Do actors in Old West shows use real 19th century guns, or just look-alikes?

Question

Any personal experience with this?

Answer 1

There is a really HUGE industry in Hollywood, that provides 'Props'. In very rare instances, some antiques are in a shot, though seldom really used, due to the expense of replacing an irreplaceable museum quality item!

The weapons are usually replicas. Having assembled and fired some replica black powder pistols and rifles, and having studied the subject for years, I want to assure you that they are just as powerful as modern weapons, and, though 'blanks' are fired, some injuries still occur from the hot muzzle flash, the hot wadding used, and powder burn.

Many props are made by the prop shops, in molds, for mass scenes, the shots and smoke, and more actors (replicates) are computer generated (usually using Beowulf clusters of Linux on 'desktop' computers, since Titanic - 1997!).

Answer 2

I have an experience from Wild West Town. I think that in the movies they did the same thing, used real guns with blank bullets. It makes the noise, but nothing comes out. There are also the flat bullets, i believe, that they used with bullet-proof vests underneath so that something did come out, but it wouldn't make a mark on you. There was a third kind of bullet that i think carried red ink for quick special effects, but i cannot remember how. In this Wild West town there was a small theatre where the cowboys/girls would stage a show and then explain how the guns work in movies and how they used them.

Answer 3

Almost always props for any show are not authentic, they're reproductions. If one was to use say an 1860 Colt revolver in a stage production, if something happened to that gun, it's irreplacable. There's a huge business in theater props, not just in LA and New York, but all around the country, for regional theater productions.

Answer 4

They are reproductions of 19th century guns. The real thing would be much too valuable. When they are shooting most of the time they are using blanks. When they trick shoot they use very light loads of shot pellets so that it won't carry out into the audience. No personal experience on this..

Answer 5

If you mean are they authentic antiques or are they reproductions the answer is....Reproductions!!!

Answer 6

Real.

Answer 7

they are props.