The guy talking seens kinda off, studios rarely use real guns just to fire blanks on set. You can get in major trouble for doing just that actually, which is why prop guns are used way more often so far as I have seen working. Hell a lot of times rubber guns are used more often in wide shots as well as the close ups when action is in frame with the gun so nobody gets injured handling it. I would say it's pretty rare to see a 'real gun' on set actually, especially one that fires at all. Sorry for the random rant haha, misinformation is never wanted especially when it comes to guns.
This is an actual Taurus 85 inside Mal's pistol that they did indeed use blanks. There are plenty of pictures to prove this. This prop was built at least 14 years ago
Yeah totally I get that, I'm just saying in general that is not the case on set for movies and TV. This is an exception not the majority for prop guns.
I knew Rob was going to chime in! That's crazy, I never knew that Wash's Mateba was originally suppose to be Mal's new pistol!
There was also an unproduced design for the Operatives pistol that was reminiscent of the Beretta from Blade 2.
These were the Reaver guns, off the shelf rentals that were quickly repainted. Its obvious why they were never seen on camera.
http://i65.tinypic.com/4ln34p.jpg
I recognize the First Contact Phaser Rifle!