Hollywood method of handloading

[Questor]

I observed Charles Bronson's handloading technique in "Death Wish Three" and found it unconventional.  He was loading straight-walled .475 Widley cartridges (for rubbing out the evil gang bangers).  The technique for charging a case is to drop two charges of powder into the pan, then weigh the pan.  A bit inefficient but it looked kinda cool.  Good equipment for the scene: RCBS all the way.  Crappy movie, but bad in a special kind of way: It was so bad it was engaging. Shame on me for watching as much of it as I did.

[CJ]

If one scoop is good then two scoops MUST be better!!!

[onesonek]

On a slightly different take, ( can't remember the movie) where the good guy closes the old double on two rounds you just watched him put in. OOPS, the camera's eye shows two spent primers. But the bad guy still gets dead.,,, I'm sure the spent primers are for safety, but the "direction" could be better. Thing is, I've seen that more than once.

[Questor]

Meanwhile, back a the motel: I watched part of a History Channel show on "The Bullet", which is a history of bullets. It was very well done.  One scene showed how Marine ballistics people make their own precision ammo by weighing each case, bullet, primer, and powder charge. They modify the case necks for uniform bullet tension.  Then they test it and send samples to a manufacturer for duplication.  What manufactuer makes ammo like that? I think it was for the purpose of competition ammo but that point wasn't made clear.  

They also showed a bullet that penetrates through metal, but blows up in soft tissue.  I wonder how that works.

[John Traveler]

Oh, YEAH!

Yes, sometimes the Hollywood firearms technical advisors fall asleep on the job.  We've all seen them:  spent primers on ammmunition, blank cartridges in machine gun ammo belts, wrong pistols when the scene changes, etc.

I about chucked up my lunch when I recently examined an orginal 7mm Remington Rolling Block rifle at a gun show.

It came out of a movie studio that had used it in Mexican revolution/western movies for a couple of generations.  The outside was in NRA Antique Excellent condition, and the bore was like new.  

What was WRONG with the gun???  Someone had run pipe taps through the muzzle AND the chamber to prevent firing live ammunition (blanks only?), and taken a bench grinding wheel to remove a 1/4" from the barrel breech, receiver, breech block, hammer, and then tack-welded the hammer and block pins to the receiver!!!!   Totally ruined and beyond restoration, and the price was still $350!!!!!

Sad!

[bcp]

They also showed a bullet that penetrates through metal, but blows up in soft tissue.  I wonder how that works.

Common varmint bullets do that.  Steel penetration is very dependent on velocity.

Bruce

[30-06man]

Seen a TC commercial, show or something (they have their names on so much junk) and it was Greg Ritz loading his TC with a Hornaday SST speedloader with 3 Triple Seven pellets and then he went to put the 209 primer in and it showed him putting in a wasted 209 and going hunting.

It might have actually the Nikon Omega Scope commercial.

[skb2706]

One that always makes me want to toss lunch is the "now very common" practice of filming your favorite star with one and sometimes two 9mm semi autos, both turned 90 degrees to one side and firing dozens of rounds from what looks to me like standard 10 rd. clips. This somehow makes all movie stars better shots and makes them look cooler...I guess

[Glanceblamm]

The technique for charging a case is to drop two charges of powder into the pan

Everyone knows that two scoops are better than one, specially with Kellog's Rasin bran
 

My favorite Bronson scene (from a movie that I forgot the name of) is when he apprehended the commanchero's. He was high on a bluff and survived the on-slaught of a long burst of fire from a Mac-10 as all the rounds hit the bluff below where he was standing. This (mac-10) was widely popular at that time but our man Charles responded by single feeding a round into his scoped bolt action rifle and then sending it right between the perpetrators eye's.
This is Charles Bronson, that is the kind of shooting that I like to see in those Hollyweirds as the shot was entirely possible with the equipment he had.

Dirty Harry, as in the original, should have been highly ashamed to have missed the perpetrator not only once but three times with his .458 up on that roof top. This should have been an easy one-shot kill.

[wncchester]

Hollywood aims its products at the populations most ignorant segments.  They hit it too.

[Chilachuck]

Dirty Harry, as in the original, should have been highly ashamed to have missed the perpetrator not only once but three times with his .458 up on that roof top. This should have been an easy one-shot kill.

That's one of the few movies I've seen, and I laughed my butt off at him being stupid enough to try to use something like that for that sort of job. Of course the bad guy escaped while Harry was trying to get back into position.

[coyotejoe]

When I saw the title of the post I thought it would be about the old "Hollywood" brand of reloading equipment!
If you look closely at that History Channel segment on the Marksmanship Unit you'll see they are also loading spent primers.

[LHitchcox]

Hollywood is fast and loose with the facts. I remember an old episode of Barnaby Jones where he tracked down the bad guy by his handloaded ammo. when old Barnaby goes into the perp's house, sure enough the camera panned in on a shotshell loader. Case closed.

Leon

[Tom W.]

The reason that the guys in the movies hold their pistols at a 90 degree angle is because that's the way that the pistols came out of the box.....

[Dave in WV]

One of my faves is Liam Neeson loading .38's with a lit cigarette in his hand in the movie Next of Kin. He scooped the powder out of a bowl and dumped it into the cases with the lit cigarette in his hand.

[jsoukup]

I spent the 4th of July at home alone with my family out of town on vacation. I had all of my reloading stuff spread out on the living room table reloading 357's while watching HBO's "John Adams". I got a bit nostalgic when they showed Laura Linney as "Mrs. John Adams" cast lead musket balls in front of the fireplace with all her children helping in preparation for the revolutionary war.

[kevthebassman]

I always wince when I watch History channel.  Any time the topic of flintlocks comes up, even if they're rifled, they have some "expert" (who is invariably a total BOOB) come on and demonstrate the firing of his musket.  On one occasion they had him shooting at a large plywood cutout of a barn from about 20 paces, and HE MISSED!

I mean, my flinter isn't as accurate as my modern bolt guns, but at 100 yards I can most certainly out shoot these so-called experts.