Different Stage Firearms And Their Use
But First A Reminder – Firing blanks from real guns.
In this chapter we’re going to limit the discussion to those guns either specifically designed and built for theatrical use or permanently modified so that they can neither chamber nor fire real ammunition. Most deadly stage gun accidents come from the use of unmodified real guns that have stupidly been brought to a theatre. Don’t ever bring a real, live-fire gun into the theatre, even if unloaded.
There are many times when that rule is broken, usually when someone has found that Uncle Jim’s deer rifle is the perfect prop for the show, but also sometimes when the director wants to see flame or flash coming out of the barrel of the gun. A stage gun can’t do that, so the director will override that safety concern in favor of the flash. But a flash also means that some hot gases are moving in that same direction, and that means that it could propel a pebble or a nail if someone through neglect or malice should drop one into the barrel. And debris in the barrel can lead to an even more deadly outcome. I already described two famous deaths of actors using real guns loaded with blanks, both of which were caused by pointing the gun directly at a human. But that is certainly not the only danger. Having the barrel of a real gun plugged with mud or snow or a wad of tape or even Styrofoam can cause a tremendous forward compression of the air space in front of a fired bullet or blank. Before the gases even have a chance to leave the barrel, it can cause the barrel itself to explode like a hand grenade. Have I made it clear that under no circumstance should a real gun be fired on-stage?
Blank-fire stage firearms have different levels of safety, depending on how they are designed. The best will not only have a completely blocked barrel (absolutely no muzzle flash) but also a partially blocked chamber so that a full-length real bullet simply cannot fit into the gun.
What About “Non-Guns”?
There are replicas of firearms that can make a sound but do not use blanks. Known generally as non-guns, they were supposed to be the final savior for all performers needing to safely fire a weapon. For film use, they’ve been not great but pretty good. Unfortunately for theatre, the results are far less satisfying, and the hype has turned out to be greater than the reward.
Non-guns are battery operated devices that electronically ignite prepackaged squibs within the housing of the replica. Squibs are very small explosive charges used for a variety of pyrotechnic effects. In the case of a non-gun, an electric circuit is completed when the trigger of the replica is pulled, causing the squib hidden inside to explode. Depending on the manufacturer, there might be some flash visible from the barrel.
Because the squib can be packaged using a very small amount of explosive, non-guns are considerably more safe than what had been the film industry standard – using unmodified real guns loaded with blanks. Film makers want the muzzle flash, so have no use for block-barreled stage guns. But non-guns have five big drawbacks for stage:
Ö They are not safer than using blanks in a block-barreled stage replica. The general rule always applies – if you can see a flash, you are exposed to hot expanding gases. Hot expanding gases push solid things out of their way, and if that is the skin of your hand or your partner’s retina, that flesh is going to lose.
Ö Squibs are explosives, and most fire marshals require someone to have a pyrotechnic license in order to handle them. Squibs are also more dangerous than blanks when not inside the replica, and explode more easily when exposed to heat or static electricity.
Ö Non-guns are less expensive to rent than real guns, but far more than block-barreled stage guns. Non-guns are for the most part financially out of reach for most theatres.
Ö Electrically activated squibs are prone to failure at any time, and nowhere more so than in non-guns. All of the components need to be made smaller than for regular pyro effects, for the charges, the wiring, and the battery must all fit inside the replica. So the thin wiring can crack, the connections loosen, and the battery can lose its charge. The non-guns are temperamental enough that they are used only for the moment where the film actor actually has to fire the gun. For running around and general use, identical dummy guns are used.
Ö In the event that a non-fire from a non-gun takes place, the actor has no recourse. On a film set, it simply means that they can take a break, fix the problem, and do another take. Not possible on stage, of course, and the actor can’t just pull the trigger to go to the next blank the way he could with a stage firing revolver.
