Star Wars Episode 4: A New Hope - Stormtroopers Fire Blanks
If you look closely when the Stormtrooperss lasers are fired, you can see the empty cases being ejected. This is because the lasers are actually 9mm Sub-Machine Guns used by the British Army with the stock folded and a cut-down magazine. I suppose Lucus chose this so the actors would look realistic when shooting.
This is actually correct. They used modified guns and fired blanks. The reasons were to make the flash when the 'blaster' was fired, to make it move like the gun had just done something (as opposed to Star Trek style phasers) and also so the actors knew when they had fired their weapons.
They can't have been blanks, because if you know anything about guns, blanks are extremely dangerous. It is illegal (in Britain, at least) to fire blanks at a person closer than 50m away, because you could easily lose an eye or an ear.
I once saw someone fire one at a cardboard box at a range of about 10m, and it was blown apart and caught fire!! Definitely not blanks
Yes they are blanks, they are not crimped, they are plastic wadded which expand when fired. the blanks which are used with a b.f.a (blank firing adapter)big yellow thing that fits the flash eliminator. are crimped brass.
and yes they can kill you if fired at close range. thats why you have to use a b.f.a. which deflects any brass fragments that break off when fired.
and the weapon is a sterling 9mm sub machine gun with a 10 round box magazine.and 9mm blanks aren't crimped usually.
Lucas used blanks in order to aid the actors with shooting effects rather than pretending to shoot. thats why there is a lot of smoke in the air especially
in empire i.e. bespin.
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