About a year ago I did an article outlining my list of the 10 best gun movies of all time. Now, I knew when I wrote it that I would be in for the grief any writer gets when he comes up with a "10 best" list, but I wasn't prepared for the finger shaking I got from many readers and TV viewers who chastised me for not including their favorite films. But the one thing I came away with was how interested people were in the different, creative ways moviemakers employ guns in their craft.

While real guns are used for shooting, rubber casts (bottom) are made of them, which actors can treat more roughly. They are safer to use and do not damage the real article.

Firearms and theater were made for each other. Centuries ago playwrights found the dramatic possibilities in wedding the two, and they have been inseparable ever since. A notable example of this early liaison occurs in William Shakespeare's Henry V (1599) wherein one of the supporting characters, named "Pistol" no less, in replying to a presumed slight declares, "Pistol's cock is up and flashing fire will follow," effectively describing the workings of an early flint-and-steel handgun. Never mind that the play was set in 1415 and pistols hadn't been invented yet--much less flintlocks or snauphances.

Later authors continued to feature handguns in their plays whenever necessary, although some of the early ignition systems could present problems in logistics and safety. The advent of the self-contained cartridge made things much easier, and special pistols and blanks were soon devised for stage work.

Motion pictures made the use of pistols and revolvers even easier, as scenes could be reshot if there was a misfire or bobble, and even if there were problems that weren't caught on the set, they could oftentimes be fixed in the editing room.

Lots of what you see on the screen has to be adjusted for technical and safety reasons. Just sticking some sort of blank in an auto or revolver isn't necessarily going to get the effect the director wants, and the ultimate results are usually a function of the expertise of the particular gun handler or prop master on the film.

There is more than one kind of blank, depending upon what's needed for a scene. Quarter, half and full loads produce different bangs. Some blanks are filled with flash powder, as it is possible for the camera to miss the discharge of a normal blank, though with digital photography this is becoming less of a problem. Black-powder blanks throw out lots of smoke.

Blanks are either crimped or have wads, the former being used more often in auto pistols for ease of feeding and to keep the wads from jamming the mechanism. All blanks can present a safety problem for the actors, and guns and ammo must be carefully monitored on the set. Today, most handgun and rifle blanks are crimped, though shotgun shells, because of their nature, still employ wads. There have been enough highly publicized gun mishaps on movie sets in recent years to make proper gun handling a top priority.

Sometimes a director will want to overstep safety considerations to get an effect he wants. A prop master, who is responsible for firearms on the set, has the authority to shut down things and refuse to comply if, in his opinion, a dangerous situation is being created.

As might be expected, shooting blanks in a revolver is no problem. They can be loaded like live rounds and fired easily. Autos present more of a problem, and depending upon the model and type of mechanism, they can require different modifications. All must have some sort of bore restrictor to build up pressures to work the action, while others might require internal changes to permit proper feeding and extraction.

There is also a special alteration that involves plugging the auto's barrel completely so it can be safely pointed and fired at an actor at close range. Special "solid plug" blanks are used in this situation.