Firearm Visuals

[DarthFader]

Looking for thoughts on creating the visual of gunfire...specifically flintlock gunfire. After considering the options for using powder operated prop weapons it seems that even though they come with huge safety issues particularly on a crowded stage, none would provide the distinct sound of flintlocks, so we will be hiding some speakers on stage. Still would love to have a way to suggest the flash and smoke of flintlocks ...without breaking the bank. Fortunately in this case the actors are firing the "weapons" upstage so its not like the visual needs to be located quite as precisely as a flash from a specific barrel. Any ideas?

 

[JLNorthGA]

Fire extinguisher - possibly a CO2 fire extinguisher? That would do the smoke reasonably nicely. A LED strobe or LED light flashed quickly for the flash. Just a thought...

 

[MPowers]

Back in 1983 I was gun wrangler on a LARGE outdoor drama requiring 180 rounds of black powder fire and 6 cannon shots a night. The show was "Young Washington" performed at the National Fort Necessity Battlefield Amphitheater. It was a LARGE amphitheater with a lot of audience stage separation. I got single shot 410 shot guns and frizzens and hammers and stocks etc. from Dixie Gun Works. True black powder weapons are extremely vulnerable to humidity and so our method of fire was to load black powder into 410 shot gun blanks. This resulted in a "thump" and smoke of a black powder weapon with the reliability of a modern smokeless powder weapon. For those of you who don't know, water is a solvent of black powder. The best way to clean a black powder weapon is to pour boiling water down the bore. The hot water dissolves any residue, and the heat evaporates any excess moisture. Then swab the bore with bear grease or similar and you have a "clean" weapon. The "parts" epoxied to the guns, gave the appearance of a genuine period weapon, the loaded blanks were a safe and reliable method of controlling fire. The number of loaded rounds were counted on issue and each casing was counted each night at check in. There were no loads unaccounted for. A couple of "red coats" tried to sneak rounds out during early rehearsals, and discovered we were VERY serious about tracking each and every round.

 

[DarthFader]

Thanks for the reply. I have picked up a couple of "key chain" type leds lights and going to try a little piece of gel over the led to make a more believable color and see how that looks. Its cheap anyway so not much loss if it doesn't look like I hope.

JC

 

[MPowers]

Just for the record, in the show mentioned above, the mock weapons were used by the massive chorus. They did not produce the flash and smoke at the frizzen as a real flintlock would do. However they were far from the audience and after the first salvo of rounds, there was so much black powder smoke from the muzzles, no one could tell. There were 6 real flintlocks carried by the principals for their downstage action. Like real life, misfires were so common with flintlocks that there were two weapons for each actor in each scene. Misfires could be caused by simple humidity in the air if the pan is charged too far in advance, or the priming charge can spill out if the weapon is handled too carelessly or too roughly. And NO, the actors did not load the real flintlocks. I did. The hard part was figguring out a reliable way to prime the pans in advance and not have them spill out by the time the action occurred. The solution was to make a very small "tea-bag" with flash paper and primeing powder, then poke a hole in the bag and place it over the nipple then a couple of very small strips of ordinary scotch tape. the tape burned away but left a little goo that had to be cleaned off every day. The actors had no powder in their cartridges and they palmed the dummy cartridge and only mimed stuffing the wrapping with a ball in it down the barrel. They did use the ram rod down the barrel, but I had shortened them so they did not actually reach the load when the actor did it.

Bit of history. Revolutionary soldiers DID use cartridges whenever possible. Picture a very fat "joint" with the paper twisted at each end. the contents were of course, black powder and a lead ball. To load, the soldier would bite the ball and tear the cartridge apart and then pour the charge in. He would then place the wrapping over the end of the bore, stuff the ball in with the paper serving as the patch and ram the load home. Last he would hold the weapon level, open the pan and prime, close the frizzen, cock, aim and fire. The cartridges were the preferred method of loading as it was much quicker, it could be prepped in advance, the soldier didn't have to think about measuring the charge, the "paper" was soaked in a nitrite solution and was similar to flash paper.

 

[jwolfkill]

Just for the record, in the show mentioned above, the mock weapons were used by the massive chorus. They did not produce the flash and smoke at the frizzen as a real flintlock would do. However they were far from the audience and after the first salvo of rounds, there was so much black powder smoke from the muzzles, no one could tell. There were 6 real flintlocks carried by the principals for their downstage action. Like real life, misfires were so common with flintlocks that there were two weapons for each actor in each scene. Misfires could be caused by simple humidity in the air if the pan is charged too far in advance, or the priming charge can spill out if the weapon is handled too carelessly or too roughly. And NO, the actors did not load the real flintlocks. I did. The hard part was figguring out a reliable way to prime the pans in advance and not have them spill out by the time the action occurred. The solution was to make a very small "tea-bag" with flash paper and primeing powder, then poke a hole in the bag and place it over the nipple then a couple of very small strips of ordinary scotch tape. the tape burned away but left a little goo that had to be cleaned off every day. The actors had no powder in their cartridges and they palmed the dummy cartridge and only mimed stuffing the wrapping with a ball in it down the barrel. They did use the ram rod down the barrel, but I had shortened them so they did not actually reach the load when the actor did it.

Bit of history. Revolutionary soldiers DID use cartridges whenever possible. Picture a very fat "joint" with the paper twisted at each end. the contents were of course, black powder and a lead ball. To load, the soldier would bite the ball and tear the cartridge apart and then pour the charge in. He would then place the wrapping over the end of the bore, stuff the ball in with the paper serving as the patch and ram the load home. Last he would hold the weapon level, open the pan and prime, close the frizzen, cock, aim and fire. The cartridges were the preferred method of loading as it was much quicker, it could be prepped in advance, the soldier didn't have to think about measuring the charge, the "paper" was soaked in a nitrite solution and was similar to flash paper.

Even more history ( )

The paper cartridge was commonly used with muzzle-loaded firearms (smoothbore and rifled) through the 1870s, when breech-loading rifles and metallic cartridges became more common. The main difference between a Civil War-era rifled musket (e.g., the Springfield 1861) and a Revolutionary War smooth-bore musket (aside from the rifling) was the percussion cap firing mechanism that replaced the flintlock. I like the scene in the movie "Glory" where Matthew Broderick's character (a colonel appointed to command a regiment of African-American troops in the Union Army) points out that a well-trained soldier should be able to fire three aimed shots per minute as he fires his revolver near the ear of a recruit who was a very good shot but couldn't manage to open the cartridge and load the rifle under that stress.