5 Affordable but Very Cool Watches For Men

 

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Aside from the premier Swiss made brands that have sat at the top of the the watch market as the all time classic 'must have' luxury watches such as the Rolex, Omega and Patek Phillipe there's a whole range of brands and budgets to put a decent timepiece on your wrist that won't break the bank or break your heart if you damage or lose it, granted it still might hurt a bit but that doesn't mean you can't wear something that's a decent dinner party conversation piece or an everyday statement piece that has oozes great design. Trends come and go but the comfort factor of owning a decent looking and performing watch that is just as universal with a pair a of shorts and t-shirt as it is with a suit means you made one of the best style decisions of your life.

Tastes differ, what floats one man's boat may not necessarily put the steam in another mans stride, styles vary massively of course from the chunky divers watches to the more subtle elegant dress watches or everyday casual watches.

What is affordable though?, in today's topsy turvy economy it could be something fairly low priced and functional that caters to a no fuss daily use criteria, for others it might mean a couple of additional zeros on the price tag for something a bit more outspoken depending on your personal financial circumstances. In an economic climate that puts the brakes on splashing cash on extravagance I've created a list of 5 watches that cater for a broad pricing range.

1. G Shock Range

You can't really go wrong with G-Shocks, they come in a variety of styles and looks although tend to adhere to the rugged outdoors rough and tumble robust design that's served it well for many years. The Octagon series is an entry level watch starting at around £99 the slimmer, stealth look GA-2100-1A1ER harks back to the design it had in 1983. Blacks and greys seem to be as popular as ever as do olive drab military tones. Water resistant to 200M and an interchangible resin strap. Casio owns G Shock so their look and feel are based around that familiar modern design that made their 80's watches so popular. Further up the price scale you can easily spend £379 for a metallic G Shock style such as the GST-B400D-1AER which is the thinnest of the G Steel series they make. he bezel has 5 different finishes so adopts a different shade depending on the angle you view the watch, its darker face contrast really well against the steel look too.

Reason to Consider: Its robust and tough for active lifestyles and the GShocks are highly shock resistant and usually come with a 200M water resistance rating. The digital display is easy to read, and it has a lighted LCD display and a backlight to provide visibility in low light conditions. It also has a stopwatch, countdown timer, and five daily alarms

2. AVI-8 Watches

AVI-8 is probably a brand you've probably not heard of but don't let that fool you into thinking that they don't know how to design a talking point. Inspired heavily by aviation they have a range of watches that really do stand out and at an affordable price. Their Chronographs, namely the Blakeslee Chronograph with bronze oak strap and Avon Chronograph in charcoal green look amazing and will only set you back £149 and £200 respectively. The company also does a steel series in the Type 300 Automatic with the Oxford Blue being a particular bold but tasteful looking time piece.

Reason to Consider: The Oxford Blue face is accented with rose gold details. The watch is equipped with a Swiss quartz movement, and it has a date display, a stopwatch, and a tachymeter. The watch is also water-resistant up to 50 meters and powered by a long-lasting battery.

3. Diesel Mr Daddy Chronograph

Like me you probably previously never really noticed Diesel watches, as a brand its been around since 1974 (yes that long), it was only when they started promoting jeans and men's cologne that I took more notice of them. in 2019 they filed for chapter 11 Bankruptcy protection although Diesel Spa wasn't part of that action. In recent years they've made some pretty bold choices in their range of watches with their current bestseller for men being the very attractive but horribly titled  Diesel Mr. Daddy Chronograph. The watch has a multi dialled look with nice neon blue accents to numbers and face markings which contrast against a black face and strap.30M water resistancy, although more for splashes than full prolonged immersion. Stainless steel in black its a very nice watch and priced around £356

Reason to Consider: The chronograph features a quartz movement and a date display, and it also has a stopwatch with a 60-minute countdown timer. The watch is also water-resistant up to 10 ATM and its scratch-resistant mineral crystal ensures long-lasting durability.