Non-guns also have limitations for film. The outside of the gun replica is a solid shell with no moving parts, so there is no way to pretend to load the gun, no brass cases ejecting after each shot of a semi-auto or automatic weapons, no movement of the carriage of a semi-auto or turn of the chamber on a revolver, etc. After an initial excitement, the major studios are turning away from non-guns and going back to real guns. Younger directors will often go with completely inert replicas, feeling comfortable with CGI adding muzzle flash and sound in post-production.
What about firing caps from those replica guns?
We get this question a lot at Weapons of Choice, and I completely understand the temptation. You’re working a show that needs a single gun shot, and you have these great looking non-firing props made in Spain. Maybe it’s a musket or a revolver, and you know that it’s just a prop but it does have a working trigger and hammer. You don’t need a big sound for this show, so why can’t you just stick a cap or small blank where the hammer is going to strike and turn the prop into a noise maker?
Two reasons. First, the mainspring for these replicas probably isn’t strong enough to set off the cap or blank. Second, if by chance the charge should go off, the replica parts cannot handle even the very small blast that will occur. Those weak metals will fragment and fly all over the place. You risk shrapnel being fired into the user’s eyes.
Operating Stage Firearms
You will find these next two paragraphs repeated many times in this book, so get used to it. After each performance or rehearsal, first inspect the weapon for any obvious signs of damage as you unload the weapon. “But I didn’t load the gun for this rehearsal”. Always assume that somehow, someone has loaded the gun since the last time you held it. After unloading, take an old stiff toothbrush and scrape away any powder you see. That’s right, even an unused gun can suddenly show some corrosion from powder residue that was missed on a prior cleaning. If you spot any rust, sand it off with some worn emery cloth or fine steel wool.
I always advise never actually pointing any weapon at anyone at any time. This goes for real guns, blank guns, toy guns, swords, knives, rubber chickens, any weapon, any time, anywhere. The depth perception limits of the audience allow for a little upstage cheating, and I believe it’s important for actors to receive consistent instruction (tongue-lashings) wherever they work so as to avoid Jon-Erik Hexum and Brandon Lee type fatalities.
Revolvers
For all revolvers, always load all chambers before each performance. Goofy ideas such as loading only for the number of shots required for the scene, or loading every other chamber for some unfathomable reason, is just asking for trouble. If the gun is fully loaded and something goes wrong, the actor can just pull the trigger again to get the gunshot.
There are many theatres that modify that advice just a little bit, and suggest loading every chamber slot except the one on which the hammer is resting. The concept is valid, for that slot is not supposed to be the first shot on a revolver. The chamber of a revolver turns to the next slot each time that the hammer cocks back, either in single or in double action. With the hammer resting on an empty slot while the actor is just wearing the gun, it can prevent an accidental shot if he should accidentally drop the gun. This is great in theory, but too many times the chamber finds a way to roll backwards before the time to fire, and then the actor fires the gun on an empty space. It shouldn’t happen, but it does.
By extension, always unload all chambers after each performance, even if the gun wasn’t fired. If some blanks were shot, you’ll need to clean the gun. Remember that blanks have a soft metal casing, which expands when fired, so some of the spent blanks may stick in the chamber. Just pry them up with a knife or any strong flat edge.
Single Action/Peacemaker/Cowboy style
These come in 9mm and in .22 caliber, and are all single action guns, meaning that you can’t just pull the trigger to get the hammer moving. On the plus side, it allowed gunslingers to twirl the guns, as the pressure on the trigger wouldn’t cock the hammer. But don’t let your actors twirl the guns. They will drop them and break them. They really will; they’re actors.
Ö Loading – These guns can be loaded in one of two ways:
The quickest is to simply locate the chamber door on the right side of the gun, behind the chamber and forward of the hammer, and swing it down to the open position. Pull the hammer back to the first “click” (half-cock), which allows the chamber to spin freely, and then simply insert a blank into each empty chamber slot. Unloading is the same, of course, but you’ll notice that most of these guns have an ejection rod located beneath the barrel, allowing you to help push out the fired cartridges. These ejection rods are rather weak, and some of the spent blanks can get jammed in the chamber, so you may need to jimmy the blank up with a knife edge first.
