The weapons brought along by Hanover (Wes Studi) and his team of mercenaries to loot the cruise ship Argonautica are described in the movie as "Chinese M1-L1 triple-pulse assault rifles", which have "thousand-round capacities", rotating barrels, and are "air-cooled" and "water-tight". Almost every character uses one of these guns at some point in the movie.
In reality, the practical weapons used to build the prop pulse rifles were 9mm Calico M955A submachine guns with 100-round magazines. Among the modifications that have been added by the film's armorers are thumbhole stocks, large flashlights and claw mounts fitted with some type of red-dot reflex sight, as well as the rotating barrel assembly. Notably, the five rotating barrels do not actually fire; they are actually fitted around the real barrel of the Calico and seem to be driven by a small electric motor connected to the trigger, so that when the guns are fired, the barrels will spin. The enormous muzzle flash of the Calicos (probably generated with full-load blanks) usually obscures this special effects trick, but in several scenes it is possible to see that the muzzle flash is coming from between the rotating barrels, not through them. Several screenshots seen below illustrate how this was done.
Error creating thumbnail: File missingCalico M955A submachine guns with 100 round helical magazine - 9mmError creating thumbnail: File missingA case full of "M1-L1 triple-pulse rifles" (in reality, dressed-up Calico M955As) is opened for the first time, as Hanover (Wes Studi) issues the weapons and ammunition to his crew.Error creating thumbnail: File missingHanover explains the features of the M1-L1 pulse rifle to his men.Error creating thumbnail: File missingA close-up of Vivo (Djimon Hounsou) loading his pulse rifle, showing clearly the 100-round Calico magazine. The claw mounts containing the red-dot sights flip up to allow the magazine to be loaded.Error creating thumbnail: File missingVivo and Mason (Clifton Powell) searching the Argonautica with their pulse rifles.Error creating thumbnail: File missingA close-up of spent brass dropping to the floor as the pirates unload their pulse rifles at the sound of a disturbance. These appear to be shell casings from 5.56x45mm NATO rounds, so there is no way the Calicos used to build the prop M1-L1s could have fired them. In fact, in some scenes the pulse rifles can actually be seen ejecting far smaller 9x19mm casings.Error creating thumbnail: File missingHanover with his pulse rifle. Note the distinctive sixth hole in the center of the barrels, which is in fact the Calico's barrel and where the prop weapon fires from.Error creating thumbnail: File missingFinnegan (Treat Williams) and Joey Pantucci (Kevin J. O'Connor) with pulse rifles captured from two of the pirates.Error creating thumbnail: File missingOne of the pulse rifles lying on the floor of an elevator after being dropped by Joey. This screencap clearly shows the guns' Calico M955A lineage.Error creating thumbnail: File missingA close-up of a pulse rifle in the hands of Mulligan (Jason Flemyng).Error creating thumbnail: File missingA close-up of Mulligan's pulse rifle while firing. Notice that the muzzle flash is coming from the sixth hole in the center of the five rotating barrels, not through them.Error creating thumbnail: File missingTrillian (Famke Janssen) firing a pulse rifle; again, here we can see the muzzle flash coming from between the rotating barrels, giving away how the prop weapons actually work.
Taurus PT92/PT99
Taurus PT92-type 9mm pistols are used frequently throughout the movie. Hanover (Wes Studi) carries a black PT99, a variant of the PT92 with has adjustable sights, as his sidearm. He's frequently seen using it to threaten people who disagree with him (most notably Mulligan (Jason Flemyng) near the end of the film). For some reason, he is routinely seen reloading the gun after encounters with the monster's tentacles, even though he never fires it once on screen. In fact, after the group's first encounter with the beast, he is seen reloading the gun three times in a row.
Vivo (Djimon Hounsou), on the other hand, carries a stainless PT92 AFS as his sidearm, which winds up changing hands numerous times throughout the movie. When Vivo is killed, this gun is taken by Hanover and is later stolen by Trillian (Famke Janssen), who uses it to dispatch the monster's tentacles in order to save Finnegan (Treat Williams). Later, Vivo's PT92 ends up in the hands of Joey (Kevin J. O'Connor), who gives it back to Hanover when he is in the process of being painfully devoured by the monster (which kills its victims by slowly sucking fluids out of their bodies). Hanover shows his gratitude by firing a round at Joey (who runs off), but when he tries to commit suicide with the gun, the hammer falls on an empty chamber.
In a continuity error, the stainless PT92 becomes a Beretta 92FS Inox in some scenes.
In some scenes, the stainless Taurus PT92 that is wielded by many of the film's characters becomes a Beretta 92FS Inox. For instance, when Finnegan (Treat Williams) takes the pistol from Trillian (Famke Janssen) before diving into the flooded apssageway, it quite clearly has a slide-mounted safety, which would make it a Beretta 92FS rather than a Taurus PT92, which has the safety mounted on the frame.
When Finnegan (Treat Williams) attemtps to save Joey (Kevin J. O'Connor) from being beaten by the mercenaries, T-Ray (Trevor Goddard) draws what appears to be an early-model Walther PPK, but it's hard to be sure because the gun is never seen very clearly.
Mason (Clifton Powell) wields a standard blued Beretta 92FS with after-market wood grips in the scene where Finnegan (Treat Williams) confronts the pirates. It is not seen again after this encounter.
Finnegan (Treat Williams) carries a short barreled Ithaca Model 37. Finnegan uses this shotgun most notably in the climax after encountering the massive, ugly head of the monster in the atrium of the Argonautica. When the monster brings one of its huge blue eyes down to look at him, he tells it, "What're you lookin' at?" before drawing his Ithaca and giving it a blast of 12-gauge buckshot in the eye.
Ithaca 37 with sawed-off stock and barrel - 12 gaugeError creating thumbnail: File missingA close-up of the receiver of Finnegan's sawed-off Ithaca Model 37.Error creating thumbnail: File missingHanover takes Finnegan's Ithaca and cocks it for dramatic effect (note that Finnegan later does the same, which in theory should mean that a live round gets ejected from the chamber, but this a movie we're talking about here...)Error creating thumbnail: File missingFinnegan draws his Ithaca from its sheath on his back and aims it at the monster after the tentacled creature finally reveals its huge, ugly head in the climax.Error creating thumbnail: File missingSays Finnegan to the monster: "What're you lookin' at?". This is an obvious angle of the Ithaca 37. We can clearly see the magazine release knob and the barrel bridge of the Ithaca Model 37.Error creating thumbnail: File missingTrillian cocks Finnegan's shotgun while they're on the jetski fleeing the tentacles.Error creating thumbnail: File missingFinnegan fires his Ithaca at the controls to an elevator tube, which actually causes it to open (as opposed to rendering it inoperable).
Browning M2 Aircraft
The stern of Finnegan's Air-Sea Rescue boat, the Seapan, contains a mounted machine gun of some type. Since the Air-Sea boat is a WWII-era vessel, it's likely that it's a Browning M2, but this is uncertain. The gun is never fired, and can only be seen (barely) in a few shots of the boat.
