THE GUNS OF SHOOTER:

“Shooter” didn't even come to my town when it was in theaters so I've never even seen it before until it came out on DVD. Of course as soon as it came out, I had to buy it. With the name “Shooter” and based on a Stephen Hunter book “Point of Impact”, I had no choice.

I've come to appreciate Mark Wahlberg as an actor. I think he's pretty good, better in my opinion than Mr Goodwill Hunting. The Director, Antoine Fuqua is new to me... I'm not familiar with his work. From what I'm seeing here, he's doing very well and is someone to keep an eye on. I don't know much about the politics of these guys, but right now I don't care.

The one turn off in the movie is Danny Glover. The man is a total asshat. He's anti-American, anti-freedom, anti-democracy. He hangs out with Hugo Chavez and other Communist jackholes. The guy should not be allowed back in the USA. His citizenship should be revoked. As an actor, he's pathetic. He always has a look on his face that says he doesn't know what he's doing. When it comes to Danny Glover, you should fast forward through his scenes.

The first gun we see is a camouflaged Remington 700. I'm not sure about the caliber, but it is at least a .308. Could a .308 hit like that at the ranges mentioned? (900 yards) Yes. The Remington is one of the universal workhorse rifles for the military and law enforcement... and they make damn fine hunting rifles too. I could be quite happy using nothing but Remington 700's. I'm quite smitten. Good actions, good triggers, solid, not expensive, tons of aftermarket available for it. You want a good shooting rifle, you crawl the pawnshops and find a used one, then put a good barrel on it.

Next we see the sniper bust out a .50 caliber Barrett 92. No question a .50 could tag out a chopper. A semi auto fifty? A helicopter would be mincemeat. Would a sniper team have such a weapon on an overwatch mission? Sure they could. But I do think they would have used it as soon as all the hostiles showed up and started firing mortars as them. I would have. It seems snipers always have .50 Barrett rifles in movies. However they are used by the military and so this is a good choice. Really an only choice.

Let's mention the Spotter here for a second. Notice how he has a sketch of the area with the ranges marked? This is real... the military does teach you to draw these up. Now, the downside to the Spotter's character is that he was packing an M-203. Quite often they would pack M-14 type rifles to help back up the Sniper in case he needed it. A grenade launcher is an unnecessarily heavy weapon which I don't think they would have selected given the fact that they are already packing a spare .50.

The Feds then come talk to Shooter and after the conversation he goes and shoots up a perfectly good can of perfectly nasty stew. I'd have shot it too. I hate Dinty Moore stew. Fit only for dogs. Speaking of which, nice dog. Now, this rifle is an interesting choice.  It looks like a CheyTac M-200.  It too is a .50 BMG rifle, but thank heavens it is not a Barrett. Not that the Barrett is a bad rifle... I'm just glad to see a different one here. The 92 goes for 8500 bucks, other .50's can be had as low as 2500. Serious snipers that are not government funded are more likely to have a less spendy example so they can afford more scope. Shooting at long ranges, you need they best scope you can get.

If you slow down the DVD to frame by frame you see the bullet coming up from the bottom to hit the can. At that range, it would have been the opposite. The bullet would have come down from the top to hit the can. But it looked cool on film.

In his gun cabinet Shooter had a bunch of cool guns too. A Marlin lever action, Springfield M1A, a shotgun, and others. Nice selection. Any dedicated Shootist would have such guns... or at least they should. They rock. Well, all guns do.

I'm loving how they show Shooter using a Kestral wind meter. Those are handy. A serious long range shooter would have one. They are common at such shooting events.

The robotic sniper rifle is interesting. Very Day of the Jackal. But also possible. The only problem with using such a system is that it still has to be operated by a real shooter so the idea of using it to avoid using another real shooter is kinda silly. But the story that unfolds on that is a nice twist. I'll not spoil that one if you read this before you watch the movie.

Gunshot wounds suck. I like that they show Shooter digging out the FBI medkit and going for Quick Clot. That helps stop the bleeding. It's something that will buy him more time to get better medical attention. And he gets some from a very nicely built gal... great eyes. Very hot.

We see some Glocks and Beretta 92's until things get interesting again. By interesting I mean suppressed rifle shots fired from a small moving boat. Not impossible per say, but extremely difficult to the order of extremely improbable. Driving a boat on even a calm lake while shooting from a standing, unsupported position? Godlike powers. And that he's doing it with a .22 through a makeshift suppressor? Godlike. I don't buy this one. No one is that good, and a .22 isn't going to drop a grown man like a bucket of sand.

I'm not really liking the fact that the FBI agent turned Spotter wears a Che shirt. That's a bullshit. Then the crack about WMD's in Iraq, Abu Graib... My hell, can't anyone make a movie without political bullshit?

If you watch the Deleted scenes, you will find the extended shopping scene. Watch this. I'm glad it was deleted. Some false information there about regulations... but I wont go into that. Now look at what they are buying. A 10 gauge semi auto? That would be an 11-87. That's a bit much for a shotgun, but for a rifle, they only get .308's. Well, make that A .308... with a Ten Power Leupold. Nice scope. But later we see both guys with similar rifles? The must have gone to a second shop for the other one.

Back at the Pretty Girl's house, she uses a chopped down 11-87 shotgun. I think this might be the same gun used in “Jake Speed”. If you haven't seen that flick, don't. For a home defense gun, outstanding. We see that it stops the threat dead in its tracks. The FBI agents are using suppressed SIG SAUER P226 pistols. I like SIG's but they are over rated. They are great, but not the Hammer of Thor like some believe. Did I mention she's hot?

The Sniper and Spotter team do some shopping. They buy a couple more Remingtons. I like the way they camo the guns. They show Shooter using leaves to make the pattern.

The guards at the ranch house are packing HK G36's. I don't see special contractors using them. They are expensive and only common in Germany and Hollywood.

The Old Shooter off's himself with a Walther P99, ending his story.

Soldiers come in armed with flat top M-16 variants with Aim Point red dot sights. This is more like it. Common, easy to get, not out of the question for a well funded merc group. In fact, that's what most of them use.

Less likely is a helicopter. Evidently this sniper doesn't like helicopters. Blowing them up with a propane tank? No going to happen. That was stupid.

Also stupid is Shooter rolling in the same stolen pickup truck. But let's not get into too much detail. A group like this, doing this type of thing, isn't going to be flying around whirly birds that attract attention.

The Snow Scene. This is pretty cool... snipers trading long range shots... arms blowing off. Maybe if it was a .300 Remington Ultra Mag. I could see that. Very well done. But not with the .308's they said they picked up.

The worst shot is at the Senator's cabin... a shot to the knee. That brought tears to my eye.

The killing of Danny Glover's character was not spectacular enough. He needed a better death. More dramatic. Of course that assclown can't act so they couldn't pull it off.

The slaying of the naughty senator was awesome. Very well done. Not that I condone such things, but should such a thing happen to Harry Reid I wouldn't weep about it horrible and they shouldn't show such things in movies in times such as these.

Great flick. Glad I picked it up.

STILL WORKING ON THIS ONE!

Copyright G H Hill 1999-2012

“I keep two magnums in my desk drawer. One is a gun that I keep loaded.  The other is a bottle and it keeps me loaded.”