The other method is to completely remove the chamber from the frame for loading and unloading. There is a small axis pin release button located on the left side of the frame, just in front of the chamber. Push this button and you’ll be able to pull the central axis pin forward. Remove it completely from the frame. Open the side chamber door on the right side of the frame and swing it down. The chamber can then simply roll out of the right side of the gun. You might have to pull the hammer back just a touch so that the firing pin will clear the chamber, but don’t pull back too far or it will block the release of the chamber and possibly damage the working of the gun. When the chamber is out, you can easily unload, clean and reload the gun.
Ö Operating – As this is a single-action gun, the hammer must be pulled back manually to the second “click” (full cock) each time before you pull the trigger. It is the action of pulling the hammer back that rotates the chamber, so the trigger doesn’t really “operate” the gun, it just releases the hammer. Therefore it’s always a good idea to keep your finger outside of the trigger guard while pulling the hammer back.
Most people will be able to pull the hammer back using the thumb pad while maintaining a normal grip. Others, with weaker hands or shorter thumbs, will have to relax their grip and ease their thumb around, hooking it over the hammer in order to draw it back.
There is actually one other way to fire the gun – fanning the hammer. I’m sure you’ve seen this on Westerns. The gunslinger holds the gun in the right hand and with the left palm slaps the hammer back as fast as he can, firing off six shots in a little over a second. Is this even possible?
Technically yes, but only on some types of single action Western guns. This is actually a technique that comes from the earlier style revolver – the percussion muzzle-loaded blackpowder style. Since the trigger doesn’t do anything except release the hammer after it’s cocked, fanning the hammer simply removes the trigger from the equation. The trigger is squeezed and held throughout, and so that each time the hammer is slapped back, the chamber turns, and then the hammer drops down to strike the bullet. As simple as that and as fast as the left hand can fly. Most revolvers built after 1870 could no longer be fanned this way, but some could (the Peacemaker, for example), so if you see it done in a movie, it’s still plausible. But you shouldn’t do it with your blank-fire cowboy gun, for that replica just can’t handle the stress.
This action is extremely abusive to the working parts of the gun. In order for the turning cylinder to lock in place for firing, the hammer must go all the way back to the full-cock position, but not any further. With the trigger held, you can’t tell when that moment is reached. So to be on the safe side, the hammer really has to be slammed back as far as is possible with each slap by the left hand before releasing it so it can fall on the chamber. This stresses not only the hammer but also all of the parts associated with turning and locking the chamber. Within a couple of rehearsals parts will break. So don’t fan the hammer unless you are rich and want to buy a lot of these guns.
This is also a good time to remind everyone not to twirl the gun unless it is part of the action of the show. Sooner or later, it will drop and the hammer will break.
Ö Troubleshooting – The revolving chamber is supposed to lock in place when the hammer is pulled back to full-cock, but as the hammer drops the chamber is released again. Sometimes the chamber moves slightly during that small fraction of a second, enough so that it causes a misfire. Unfortunately, nothing can be done about this.
The center axis rod can be inserted too far during loading. There is nothing to stop the axis rod on these guns from going all the way through to the base of the hammer, where it can interfere with the speed of the hammer dropping onto the blank. Even a slight pressure against the base of the hammer can cause a misfire. To keep this from happening, make sure that the center pin locks into its correct place when loading – when it does, the small release button on the side of the gun will pop back up to its normal position.
The hammer can get jammed in the half-cock position. Slightly depressing the trigger as you pull back on the hammer to full cock will normally free it, but on occasion you might need to rock the chamber slightly back and forth as you pull on the hammer.
