Improper use of guns in entertainment irritates me on a daily basis. The History Channel has started using computers to put in muzzle flashes etc....watched a show the other night and the actors were recreating a world war 2 battle, muzzles were flashing and actors were shaking the tommy's like they were firing, but bolts were not moving and ejected cases were not flying, come on now, put away the computer and load up some blanks...

Pump guns (and lever guns) should be carried with a live round in the chamber in a situation where immediate fire is necessary. Hand grenades are not pocket A-bombs. And what about all those Henry rifles that fire round after round while the load spring activator is down at the action? Not to mention those Colt single actions that shoot 49 times? Hollywood can't get anything right,
least of all firearms. I could go on and on.

It's always been about image and illusion in Hollywood.

That doesn't bother me as much as the fact we have idiots on the streets whose gun training comes from the illusion created in movies and television.

That's the scary part....

Actually, I had training with a shotgun, and we did not chamber until firing position. Especially with arms at sling, if you have to move considerably, you can jar the trigger enough and/or trip the safety, depending on the model.

Now, as a disclaimer, that may have been for training, but we were not informed otherwise later.

And, of course, to any Marine, the phrase "lock and load" is funny. The proper saying is; "load and lock". This is from the M16 action stages...
-feeding,loading,chambering,locking,
firing,extracting,ejecting,cocking-.

And you're right. Guns are seldom used right in Hollywood. But I try to just enjoy the movie without grinding my teeth too much.

Silencers on revolvers?

It's not just shotguns. In just about any movie, you hear lots of guns cocking before the lead starts flying. I wish criminals were that dumb.

When home defense gets mentioned on this website, I always hear people mention racking their shotgun to scare the intruder away. Really? I think silence and then boom is a lot scarier. Hopefully, neither happens.

Not all of Hollywood is getting it wrong these days. I'm proud that NCIS, CSI, and the like are getting the catridge count correct in the 1911 .45's. It used to drive me crazy to hear 15 rounds come from a single .45, nowadays, I mostly hear 8 and then a clip dropping.

One of the best ones in movies are the SWAT guys deploying to a position while racking the charging handle of the M-16 "on the move". Too funny! You think these directors could throw a few dollars at a qualified arms officer for advise to make it look at least someone real even if is only a hollywood movie!?
Dumb and silly making cops look like bumbling idiots!PEOPLE BELIEVE WHAT THEY SEE IN MOVIES!!

There may be exceptions but every pump shotgun I've used locks the slide forward when a round is chambered (or the slide is racked ejecting the last round and closed) and the only way to open it is to pull the trigger, thus firing the round if present in chamber, or to use the slide unlock button to open the action without firing.

As to the pistols, any fool who carries a pistol he has to rack before defending his life is usually a dead man. I carry cocked and locked (1911A1) or when I carry my 380 or 25ACP it's hammer down on a loaded chamber, as I don't fully trust their single safety.

Also my 1911 has 9 rounds, 8 in the Wilson Combat mag and 1 in the chamber. So there could be 9 then a clip drops in a standard single stack 1911.

Hypothetical TV scenario: there's this movie or TV hero who's about to join a gunfight. He utters some dramatic line ("someone's gotta pay and I'm collectin'"), racks the pumpgun as he takes it out of the old trunk. Then he arrives at the scene, he racks the gun as he leaves the car. Then the scene cuts to where he gets behind some cover, surveys the enemy positions, picks his spot, then racks the gun again as he moves to that spot. No shots fired so far, but no round ejected either.

He moves around and surprises one of the bad guys from behind. Somehow the bad guy refuses to cooperate and gives him that evil grin, so to convince the bad guy, our hero racks the gun again and shoves the muzzle at the bad guy's face (the bad guy stares wide-eyed at the huge bore for dramatic effect). Still no shots fired, no rounds ejecting.

Maybe our TV guy forgot to load his gun in the first place. Four cycles and nothing's come out.

Then of course the gunfight proceeds and he mows down a dozen guys without reloading.

