This “shot dead with a prop gun” seems to happen about once per decade.
Last one (IIRC) was actually a prop gun, but was fired so close to the guy’s head that the blank’s wadding killed him.
I’m clueless here.
Why did the gun even need blanks?
Couldn’t they just CG in the flash and noise?
And they never went over gun with blanks safety?
He was shot dead with a real gun. Did you read past the headline?
Singer in the group Chicago suffered the blank fate.
My grandfather was a prop master on many movie and tv productions; a prop firearm is by definition unable to fire a cartridge. Most will only have an inch or so from the muzzle drilled out, and most often will be made out of cast rubber.
Real firearms are sometimes used, occasionally with an obstructed barrel. Typical introduction with real firearms will include the mellon shoot, showing exactly what a half charge blank will do at 15 feet from the muzzle. But at no point are they referred to by any professional as a prop; they are firearms to kept locked up at all times when not being used for a shooting scene under controlled direction.
(And the stories he used to tell about some of the stuff that never made it onto the screen were hilarious. I had tremendous respect for one actor who tried to have him blackballed after being unable to handle a single action firearm who, at my grandfather’s funeral, not only apologized for his uncalled for vendetta, but also paid for my grandmother’s living expenses for the rest of her life.
My grandmother, alas, was not one to forgive and forget, she lived VERY well on his guilt.)