Angilion, don't take my jibe "at their feet" so literal - what I'm getting at is this:
- it makes no sense to discharge prop weapons (revolvers or any other hand gun) EVERY TIME before filming, because they were loaded specifically to be fired in front of the camera, if every actor in a 'wild west' movie was to fire all the blanks every time before filming they might as well not load them at all.
- granted, I never worked on the set where ammunition or guns were used but in my limited experience I also never heard of a hand over technique involving firing weapons (loaded with blanks or otherwise) AT THE GROUND. I'm sure Yanks also use clearing barrels for that purpose?
When you wrote about firing all guns at their feet, I thought you were referring to firing all guns at their feet.
It makes no sense to test fire every round in any gun other than a revolver because of the way guns work. But it makes a lot of sense to test fire every round in a revolver
that's supposed to be loaded with dummies. Not blanks - that would be pointless and probably dangerous and definitely negligent. If you're standing on dirt it might even be more dangerous to fire a blank than it is to fire a live round because none of the energy of the gas is expended by accelerating the bullet. If you fire a blank with an average handgun load it's dangerous up to about 2 metres. Pointed straight down it would be at a guess about 50cm from your feet and at that range a blank with an average handgun load would be dangerous in more than just a straight line.
But I'm wandering off the point, which is that (as I said before) Clooney was explicitly referring to a revolver and almost certainly referring to a mid to late 19th century American revolver as he used the phrase "six gun". But definitely referring to a revolver only. You
can't test the rounds in a semi-auto or full auto gun that way if they're dummies because dummies don't fire and thus can't autoload the next round. You can't always do it with blanks - it depends on the load in the blanks. It's not uncommon for a blank to have a lighter than usual load for safety reasons. Possibly too light to cycle an automatic reload system designed for a normal full load for that ammunition. But there are safety implications in that too. That was part of the reason Brandon Lee was killed. It also doesn't make sense with most manual loading setups. Bolt action, lever action, whatever, because loading the next round ejects the previous round (even if it's a dummy that didn't fire). It only makes sense with revolvers. And Clooney explicitly referred only to revolvers.
Wandering back to the point...why do it with revolvers? To check that every round in the gun is a dummy.
Not a blank. You'd be right about firing blanks. But you wouldn't need to test that a revolver is loaded with blanks because you can see if it is. Blanks look completely different to live rounds or dummies and the rounds are visible in a revolver. That's why they're usually loaded with dummies. With most types of guns they're usually not loaded at all on a set. The rounds aren't visible unless the scene involves showing someone loading the gun, so it usually doesn't matter that the gun isn't loaded. But with a revolver most of the rounds are always visible so they have to be loaded while on camera and they have to be loaded with something that looks like a real round. That's where dummies come in - they look like real rounds but they have no load and no primer (very different to blanks, which have a load and a primer but no bullet). Blanks are live rounds for when the gun has to be fired and look and sound like it's firing a real round. Dummies are inert props that look like real rounds for when the rounds are visible to the camera. So the most reliable way to confirm that a dummy round really is a dummy round is to aim in a safe location and pull the trigger. You could unload the gun, examine each round and if you know what you're looking for you can tell if it's a dummy or a real round. If you know what you're looking for. Or listening for - it's common custom to make dummies rattle when shook. And assuming that the dummies have been deliberately made with some form of failsafe identification. But with a revolver it's possible to test each round quickly, simply and completely comprehensively by test-firing it. Absolutely certain testing, completed in seconds. And completely safe if you're aiming it safely (e.g. at unoccupied earth downwards but not too close to anyone's feet). Click, click, click, click, click, click...gun is comprehensively tested to be completely safe.
On a side note - where would Clooney use a revolver? Cohen brothers movie?
No idea. I've only vaguely heard of any actor. I don't know what roles any of them have played.
How do we know Clooney was talking about dummies? Is it in that Independent article we are discussing?
Because it wouldn't make any sense for anything other than dummies. Also, the gun in this case was supposed to be loaded only with dummies (as revolvers on set almost always are). And if Clooney was handed a revolver by anyone doing their job properly and the revolver was supposed to contain anything other than dummies, they would tell Clooney before handing him the revolver so he wouldn't be testing it that way anyway because he'd already know it wasn't loaded only with dummies. The procedure Clooney was talking about applies only to revolvers that are supposed to be loaded only with dummies. It's a final check to make sure nothing has gone wrong and resulted in a real round being loaded. Or a blank, but that would probably have already been detected by simple (with a revolver) visual inspection.
It boils down to checking, checking, checking again, confirming the check...check as much as is reasonably possible. Or else someone might get shot and might be killed. Which happened in this case. One dead and one wounded because the gun was not adequately checked.