Double Action Revolvers
NEF starter
Available in either .22 or .32 caliber, this solid starter pistol was quite simply the finest blank gun ever made. Manufactured by H & R, Inc., but still keeping the older name of New England Firearms, these were constructed using the same frame and components as their regular real pistols. If your theatre is lucky, you have one of these in your props cabinet, and that means you have a noise maker for life. The tolerances are tight, the parts are strong and the guns are easily repairable by any competent repairman willing to manufacture new parts. Oh, did I not mention? Once Remington Firearms bought H & R in 2008, they decided to immediately halt manufacture of starter pistols or their replacement parts. They have switched to a new pistol of inferior design and cheap materials, and so the world has lost forever an exceptional starter pistol.
Ö Loading – Depress the center pin catch (which is a button on the left side of the frame in front of and above the trigger) then pull the center axis pin (located under the barrel) forward and out of the frame. This allows the cylinder to roll out and drop into your hand. Insert the blanks into the chambers and return the cylinder to the frame. Although the frame is completely symmetrical, it’s usually a little easier to move the cylinder in and out from the right side of the frame. The central axis pin should slide right back into place without having to depress the center pin catch. But make sure that the pin catch pops back up when the pin is in place.
Ö Operating – This is a double action revolver, so all you have to do is squeeze the trigger once for each shot. Squeezing the trigger requires good hand strength, for the main spring is quite strong. Some of that tension can be lessened by firing in single action, that is to say, cocking the hammer back first with the thumb, and then squeezing the trigger. Most people will be able to pull the hammer using the thumb pad while maintaining a normal grip. Others, with weaker hands or shorter thumbs, will have to relax their grip and ease their thumb around, hooking it over the hammer in order to draw it back. Always keep your finger outside of the trigger guard while pulling the hammer to prevent an accidental firing.
Ö Troubleshooting – Since the chamber locks into place for each shot, there’s not much that goes wrong with these. However, sometimes the central axis pin is not inserted all the way in, and that can prevent reliable firing. Make sure that the center pin locks into place when returning the chamber to the frame – when it does, the small release button on the side of the gun will pop back up to its normal position.
Every once in a while I’ll get a panicked call from a client saying that the gun was working fine, then they unloaded it, cleaned it, and now the gun is frozen and won’t work at all. The cause is always the same – the chamber was placed backwards in the frame. It’s easy to do, very embarrassing, and if you own one of these things you’ll do it at least once in your life. Just make sure that the flat face of the chamber faces the barrel, and the recessed face with the ridge faces the hammer.
Snub Nose Starter
This model, whether in .22 caliber, .32 caliber, or 9mm, does not lock the revolving chamber into place, so misfires can happen at any time. The 22 caliber style is made especially poorly, and breaks down very quickly. For piece of mind, have a back up sound ready.
[NOTE: There is a quantum difference between the two versions of the .22 caliber pistols made by the same company. These revolvers, the “Champion” model, cost between sixty to eighty bucks, and with scrupulous cleaning and not allowing actors to play with them can last quite a while. There is another .22 starter pistol, the “Olympic” model, made by the same company and costs less than $30, but is of such poor quality that it rarely lasts more than one production. While the regular snub noses are good for most theatres to keep in stock, the little ones are worth nothing.]
Ö Loading – Directly underneath the barrel lays an ejector rod. Tug on this rod forward (in the direction of the barrel) and the cylinder will release and swing out to the left. Sometimes you may have to give it a little shove with the fingers of your right hand. Insert the blanks into the chambers, then close the cylinder by simply swinging it back closed. Don’t “flip” the gun closed. You can do that with well built, real guns. This one is neither, and you’ll just ruin the advancing sear.
NOTE: The ejector rod itself is double spring loaded and made of several parts, and while loading and unloading can accidentally become unscrewed and come apart, with the very small springs falling out and getting lost. It is a very common occurrence, for naturally one has to pinch the end of the rod in order to pull it out, but you don’t have to touch it at all in order to close the gun. So with each opening, the rod can slowly unscrew a quarter turn each time, and then one day the entire assembly flies apart without warning. So take care while pulling the rod, and tighten the assembly every once in a while. If you lose the springs the gun cannot operate properly.