4. Orient Bambino

Looking for something that's understated yet perfectly elegant with a subtle style that looks good on a night out with friends or a dressier dinner party? I guarantee you the Orient Bambino will have people asking "can I ask you what watch are you wearing?". Japanese in origin the brand dates back to 1901 when Shogoro Yoshida opened his first Tokyo shop. The face has a beautiful rich Prussian blue that fades to black on the outer edges which helps the number marker contrast beautifully. The stainless steel bezel and black leather strap give it a classic but stylish finish. The best part though is that this will only set you back £127. The watch has two other coloured styles but this one is the best one in my opinion.

Reason to Consider: The watch is powered by an accurate automatic movement and it has a date display. It also has a scratch-resistant sapphire crystal and is water-resistant up to 50 meters.

5.Moonswatch

By collaborations they probably don't come much bigger than Omega and Swatch. These two powerhouses got together to offer watch lovers an amazing series of styles and designs that gives you the casual every day aspect of Swatch with the premium look of the famous Moon watch, the Speedmaster as worn by NASA astronauts, and which remains one of the most collectible watches of all time. These watches are made with a with a never done before bioceramic material and none of the pieces are limited edition or numbered, furthermore they are super affordable  at around £207 and they look bloody amazing.

Reason to Consider: other than being one of the hottest watches you can own, The watch is powered by a quartz movement, and it has a date display, a stopwatch, and a tachymeter. It is also water-resistant up to 10 ATM and is powered by a long-lasting battery. This watch is perfect for those looking for a stylish and reliable watch with a unique design.

Got a watch brand that could make the affordable yet cool list?

 

Klotzen Panzer Battles: World War 2 Strategy That re-writes The History Books

Independent developer Maxim Games today announced their debut title, Klotzen! Panzer Battles, a World War 2 turn based operational strategy game utilizing a hex based map system, is available now on PC via Steam with a 10% launch discount available until May 4th. 

Offering up countless outcomes to real life historical military campaigns through different scenarios, strategy game fans will have the opportunity to completely rewrite the history books. Players and budding strategists will be able to affect historical timelines and outcomes, from initiating the allied invasion of Normandy a year earlier in 1943, or even executing successful assaults on London or the USA. Klotzen! Panzer Battles offers up 26 historical, and close to 40 counterfactual scenarios, along with the random campaign-changing events. Players can also customize their own historical scenarios with the games built in editor.

Fans of games like Panzer Corps 2 or Hearts of Iron IV will be very at home with the offering here. Maxim Games has been working on Klotzen Panzer Battles for the last 4 years and has paid close attention to what is already offered by competitor WW2 strategy games.

Where Klotzen looks to shake things up is in three key areas

1. Improved AI, which makes the game more challenging/fun.
   
2. Improved air power set of mechanics/rules, that brings the whole gameplay a lot closer to reality, drastically increases importance of air power and gives the player numerous interesting strategies unique to Klotzen.
3. Branching campaign, with lots of what-if(alt-history) scenarios and events that increases replayability a lot.

With so much content and variation to how missions and campaigns can be played this should keep armchair generals pretty busy, the fact that this also contains counter-factual missions like invading the USA or bringing forward the Normandy invasion of France to 1943 are fun 'what if' scenarios to play out.

The game features some nicely detailed units too which presents the game with a decently presented look and feel. With air, land and sea power available for players to diversify their tactics, and more than enough campaigns and resources to utilize, this looks like it could be a very viable alternative to other WW2 hex based strategy games that have launched in recent years including the likes of Unity of Command.

Klotzen Panzer Battles is currently available on Steam for PC (no linux version to speak of and not current Steam Deck tested) but you can find out more about the game here.

 

Star Wars Collectibles: Tie Fighter Pilot (ANH) by RWA Creations

At 52 I've hit that age where material objects, collected trinkets if you will  are gradually meaning less and less to me to possess, for some people these trinkets can take any form, it might be a framed sports jersey or a signed baseball, for others it might be a full size replica Terminator endoskeleton skull or vintage toys or first edition comics. I've no idea if this is because I'm at an age where I find myself cruising the suburbs of mortality, a countdown clock that I can clearly hear ticking louder than it did 10 years ago, or if its just my lack of interest generally in things that used to give me 'a buzz'.

