Are the red muzzle flashes historically accurate with the powder composition used in the Sengoku Jidai period? I know that it's perfectly possible to make flames/explosions glow in certain colours depending on the chemical composition of the powder being burned/detonated, but it strikes me as odd as why the real-life users would waste time and resources purposely making their black powder charges glow red when triggered, unless that was the only black powder recipe they knew, or was simply the most convenient to make.
Total War: Shogun 2 also features the red muzzle flash for Tanegashima shots as well, but I don't know if that's just an homage to Ran or a reflection of the historical reality of the weapon. Did the original trilogy of Star Wars movies also use gunpowder specifically formulated to give off a bright red muzzle flash in the blanks fired by the "E-11 Blastech Rifles," so they wouldn't have to rotoscope them in later? --Mazryonh 02:58, 1 July 2012 (CDT)
I just assumed that the gunners in Ran were just using flashpaper guns. I'm told that there are legal issues regarding live fire in Japan, and no one is seen reloading anyway. --Funkychinaman 03:36, 1 July 2012 (CDT)
I would think that those issues were resolved after the 80s, otherwise, we wouldn't be seeing those scenes of fully-automatic firing guns from Outrage with Takeshi Kitano. What about including the famous "last gunshot" of the movie, which supposedly shows the newly random and faceless nature of war?--Mazryonh 05:51, 2 July 2012 (CDT)
You mean the one that kills Saburo? There's not much to show. All you see are the shooters running away afterwards. --Funkychinaman 07:46, 2 July 2012 (CDT)
Pardon me, my memory's a little fuzzy on this movie. I thought we would see a camera shot of those firing the "last gunshot." And I suppose you'll add a note saying that the firearms in this movie are likely flashpaper guns, then? The thick smokescreen that accompanies the firing of black powder weapons looks to have been added by off-screen smoke generators too (to be fair, this was probably also the case in more modern films featuring heavy use of black powder weaponry, such as Gettysburg, since repeated volleys from such weaponry quickly reduce visibility to zero without a strong wind, and you can't have smoke like that blocking the view of all the stars you've hired for a major motion picture).--Mazryonh 08:37, 2 July 2012 (CDT)
I'm not sure about the flashpaper thing, that's just an educated guess. And there's a real theatrical quality to the whole movie, with the fake looking blood and weird makeup, so flashpaper guns would fit into that. --Funkychinaman 08:55, 2 July 2012 (CDT)
I have seen 22LR ammo that has a blue flash, so a red flash is possible. --Mandolin 17:36, 2 July 2012 (CDT)
Japan uses flashpaper guns all the time. They have ridiculously strict gun control. The ONLY gun shots you'll see (prior to the recent wave of blowback blank guns) was those PINK COLORED flash paper guns. I loved watching all of the espionage thrillers from the 1960s and all you saw was pink colored flash paper flashes. MoviePropMaster2008 01:04, 3 July 2012 (CDT) (EDIT) Now Japan uses really good CGI to cover for their lack of live fire guns. CGI has made their gun flashes look tons better :D
So the following screenshot from Takeshi Kitano's Outrage is all CGI then? If it is, then it's quite good (the scene is of fully automatic fire in slow motion, with shell casings ejecting and the actions visibly working). Still, could you make fully-functioning blanks for appropriately converted guns that gave off nonstandard flash colours, like the bright greens and reds you see in fireworks? --Mazryonh 01:47, 4 July 2012 (CDT)
That could be one of those blowback cap guns that they have in Japan, think they are called "plug fire" or something like that. They use realistic looking brass cases with a cap inside, here is a video of one firing. As to whether the guns in this are flash paper, would they a really need to be? As a matchlock musket in basically a tube with a touch hole in the rear, would it not just be possible to but a bit of firework powder or something (which would account for the odd colour) in the barrel with a thin paper wad? Or would even this be illegal in Japan? --commando552 05:47, 4 July 2012 (CDT)
