Bullet Catch - Method

Method

No matter what speed a bullet leaves the muzzle, it must eventually come to rest. If the gun were perfectly aimed using an appropriate distance, such a trick would seem plausible. This is the line of reasoning the performer of the bullet catch encourages the audience to accept.

As is often the case with other magic illusions, there is no single way the bullet catch is performed. The method a magician may use will vary from performer to performer. It should come as no surprise that the gun or the bullet is rigged in some way. In the simplest form of the bullet catch, the gun is made to fire blanks. The target through which the "bullet" passes is set to destruct using a squib. All the performer must do is keep the bullet in his or her mouth until ready to produce it.

If the gun is to be loaded in front of the audience, a wax bullet is loaded into the firearm. The spray of liquid wax from the barrel of the gun is enough to break the pane of glass. A good magician is able to use misdirection to exchange the marked bullet with one made of wax and place the marked bullet into his or her mouth. There are also electronic guns, which will simulate the sound, smoke, and flash of a firing, but not actually affect the bullet. Another method when loading in front of the audience or by an audience member is to have a small magnet attached to the ramrod; the magnet then removes the bullet immediately after loading. When the magician takes the stick, he or she removes the bullet, and holds it in his or her mouth until producing it. In that case, the gun is always gimmicked; it only simulates a shot. This method is now of course somewhat obsolete, given that modern firearms do not use a ramrod.

In cases where the bullet is marked by an audience member, the marked bullet is then transferred to the magician through sleight-of-hand, or a similar bullet is duplicated by an off-stage assistant and transferred to the magician.

The gun that Soo used was set to fire a blank in an adjacent barrel. When the gun malfunctioned, the bullet that had been loaded into the main barrel was accidentally fired into Soo's lung.