I sold a prized gaming collectible in the form of a full size Blitz the League American football helmet to fund the purchase of a replica Star Wars Tie Fighter pilot helmet. I could have invested the money into my pension (yawn) or bought some shares or done something else uniquely boring with it, so after careful consideration I decided to say screw all that, I'm making one last stupidly daft purchase in my adult life and it shall be something without any kind of function whatsoever, other than to make me blissfully happy for a short time until the feel good buzz wears off. Something I've not been for a good many years.

Did some hunting online and found a Welsh based kit builder by the name of Ross who runs RWA Creations. I've been a big of his work and he knows his stuff when it comes to building Stormtrooper armour and Tie Fighter helms. Additionally, I wanted a UK based builder with plenty of experience which would also keep shipping affordable.

I decided to keep it 'plain Jane', just a standard black one, its not a Backstabber design ( the one with the grey tears) or Jolly Roger squadron and its not an Inferno squadron one either, although I was tempted.

Backstabber Tie - note the grey tear lines running down the cheeks

I opted for a helmet fully built in acrylic capped for the extra shine and one with bubble lenses. I've always loved the imperial helmet designs, having acquired the Black Series Vader helmet and a Stormtrooper helmet from New Image Props a few years ago, the Tie Fighter Pilot finishes my trilogy nicely. Wait time for the helmet from RWA Creations was about 5 weeks and the cost was £210 / $275 delivered. Ross, the guy who runs RWA is super friendly, very approachable and I contacted him through email with what I was looking for.

RS Props Tie build

There are a few builders out there that do some very nice Tie helms, RS Prop Masters based in Stockport was also UK based but a bit rich for my blood at £359. Armory Shop does an awesome build of the Inferno helmet for $234 without shipping but comes from Russia and I really didn't want issues with customs etc, given the events in Ukraine. 

Galactic Armory Tie Pilot kit

Galactic Armory based in the USA does a very nice 3D print kit for $120 not including shipping but that's probably more suited for a true self made custom build so plenty of sanding and finishing required and I simply don't have the workbench to sort that.

Chris the Prop Guy Tie Helmet (Backstabber variant with cheek tears)

ChrisThePropGuy also does an awesome Tie helm and the fit and finish on his Etsy store does look one of the better ones you can get, his Backstabber variant looks superb, he's based in Australia though. Finally the Andrew Ainsworth Tie comes in at a whopping £579 but states that it comes from original 1976 molds, therefore has screen lineage, that's fine if you want the essence of true screen lineage as collectors talking point, and while I'm a massive Star Wars fan I couldn't quite reach that budget.

Andrew Ainsworth Imperial Tie - (screen lineage from 1976 molds)

RWA Creations based in the UK produces a beautiful Acrylic Capped standard Tie Fighter helmet with bubble lenses, Here are some pics below of my newly acquired helm. Hoses will come later and I'm debating to add silver to the nose vents.

RWA Creations Tie fighter helmet in Acrylic Capped Vinyl

 Someone Paid $1.9 Million for Tom Cruises Porsche 928 From Risky Business

Sliding into 80's pop culture (and movie history) in nothing more than a pair of RayBansand underwear to the tune of Bob Segers 'Old Time Rock and Roll', Tom Cruise took us all on a wild weekend with the 1983 movie Risky Business. While both his parents were away Joel (Tom Cruise) upsets a pimp, rents his house out as a brothel and almost totals his dads Porsche. A key scene in the movie is Joel (Tom Cruise) taking his dads car out for a joyride to show off the cars capabilities and to impress girls - if you ever wondered where the tagline "Porsche, there is no substitute" came from, it was this movie. Joel's joyride comes to a watery halt when the car plummets through a wooden pier into lake Michigan after the cars handbrake is accidentally released with Joel trying to save the car in a blind panic as it rolls towards the pier.

