"Silliest "gun thing" in a movie" Topic

Before people (you Winston) starts the mantra "movies are not for wargamers/historians/gunfreak etc"
This is just for poop and giggles

I nominate "cop killers bullets" from lethal weapon 3. Pistol bullets capable of penetrating several inches of hardened steel but somehow two level II or III kevlar vests stop them.

That was the height of the Black Talon-mania, and showed hollywood's usual disdane for basic physics.

Mine is all the times that someone cocks the "hammer" on a Glock, or similar striker-fired pistol. I've come to think of it as the "Wilhelm-scream" of movie guns.

You mean the porcelain super pistols from Die Hard 2 that can't be detected on a metal director?

Not only do Glocks cock in TV and movies but many guns cock on and off 4-5 times in a scene. And a lot of police and criminals like to empty their pump action shotguns by continuously pumping them

Danny Vermin: 'I got something to stop him.'
Dutch: 'They made it for him special. It's an eighty-eight Magnum.'
Danny Vermin: 'It shoots through schools.'

Goes all the way back to the cowboy six shooter that never needed reloading.

I kind of like Mae West in My Little Chickadee shooting Indians off their horses from a moving train with a derringer.

One guy is pointing a pistol at a prisoner and demanding answers to his questions. Prisoner tells him to do something anatomically challenging. Pistol guy then racks the slide and puts a round into the chamber.

Prisoner and movie audience roll their eyes and groan.

Or threatening to shoot someone with an uncocked single-action,(1911 being the most common example) preferably holding the gun right next to the person he's threatening.

I would nominate the 5000 Round Magazine. It's much bigger on the inside than it looks on the outside, and every hero should have one. Patent pending.

I liked the movie, but the SMG with a million round magazine falling down the stairs, firing, killing doEns of terroeists in True Lies was ridiculous. They got away with it because the movie was sort of a comedy.

That's from D&D. It's a Magazine of Holding.

That scene in "The Matrix" where Neo stopped all the bullets with a wave of his hand.

Holding a pistol sideways…makes you look tough and mean, like a tough and mean idiot.

Using a pistol as a pointer, to scratch body parts or to open doors (see Plan 9 from Outer Space).

"I know what you're thinking right now…did he shoot 5 times or 6, or maybe 73"

Any of the CSI tv shows that match a bullet from the crime scene to a test bullet. Always a perfect match with no deformities in the one from the crime scene.

Like whitejamest, I'd note that even a good movie, like _Heat_ has supension-of-disbelief-suspending ammunition expenditure. Even if you accept that they're changing mags between cuts, where are they keeping all those spare magazines?

More of a cannon thing but I hate seeing large artillery or tank barrels fire in movies with no recoil, just a little poof of smoke

Someone getting shot by a handgun and flying backwards through the air several feet, usually through a plate glass window. Mass and inertia don't work that way.

Oh, not gun related but still gets on my nerves, hand grenades that explode in a huge greasy ball of flames. If you have ever seen a real grenade go off, it doesn't look anything like that, and really is rather disappointing (hence the embellishment I suppose).

As to those 'infinite repeaters,' the boys from Croatia in their first person shooter computer game found the solution – teleportation.

As long as Sam keeps using the pistol, bullets are teleported into the cylinder so he never runs out of pistol ammo…

As to movies, the amazing lack of penetration (and sparks flying from sheet metal – cars, choppers, etc.) by bullets. Decorative partitions, sheet rock walls, thin shrubbery, etc. all provide bullet proof protection.

On the other hand, when necessary for the plot, bullets fired at acute angles penetrate glass windows and windshields with no deflection.

"Blondie" shooting the rope when "Ugly" is being hanged on The Good, The Bad and the Ugly – a .303 round is actually much smaller than a hanging rope

More of a cannon thing but I hate seeing large artillery or tank barrels fire in movies with no recoil, just a little poof of smoke

I remember reading that when they were developing the Sherman Firefly, they tried a fixed mount for the 17pdr in the turret to prevent the recoiling gun hitting the turret rear. It worked to many peoples surprise! the tank suspension and mass absorbed the energy from the discharge!
The final production version had an extended turret and a normal recoil…

"I nominate "cop killers bullets" from lethal weapon 3."

I'm sure it was the colored dye on those lead conical- nosed SWCs that made them so dangerous.

""Blondie" shooting the rope when "Ugly" is being hanged on The Good, The Bad and the Ugly – a .303 round is actually much smaller than a hanging rope"

Clint was probably using a .44 (not a .303) which gave him an edge ;-)

The hero running away from automatic gun fire and not getting hit. Sorry but humans can't move faster than bullets.