To unload: Pull the ejector rod and swing out the cylinder to the left. Now push the ejector rod toward the hammer to raise the blanks slightly out of the chambers. The brass of the cartridges will have expanded slightly on firing, so you might need to dig out the spent round with a knife edge.
Ö Operating – At least this part is simple: just extend your arm and squeeze the trigger. This can be fired in either single or double action.
Ö Troubleshooting – The mechanism for locking the chamber in place for firing is so weak that it wears down rapidly, but even when new it cannot prevent the chamber from rolling out of position, so misfires tend to be very high with either model of this gun. Sometimes the reliability of the first shot can be helped a bit by firing in single action rather than double. Very few gunsmiths bother trying to repair these things, especially since, as parts are not imported into the USA, the gunsmith would have to manufacture his own parts. That will cost more than buying a new gun.
Patrol
Although a few of these meaty police style revolvers with four inch barrels were made in .22 caliber, they broke down so quickly that normally you’ll only find the stronger .380 caliber (9mm) models still in use, in 4” and 6” barrel lengths
Ö Loading – To load the Patrol style revolver, you will need to swing out the revolving chamber. Look at the left side of the gun and you will see a trumpet shaped piece of metal on the frame between the chamber and the hammer (above the trigger.) This “trumpet” slides back (towards the hammer), which releases the revolving chamber. At the same time, push the chamber from the right side and it should drop over to the left. Now simply fill the open holes in the chamber. To unload, repeat the steps, and once the cylinder is out locate the ejector rod, which is an extension of the central axis pin. Push on the rod and it will lift the blanks slightly from the chamber.
Ö Operating – Either pull the hammer back and then squeeze the trigger or simply squeeze the trigger. Most people will be able to pull the hammer using the thumb pad while maintaining a normal grip. Others, with weaker hands or shorter thumbs, will have to relax their grip and ease their thumb around, hooking it over the hammer in order to draw it back. Always keep your finger outside of the trigger guard while pulling the hammer.
Ö Troubleshooting – There is not much that goes wrong with these pistols until they physically break down, at which point you’ll need to get someone to attempt a repair. Specific repair parts are not imported, but many of the parts are very similar to others that are available for real guns, so on occasion a fix can be done.
Semi-Automatic Pistols
Semi-auto’s are by their nature extremely unreliable, even the very expensive ones. You should always have a back-up sound ready.
Ö Loading – The blanks are housed in a clip that fits inside of the grip of the pistol, so you have to load the clip first, then load the gun. There is either a release catch at the base of the grip, or a release button near the left side of the trigger. Drop out the clip and feed in the blanks from the top. Look at the top of the clip and you’ll see that the opening is tapered, and that there is a plate inside. Press down on that plate to feel how it is pushed up against the tapered opening by a rectangular spring that runs the length of the clip. You’re going to fill the clip by taking one blank, laying it flat but offset slightly forward against the plate, pushing it down and then sliding it in until the thin part of the taper holds the blank on its own. Continue with each successive round: push then slide, push then slide, push then slide. As the clip fills and the spring compresses, it will get harder to do, but you should be able to get at least seven blanks in the clip, more on a larger pistol. Then return the clip into the gun by sliding this clip up into the grip.
Ö Operating – As with any firearm, always keep your finger outside of the trigger guard until you are ready to fire. Although the clip is loaded, the first round needs to be “chambered-up”, or actually entered into the chamber in the firing position. While holding the gun firmly in the right hand, grab the top part of the gun with the left and gently but firmly work it once toward you and then back to its normal position. Don’t let go of the carriage and let it snap back into place as they do in the movies. As a matter of fact, never force the action on a semi-auto, but always gently and firmly guide the moving parts where they need to go. NOTE: the pistol is now cocked; if you squeeze the trigger now the gun will fire, unload the spent blank, load the next round and re-cock the gun, all automatically. On models where the hammer is exposed, you have the option of gently easing the hammer down if you don’t need to fire immediately, but in order to do that you have to very gently and oh so slightly squeeze the trigger. On these models, remember to pull the hammer back again before you squeeze the trigger or the gun won’t fire. Because all of this can lead to an accidental shot, practice this gentle lowering of the hammer many times first with the gun empty.