The car in question was a 1979 Porsche 928, which was originally green but repainted gold for the movie (The primary driver car was a pre-1981 model, it didn't come with factory Platinum Metallic skin, and thus had to be repainted to match the other cars also used in the movie), 5 Porsche 928's appeared in the movie with a stripped out version 'stunt car' used for the pier lake dunking scene when it crashes through the pier into the lake. The car became a cultural icon from the movie, to such an extent that a fan by the name of Lewis Johnsen made a short film about his quest to locate the car in the 1990's titled The Quest For RB928.Since there were different variations of the car, he was keen to track down the primary car which had been supplied by Lee Klinger Porsche in Chicago which was the dealership that also appeared in the film.

The actual Porsche that Tom Cruise learned to drive with a manual gearbox was fully restored and recently went on sale at the famous Barrett Jackson auction house in Houston, Texas in Sept 2021 for $1.98 Million, setting a world record for that particular make and model. The car has a distinctive look, with large 'phone dial' alloys and bulbous back end, and then there's those distinctive pop up headlights.

There's some great detail about all the 928's used in the film over at the 928 Owners Club website here which also details more history about the actual car, how the long shooting days took its toll on the engine and the various owners that drove it.

Risky Business was one of Tom Cruises earlier films and was made for a budget of around $6.2 Million, it went on to box office success taking an impressive $63.5 Million domestically, the film also holds a distinctive "Certified Fresh" 92% rating on Rotten Tomatoes.

Not only that, its rumoured that the film also boosted the sales of RayBan Wayfarer sunglasses by 2000 %.

Back To The Future: The Art of the Poster

Back To The Future: The Art of the Poster

There's probably only a handful of movies I can say that have a really close personal connection to me, these are the ones that reside in that warm fuzzy, cosy place in the depths of your heart, and generally ones you revisit from time to time for that dopamine feel good fix. For me, one of those films is Back to Future, the story, the humor, the sci-fi escapism,  not to mention the brilliant onscreen chemistry between Marty and the Doc played so well by Michael J Fox and Christopher Lloyd.

Back to the Future is a movie that enjoys what I call a 'protected status', its universally loved by everyone, I don't think I've ever met anyone in my life you doesn't love the movie, which is a rare thing, especially these days. People, including myself love this wholesome movie so much they will protect it, not just as a great movie but for how it makes them feel and the sentiment they feel from watching it. These are the people that won't have a bad word said against it, it shall remain untarnished forever and it will keep people smiling and laughing long after I'm dead. I might be sounding a tad deep and reflective here, but Back to the Future is as pure as anything I could describe or compare it against.

With all that being said below are some great examples of the love people have for this movie with Art of the Poster. 

The original poster illustrated by Drew Struzan shows Marty stepping out of the DeLorean stunned by the date and time as his looks at his watch, its an iconic design and even without the movies title on it I think you'd be hard pressed to find someone who couldn't recognize both the character and the movie.

A great version here by Amanda Jordan,Marty pretends to be a Space Alien "Darth Vader" using the anti radiation suit and music through his walkman to convince George about the upcoming dance, having previously scared the Peabody family when he crashed into  their barn, emerging from the Delorean in the same suit. The costumes of the film were designed by Deborah Lynn Scott who also worked on Transformers and Avatar.

A subtle approach to this design, kind of understated with some nice emphasis on the DeLorean, Marty touching the hood of the car connects him to the journey its taken him on. Designed by James Flames.

There's a great sense of heroic realism with this poster by John Cordero, it conveys the main characters in key moments of the film and has a gritty rawness to the way its produced, it has a Drew Struzan feel in some way but all the elements work beautifully to tell a story.

One of the best moments in the film is when Marty plays Chuck Berry's Johnny B Goode on the electric guitar. Michael was taught how to play the actual song by Paul Hanson, the famed Hollywood music coach but didn't actually play the song in the movie, Marty's singing voice was that of Mark Campbell band member of Jack Mack and the Heart Attack. Design by Luke Martin.