I've seen the Simpson's pump doubles. Gotta agree, who takes a shotgun to a gunfight w/o a round in the chamber. The old "shuck-shuck" is theatrical gold to directors I guess.

Hollywood is all for effect and sensationalism. Look at the crap they are putting out with people flying like they have little rockets up their asses. The saw the Bruce Lee movies and figured they could go one better.
Racking a shotgun is a fearful sound that Hollywood uses just like all the ricochets in the "spagetti westerns" that Eastwood was in. Bullets ricocheted off of everything they hit, even people. Some goof-ball thought that was the coolest sound and could not get enough of it.

you know what the old saying is don't you? "YOU HAVE TO BE SMARTER THAN THE EQUIPMENT YOU OPPERATE IS" . some people, just aren't that smart!

Perhaps Rudy wasn't out for his 3-pounds of flesh,maybe he just wanted to see what kind of reaction the action of his shotgun would bring.

The desired results transpired and Rudy didn't have to do jail time ... but was laughing all the way home.

My Favorite: The actor is holding a Glock and decides against shooting. As the gun is raised, the sound of a single action revolver's hammer being eased down is over dubbed. Even in the best movies, Hollywood is idiotic...

TOM, your post was the best of the lot, Not that they were not ALL GOOD! They were. I have shot many game animals, and agree fully, I have never seen one move back from the blast, if it was not killed outright it would run until it bled out!

Men either, having been in a few hot lanzing zones in my day and seeing the results of both big and small, people being hit with large and small rounds none but the guy I sam hit with an M-79 were moved other than falling.

Good comments from everyone ! Especially about idiot Hollyweird methods and Detective novels!

The BS that goes on in movies never stops amazing. One good movie that is pretty accurate is "The Unforgiven". Clint reloads his double after every 2 shots. There is talk about how many rounds are left in the Spencer rifle. There's even a missfire from Clint's wet shotgun.
How about the criminals that hold semi-auto pistols sideways. Most of the crap is for visual effect. Last night I watched Lonsome Dove again. There are some scenes with horrible acts of gun safety. For example Jake Spoon shooting at a turtle on a rock while Lorena bathes in the river right behind. BTW Anyone ever seen a turtle sit on a log or rock right next to a human?

What is worse and very few comment on this is the constant misinformation put out by the mainstream press both print and electronic. How many times have you seen a reporter call a semi auto or bolt action an assault rifle? Or how about the news special concerning college students and concealed carry where the "bad" guy was a trained expert and the "student" was in the front row, in the same seat for each scenario and the "bad" was told who and where the armed student was sitting each scenario. Kinda of reminds one of the rigged rollovers of the PUs about 20 years ago. One other thing Obamas pal who hopes to be on the SC says that the bill of rights doesn't apply to state and local goverments! You guys and gals better get on your phones and emails to your Senators if you want to have any rights left at all in 4 years.

Bob81: I think you have it about right; However, I have a friend wo is a Cop and he states that to enter a Bar, home, etc, when you slide that forebarm badk to enter a shell int the chamber that all come to attention. Me, I never owned but l Pump shotgun and then only till I could trade for a New Rem Auto. The Pump is not for me, but many swear by them as we all have our preference in guns. I use a 700 mostly but for 50 yrs used a Auto and yet have it ands do shoot it a lot. I got into the Bolt business due to a dumb Assed guide who would not allow me to have a round in the chamber and I lost the largest Elk I ever saw. Herer in the south, the Auto is still king along with the 30-30. Shoot-um-straight and often.

I believe that answer number 2 would be correct. Maybe he was intending to scare him off with just the sound of the pump... which he did. But if I was the victim, I would be saving up some money and investing in a gun and a concealed weapons permit.

scenario 2 is most likely

Scenario 3:

"While fumble-fingering a weapon with which he was not trained nor experienced; the perp heard a deafening boom and bright flash and almost simultaneously experienced a sharp burning pain rapidly followed by a second boom and similar pain while he was collapsing into a heap due to loss of blood pressure to the brain."

That's the scenario the perp would have likely experienced with confrontaition with my .357 Smith. A good old fashioned double tap center mass.