I get that gunplay is playing around with guns. I also know there’s no such thing as The Four Rules of Comedy. But I’m sick to death of Hollywood doubling up on heros’ handguns. I’ve tried the fists full of firearms technique. It sucks. Not only do you have to worry about sympathetic fire (when you squeeze one trigger you want to squeeze the other) but your brain gets confused about which gun is recoiling when. Unless you’re shooting two people point blank, the two-hands-‘o-gun method is the ballistic equivalent of a stupid pet trick. If that’s the way you want to go, Mr. Producer, how about a double-barreled .45? Come to think of it, why not two of them at the same time? D’oh!

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36 COMMENTS

  1. “Mexican Standoff” only describes what happens after a Taco Bell meal.Ugh, when will Hollywood realize people don’t draw guns to “talk”.If a roomfull of guns come out, a roomfull of perforated bodies is the result.

    • Love these guys, great film makers who make video and graphic tutorials the way MAC and his ilk do firearm stuff. They are pure Hollywood pros focused on entertainment value not true gun stuff. They admit this. They have a online series called VGHS (Video Game High School) and several FPS style videos parodying video games. FreddieW is awesome!

    • Agreed.
      I will admit that my rage could have powered a small home when I saw the sniper’s rifle though… hah

  4. Hollywood is generally clue-less, except…

    They know that most people do not know how or when to shoot a gun. They know that most people do not know how limited the ammo supply on board a particular gun (usually the one you have with you), is. They do know that people are instinctively afraid of being shot. So everything with Hollywood is spray and pray. If you’ve got a fully automatic weapon you just hose down the neighborhood and maybe you hit something, maybe you don’t, but you don’t give a shit ’cause EVERYBODY is scared of you. Pay no attention to the fact that bad guys almost never use full auto weapons and even when they use them in movies they are never referred to the BATFE for federal firearms violations.

    So, in a movie, whether you are the good guy or the bad guy the point is to just put the maximum number of bullets downrange. Two semi-auto handguns, one in each hand, pointed in the general direction of the threat, and blasting away until empty or all the bad guys are (magically) dead. It helps if your Hollywood guns have “high-capacity magazine clips” holding about 50 rounds each, and you have unlimited reloads available. Aimed fire is for sissies, or Dirty Harry.

  6. I think it is a legacy of westerns where the hero would have two Colt SAAs. The real reason for carrying two guns is that the solid frame revolvers were slow to reload so having a second gun already loaded was a tactical advantage. Sometimes the second gun was used to cover another direction but usually only the primary firearm was used.

  7. I once read in a book that the whole dual wielding pistols thing started with the SpetsNaz before the invention of SMG’s. Though it makes no sense because the SMG was around a while before the Spets.

  8. Don’t knock Freddy Wong too hard, his videos are hilarious. And I think his gun fight choreography is much better than almost any Hollywood production.

    • Seconded! I’d also bet that he knows more about firearms
      than most Hollywood actors or screenwriters as well.

  9. you might be surprised if you attend a regional of national level SASS event some of the folks in the two SAA out at the same time class are both fast an accurate. that said I agree with you it is hard to do well and those that are good with two guns out at the same time must have burned a huge pile of ammo to get there

  11. I have shot two guns before Hollywood style for the shits and giggles, but never had a problem lile the author is talking about. It’s shit accuracy because you don’t hold them in a manner conducive to accuracy, but I have never come close to pulling the wrong trigger or had a hard time knowing which one was about to go bang. I don’t really see how a normal and intelligent person would have either of those issues.

    • I’ve done it too just for fun. Accuracy was crap, it’s a safety nightmare if you have a malf and you WILL look like a tool doing it.

      Now… 2 MP9s set to full giggle….. I’d try that!

  13. It was a humorous video. And when does hollywood ever get gun stuff correct? I particularly liked how the gun said Training Pistol on the side.

    Oh and this video is PROOF that guns do have mind of their own and are vicious killers.

  14. “I can’t fire two handguns at once, so no one should!”

    Must be running low on content.

    I may be some sort of laser-guided evolution of the Terminator and not know it, but within about 7 yards, I can do pretty well with a pair of 9mm glocks. A pair of S&W 686s was a different story.

    A pair of g26 with extendoclipazines should be pretty effective within self defense distances.

  17. this whole two-fist concept wouldn’t bother me but a lot of people watch the Hollywood shows and think it’s the *right* way to do it. WTF???

    • One of the reasons I enjoyed Taken so much is the way Liam Neeson’s character defied the Guns Akimbo trope. He gets two pistols at one time, but stashes one in his waistband and doesn’t draw it until he’s used up the first gun’s ammo. Olympus has Fallen also had the hero refuse to go two-fisted when he had the option.

