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Movie gun myths

10K views 66 replies 40 participants last post by  Amra910 
#1 ·
Alot of people come here looking for advice/direction on buying firearms. Some are knowledgable, having been around guns before, and some are completely new and don't know a thing.

I'm not trying to make fun of or disrespect anyone here. This is designed to be an informative thread. Hopefully it will be fun and humorous for the "gun enthusiasts" on the board and informative to everyone else.

Let's try to stick with this format and not get off on the which caliber/brand/model is better wars. State a common "movie myth" involving guns, and facts that represent what it's like in REAL LIFE. I'll do a few to get us started!


Movie Myth:
Machine guns have a huge ammo capacity.

Fact:
This happens all the time in the movies. Good guys blast entire rooms full of bad guys just holding the trigger down and spraying bullets everywhere. Truth is, fully automatic weapons go through ammo FAST.
Depress the trigger and count: One mississippi, two mississippi, three mississCLICK. You're empty.
Most machine guns you'll see in movies (AK-47, M-16) have a 30 round capacity. They fire lead down range at around 650 rounds per minute. That means it takes 2.7 seconds of sustained fire to deplete a magazine.
Sub-machine guns such as the Mac10 or MP5 are even faster, at around 900-1000 rounds per minute.


Movie Myth:
Handgun accuracy.

Fact:
This one is probably the most poorly represented as far as "real life" goes in virtually all movies. Hitting a head-sized (or for that matter, torso-sized) target at 50, 80 or 100 yards away with a handgun is REALLY HARD. It takes a LOT of practice. Doing it while running or driving, or even walking is next to impossible, even at much closer ranges. Don't get me wrong there are people out there who can do it, but they are one in a billion.


Movie Myth:
Bullets (and especially shotgun rounds) make the bad guys go flying backwards.

Fact:
No, they don't. It's a simple matter of physics. Newton's third law: Every action has an equal and opposite reaction. If a bullet contained enough energy to blast a 180-lb man 10 feet backwards on impact, then the recoil would have blasted YOU 10 feet backwards when you fired it. In fact, if you start firing at some bad guy charging at you from 20 feet away, chances are you won't know whether you're hitting him or not until he crumples on the ground dead.
 
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#3 ·
My favorite is the "gangsta" shooting style of holding the pistol cocked at a 90 degree turn until it is basically perpendicular to your body (sideways). I've tried that and due to the way your hand and wrist are built it is EXTREMELY difficult to get the barrel pointed at the target. The barrel will most likely point about 5 feet from the target.
 
#4 ·
Bradleydriver, the gangsta shooting style is a method of compensating for the barrel jump of a full auto weapon during a drive-by shooting. Instead of the weapon going up and missing, it arcs across the targeted group or building increasing your chance of hitting something (usually an innocent nearby child for some reason). I'm not sure why that method of shooting carried over to the semi-auto pistol.
 
#5 ·
Movies tend to be full of myths regarding guns. They get it wrong because they're aiming for drama and spectacle, and reality usually isn't. So they lie, and people who don't have experience with firearms believe their lies, and you wind up with a lot of misinformation. I almost wept black tears of despair when Mythbusters tackled the idea that by whipping your arm around while firing a handgun you can make the bullet curve in its flight, that people would actually believe such a thing was possible...
 
#7 ·
Movie Myth:
Bullets (and especially shotgun rounds) make the bad guys go flying backwards.

Fact:
No, they don't. It's a simple matter of physics. Newton's third law: Every action has an equal and opposite reaction. If a bullet contained enough energy to blast a 180-lb man 10 feet backwards on impact, then the recoil would have blasted YOU 10 feet backwards when you fired it. In fact, if you start firing at some bad guy charging at you from 20 feet away, chances are you won't know whether you're hitting him or not until he crumples on the ground dead.

Good post, but I can see where this myth comes from so it is not entirely false. Anyone who has hit a deer and seen it flip to feet in the air, knows that the recoil does not make the shooter flip over. Shot placement has a lot to do with it. Think about a judo flip. Very little force applied correctly can displace a large body. Hit a man in the head with a 45 ACP from 5 yards and he will snap back with feet off the floor. Yes the movies exagerrate it, but the effect does exist.
 
#11 ·
My favorite is a snubbie shot inside of a flying airliner will pierce the hull and bring the plane down or the bad guy gets sucked out of the hole he just made before the plane goes down.

It is sad to believe just how many people believe what Hollywood produces. Like in the Dark Knight where Batman shoots a round into different bricks as a lab test then does a bullet reconstruction to pull the fingerprints off of the bullet he was testing for. I am sure there are more than enough people who believe that technology exists today.
 
#12 ·
Movie Myth:
Machine guns have a huge ammo capacity.

