WINNER!Originally Posted by NETim
The first (loaded) round will cycle the action and might load the fired case in the magazine. But the any other fired cases in the magazine won't have any way to get into the chamber unless the shooter racks the slide.
Okie John
PPGMD: Well, not for the guy whose doing this one. He's trying to convince the hero ... who has some very unique skills, by the way ... to do what he wants him to do. The reason I wanted to use the spent casings is to help increase the fear of the hero as they are ejected from the gun and hit the stone floor ... building tension for, not only the hero, but the audience.. Remember, they (the audience) will know there is one live round ... this is actually why I wanted to use spent cartridges (rather than something like Snap Caps) in the magazine since they are going to see him load it. Therefore, the audience is going to wonder what happens when the live round is chambered. You see, it's like a game of Russian Roulette ... but, with a semi-automatic rather than a revolver ... and with someone else doing the actual manipulation of the gun.
Mock executions are a VERY effective means of torture, by the way ... having long term effects on the victims.
Well, not for the guy whose doing this one. He's trying to convince the hero ... who has some very unique skills, by the way ... to do what he wants him to do. The reason I wanted to use the spent casings is to help increase the fear of the hero as they are ejected from the gun and hit the stone floor ... building tension for, not only the hero, but the audience.. Remember, they (the audience) will know there is one live round ... this is actually why I wanted to use spent cartridges (rather than something like Snap Caps) in the magazine since they are going to see him load it. (The hero won't since his head is covered) Therefore, the audience is going to wonder what happens when the live round is chambered. You see, it's like a game of Russian Roulette ... but, with a semi-automatic rather than a revolver ... and with someone else doing the actual manipulation of the gun.
Mock executions are a VERY effective means of torture, by the way ... having long term effects on the victims.
Last edited by BonnieDolea; 11-05-2014 at 12:12 AM.
Tell us more about the Nemesis Arms Vanquish and the role it plays in the story.
Unless the screenwriter is also the producer and director, this would depend on any technical advisors, who will probably never meet the screenwriter.
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BD, I think I can say for everyone here that we (gun people) would rather a TV/movie/media person ask questions than put out inaccurate (it's more often really stupid...) information.
I deal with the media quite a bit on my job, and the level of bad info being reported is sometimes astonishing, typically because they don't know what they don't know, and don't care that they don't know.
Who will see him load the magazine? I wouldn't let anyone, including the audience see the spent casings until the drama is over and then the educated gun audience will have an "ah ha" moment when the camera pans down and shows a pile of snap caps. Answering the "what kind of Crap ammo was this guy loading?"
A large % of your audience will not know why/how a gun can go "click" instead of "bang" and they also won't have familiarity with snap caps.
Maybe add a scene after panning down at the snap caps where someone picks one up and separates the bullet from the case. For this reason, I would use these snap caps http://www.stactionpro.com/action-tr...ounds-c-1.html No affiliation with this company.
SMEs please correct me if you think I'm steering the writer the wrong way.
Fairness leads to extinction much faster than harsh parameters.
Indeed. The fact that you took the time and effort to research this makes me want to see your film all by itself.
OP, is it clear that (1) yes, many pistols will cycle empty casings but (2) not without manual help?
A portion of the energy generated by a just-fired round is used to push the slide back. When the slide returns to battery it strips off the next round from the magazine.
When an empty case replaces a live round, the previous live round will cycle the slide. As the slide returns to its forward position it will (often) strip the empty casing from the magazine and chamber it. But then everything stops. Not being charged, the casing will not generate the energy required to cycle the slide.
The way to cycle a series of empty cases through a pistol is to manually cycle the slide after every trigger press. The manual cycling will cock the trigger (or striker) for the next "shot". The sound sequence will be BANG! - click, as the trigger falls on an inert round - (sound of slide manually pulled to rear and released) - click as once again the hammer or striker falls.
I had to Google "Nemesis Arms Vanquish."
I don't see why the protagonist should have to be kept unaware of the snap caps . . . if he has these "unique skills" involving firearms, he's going to know it just about right away in this process, and as long as he knows the live round is in there (and the audience understands how this works and why it's different from Russian Roulette with a revolver randomized after each trigger pull) the tension is still there.)
Also, and now I'm going to veer way out of my lane and presume to offer an idea despite knowing nothing about screenwriting, are you familiar with the concept of a shooter with a "flinch?" Or a "ball-and-dummy drill?" If not, bear with me a moment. If the villain and protagonist are both "gun people," chances are they've both spent some time doing the "ball-and-dummy drill," which is exactly the same thing the villain is doing for his mock execution, except used to improve shooting skills:
http://pistol-training.com/drills/ball-dummy-drill
Basically, people often develop a "flinch." This means that a person begins to push a firearm (especially handguns) downward, or tighten the grip the moment the gun fires, or otherwise move the thing around in anticipation of the noise and recoil of the shot. If you picture someone flinching at a sudden loud noise, you'll have the picture of it. If the villain is the talkative, playful sicko type, he could tease the protagonist that they're going to do a ball-and-dummy drill to see who flinches. "Maybe I'll flinch--maybe enough to make me miss when the live round fires? Or maybe you'll flinch first." Does the protagonist "have a flinch"--will he flinch when the hammer falls on the first shot? The second? The fourth? Maybe the villain thinks this is fun, or funny. Whether the protagonist actually does flinch at some point would depend on how invincible you want him to be . . . or how vulnerable.
BTW, if you want to choose a firearm and stick with it, the SIG P-Series (P226, P228, etc.) would be a great choice for this, as would the Beretta 92 series, a 1911, or HK's P30/P2000 pistols. Guns with hammers, in other words. The audience can see the hammer cocked and watch it fall with each pull of the trigger. Every time a character uses his thumb to "cock the hammer" on a Glock or another striker-fired pistol that does not have a hammer, there's a gun nut somewhere about to alienate her family by pointing out that that cannot happen this is obviously unrealistic DAMMIT MATT DAMON. I know you already said you'd like your protagonist to use a SIG, I'm just saying . . . good idea.
"Your hands than mine are quicker for a fray.
My legs are longer though, to run away."
--Helena of Athens
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