A Look Inside the Prop Box

Got the last of the boxes today and I was most happy with the third, which contained three badges and a replica .45 Army revolver. I think non-firing replicas are the way to go for movie-making (if you have a good After Effects operator), since blank-firing guns don't seem to stand up to close scrutiny in the authenticity column.

The far left gun is a blank-shooter from Blank-Guns-Depot.com and shoots 9-mm RK blanks. The monstrosity next to it is a Kimar blank-shooter that takes .380 blanks. Notice the black hammer, loading gate, and extractor shroud. Looking back at the picture on the web site (shown below), they didn't misrepresent it; but looking at it, wouldn't you be expecting a steel finish on the parts you can hardly see? The right side gun is the replica from cowboyprops.com.

I won't be buying any Kimar six-guns again anytime soon. Not to bash Kimar, though. This is a perfectly serviceable gun for Wild West re-enactments, but not optimal for film-making.

See what I mean about authenticity? Nice big .45 holes in the cylinder face!

Contrast with the Kimar, with a very fake-looking cylinder face -- not a good gun for close-ups!

The other blank-shooter has a real cylinder face, but it is obviously not a .45 Army six-shooter doppleganger. Its major drawback is that the cylinder isn't locked while the hammer is down, so if the actor torques his arm right as he's drawing, you're likely to get that noticeable cylinder-spin sound on the audio. And mis-index some blanks if you're using those (not really a problem starting with a full pistol).

Next project, test-firing the blanks on video for smoke effect.