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“...I hate to tell both Rick and Joe you can’t fire a 1911 with the hammer down, I know, I know, Hollywood.....looked like a Smith and Wesson to me with the external extractor.”

Just the latest in a series of gun-handling errors:

- Clicking sounds, like the thumb-cocking of a single action revolver, when someone draws down on a walker (or a person) with a Glock. Once loaded and charged, no Glock makes the faintest sound until its trigger is pulled.

- More clicking sounds, when Rick aims his Python but doesn’t thumb-cock it (hammer still forward = no sound). Details escape me at the moment, but I vaguely recall other characters (Lori, Carol, or both?) bringing revolvers to bear. Many clicks are heard, but no one moves a trigger or thumbs back a hammer.

- Sundry sounds (some clicks) when various characters raise their long guns to firing position. But no one is seen to throw off a safety and certainly no one works a charging handle (AR-15) or a lever (Carl’s octagon-barrel Marlin 93, or possibly a 94, only seen in mid-Season 4 finale as “Brian” {fka The Governor} attacks the prison for the last time).

- More than one AR-15 without sights.

- First: when the Governor leads the massacre of the Army National Guard camp early in Season 3. One panicked trooper makes a break for it; the Governor sees, takes aim with a rifle totally lacking any rear sight, and brings the guy down with a single round. Then he tells one of his street thug henchmen to finish the guy off - “Never waste a bullet, son.”

- Second: during the Governor’s last attack on the prison (featuring the M-60 tank), one of the women (Maggie, Beth, or Sasha) can be seen squeezing off rounds (possibly bursts) with deliberate care, squinting down the upper surface of some AR-15 style rifle equipped only with a MIL-STD-1913B (Picatinny) rail: no front sight nor rear sight anywhere.

- Third: Sasha or Maggie carrying that rail-only rifle at sling arms, as they escape the wreck at the prison and evade walkers.

Theoretically, a marksperson might become so proficient that they could fire an AR-15 and hit a walker in the head at moderate range, without needing sights. But it would not be too likely after the Zombie Apocalypse - too few opportunities to train or practice, never enough ammunition. And recall how often the characters talk about running out of ammo, or running low.

The single-action Colt Government-style autoloader Joe held to Rick’s head was probably an Astra or a Star, or possibly a Llama; those firms pioneered 1911-style clones, in various sizes, over 50 years ago. Bunches were made in relatively small calibers like 32, 380, 9x19, 9mm Bergmann-Bayard, or 38 ACP. Worldwide, there have been many copies of (and variations on) the basic design. Quite a few were built with pinned, pivoted extractors visible from the outside, a feature very easy to see in the series finale. Only recently have other big-name armsmakers begun to offer their own 1911-style designs: Smith & Wesson, SIG, Ruger, Remington. Envisioning is right on target in noting that S&W uses this (non Colt) style of extractor. I cannot recall at the moment just what the rest of them have installed.

- The lighting wasn’t great in yesterday eve’s episode, but I think I spotted Joe’s autoloader with the hammer down, then back, in several very closely sequenced takes, where in tactical reality no handgun shooter would ever pause to change it unless dire necessity was on him (her). Sad to say, such discontinuities are common in films, even ones where weapons are a central part of the prop lineup. Watch _Kelly’s Heroes_ closely: in some sequences, it’s a simple affair to spot the cocking handle on Telly Savalas’ Tommy Gun to be forward, then back, then forward, then back again in a space of less than 30 final-cut seconds, as he and other soldiers assault the French village containing the bank. And all the rest of the details of that footage give moviegoers the plain impression that it was to be perceived as continuous: no troop (not even one as accomplished as Telly’s tough-guy sergeant character, and - one gathers - Telly the real-life combat vet) would pause to de-cock his subgun in such a tight place.

Criticisms aside, the makers of _The Walking Dead_ surely deserve credit for an unprecedented sense of realism and faithfulness, when it comes to the capabilities (and limitations) of real-life firearms - and the behavior of people in real life who are trained to use them. It’s the first TV series I can ever remember that spent any screen time at all, on training people to shoot, and on dialog concerning the proper habits and mindset of using guns in self-defense. Characters are seen cleaning guns, loading magazines, counting out cartridges, scrounging munitions, mulling over options of dispensing walkers. The bolt action sporting rifle - miles and miles beyond any other gun design, when it comes to precision, accuracy, range, effectiveness, etc for a given weight and size - is given pride of place from the very beginning.