Alec Baldwin Shooting

[onlinebiker]

Wow!  The key statement that I took away from this video occurs at 8:37:

"When you look at a dummy round, and you look at their appearance, they have the same projectile tip, some of these do not have holes in the side of them.  They mimic and look like a real round."

An actor is supposed to know the difference?

The current suspicion is that someone deliberately put live rounds in the box of dummy rounds.  That's quite devious; orchestrating a shooting without being the one to pull the trigger.

What?   Bollocks

We used blanks in our rifles when out bush on exercise. Our Weapons were the 7.62 SLR.   A blank round had a black plastic cartridge, crimped at the end where the bullet would normally be attached.


Just in case the passage of time had left me confused, I just googled "blank .38 round" , then 'live .38 round'.  The blanks are in fact shiny brass, with the end which usually takes the bullet being crimped. On a live round, the cartridge is brass  and the bullet is a copper colour  with a rounded tip. 

The person who made that statement on the video is an ignoramus,  a moron, or a defence lawyer.

This is why ex-military guys think they are gun experts - but - are SPECIALISTS. They know a half dozen usually modern military weapons very well - but not a wide variety of modern, antique, obsolete or obscure weapons.

You can field strip an M4 or a FN-FAL in the dark - but can you put together a Ruger Mark 1 that somebody took apart and can' t figure out reassembly? (Don't feel bad if you can' t.. My brother in law still brings me his to put together after cleaning.) Ever completely dismantle a Colt Peacemaker? I have. How about a Marlin 39a lever action? 

Now - to your confusion.

A blank is not a dummy round.

A blank has a primer and usually some powder. ( not smokeless - but usually some form of black powder or BP substitute) It is used to make noise and simulate actual firing.

A dummy round has no primer or powder - but does have a bullet in the casing. Generally they also have a hole in the side of the casing allow the user to verify it is an inert dummy. These allow a gun - usually a revolver - to appear loaded when viewed at the business end.

Also there are plastic - sometimes bright orange - " snap caps" of various design to allow dry firing of a gun without damaging the firing pin or it' s mating guide surfaces.