Ammo

While watching "Public Enemies" the other night, I was struck by how few movies portray gunfire, especially automatic weapon fire with anything close to accuracy. The two aspects of gunplay that movies almost always get wrong are the amount of "kick" a firearm has, and the amount of ammunition is available to the firer.

In the case of the Thompson .45 caliber sub-machine gun, (the "sub" referring to a weapon that fires bullets ordinarily used in smaller guns) one can only imagine (I have to since I have never fired one) that the recoil is fairly substantial. A .45 caliber round is almost a half-inch in diameter, after all. Thus, the scenes where the characters were firing one handed were probably not very accurate. In fact, I recall reading that soldiers who carred the "Tommy" gun in WW2 were instructed to aim for the enemies right foot. The reason for this was that the weapon would ride up and to the right as you fired it. Therefore, you would "stitch" your target with a series of bullets running from his right foot up to his left shoulder. Related to the idea of recoil is the fact that bullets have very good penetrating power and they fragment when they hit something hard. Therefore, hiding behind the window sash is not a good strategy. The hail of bullets coming in from outside will most likely travel right through the plaster walls and kill you. Also, when bullets hit glass the glass itself becomes a flying projectile moving with enough force to seriously wound. Fragmented bullets were the bane of the German Army during WW1, especially when they faced the British Army, who were equipped with a bullet that was notorious for its penchant for fragmenting. Bullet fragments usually didn't kill you, but they would put an eye out for sure. These are not the same as the famous "Dum-dum" bullets that were designed to cause maximum damage on impact with the body.

The second problems with movies and guns has to do with the sheer volume of bullets that movie characters are able to bring to a gun battle. During one scene in "Public Enemies" both sides were firing full force with Tommy guns for several minutes. I turned to my wife and said "I wonder where the tractor trailer is with a fork-lift operator and a dozen stevedores unloading pallets of ammo. The entire 101st airborne division doesn't carry as much ammo as these guys brought to a lake-side resort hideout. It is much more typical for the person firing an automatic weapon to husband his ammo, firing in short bursts of three to five rounds. Unloading an entire clip of 20 (or 50 in the round drum) bullets in just a few seconds leaves you high and dry. Your opponent will know you are out of ammo as well, and will use this pause as you reload to his advantage.

I'm trying to recall films where the ammo problem is dealt with accurately, and I'm afraid I can't think of any. Next time you watch "Saving Private Ryan, for example or some such war film that purports to accuracy, try to keep what I've said in mind and see if they keep to any kind of accuracy in that regard.