      That said, the video above is comedy and I’ll cut some slack to anyone who’s obviously going for tongue-in-cheek humor. Equilibrium, on the other hand…

  19. I’m ok with Guns Akimbo as long as the movie isn’t meant to be taken seriously – in other words, it’s ok for Late-era Sean Connery through Roger Moore and Pierce Brosnan, but not for Early-era Sean Connery, Timothy Dalton, or Daniel Craig. It’s 100% rule of cool.

    Now, the silenced revolver (The Manchurian Candidate) or the silenced (not suppressed, but silenced as in ‘thwip’) .308 (and bigger) sniper rifle… that drives me crazy. Especially when there are purpose-built rifles like the AS-VAL which would be even cooler than whatever rifle they are using.

  20. Please don’t get mad about Star-Lord doing it next year. They’re space guns! And he’s gonna be fighting aliens! Maybe nonhumanoid ones!

  21. Akimbo pistols is almost another entire art form above shooting a single pistol. That said it can be done and it can be done better with more practice and better technique.

    I have to agree with some of the comments above, that the central problem isn’t knowing which gun to fire but rather achieving acceptable accuracy with both (or either) gun.

    The first level of akimbo pistols is actually related only to one gun. It’s the ability to reliably hit targets at near distance absent use of the sights and with a single handed grip. If you cannot do this, akimbo might even be dangerous to your health.

    The next step is being able to repeat this feat using your off side hand only. This is the point where many people give up and the primary reason so few people can find much facility or practical use of akimbo, they can’t shoot off side hand only at all and certainly not while attempting to fire a separate pistol in the other hand. Mastery of ‘point’ or ‘instinct’ shooting is step one, doing it one handed is two and doing it weak side only is three. This forms the foundation and is the minimum base for beginning to learn dual wield.
    Specific to dual wield is instinctive muzzle control and use of peripheral vision. This of this like learning to keep your finger off the trigger or learning to sight with both eyes open (incidentally another skill you’ll need to master before going akimbo effectively).
    As you build on these skills to shoot a single front and center target you can begin to fire on separate targets either simultaneously or in tandem. When this is mastered the targets may be moved apart and spaced at different ranges relative to the shooter. Continue to practice both simultaneous and tandem shooting until you’re competent and accurate in both techniques at reasonable distances (generally 21ft and less).
    By now you’ll have developed the physiological basis for coping with recoil and targeting two pistols at once and are developing competence with them. Continue to practice.
    If you encounter someone who has been doing this properly and religiously, who is within perhaps 10 meters, and who is armed with a handgun in each hand, don’t be surprised if they can hit upwards of 70% of their shots on multiple targets at different presentations and ranges within their maximum dual wield range very, very quickly. With dual wield misses never count; only hits do. Expect them to expend copious amounts of ammo and transition back and forth as they engage targets to either side and return to previous targets to take more shots at them.
    In my personal sojourn towards dual wield capability I have reached a plateau and lack the drive and finance to rise above it. However with my limited focus on dual wield I find that at near ranges (less than 15 feet) I can reliably and rapidly engage multiple targets with crude combat accuracy, simultaneously.
    For more than 2 targets or at any further range, or with either target in motion I’m better served attempting ‘suppressive fire’ with my weak side gun while utilizing the sights on my strong side gun to specifically engage the more difficult targets. This may sound insane, however even blind firing my weak side gun while fully focused on the strong side I generally hit about 30% of the rounds I fire at humanoid targets within 21 feet. Given that I’m running that gun greater than one round per second that’s a hit for each less than 3 second period I have that target under fire. That’s a better rate than some shooters achieve with a single pistol using both hands. It’s also relatively accurate fire on a target that I otherwise would not be engaging.
    I find that blind firing my weak side pistol has a considerable effect on accuracy and speed of engagement from my strong side pistol over the obvious effects of running it one hand only.

    Yes, it took practice and untold amounts of ammunition. No, it’s not very practical nor useful at all outside of what most would call a doomsday scenario. Yes, it gives me an option when I happen to be armed with two pistols and engaging multiple near targets. . . let’s just face it, when you hit slide lock on both guns and there are 3 or 4 riddled targets down range from you, the cool factor is through the roof! Puts a grin on my face every. Single. time.
    Now for a word of advice: Don’t even bother learning to dual wield if self defense is your wish: It’s virtually never needed, it requires two ‘normal’ sized guns, and it results in untold mayhem behind and around your targets. You’ll be much better served 99.999% of the time with a single decent pistol held in both hands delivering deliberate fire for many, many reasons. Also, I’m pretty sure that admitting to ‘blind firing’ a pistol ‘in the direction’ of your target is called ‘homicide by depraved indifference’ if hit anyone other than your intended target. Just don’t do it.

  24. Video was funny, it was a parody of Hollywood, and TV. Now if you want to bring shame upon those who show abhorrent firearms techniques dig up almost any 80’s or 90’s action movie, and that steaming pile of doo called ‘Shoot ‘Em Up”!

    Oh, and while Good, Bad, and Ugly had one of the best scenes when Tuko shoots first instead of talking, it also has its own hyped up unrealistic Mexican standoff.

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