Rubber prop

[Kirill]

Hi guys,

I'm doing a college short film. Was thinking to buy a couple of rubber HK MP5s online. Would it be a problem shipping?
Assuming each of the actors buys 1 each and not in 1 bulk.

P.S. If you guys have any recommended online stores that have them do tell!

[Excalibur]

You know, cheap airsoft are probably a lot less on cost than rubber props

[MT2008]

Originally Posted by Kirill

Hi guys,

I'm doing a college short film. Was thinking to buy a couple of rubber HK MP5s online. Would it be a problem shipping?
Assuming each of the actors buys 1 each and not in 1 bulk.

P.S. If you guys have any recommended online stores that have them do tell!

I agree with Excalibur on this, but from where I'm standing, the issue isn't so much cost as a lack of utility. Why would you buy rubber guns when they can't be loaded or cocked the way that airsoft guns can? At least airsoft guns usually look and function realistically enough to stand in for the real thing, whereas rubber guns are just solid objects that always have missing details which give them away as rubber (i.e. on rubber MP5s, the diopter front sights are always filled-in). Unless you're planning to drop them (repeatedly) or give them to actors who are doing dangerous stunts (which I doubt you'd be doing in a college film project), there is no practical reason to buy rubber guns.

(And even if you did need to drop a gun in any particular scene, you can just have your actors drop it into a pillow off-camera. We did that for a fan film I made when I was in 9th grade.)

Originally Posted by Excalibur

You know, cheap airsoft are probably a lot less on cost than rubber props

Actually, I have been to gun shows which sell rubber guns for pretty cheap prices (sometimes $100), which is less than most AEGs/GBBs. The problem is that I have only ever seen the blue ones, because the dealers are selling them either for law enforcement purposes (training) or to be used by other dealers who want to use them for product displays (i.e. guys selling holsters will stick rubber pistols in holsters that are on display). Nobody I've seen has the black ones - I don't even think you can get those except by special order from the manufacturer, and they probably do not sell them to civilians.

PropStore always has tons of screen-used rubber guns from big-budget movies in their inventory, but many of those are gonna cost a bundle, simply for being screen-used. Not to mention that if you could buy a screen-used prop, why would you want to do anything other than stick it on your wall?