A Writer's Question

[BonnieDolea]

I'm writing a film script and need to know the answer to a gun question. Would it be alright to ask it here ... Or would it be totally inappropriate? I am not very knowledgeable about guns ... But, would like to be.

[PPGMD]

Post it, I doubt anyone is going to steer you wrong here.

[JDM]

I'm writing a film script and need to know the answer to a gun question. Would it be alright to ask it here ... Or would it be totally inappropriate? I am not very knowledgeable about guns ... But, would like to be.

Ask away.

[BonnieDolea]

Thanks. Appreciate it. Here's the question: Can the magazine of a semi-automatic pistol be loaded with one live round and the rest spent cartridges? If so, would the pistol fire normally ie. That is, if the trigger is pulled would the firing pin click on the spent cartridges ... without firing, of course ... and then they could be ejected normally?
I know I could do this with a revolver, but I wanted to use a semi-automatic weapon in the script.

[JDM]

Thanks. Appreciate it. Here's the question: Can the magazine of a semi-automatic pistol be loaded with one live round and the rest spent cartridges? If so, would the pistol fire normally ie. That is, if the trigger is pulled would the firing pin click on the spent cartridges ... without firing, of course ... and then they could be ejected normally?
I know I could do this with a revolver, but I wanted to use a semi-automatic weapon in the script.

In theory, yes.

The slide would need to be cycled after each trigger press, and some semi-automatic pistols will struggle to cycle an empty case.

[BonnieDolea]

Thanks. I did know the slide would have to be pulled ... and thought that there might be a problem, but wasn't sure. I don't suppose you would know which pistol from which manufacturer would be less likely to have a problem with the spent cartridges. I originally intended the character to use a Sig Sauer 9 mm. In case you were wondering, the part of the plot I needed this info for involved the protagonist (hero) being subjected to the psychological torture of a mock execution ... while having his head covered.

[JDM]

Thanks. I did know the slide would have to be pulled ... and thought that there might be a problem, but wasn't sure. I don't suppose you would know which pistol from which manufacturer would be less likely to have a problem with the spent cartridges. I originally intended the character to use a Sig Sauer 9 mm. In case you were wondering, the part of the plot I needed this info for involved the protagonist (hero) being subjected to the psychological torture of a mock execution ... while having his head covered.

While by no means comprehensive, every Sig 9mm I've owned, probably 8 or so, will cycle empty cases just fine.

[cmoore]

Why not use dummy rounds instead of spent cases? This way there is no problem with the slide reliably loading the inert round.

[olstyn]

In theory, yes.

The slide would need to be cycled after each trigger press, and some semi-automatic pistols will struggle to cycle an empty case.

What he said. The likely result is a jam resulting from the first empty case failing to feed properly. If the character loading the magazine is supposed to be knowledgeable about firearms, and they want the person shooting to have the result described, the more likely thing for them to do would be to load the magazine with dummy cartridges or snap caps. (No affiliation with the product linked, I was just looking for a quick example to show, and amazon was one of the first results in my google search.)

[Lon]

Why not have dummy rounds (snap caps) instead of spent casings?