Hokey TV show

[Chemist45]

I watched "Lost Magic Decoded" on the history channel yesterday.
It featured a guy who wanted to duplicate the famous "Catch a bullet" magic trick.
There was a lot of lead in and explanation of other magicians who had died doing the trick in order to build tension.
When it came time for the trick, the shooter fired a Glock 17 into a vase of flowers to demonstrate the destructive power.
Then he dropped the magazine and handed it to the magician. At this point, the announcer said that they would be showing the remainder of the trick without cutting away or stopping so there would be no chance for special effects.
The magician then takes the top round out of the magazine and hands it to an audience member who writes his initials on the bullet with a Sharpie marker.
The magician then replaces the bullet in the magazine and hands it back to the shooter.
The shooter loads the magazine in the Glock and the magician stands behind a piece of glass with his mouth open.
The shooter fires the gun and the magician hits the floor.
The paramedics rush to his side and the bullet is seen to roll on the floor.
The bullet is held up to the camera so that you can see the initials still there.
(The magician was fine.)

Now, we can quibble about whether or not the Sharpie writing would survive traveling down the barrel. (I doubt it.)
You can point out that the bullet would have been deformed after it hit the glass, or at least been scratched up - it was neither, although you can see the rifling left on it by the barrel.
We could even argue about whether the bullet's path would have been deflected by passing through the glass.
But one thing is not up for debate:
The bullet that was fired is not the bullet that was marked!
To recap:
The shooter fired the Glock to demonstrate functionality.
The gun cycled - stripping another bullet from the magazine and loading it in the chamber.
Then the magazine was removed and the top bullet marked.
The magazine was replaced and the gun was fired again without working the slide.
So the marked bullet wasn't fired and should have still been in the chamber after the magician "caught" it with his teeth.

What surprises me is that someone who obviously knew nothing about semiautomatic firearms did this magic trick. I'm surprised even more that they didn't do some basic research and that no-one on the live audience, cast, crew, editing team or any other part of the production crew noticed this!

Recall that History Channel also shows Top Shot! which does show firearms in an intelligent way.

[jmra]

You made it a lot further thru the show than I would have.

[couzin]

The word "hokey" would apply to almost all of the stuff on television these days...

[Shinesintx]

The word "hokey" would apply to almost all of the stuff on television these days...

I thought it was a show about white trash, as I misread thread title as Honkey.

[magicglock]

Trick was originally created and performed by Penn and Teller with a much better effect. The original was done with a revolver. This is what you get when a hack attempts to recreate an illusion with half the knowledge or talent of the original artist. Made for TV...what do you expect? Magic is a lost art....too many Copperfields and other hacks out their clammering for their 15 minutes of fame.

[jcrossman1963]

Actually, the bullet catch goes back to the 18th century - and was a part of Robert-Houdin's famous duel in Algeria to stop the rebellion against the French. (He allowed his opponent the first shot and caught it in his teeth, then for his shot, he turned and shot the palace wall which bled (believed to be done by a filled wax ball.) Houdini (who chose that name to honor Robert-Houdin) worked out a method for it, but never performed it. Another magician had been shot and killed trying it sometime before, and Kellar wrote him and begged him to never try it.

I don't ever find something to offer in the discussions here in the months I have been lurking, but thought this was worth chipping in on.

[Andrew]

Welcome to the forum!