This design by Mainger Germain has a very cool 80's vibe to it blended with a 50's rock and roll font, I guess to emphasize this is one of the 80's best movies but to hint at the back in time element of the music and era too. This concept adds some great mystery on the time machine itself, the DeLorean.

When the DeLorean was first introduced it really did have the wow factor in the movie, its reveal was superbly done to create some great impact, not to mention that line from Marty "You built a time machine out of a DeLorean?" which has an air of disbelief tinged with some disappointment too, all to hilarious effect. Love the choice of font for this by Nicolas Alejandro Barbera.

An action packed design by Oliver Rankin as the DeLorean is chased by the Libyan's across the shopping mall parking lot in their VW camper van trying to fire an RPG at it. I love the number plate in the foreground and the light coming from the wheels as the car is on the verge of going back in time.

Profanity in the movie is extremely light, I guess its also one of the qualities that make this such a universally accepted and loved film, which makes Docs comment that "some serious shit" will occur once the DeLorean hits that magic 88 miles per hour. A great design to focus on one of the funnier lines from the film that hints at the time travel aspect. Bold font with a neon glow really punches the eyes. Design by Tom Ryan.

Death on the Film Set - When Moviemaking Goes Wrong

The recent tragic death of Halyna Hutchins,42 year old Director of Photography on the New Mexico set of the Western 'RUST' was a horrific accident when a prop gun handled by Alec Baldwin was fired during the rehearsal and shot set up for a scene inside a church where Baldwin draws the pistol across his body and points it. The gun prop mortally injured Hutchins and injured writer and director Joel Souza who was also in close proximity behind Hutchins at the time. 

Details from the investigation allege that Baldwin had been handed the prop gun which appears to have had a live round in the cylinder despite the fact the words "Cold Gun" had been called out as the AD,  Dave Halls handed him the gun, indicating that the gun was safe to handle. The death of Bruce Lee's son Brandon Lee on the set of the Crow in March1993 was the last previous major incident involving a film star killed with a prop hand held weapon.

Halyna Hutchins on the set of RUST.

A thorough investigation is likely to reveal if the prop gun on the set of RUST was being handled incorrectly or that any gross negligence is at fault by any of the crew. The fact that some union crew had walked off the RUST set citing poor working conditions prior to the incident, as well as incidents also involving the use of prop weapons may also raise more questions on what procedures were being followed with the films props, since Baldwin is also the exec Producer, at least part of that responsibility falls to him.

While movie sets can be dangerous places to work, studios place a huge amount of importance on health and safety for the entire crew during the production of TV and film shows. There have of course been high profile incidents of actors being injured on set, Harrison Ford was injured by a falling door on the set of Star Wars: The Force Awakens and Tom Cruise broke his ankle doing his own stunt when he jumped between buildings filming a Mission Impossible movie in London. Both incidents were freak occurrences and its extremely rare for negligence, lack of safety enforcement or oversight to result in an actor or crew member being injured or even killed on modern films but accidents do and can happen. 

in 1982, Actor Vic Morrow and a child actor were decapitated by rotating helicopter blades on the set of the Twighlight Zone when a pyrotechnic exploded near the rear rotor of the hovering helicopter in a scene being filmed, causing the helicopter to spin out of control and crash onto the actors killing them. Stuntmen have also been killed on the sets of Rambo First Blood: Part II and on the Expendables 2, both due to pyrotechnic incidents.

The Twilight Zone, Actor Vic Morrow and two children were killed on set.

In light of the Balwdin incident, the US cop show, The Rookie, starring Nathan Fillion was one of the first TV productions to announce it will no longer use real life prop weapons or blank firing weapons on its set. Instead, the production will move to using gas blowback airsoft replicas and adding VFX for sound and muzzle flash. Live blank firing props had previously been used on large outdoor sets of the TV show.

Cop Show The Rookie will now use Airsoft guns from now on, adding VFX in post.

Weapons on set are always a risk, its primarily why only highly trained armourers, stunt professionals and stunt co-ordinators under strictly controlled conditions are the ones who handle and organise their use on set. Actors are usually given full safety briefings prior to shooting any scene using a blank firing weapon and the scene is discussed at length.

