[corin_]

Hypothetically if I became an actor tomorrow and were handed a "prop gun" for a scene, is it actually as simple as you make it sound to "check the chamber"?

The only guns I've ever held were shotguns for a couple of clay shooting sessions, and was told very firmly to never look into the barrel and to never point it at anything that it wouldn't be OK to accidentally shoot, even when cocked (don't think cocked is the right term here? In the non-straight form with an angle at the hinge exposing the middle of the gun)

But of course, "never point it at a person regardless of whether you believe it to be empty" doesn't work if an acting part requires you to... point it at a person.

Frankly (and not that I have any plans or dreams of being an actor), having read this story, if I were ever asked to point a gun at someone for a photo/video I'd just refuse unless I could first get actual firearms training to be safe, even if I were only due to hold a prop.

[Bancakes]

Point the gun to the ground. You pull the slide back, which exposes the chamber. You can plainly make out whether there's something in it or not, and see if the cartridges are blanks or have bullets. Same thing goes for revolvers, you can just pop the cylinder and pull out a few rounds.