Fact:
This happens all the time in the movies. Good guys blast entire rooms full of bad guys just holding the trigger down and spraying bullets everywhere. Truth is, fully automatic weapons go through ammo FAST.
Depress the trigger and count: One mississippi, two mississippi, three mississCLICK. You're empty.
Most machine guns you'll see in movies (AK-47, M-16) have a 30 round capacity. They fire lead down range at around 650 rounds per minute. That means it takes 2.7 seconds of sustained fire to deplete a magazine.
Sub-machine guns such as the Mac10 or MP5 are even faster, at around 900-1000 rounds per minute.
...
Movie Myth:
Bullets (and especially shotgun rounds) make the bad guys go flying backwards.

Fact:
No, they don't. It's a simple matter of physics. Newton's third law: Every action has an equal and opposite reaction. If a bullet contained enough energy to blast a 180-lb man 10 feet backwards on impact, then the recoil would have blasted YOU 10 feet backwards when you fired it. In fact, if you start firing at some bad guy charging at you from 20 feet away, chances are you won't know whether you're hitting him or not until he crumples on the ground dead.
Movie Myth: AKs and M-16s are machineguns

Fact: They are assault rifles.

Good post, but I can see where this myth comes from so it is not entirely false. Anyone who has hit a deer and seen it flip to feet in the air, knows that the recoil does not make the shooter flip over. Shot placement has a lot to do with it. Think about a judo flip. Very little force applied correctly can displace a large body. Hit a man in the head with a 45 ACP from 5 yards and he will snap back with feet off the floor. Yes the movies exagerrate it, but the effect does exist.
Very little energy is 'transfered' onto the target. With HP/SP ammo, remember energy is used to open it up to a larger diameter. Energy is also used to crush the tissue.
People sometime go backwards when shot, but it is more of a psychological thing. You stick your hand in a fire, you shrink it back instantly. When a living creature is shot and feels pain, they are going to jump backwards instinctively. Most wounds are not instantly fatal (unless to the CNS, of which the heart is not part of) and most hunters aim for chest / lung / heart area. So when the animal feels pain it jumps in the opposite direction to which it feels the pain. That and the dead man's twitch.
 
#14 ·
Very little energy is 'transfered' onto the target. With HP/SP ammo, remember energy is used to open it up to a larger diameter. Energy is also used to crush the tissue.
People sometime go backwards when shot, but it is more of a psychological thing. You stick your hand in a fire, you shrink it back instantly. When a living creature is shot and feels pain, they are going to jump backwards instinctively. Most wounds are not instantly fatal (unless to the CNS, of which the heart is not part of) and most hunters aim for chest / lung / heart area. So when the animal feels pain it jumps in the opposite direction to which it feels the pain. That and the dead man's twitch.
I have killed and plucked my share of chickens. I know the difference.

No offense to you and those who have posted similar - believe what you want, but you are wrong. At least when you are talking about the impact of large cartridges on mid sized game. When I hit an animal with a 375 H&H, that animal is dead at impact. They hit the ground unconscious - sometimes with all four feet in the air. I am not talking about a flinch or muscle contraction. I have seen deer standing broadside literally knocked off their feet and hit the ground ribs first dead. I've seen all four hooves in the air and a complete roll over. I've seen headshots whip an animal 180 degrees. I've seen a hit in a hind leg spin an animal 90 degrees and sit it down. That isn't jumping or flinching. Hit a charging animal in the chest and the impact will slam them backward on their haunches faster than you can clap. Hit them in the head at an upward angle and the front feet come off the ground, sometimes rolling them onto their back.

No I have not shot a man. I hope I never have to.

But I have hunted from Alaska to Africa and been blessed to take my share of game with large caliber cartridiges. You don't have to believe me. I won't be mad at you. I just know that I have seen it happen.
 
#13 ·
Movie Myth:
Suppressors make a firearm have that characteristic sound which *everyone* knows.

Fact:
Depending on calibre and platform, they can be suppressed to a certain degree, but not to levels of quietness heard in films. In open bolt SMGs, the action can be very loud, but you don't hear them in films either.

Movie Myth:
Folding stocks are meant to be folded at all times. (eg. most WW2 films show Germans with MP40s have their stocks folded. Films that feature AKs with underfolder never have them deployed.)

Fact:
Folding stocks make it more compact when you do not need to use it, and having a longer firearm would hinder your movements (eg in and out of vehicles). But when you need to use it, having a stock increases the user's accuracy and helps dissipate recoil with the shoulder.
 
#16 ·
OK I have some;

The old Clint Eastwood westerns (or any western for that matter)- shooting a gun out of someone's hand or hat of their head ,all by shooting from the hip with a single action .45 colt revolver.

Shooting 25 Indians off of horses with a single action revolver without reloading once.

Dumbass action movies like Commando and Die hard -where a dozen guys in strategic positions and shooting thousands of rds. can't hit the "good guy" ,yet he can pick them all off, while running in the open .And again unlimited ammo supply.
 
