Prop rifle research

For our Thriller we needed to get our hands on a prop rifle as it could cause legal issues if we were to walking around in the woods with a real rifle, Also by using a real rifle we would most likely be breaching some sort of law or two by being children and playing around with a 30 caliber rifle. Also, even if there was some way to get permission to use a real rifle in our Thriller, it is VERY rare that someone in the UK that we know would be in possession of such a rifle, as most if not all rifles used in the UK are obviously for hunting purposes, and its common knowledge that the largest game in the Uk is probably no bigger than an Elk, which wouldn't require any higher than a .27 caliber rifle to take down, maybe less. I have researched rifles on the internet to see what kind of rifle would be most appropriate to use in our Thriller, and of course what prop rifle would replicate it best.

Low caliber rifle, around .27 caliber

I started off looking at low caliber rifles, around the .27 caliber region.
These rifles are fairly light weight and are often used in medium-long range combat as they are only effective from maximum 600m away from the target. A rifle with rounds of .27 caliber would easily take out a target from 200m, which would be the distance we would aim to place our victim away from the shooter. However we wouldn't use a prop rifle similar to this as we want our killer to look ex-military, and to therefore have a higher powered rifle.

.50 caliber round

 I then proceeded to research rifles with a larger caliber round, and came across the Barret M82A1, which is a rifle which fires .50 caliber rounds. The caliber of a round (ammunition/bullets) is how large the round's base (the flat end) is, how big the actual lead bullet inside the casing is. The sizing: 9mm, .22, .27, .330, .40, .50 is measured in mm and inches, obviously 9mm is as it looks, and is pretty much the smallest round that can be fired with lethal intent, and is fired out of a pistol. A .22 caliber round is very small and would be fired out of an air rifle or pistol - this firearms are only used in sport. There is a great difference between a .22 caliber rifle and a .27 caliber rifle, one could easily kill with a .27 caliber rifle, and one would have to be very talented to be able to kill with as small of a round as a .22 caliber. The largest caliber round used is a .50 caliber round, these are very large - .50 means .50 of an inch wide, being fired at incredibly high speeds and velocities these rounds are effective at well over a mile depending on the shooter. (The video shows the longest kill recorded, the caliber bullet was .33, which is smaller than the .50 caliber round but it shows that the shooter counts for a lot.) The rifle that would be ideal for our group would have a .40 round (the prop rifle should replicate this) as it would be the most realistic for an ex-military man to have purchased.

Although we do want the shooter to look like he's ex-military, the rifle itself shouldn't be abstract or too complex, this would mean having a rifle prop that wasn't painted in camouflage colours or had a weird stock etc. The actor himself will be enough to create the ex-military look.


The rifle to the right is the best suited rifle for our Thriller, it has a silencer on the end of the barrel which would reduce the noise of the shot in real life, it would make sense for the rifle to have this attachment in our Thriller as to not alert the girl that the running man has been killed. Fortunately for my group we are in contact with someone who has a rifle prop which is very similar looking to the rifle shown above, and a bonus is that the rifle is completely black, making it look a little more professional and also a little more illegal and less military. I will make the necessary arrangements to make sure that the prop rifle is ready for us to use on shoot day.