why so many 9mm guns in movies/tv

[MoviePropMaster2008]

Originally Posted by MT2008

Is it hard to get property masters to take a chance on newer handgun designs? One thing that always strikes me is how so few newer-model firearms appear in movies and TV shows. I feel like the handguns I see in movies are almost always Beretta 92Fs, Glocks, SIG P226s/P228s, S&W autos, and an occasional H&K USP. I pretty much never see newer pistols like the Springfield XD, for instance, even though those are very popular with American shooters nowadays, or the SIG Pro series. I don't even see many FN Five-Sevens, which continues to surprise me because I would have figured that Hollywood would have jumped at the chance to show its action heroes wielding the new, state-of-the-art "matapolicia" the way they got all hyped about the Beretta 92F back in the 80s.

Well this is only MY opinion based on my own situation:

Well, (a) I always groan when some manufacturer announces yet another new caliber. I'm speaking as someone who has to keep a standing INVENTORY of blanks, the more calibers, the more $$ I have to tie up in large enough stocks of blanks to make it worthwhile. But that's only specific to anyone who stocks blanks.
(b) though it may NOT be cool and hip to always use the older 9mm guns, I like it when 99% of my pistol orders are for 9mm guns, I always worry since I don't keep a large stock of the other calibers and if someone (especially NOW) asked for thousands of rounds of something like .357 SIG, I would be in trouble.
(c) Guns are getting more and more and more expensive. Gun rental rates have to go up, at the time when productions are trying to low ball everyone. Spending thousands of $$ on more capital guns to put in inventory is not economically wise in a time when 'shoot em ups' are increasingly being shot outside of the U.S. and using foreign armorers. I have tons of weapons in inventory that have not yet paid for themselves in rentals (an issue everyone in the biz is painfully aware of).
(d) Directors pick the guns. Many of them know nothing about guns. So they pick what they've seen in other action movies. End of story.....

I'm sure there are more industry specific issues, but these will do for now

[MT2008]

Originally Posted by MoviePropMaster2008

Well this is only MY opinion based on my own situation:

Well, (a) I always groan when some manufacturer announces yet another new caliber. I'm speaking as someone who has to keep a standing INVENTORY of blanks, the more calibers, the more $$ I have to tie up in large enough stocks of blanks to make it worthwhile. But that's only specific to anyone who stocks blanks.
(b) though it may NOT be cool and hip to always use the older 9mm guns, I like it when 99% of my pistol orders are for 9mm guns, I always worry since I don't keep a large stock of the other calibers and if someone (especially NOW) asked for thousands of rounds of something like .357 SIG, I would be in trouble.
(c) Guns are getting more and more and more expensive. Gun rental rates have to go up, at the time when productions are trying to low ball everyone. Spending thousands of $$ on more capital guns to put in inventory is not economically wise in a time when 'shoot em ups' are increasingly being shot outside of the U.S. and using foreign armorers. I have tons of weapons in inventory that have not yet paid for themselves in rentals (an issue everyone in the biz is painfully aware of).
(d) Directors pick the guns. Many of them know nothing about guns. So they pick what they've seen in other action movies. End of story.....

I'm sure there are more industry specific issues, but these will do for now

What you're saying makes sense. One other thing, though...do actors prefer 9mm to the larger calibers due to lesser recoil?

[MoviePropMaster2008]

Originally Posted by MT2008

What you're saying makes sense. One other thing, though...do actors prefer 9mm to the larger calibers due to lesser recoil?

Blank firing pistols have very slight recoil. I can't remember if I can tell the difference between a 9mm and a .45 ACP just on recoil alone, but Blanks have a fraction of the recoil of a real live round. Recoil, especially when talking about BLANKS, is not an issue at all.

[k9870]

why doesnt anyone use revolvers in movies or tv anymore? theyd need no work to convert to blanks and are very common in use. i guess tehre just not considered cool

[Gunmaster45]

Eh, revolvers are still common enough. Sometimes people just prefer autos though.

[k9870]

i just havent seen many wheelguns in recent movies, i personally like them, i like the rounded grip and they balance well

[Krel]

At least you have more of a variety now. In the fifties and sixties all you saw were Lugers and P38s. In the thirties and forties, until after WWII all you saw were Lugers. In the seventies you started to see S&W autos, H&K P9S's and VP70s. The big 9mm of the 80s and early to mid 90s was the H&K P7, but I haven't seen of of those in a while.

What I find curious is that you rarely saw Browning Hi-Powers, and when you did it was almost always a background actor with one. The only 60s show I can remember with a Hi-Power as the hero's weapon was "Man In A Suitcase". Wasn't that a British show? I wonder why they didn't get featured in U.S. shows. The movie, "The Usual Suspects" made up for that though. Even pistols that were not Hi-Powers turned into them after the main actors got them!

David.

[k9870]

Wow i noticed about every fired handgun in 24 is a 9mm. why! I want to see one cool guy taking out terrorists with a good old 45 or 357. Sig 228, usp, glock 19...ugh.

[Phoenixent]

Originally Posted by k9870

Wow i noticed about every fired handgun in 24 is a 9mm. why! I want to see one cool guy taking out terrorists with a good old 45 or 357. Sig 228, usp, glock 19...ugh.

You have to understand from the Propmasters point of view. They might have a crew that's maybe versed in firearms but not very experienced so it is a lot easier for them if the handguns use all the same ammo. The show is about the story if you are noticing only the firearms maybe the show is not that great. Several here like myself have taken care of shows with multiple caliber weapons with no problem. But it does make it easier on us or the prop crew having a single type of pistol ammo to deal with.

[Gunmaster45]

That's what I've always hated about blank guns. They don't have recoil like a real gun, so the realism is cut down in the film even more. I like how people like Clint Eastwood fake the recoil, which is something I always thought was cool about him.

One question for the armorers, how come M60s in all those 80s films like Rambo: First Blood and Platoon had recoil when firing? Did the 7.62 bottleneck rounds produce kick somehow?