#17 ·
George Lucas claimed that after the Star War series R&D people from MI5 in Britan actually called his office to find out where he was getting some of his technology. They refused to believe it was all smoke and mirrors. They wanted that stuff for their agents!

As a teacher I had people young and old that would argue with me over things they had seen in movies. They believed whatever was on the screen.

You have to remember that there is only 1 (one) (UNO) "average" person in the world. Everyone else is above average of below average. 50% will catch on and 50% will never believe the truth. That last 50% are called Democrats.
 
#53 ·
Actually, Grenades are insanely powerful. I suppose it all depends on the size of your house and how it was built. My point however is that games like Call of Duty and Halo, or whatever other exposure to grenades you may have had, to not do the hand-sized balls of death justice.

Frag grenades are especially deadly because of the flying shards of metal. These aren't so good at blowing up houses, but they are very good at cutting through bodies in all directions.
 
#24 ·
Another common shotgun 'error': The bad guy shoots his shotgun once... and Doesn't jack another shell in Until he sees the good guy target. The good guy then is able to jump away after hearing the shotgun slide. Beverly Hill s Cop did this numerous times, but have seen it in other movies too.

So essentially, it's like saying "I'm trying to shoot you, but first I'm going to make a big noise so you can duck or jump behind a wall!" ... yeah right!
 
#30 ·
On a side note, you should not use the term "assault rifle" when talking about M16/AK47 type weapons... that term is used by the anti-gun crowd.
Then what the Hell should we call them?

Do we call them machine guns...main battle rifles...EBRs (Evil black rifles)...semi automatic (if they are) military style rifles...Maybe we should call them what the military does.
 
#28 ·
One of my favorites (not the movie), was in...Maniac Cop II (I think)...where Robert Davi and I think it was Caludia Christian..are at the police range. Davi shoots, then Christian shoots her snubbie. They bring the paper target back to them and the hole she shot is wayyyy...bigger than Davi's. He then says, "hollow points, huh?"
 
#29 ·
Guys shooting handguns, one in each hand at the same time.

You know the guy can't miss, he has a scope on his rifle.

You also have to cut them some slack, especially in period pieces...Ok, that tank wasn't at the D-Day landing (Pvt. Ryan) but there aren't that many operational tanks still around.

I once asked a producer about the hundred shot weapons in the Oaters and he came back with a plausible reply--time compression...You really think it takes then to ride, on horseback, 10 miles in 14 seconds same with reloading, when they switch views to the other guys, the reloading takes place...I love CSI Miami where they get to the scene of the crime in a minute, even though it's 50 miles away and in another jurisdiction--well out of Dade county.

That it takes two minutes to get DNA or fingerprint results and that almost all the results are stored in the computer...The people always go to the police station to be "questioned" but the police seldom go and question them at their residences or place of work...That fingerprints and especially bullet identification is 100% spot on and that the gun's serial number is always registered.

Guys shooting guns in cars or closed, small rooms and being able to hear immediately afterwards.

As to the reloading a flintlock on the run/fast walk, it's done all the time at rendezvous on "Trail Walks" and with practice, you won't lose any (or very little) powder.
 
#40 ·
i love the look on a person face when i put a round down range through the suppressor and they turn around and ask they what was that stange sound of that they just heard..

for i tell them that just heard a suppressored 45.or 223 cal round going down range and they go it not want it like in the movies i tell them it not the movies but the sound guy is not doing a good job ..

in real life the a good high end suppressor you hear the round hitting the target and the cycleing of the action more the sound of the gun shot..
 
#41 ·
Movie Myth: Snipers- when shooting someone with a rifle and scope, the crosshairs are always directly on the target's heart or head no matter how far away.
TRUTH: Unless the targets are exactly at the Zero'ed distance of the riflescopes, the crosshairs will be above/slightly below the target or maybe even not on it at all.

Myth: Bullets fly in a straight line
Truth: Bullets fly in an arc.

Not really a myth but something I find funny: Ever notice that no matter how dangerous the situation is or how ready for a firefight the actors MUST rack a slide, work a lever action or schuck a shotgun in every scene?? Even if they KNOW they are going to get into a shootout, they wait until the last second to work the action so they can get a good movie scene. I would already have a round in a chamber!!!!
 
#42 ·
Movie Myth: Snipers- when shooting someone with a rifle and scope, the crosshairs are always directly on the target's heart or head no matter how far away.
TRUTH: Unless the targets are exactly at the Zero'ed distance of the riflescopes, the crosshairs will be above/slightly below the target or maybe even not on it at all.

Myth: Bullets fly in a straight line
Truth: Bullets fly in an arc
Modern snipers dial in their ranges, they don't normally use holdover for distance so in essence the crosshairs would be on the exact spot they want the bullet to impact.
 
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