Posted on 10/23/2021 8:28:16 PM PDT by marcusmaximus
The smoking gun that claimed the life of Halyna Hutchins might've been more than just an on-set prop -- it was also being fired recreationally, even when cameras weren't rolling.
Multiple sources directly connected to the 'Rust' production tell TMZ ... the same gun Alec Baldwin accidentally fired -- hitting the DP and director -- was being used by crews members off set as well, for what we're told amounted to target practice.
We're told this off-the-clock shooting -- which was allegedly happening away from the movie lot -- was being done with real bullets
(Excerpt) Read more at tmz.com ...
Perhaps INSTEAD of condemning guns and gun owners, Alec Baldwin should have learned BASIC gun safety! The REALITY is that he pointed a loaded gun at a person and PULLED THE TRIGGER! That is NO “misfire”, the firearm WORKED AS DESIGNED. HE failed to CHECK to ENSURE that it was unloaded. I’ll bet he did not even know HOW to CLEAR it.
I don't know much about the nitty-gritties of movie filming, but the reports were that the assistant director passed the gun to Baldwin saying "Cold Gun". OK. Where is the armorer in this equation. Was she on the set? Did she pass the weapon directly to the Asst. Director? Or was the weapon on some sort of table and she was not close to the shoot?
We're also hearing about recreational shooting with some of the same weapons used on-screen as props. That goes to how well prepared the weapons were before they were used in subsequent filming. I would think that goes directly to the armorer unless she had directives to conduct weapon familiarization training for the actors.
During that period of the Old West there was a rapid development in firearm technology and brass self-contained cartridges were just coming out. Modern firearms could be a little hard-to-obtain out there so it was common for a smith to modify a Civil War Cap & Ball pistol to one that used the newer technology.
Think of Clint Eastwood’s revolvers in “The Outlaw Josey Wales”. That was a converted Cap & Ball piece, but considering he was a Confederate soldier on the run immediately after the cessation of hostilities the weapon probably wouldn’t have been converted. Yet I don’t recall Clint ever shown reloading in that movie. Maybe he had a “Dirty Harry” speed-loader cobbled together considering the volume of lead he was putting out?
Its nice to learn new things. Your reply had me doing a little research. I actually have a Colt 1851 Navy Navy percussion in a display case (a very nice replica, not original) that was an award from Colt to me for my senior year engineering robotics project at USNA back in the early 1980’s. It has never been fired, just kept clean and displayed in its wood and glass case.
I was not aware there were conversion kits for it to allow it to fire a standard cartridge. I had seen Clint Eastwood carry and use this in ‘The Good, Bad, and Ugly’ and just attributed the use of cartridges to usual Hollywood sloppiness when it came to such technical detail. Now I see it was a not a flaw. Thanks.
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