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Alec Baldwin

A stunt girl near got killed on Back to the Future 2 set...where they slam through the big glass windows...except they were rushing, she was the new kid on the block and didn't want to cause hassle, the crane driver got things wrong and she hit the column first then dropped two stories to the concrete outside where the safety mats were not in place!...


I think it should read nearly not near, I initially thought reading the post she had been killed, apologies for my misreading, but I take your point.

The movie business appears to be a dangerous place, here is the Wikipedia list of film and television accidents, sober reading, included the link to her Wikipedia page as well.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_film_and_television_accidents

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cheryl_Wheeler-Dixon
 
Don’t believe everything you read. Controlling a .44 Magnum won’t be easy. Held incorrectly, it can break your wrist. Humans haven’t evolved since the Dirty Harry years, so a well aimed standard .38 will stop anyone, as long as they’re not wearing body armour while off their face on coke. (Distance is the thing to put between you and a mad gunman)

I have shot a .44 magnum (and a 357) they do kick a lot so does a 45 auto but if you have shot a lot you know what is going to happen.
My brother in law and sister where into shooting and took part in national competitions that’s how I got to shoot guns in controlled conditions, and decided it wasn’t for me.
It did give me a healthy respect for the power of guns.

Pete
 
Don’t believe everything you read. Controlling a .44 Magnum won’t be easy. Held incorrectly, it can break your wrist. Humans haven’t evolved since the Dirty Harry years, so a well aimed standard .38 will stop anyone, as long as they’re not wearing body armour while off their face on coke. (Distance is the thing to put between you and a mad gunman)

If I were to buy a gun it would be something small and mother-of-pearl handled. In my youth I fired a lot of .22LR with a heavy target rifle, and that had no recoil that I can remember. Once fired a few rounds with a .38 revolver, and was surprised that it too had very little recoil. I suppose the heavier the gun the less recoil, with the same ammunition.
But what I was trying to say is that over the years hand guns seem to have gotten bigger and more powerful.
 
Recoil…

My old mate was out shooting pigeons a few weeks ago with his 12 bore shotgun. He took his loaded gun away from his shoulder, looked at his mobile phone, looked up, and a pigeon was flying low and fast towards him. He had the gun almost into his shoulder when he pulled the trigger…. Oops.



The top lever did that as it was pushed back at high speed.

When I was about 14 I went to the then RAF Wattisham with the air cadets and, with my muscleless and fatless shoulders, fired the Lee Enfield .303. Ouch. And for the next few days, ouch. I must be more muscley now as I hardly feel shotgun recoil ;)
 
The one and only time I’ve fired a gun was on holiday in Wales with my cousin, shooting rabbits. He warned me to brace myself when pulling the trigger but the recoil still nearly knocked me over.

There’s a black and white photo of my younger brother with the shotgun over one arm, holding up a dead rabbit by its ears. He’s got a stern expression on his face, but the effect is somewhat ruined by the fact that he’s wearing carpet slippers.
 
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I remember firing a .303 rifle at a shooting gallery at a fair in the 1960s. The target was about 30 yards away. I had to aim a couple of inches below the bullseye to counteract the recoil.
 
Have done a few shoots here in the UK, but I had a go with various things in Vegas on a stag do weekend… Uzi, Magnum, and a couple of assault rifles, plus a bunch of others that I can’t recall the names of, but they scared the hell outta me - not the weapon itself, they were fine and pretty easy to shoot, but the way that something so small and easily to hand is just soo bloody lethal and readily available over there in the USA scared the hell out of me… pissed up blokes were wandering round the streets with guns in holsters ffs.
 
Used to shoot a lot, rifle .22 and .243 and 12 bore, side by side and over and under.

Worst recoil I ever experienced was out alone on the hills, was walking along the side of a drystone dyke, saw a target in the field below me, leant against the dyke, at an angle so full weight against the dyke so able to rest my arms and the shotgun on top of the dyke.

Pulled the trigger, body never moved as my full weight was leaning against the dyke and wow felt like a horse had kicked me, winded and dropped to my knees gasping for breath.

Yes you might be fine with firearms, however there is always the time where you make that slight misjudgement and it is so easily done.

A few times been out on a shoot and some clown has when in a line of shooters followed a target and swung right across the line with everyone diving for cover, the result was being escorted off the shoot and not allowed to return for a few shoots.

Not the first time I have had, albeit at long range, pellets hitting my jacket but without any real force.

Guns are lethal if close and even the most highly trained people can make a mistake.
 
Having explored a few websites about firearms over the past few days, one thing that has struck me is the escalation in the power of pistols. In the 1970s, when in Italy there was a kidnapping panic, a lot of well-to-do Italians had guns. From what I remember they were small revolvers or automatics, .25, .32, 6.35mm, 7.65mm. Even James Bond thought his 6.35 Beretta was all he needed. Today, it seems that "To keep your loved ones safe" the suggested bare minimum is 9mm or .38. But that is the bare minimum, better .44 magnum or bigger.

If anyone were to break into my home (highly unlikely considering where I live), I would reach for my Ruger MkIII Target. It's chambered for the .22LR, which is all you need IF you know what you're doing with it. A double-tap in someone's (anyone's) forehead is going to put them down - I don't care how drug crazed or big someone is. Because the overwhelming majority of people don't know what they're doing with a firearm (no offense to anyone here intended), they are FAR better served by getting out if possible and calling 911 or the appropriate emergency number.

Incidentally, James Bond initially used a Beretta 6.35/.25 caliber; this was replaced on M's orders by Major Boothroyd, the Armourer, in the beginning of the novel Doctor No. Bond is issued the now-infamous Walther PPK in .32 caliber/7.65 mm, along with a Smith and Wesson .38 revolver.
 
Because the overwhelming majority of people don't know what they're doing with a firearm (no offense to anyone here intended), they are FAR better served by getting out if possible and calling 911 or the appropriate emergency number.


Lol. Most Brits are quite happy with not needing to know anything about gun handling.
 
Growing up on farms using .22 or small bore shotgun became second nature. When in navy, and later living in Utah using various handguns gives you a appreciation of the psychological change that comes over most people when just holding a live gun,it makes people more aggressive, obstinate, and less likely to go for a non violent outcome. It’s like the gun is a macho enhancer, it changes the user, carrier, just having one in the house, changes shit.
 


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