Firing blanks from a real gun

[AdAstra2009]

Originally Posted by Excalibur

It's a shame for Brandon Lee. He seemed to have a promising career ahead of him.

First the Legendary "Bruce Lee" died tragically and then a couple decades later so would his son.

[ShootingJames]

Without knowing your personal firearms experience, budget or crew setup and camera package, I would advise you to use blank firing guns. They are expensive, but still much cheaper and safer than real firearms. Just as loud though, so have lots of extra hearing protection on set. You can pick up black foam ear plugs for your actors.

Unless you are going to have a dedicated propmaster/armorer on set to control the use of real weapons, don't use them. I've worked low budget and no budget films for years, along with some bigger budget fare, and for a small crew with no armorer it's much better to have blank guns on set.

Also, the blank ammunition itself is much cheaper and much easier to get than crimped blanks.

If you have an assortment of calibers in real weapons you really do need someone who knows what they are doing loading and preparing the guns for scenes.

With blank fire guns it's easier, as you can purchase all the same caliber as there are only 3 to choose from anyway. 9mmPAK, 8mm, and 380 revolver.

[mr_Goodbomb]

The blank options are just as expensive as what I've got (a .22 derringer and a 7.62 Nagant, which can fire .32 S&W blanks).