They use real firearms and they are real cartridges, but the bullet has been removed. There was a notable case during the filming of The Crow when Brendan Lee (Bruce Lee’s son) was killed on set during a take because one of the cartridges was not properly prepared:
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brandon_Lee#1991_to_1993:_Hollywood_breakthrough_and_accidental_death](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brandon_Lee#1991_to_1993:_Hollywood_breakthrough_and_accidental_death)
They use a variety of real guns, rubber guns, plastic, etc. If the actor isn’t firing a gun in the scene chances are it’s a fake gun. Guns are expensive and you don’t want your actor running around with a real gun if they don’t need too. Guns can be modified to only accept and shoot blanks. They can drill small holes in the barrel. This causes most of the gas to escape the barrel and a real bullet will either get stuck in the barrel or not be moving very fast if it makes it out. Blanks are shorter than real bullets so you can modify the magazine so only blanks will fit. Finally you can use a barrel plug that is designed to let the muzzle flash through, but will stop a real bullet.
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