To unload: simply remove the clip, but remember that you may still have one live round in the chamber ready to fire. To remove this one, gently work the carriage of the pistol back and forth two or three times. The blank should pop out up and to the right of the gun.
The blanks are closed with crosshatched plastic ends. These ends normally just crack open when the blank is fired, but sometimes a little bit melts during the blast and is shot into the blocked barrel. Not enough to see, but over the course of several shows enough to build up inside the chamber and the barrel. It can be enough to cause the blanks to jam inside the firing chamber and not eject after the shot.
When cleaning, be sure to squirt some WD-40 into the chamber and work a bottle brush inside to loosen anything that might get in the way of where the blank has to travel.
Ö Troubleshooting – Several things can go wrong, and unlike revolvers there isn’t much that the actor can do about it while onstage. Semi-automatics, even the real ones that the police use, are notoriously prone to jamming. NOTE: Always remove the clip before inspecting or working on the pistol.
* Stovepiping – this is where the round being brought up from the clip gets tossed out of alignment and starts to move sideways into the chamber, quickly jamming the works. The carriage will remain partly open during a stovepipe. Very rarely the actor can gently move the carriage back and forth and the jammed blank will release and fall out of the gun, but this works best when the gun is held upside down, and that isn’t very practical onstage. Most of the time the gun is simply not usable. It will have to be taken offstage where you can dig out the jammed round with a knife or screwdriver.
* Failure to eject prior round. When a blank is fired, the brass often expands slightly. If it expands too much, the cartridge stays jammed in the chamber. Unfortunately, the rest of the gun doesn’t know that, and it busily brings in a new blank that it tries to force into the space occupied by the spent round, further jamming it in the barrel. The actor’s reaction is to keep working the action back and forth, which does nothing but make the matter worse. The gun will have to be taken offstage and the rounds removed.
* Failure to seat fully in chamber. You’ll know that this is happening when the round goes into the chamber, you squeeze the trigger, and nothing goes bang even though the hammer has dropped. Then, without working the action, you pull the hammer back and fire again, and this time the blank fires just fine. What is happening is that the blank is not seating fully into the chamber after it comes up from the clip. The first hammer drop pushes the blank all the way into the chamber, and the second drop of the hammer finally fires the blank. If this happens more than once, it means that the chamber probably has some debris that is slightly blocking the chamber. Clean it out thoroughly and you are ready to go.
Two Shot Derringer
Ö Loading – Look at the right side of the gun and you will see a black latch lever just above the trigger. Turning this lever down and forward will release the barrels. The barrels pivot up near the hammer, so just swing them up and you will see the two holes into which you will place the blanks. Be sure to load both barrels so you won’t have to worry about a misfire. I suggest using the smallest blank available, as the gun cannot handle the vibrations from repeated firings of heavier loads.
Ö Operating – As this is a single-action pistol, you’ll need to pull the hammer back and then squeeze the trigger. Note that the discharge on this pistol is vented to the top of the gun, not to the side.
Ö Troubleshooting – This replica is supposed to fire a second shot by automatically moving the firing plate to a new position after the first shot, but we’ve found that the reliability of the system on these replicas leaves much to be desired. Treat it as a single shot pistol, but load both chambers so you won’t have to worry about a misfire. Sometimes that means that both chambers will fire at the same time, but the amount of sound is still low due to the very small blanks that are normally used in these props. And as the construction of these things tends to be a bit loose anyway, you might want to stick to the smallest blank you can find so as to reduce the pounding the gun gets from the blast.