Brandon Lee was killed by the improper handling and procedure of dummy rounds and blank rounds, dummy rounds, particularly for revolvers provide a realistic look for close up shots, With Lee however, real 44 bullets were pulled from live rounds in an effort to save time and money since proper dummy rounds were not on set at the time and these were made on set and were not proper dummy rounds, the powder in the dummy cartridges was dumped out and the bullets were then inserted into the dummy cartridges to make them look like real bullets, this was done by an inexperienced prop assistant since the firearms specialist was sent home early by the film production. Unbeknown to the assistant one of these bullets had lodged inside the barrel when the gun was fired in another scene weeks earlier which was caused by the live primer at the rear of the cartridge which had given the bullet in the dummy cartridge just enough force to lodge itself inside the barrel of the gun.

When the dummy rounds were swapped for blanks which contain a charge, the 44 calibre bullet remained in the barrel and the procedure to check the gun was not followed, the fact that nobody had checked the barrel for a blockage before the weapon was used again is baffling. In the Crow incident, actor Michael Massee shot Lee's character, Eric from about 15 feet, the scene called for Massee to fire the gun and Lee would activate a squib to shred through the grocery bag he was holding in front of him to simulate the bullet strike. The squib in the grocery bag detonated on cue, and Lee fell to the ground as scripted, except that Lee didn't get back up. The bullet that was lodged in the barrel was forced out from the blank discharge with practically the same force as a real bullet and Lee was mortally wounded in the abdomen. Despite surgeons best efforts to save his life for 6 hours, Lee died. In their bid to save his life they used a transfusion of 60 pints of blood doing what they could to repair the damage. The bullet had entered Lee's body just above his navel and had lodged against his spine, but not before it had practically severed his abdominal aorta causing massive vascular and intestinal trauma to his body. His cause of death was unstoppable internal hemorrhaging due to the fact his blood would not clot.

Brandon Lee, The Crow 1993. Lee had shed 20lbs for the role as Eric Draven in the Crow.

Two months following Lee’s death, the films producer, Edward Pressman managed to secure a further $8 million to re-write the script and finish the production of The Crow, using stunt men Chad Stahelski and Jeff Cadiente to fill in for Lee's character Eric Draven, with Lee’s face digitally super imposed in post production. Michael Massee, the actor who shot Lee was deeply affected by the incident and never saw the finished film, he died of  stomach Cancer in 2016 aged 64.

Crow Actor Michael Massee 

How do prop guns work?

Depending on the film in question a production crew can utilise different prop guns depending on their required use in a scene. For example, shots of discarded guns on a beach for a war movie might use solid composite, resin or hard rubber props painted to look real so that the production doesn't have to risk damaging real vintage or expensive historical weapons. These are typically made of resin or hard rubber in pouring moulds and then painted and aged to look like their real life counterpart.

In scenes where guns need to be carried  but not fired or simulated fired by extras, these are also typically solid resin or rubber with no working parts if no closeup is required.

In some cases stunt guns, inert guns with no firing pin or working parts might be used for scenes where a working version of the same gun could potentially be damaged. For example, this could be a seen where the gun is thrown across a room or dropped to the ground from height.

M1 Garand Resin props used on  the Tom Hanks WW2 D-Day movie Saving Private Ryan

Silicon moulds are often used by armourers to create replica guns which are then painted and finished to look like the real item for scenes where a real gun is not necessary or may be damaged in a complex stunt scene.

For scenes that require closeups but no firing of the weapon, highly detailed replicas, typically ones which are prevented from firing or discharging any kind of ammunition are sometimes used. In most cases for scenes where the firing of the gun is a requirement real guns are also used with the primary difference being that blanks are used rather than real bullets, blanks typically have a crimped end to the cartridge when used in filming. 

