Hollywood Tactics & Training (AKA no no tactics)

[Doug.38PR]

Between all of us, for the safety of ourselves and other newcomers to the world of firarms, lets see if we can list all the hollywood no nos that we see in movies and TV.

1) Spray and Pray (Mel Gibson, Keanue Reeves, etc. Those who spray a million bullets at their target)
2) "pointing" your gun at people (meaning jesturing or waving at someone with the tip of your gun in conversation.)
3) Ordering a bad guy "DROP THAT GUN" (suppose he literally does just that...BANG!)
4) whipping, slinging or thrusting the gun when shooting it at a bad guy. Just point or aim and shoot...no need to sling or thrust.
5) Approaching someone with a SA automatic and holding them at bay with it uncocked.
6) Uncocking a gun while it is still aimed.
7) joint shooting with a friend at perpetraitor(s) while positioned behind your friend. (the do that in movies all the time "what if your bullet catches the top of your friends head?" I always ask)
8) twirling the gun around like a cowboy
9) fanning a Single Action Army (flopping all over the place hitting nothing)

[HangFire83]

I've always been a fan of the jump and roll and pull your gun out of holster and shoot. Also the, fall backwards landing on your rear end while shooting between your feet like in the movie Face Off.

[exar]

Using your waistband as a holster.
Closing your eyes when you shoot.
Holding a pistol homie-style.
Firing from the hip.
Blindly shooting around a corner.
Shooting locks off.
Dual pistol wielding.

[Twycross]

Pistol whipping.

Not seeking cover.

Thinking that you can drill the bad guy between the eyes at 200 yards offhand with a snubbie.

Racking the slide/pump at every possible occasion.

[Gunfighter45cal]

The "Sabrina": Holding the pistol pointing up in the air.

[choochboost]

How about when the "cop" is entering a room or moving around a corner and the pistol is held muzzle up, underneath his chin, pointing at his head!

Or when you hear them "click" the hammer back on a Glock!

[Doug.38PR]

I've seen tv shows and movies where guys wearing fedora's tip their hat back by pushing the front brim up with the muzzel of their gun

[Doug.38PR]

Holding the pistol pointing up in the air.

Gunfighter,
I don't understand. Holding the gun pointing up is way I was taught to handle any gun safely when carrying it in hand. "Keep your muzzel pointed up"
Am I misunderstanding your meaning?

Using your waistband as a holster

I actually saw a cop or a security guard (can't remember which) doing this about every other day when he could come to the Randalls grocery store to shop where I worked as a sacker 10 years ago. He'd get out of his car and walk in around and out of the store without a gunbelt and his service automatic sticking in his waistband.
This security guard who was on duty guarding the parking lot told me he noticed it too and said the guy would get in trouble if his supervisor saw that.

[Goliath]

Waistband as a holster should be an ABSOLUTE last resort.

Holding a pistol pointed up, remember physics, what goes up must come down. Having a weapon point down at a clear spot on the ground and being always mindful of the muzzle is, IMO safer.

My favorite was scratching the head with the front sight of a loaded pistol

Oh, and while obviously a no no and not at all a tactic, for those who have seen Narc with Ray Liotta, using a loaded Mossberg pump as a bong and puffing on the end of the barrel with your ignited weed in the chamber with a live shell.

[Doug.38PR]

Holding a pistol pointed up, remember physics, what goes up must come down. Having a weapon point down at a clear spot on the ground and being always mindful of the muzzle is, IMO safer.

Really? What if you on one of the in between floors of an apartment complex or an office building....what direction is safe?
Most of the area we travel across by foot consists of concrete or hard floor which means ricochet. Also, if the gun is pointed own, that means that you are aiming at your feet or possibly someone else's feet.
I'm not saying that pointing it up is entirely safe (like you said, what goes up must come down), but it is safer in many respects than pointing downward. It's kinda relative. When I go to the outdoor range near my home, one of the first things I was stressed when I was carrying all this stuff in my hands and stuck my unloaded Single Action Black Powder .36 Navy Ball and Cap in my belt was that they insist that all weapons carried openly must always have the muzzel pointed upward.

[Gunfighter45cal]

I respectfully disagree; I was taught muzzle down(not covering your feet) in the police academy, Gunsite, HK's MP5 school, etc. There are exceptions but I believe in most instances it is safer.

[Mikeyboy]

Oh, and while obviously a no no and not at all a tactic, for those who have seen Narc with Ray Liotta, using a loaded Mossberg pump as a bong and puffing on the end of the barrel with your ignited weed in the chamber with a live shell.

The lives shell thing is BS, but something similar was done in Platoon too. I watched the movie first time with my father, who was a Vietnam Vet, and I noticed he had a grin from ear to ear at that scene. Apparently you used what was available, and it was a common pratice. I was shocked, I always assumed my father was straight laced all of his life. I guess my kids will assume the same.

+1 muzzle down

[OneInTheChamber]

1. From the matrix:

Shoot gun (of course it's full auto; and of course you're going to just spray and pray), then drop gun. Don't bother with extre magazines, just carry extra guns. Two of every black gun you can find. If you saw the movie, that rig with what must have been 16 guns was full of handguns, smg's, and a believe he had an m16 or two.

