I served as armourer on on a couple of pretty intensive firearm inclusive films.
I specifically banned any and all live ammo, blank ammo, dummy rounds, or firearms not provided by me assigned to a specific person by me daily as the movie required.
Beyond that, I gave a half hour class to ALL movie personnel on the set before filming began. Also provided ear protection, and technical advise on firearm scenes, as well as coaching for actors on how to handle firearms, draw, shoot, twirl revolvers, etc.
Anyone caught violating those rules would be banned from the set. (I never had to flag a major star for a violation, but I would have probably been overruled... ) They would just not oust a major player in a movie for being stupid, that was certain.
I watched a licensed/certified armourer on TV last night, and he did shed some light on a few things I didn't know.
He stated and show 2 types of revolvers used in filming movies, 1 was a "real" gun and 1 was a "prop" gun. He stated the guns were identical in build, and showed the difference. The real gun could fire "blanks" or "live" ammo, the prop gun had a permanent insert in the cylinder that was smaller that "live" ammo....and only special "blank" ammo could be inserted and shot out of it. Live ammo wouldn't even fit in the gun, only a crimped/wad blank.