On the Keanu Reeves John Wick series of films, Airsoft gas blowback pistols are the favoured props of choice with sound and VFX doing the rest of the work in post production, given the close proximity to the stunts involved, even blanks would pose a danger at these distances, the guns are realistic looking Airsoft guns that functional like a real gun with the hammer, trigger and slide all operated by a gas bottle stored in the guns grip inside a mock magazine.

John Wick Chapter 2 screen used blowback prop 1911 pistol. The hammer, trigger and slide all work like a real gun.

Automatic prop guns  / real guns firing blanks will still eject a cartridge, it works exactly the same way as its live ammo counterpart. Two types of blank rounds are available, loud and fire+loud. One creates noise and little to no muzzle flare, the other gives a big bang and lots of muzzle flare giving directors a choice of variables on set. When I shot mo-cap scenes for Wheelman, the Midway Games video game, I handled an M4 assault rifle with a 30 round blank firing magazine, the armourer brought both types of these blank rounds to simulate weapon firing for the intro sequence.

Blank rounds are distinctive with their 'crimped' end, they contain primarily a powder charge to make noise and in some cases still discharge flame.

All guns are managed by an 'Armourer' a specialist firearms expert, film production companies also employ a safety officer and stunt co-ordinator for scenes involving firearms. Scenes where the camera is in front of  a blank firing weapon sometimes shoot the sequence with a perspex, ballistic proof shield to protect crew. Additionally actors will aim at what is called a 'dummy point', a safe area that is not directly in the firing line of the person behind the camera, even though the audience sees the weapon appearing to be aimed directly at the camera.

Some actors are more familiar and aware of weapon safety based on their movie roles, typically actors who make regular TV shows or films featuring props or weapons are used to their presence on set and familiar with the rules of gun safety. Highly trained weapon specialists with years of experience in safe weapon handling would be training and supervising actors on any set using firearms or firing props. Any actor coming in direct contact with a prop gun is always supervised and trained on the proper use and how to handle the prop safely before a scene is shot. 

In a 2020  famous Instagram clip on actor Will Smiths feed,  the actor disarmed and weapon checked  a prop gun being mishandled close to the actor with the barrel pointed at Smiths face, Smith was visibly agitated by the individuals lack of weapon safety, the actor slapped the muzzle downward, grabbed the weapon, ejected and checked the mag for rounds and cleared the weapon by racking back the slide several times to ensure the chamber was clear before sliding the empty mag back in and handing it back to the individual. If anything, it shows how well weapon safety has been drummed into Will Smith on the set of his films.

Will Smith is visibly agitated at the lack of gun safety being shown by the man handling the gun pointing it in Smiths direction.

Will Smith slaps the gun away before disarming the man and checking the gun for live rounds.

The Alec Baldwin, Rust tragedy has brought fresh focus to the on set deaths by prop weapons of Brandon Lee and Jon-Erik Hexum, a young actor who was playing with a  44 Magnum loaded with a blank round between scenes when he placed the barrel of the gun to his head and pulled the trigger in a game of mock Russian Roulette. The wadding from the blank cartridge drove a bone fragment the size of a quarter into his brain, he died 6 days later after being pronounced brain dead. The age old rule of handling any kind of gun is never pull the trigger unless you intend to destroy what you're aiming at.

John-Erik Hexum was a young actor killed by a blank firing prop weapon

There are still so many questions that need to be answered with the Alec Baldwin, RUST incident but three of the most pressing I can think of would be...

1. Were proper training and safety procedures provided to crew handling set props, specifically in the loading, unloading and safe operation of blank firing weapons and props?

2.Why did the production of RUST allegedly have live ammunition on a film set?

3. Why didn't Baldwin check the weapon personally and why was the prop aimed directly at another person in close proximity?

The likely outcome of this incident will perhaps encourage more stricter use for weapons and blank firing weapons on film sets, more films and TV shows may even resort to VFX to avoid the risk of injury and to enforce more training for actors before handling weapons, even replicas.

For now though, the film industry has lost a promising talent and a family is left to mourn a terrible loss, and questions need answers, starting with -  How did this go so wrong and how could it happen?