[Maru]

Hubby showed me one of those fake bullets before he left for work. He said that blanks have crimped ends (crushed metal ends with no cap) and are supposed to simulate the sound and kickback of a real bullet. So those would be much more obvious and harder to mix up with real ammo. Instead, what might've been used is a dummy bullet. Granted, he said most companies colorize the bullet to help tell the difference.

The one he showed me was still metal but the color is a cast.



This is a picture I took of it. You can see it's metal with a Merlot-ish color finish. Now, I don't know that much about firearms, so to me a bullet is a bullet and this looks legitimate. I've seen bullets in various colors/shades, though generally they are brass, silver (nickel) or grey (steel) colored. The weight itself is very close to a real one... at least to me.

The other types he said they make are metal finish bullets with soft tips that can put out paint and other material. Those are more obvious as the tips are white and have bright colors at the end.

I had said to him I wondered if maybe they had emptied/removed the magazine, but then forgot to empty/check the chamber for live rounds. This is entirely possible, he said.

If the latter happened, that he forgot to check the chamber, then I think that is a really really really dumb mistake. It's firearm safety 101. Even mistaking a dummy bullet between a real one is a terrible mistake. Though, I can see in a wreckless moment with someone being too careless after digging in a box with maybe other old, similarly colored ammo, that maybe a mix-up happened? Even still.

I'm leaning towards blanks because if it was a demonstration for civilians, they may have wanted to have the weapon being discharged, the sound and all, which would've been educational in that experience. Many people have never been around a gun being discharged up close so they don't know how loud they really are and how unsettling that can be in an emotionally charged situation. At a range, you have ear and eye protection, but not out in the field. Even being at a range for several hours, if I remove my headset for a minute and hear a shot, I wince. It's just natural. A BB gun or a 9mm is not going to be as loud as a .45 which is what many officers carry. So there is that.