and they let you film in areas where you can't or didn't get a permit for the noise of blank firing.

You just need to be careful when filming with them. A lot of movies, even such high profile ones as The Hurt Locker, accidentally show airsoft logos that they forgot to paint over or only partially covered. Don't be sloppy with your work. Don't be slow, but also don't be sloppy. The devil's in the details.

Despite what you have claimed previously, this is still NOT the norm in big-budget films, and even most low-budget films. The preference is still, and will always be, to use real weapons firing blanks whenever possible. You cite "The Hurt Locker", for example. Even though that film uses Classic Army airsoft M4s for some non-firing scenes, the M4s that are actually fired are real weapons loaded with blanks.

Where have I ever claimed that airsoft weapons is the norm? I've made exactly one other post on this forum about airsoft guns, which was very similar in content to the post you quoted.

Speaking of digital noises, it was just awful how in the "Partners" episode of Nikita, the audio mixers added SHELL CASING noises when a REVOLVER was being used. That was just painful. p.a.i.n.f.u.l.

LOL! You're kidding

You mean like all the shows and films where they use a hammer cocking sound effect for a Glock being lifted?