"
Actually, if I understand it right, they do leave the sound of gunshots unedited. That's because they don't use them at all. They can't. At least not with analog tape. I don't know about digital tech, but with film/video tape, the sound of a gunshot maxes out the media (pegs the meters), and comes across as a loud pop, no matter the caliber. .22s are smaller pops, but they are all pops, sounding nothing like a real gunshot. "
I do sound effects at an amateur level for video games.
Very often they do use sounds from real guns. Take for instance, Battlefield 3:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nYXqXm_LLHg
This video compares two big video games, Battlefield 3 and Modern Warfare 3. I find Battlefield (the 1st and every alternating video) to sound much more like what I hear at the range. Modern Warfare gun sounds are incredibly dull and bassy. I guess that's what happens when you fire so many guns without hearing protection though
You lose the high end of your hearing
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vc8WQsIxhro here's a great (fairly short) video from the sound designer of Battlefield 3. He talks about why they exaggerate sounds and their process. There's footage of them in the middle of a military "war game" with tanks, blank rounds, jets, the whole shebang and then getting source audio from there to analyze it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KkxuPX5l7zM
I'm sure there are some big name films that use terrible sound effects but we (sound designers) are not all like that!
EDIT: My original point is that today with our microphones with high SPL tolerances, compressors/limiters, and control over input signal, you'd be surprised what you can record with a $100 mic and a computer.