"Runaway".
Was that the one where you could outwit the homing bullets by ducking?

Artillery, but--Using flaming torches to fire the Krupp breechloaders in Khartoum.

Grelber

I've always wonder why movie extras, when shooting at the stars using automatic weapons, always appear to be aiming at the ground.
Or maybe there is some sort of variable gravity effect dragging the bullets downward?

The hardcore elite operator, late 30 to mid-40's for that "badass experienced look", designer glasses, manly beard, Hard Rock Cafe T-shirt from the most exotic location possible and a fetishistically tricked out exclusive rifle model with a 17-point harness and the latest in ninja tac gear and uber-headset gear able to pick up messages from Alpha Centauri. He then picks up his handgun and appendix carries it with a loaded chamber …

Perfectly placed killing shots by the hero with a handgun against a spread of guys with automatic weapons while making a roll.

Shotgun blast disintegrates the body part they are aiming at.

Bullet wounds only cause ten seconds of mild discomfort before you can resume jumping off buildings and other high octane exercise while the wound fades away.

Shattering glass catches all bullets.

Alien guns are dead easy to figure out by any random passer-by.

People blasting away on full auto in a confined space and retain their hearing.

Explosions are harmless if you duck and cover your face from the flames.

WWII soldiers using modern safety drills and modern small unit tactics, even more fun if they use bolt action rifles.

Using a gun as a hand to hand weapon, bonus points for those who keep their finger on the trigger.

Noob picks up a gun and either puts every bullet in the ceiling or is thrown onto their back by the recoil.

Like whitejamest, I'd note that even a good movie, like _Heat_ has supension-of-disbelief-suspending ammunition expenditure. Even if you accept that they're changing mags between cuts, where are they keeping all those spare magazines?[/quotw]

The magazines are fixed to the suit vest, I think De Nero had like 10 or 12 magazines,
But yes, he probably needed 5-6 more.

My favorite is the ubiquitous Gatling gun in every western from the War Wagon to Josie Wales.

The Chinese movie about WW2 (First World War?, interwar?) where the hero is acrobatically dodging bullets from the Maxim MG firing at him while the guy covering his advance kills off the single shot riflemen…

Or any Superman episode where the bad guy fires all the bullets at Supes and the big guy stands there – but when the bad guy throws the now empty gun Supes ducks…

YouTube link

Movie mortars making a muted 'toonk' noise when fired. Real world mortars make a hell of a bang.

Condor. TV show. The hitman (hitgirl, actually) shots her handgun at a fast moving car; at night; when it briefly appears between two buildings; 75 feet from her position. A single shot. She mortally wounds the heroe's girl. I called and stopped watching the show.

Not exactly a gun thing, but sometimes a gun is involved.
A car drives off a cliff and explodes halfway down.

Cannon. Fat TV detective show in the 70s or 80s.
He's walking down the street. An "expert" sniper shoots at him and misses.
Fat Cannon falls to the pavement, rolls, pulls out his snub nosed special and gets the hidden sniper with one shot.

TJ Hooker with William Shatner, hiding behind a sheet metal roof ventilator, being shot at with a 9mm Uzi. Does not penetrate.

The cop shows where the good guys are running towards the bad guys and racking a round in the chamber, and the hammer cocking sound each the weapon is pointed at someone.

Exploding roundshot in movies set prior to ACW.

Trained snipers missing unsuspecting targets that are 100m away

I the Mae West thing tops mine, but William Conrad in "Jake and the Fatman" once shot down a helicopter with a snub nosed revolver.

The movie that had Angelina Jolie shooting curve bullets was a bit much.

The magazines are fixed to the suit vest, I think De Nero had like 10 or 12 magazines,
But yes, he probably needed 5-6 more.

Yes, but this brings up a further issue: that's 300/360 rounds of ball ammo, not 300 rounds of airsoft foam. It's a considerable amount of weight/bulk.

It's about 6kg, several combat vests are made for 12 STANG mags. I'm sure you can fix that to a well made suit vest.

Silencers.

Ah, yes, silencers on revolvers was common back in the day. That and mention of "safeties" on revolvers.

In addition to all of the above, the "gun kata" in Equilibrium was horrifically stupid.

Did we leave out firing a gun in an enclosed space while not wearing hearing protection and not being deafened?

How about listening during a pause in the shooting and being able to hear a quiet sound like a key entering a lock?

Not to mention the supposed sound effect from a suppressor equipped weapon.

And on a revolver,the half-cock position of the hammer is the safety feature if it's of any good quality.