2. Acquire 12 gauge; pull trigger, everything in a 60 degree arc infront of you dies, no matter how far away they were.

3. Possess, some magical magazine that holds over a 100 rounds, yet fits flush in your Glock. In Wind Talkers, his Thompson seemed to have a 500 round stick mag (not drum).

4. Your must be shooting .50BMG's cause everyone you hit goes flying.

[Blackwater OPS]

Just saw "running scared", a movie that must have been written by anti-gunners btw, and the best scene was one where a guy gets hit in the chest with a shot gun, and flies UP(above where his head was) and back about 10 feet into a wall. I let slip and uncontrolable BS! in the middle of the theater.

[rex]

Racking the slide/pump at every possible occasion

I love this one. That slide being racked sounds sooo scary/cool.

[choochboost]

I let slip and uncontrolable BS! in the middle of the theater.

LOL!

[Goliath]

Really? What if you on one of the in between floors of an apartment complex or an office building....what direction is safe?
Most of the area we travel across by foot consists of concrete or hard floor which means ricochet. Also, if the gun is pointed own, that means that you are aiming at your feet or possibly someone else's feet.

Please note, I mentioned be mindful of the muzzle and I meant that so you never cover someone's feet. And the office building is a good question that I can't answer and neither can alot of people. Hell, they've started making bags specifically because of that question. If anyone's seen the safe direction bags, the kevlar soft cases for pistols, I think it's a great idea that's long overdue. Chamber/dry fire your weapon into the bag incase of AD, and the bullet is hopefully caught.

[doggscube]

5) Approaching someone with a SA automatic and holding them at bay with it uncocked.

The first time I noticed this after I became gun-literate was while watching Silence of the Lambs. When Lecter disappeared from the elevator one of the two cops was pointing an uncocked 1911 at the access panel when they opened it.

"Let's see... we've got the most dangerous criminal in history possibly hiding in an unlit space... Lenny, you open the panel... if he's up there I'll just beat him with this black metal thingy...."

Jeff

[TooTall]

Holding the muzzle of a handgun in the upward position is a definite no-no! All it would take is a simple smack of the hand on the shooters gun hand to smash it into his face....and maybe an AD with "DOA" results! Ever heard of "At-the-ready position"? The muzzle is held downward at an angle!

I don't recall what movie it was, but the shooter was armed with a revolver, and after every shot that he fired, there was the sound of a casing hitting the ground!

In the movie "A rumor of war", there was a shortage of M-14 rifles in the Hollywood prop rooms. A gunsmith "refurbished" a lot of M-1 Garand rifles to look like M-14's (lengthened flash-hiders, M-14-type front sights, phony box magazines welded onto the floorplates). The rifles were altered to only shoot .30'06 blanks, and the en clips still only held 8 rounds. The prop man told all of the actors to only shoot 7 rounds during the combat scenes, so that the en clips wouldn't jump out. OOPS! There were a LOT of "ka-chings" and en clips flying in the final version of the movie!

Of course, the "classic" was the Gary Cooper movie "Sergeant York", when he used a captured German Luger pistol to shoot and capture numerous German soldiers. OOPS! "Hollywood" changed history, for Sgt Alvin York used an American-made 1911! The only reason why they switched was because the movie armorer couldn't convert a 1911 pistol to shoot blanks!

Remember the TV series "Rat Patrol"? Much of it was filmed in Spain, and for some reason, the Spanish government wouldn't allow the entry of Thompson .45 sub-guns into the country. The American and British troops were armed with the Spanish-made "Star" 9mm sub-guns....that weren't even produced until AFTER WW-II!

[rezmedic54]

I like the ones when they have been shooting and they have a jam slide is part way back and BG pops out and the gun fires. See that one all the time.

[Double Naught Spy]

Doug, I don't think you are fully up to speed on such matters in that many of what you are saying are Hollywood are in fact real life...

1) Spray and Pray - called supression fire, covering fire, is used to try to keep opposition from being able to fire aimed shots when good guys are exposed. It is a tactic you will see documented quite well for retarding ambushes. A episode of SHOOTOUT! on the History Channel discussed its use in quite some detail for American soldiers in Afghanistan.

2) Pointing your gun at people - happens far too often. SD or SF sheriff's dept in 2005 was in the mass shoot against a bad guy in an SUV. When he attempted to drive off, deps on all sides open fired, resulting in one friendly fire casualty (no real harm as round hit vest). When TV crew was attempting to document the activities, a deputy got pissed and started ordering the camera away while using his drawn gun to point at who he was addressing and where the camera guy needed to go.

3) Ordering a bad guy "DROP THAT GUN" ...is frequently used in real life by cops and military
7) joint shooting with a friend at perpetraitor(s) while positioned behind your friend. (the do that in movies all the time "what if your bullet catches the top of your friends head?" I always ask) - Well if you have to ask, then my guess is that your skills are not such that you feel comfortable making such a shot. This tactic is well documented from several hostage situations, be it joint shooting, gun shooting, or shooting the bad guy in the head.