I wonder why they do this in movies?

[Scott Tschirhart]

It’s a common scene for a team to be sitting around a table cleaning their guns before their mission. It’s also common to see them jack the slide on their pistols for no apparent reason.

I’m not sure what message they are trying to convey, but I’ve been around professionals with guns my whole life and never saw anything like that.

I always showed up to events with a loaded gun and never needed to check it again after I got there. And I never saw anyone else that needed to check their guns.

[Steve in MO]

It's all for dramatic effect. It does make it harder when training new shooters because that's their only frame of reference. The 'Extraction' movies, 'Sinners and Saints' and 'Daylights End' are notable exceptions, in that there is almost none of the usual silliness.

[jkbrea]

We always cleaned guns after training.....
And I admit at times, before an entry, partially racking a slide to make sure one was in the chamber. But yeah, shows where they're always racking it is for dramatic effect.

[gamekeeper]

I like counting how many times a pump or lever action is racked before it's actually fired...

[Ysabel Kid]

Yes, dramatic effect, but a real PITA to untrain wannabes whose only "experience" has been visual entertainment. I've always said it is easier to teach women to shoot than men to shoot. Why? Men think that since they have seen every John Wayne movie (now I am really dating myself) they know how to shoot. Women actually listen to instruction (at least here), and you don't have as many bad habits to have them forget.

[Ray]

Deleted.

[LeverGunner]

I liked the gun cleaning scene in the move Crossfire Trail. Being a western... it was more to my liking. What I didn't like is at the end when the woman shoots the badguy from the hip with a rifle.

[Scott Tschirhart]

Tombstone had a good scene where they were cleaning their guns AFTER the fight in the river. That makes sense to me as in that era they would have been using black powder.

But what I see in movies of a more contemporary style is a different kind of thing.

[Ray]

Deleted.

[Bob Hatfield]

My pet peeve is when the chips are down, and the good guy disables the bad guy and grabs his pistol or AR/AK and doesn't get any of the bad guy's extra mags. They are always shooting from the hip full auto.

Plus, when they actors use an UZI or MP-40 they never extend the stock and aim it. Don't get me started on holding a Sten by the magazine. Makes me cringe.

Plus, when you kill the bad guys and get their pistol, why not pick his pockets for cash and matches.

Plus, they didn't have any Yellowstone episodes emulating January in Montana. I guess the ratings would drop as you couldn't see Beth's cleavage.

Bob

[samsi]

All good points, but my favorite thing about guns in movies/TV is that EVERYTHING is cover, even stuffed animals and sofas...

[Ysabel Kid]

All good points, but my favorite thing about guns in movies/TV is that EVERYTHING is cover, even stuffed animals and sofas...

Good one!
All the shooters either use the weakest ammunition known to mankind (thus everything is cover) or the strongest that will break the laws of physics and actually pick up the people they are shooting and throw them across a room.

[Scott Tschirhart]

Plus, when you kill the bad guys and get their pistol, why not pick his pockets for cash and matches.

Bob

Or an extra magazine, or all kinds of interesting things.

ALWAYS steal the cell phone! He won’t need it.

[Ray Newman]

As others said it is for dramatic effect.

Back in the 1950's and earlier when revolvers were more popular, the good or the bad guy would unlock the cylinder to check the numbers of rounds, then jrerk his hand to the right so the cylinder would close by itself with a loud distinctive metal snap when done.

[Ray]

Deleted.

[Griff]

Shooing off a galloping horse... (I know just how easy it is to miss a 10-12" balloon with a BP blank from 2-3 feet riding a galloping horse)! And... just where does the dust come from that the lead guy is galloping into when the bad guys are 500 yards in front of him... and it's obvious that their dust is being blown off to the side of their line of travel?

[Scott Tschirhart]

I guess it’s always been this way.

I watched Vera Cruz the other night and that 92 Winchester that Burt Lancaster brought to Mexico had an enormous magazine capacity for a 20 inch carbine.

Later his Single Acton Arme shot 8 times without reloading!

[marlinman93]

In all these movies where they work the action on various guns, never do they end up ejecting a live round. Seems they're always checking and always discovering the gun had an empty chamber. What luck!