Bottomless Magazines: Difference between revisions

[[File:disassembly04.jpg|link=Visual Pun|frame|No, not that kind!]]

 

 

 

Ammo capacity of guns on TV seems to be totally dependent on how much drama and suspense is needed. The hero will always have plenty of ammo to mow down the [[Mooks]] but will run out just before reaching the [[Big Bad]], or confront him with [[One Bullet Left]]. Reloading is usually only done when it adds to the drama or when you need to [[Unorthodox Reload|show off how badass the gunslinger is]]. If someone is firing an automatic weapon that's belt-fed, or has a large banana-shaped magazine in it, forget it, he's ''never'' going to run out until you shoot him dead. The only thing that seems to stop a movie or TV gun from firing is the [[Shur Fine Guns|inevitable and dramatic jam]].

This is a common characteristic of [[Energy Weapons]]; seldom do you see a ray gun run out of zap juice.

 

 

 

This may end up becoming an [[Acceptable Break From Reality]] in many [[Video Games]]; who wants to pull their fighter plane over to the side to top up on the 20mm ammo in the middle of a [[Shoot'Em Up]]?

A common justification in science fiction stories is that future firearms actually fire extremely tiny projectiles (hundreds or even thousands of which can be packed into a single magazine). Since kinetic energy is a factor of both mass and velocity, firing mechanisms that allow the projectile to be shot in a very, very high velocity can compensate (or more) for the size of the bullet. Stronger characters sometimes have the 'cheats' of an absurdly large magazine relative to their body size (e.g. having their gun belt-fed from a backpack) or internal magazines whose capacity cannot be accurately calculated by viewers, but neither of these can actually be bottomless.

 

 

'''NOTE:''' [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AF21sihEgOU Clips are devices used to help load cartridges into a magazine such as the en-bloc clips used to help feed the M1 rifle's fixed magazine or "moon clips" used hold multiple rounds in-place for loading revolvers.] [[Coconut Effect|It's a common and understandable mistake to mix clips and magazines up, especially since most people already refer to magazines as clips in movies or video-games.]]

 

{{examples}}

* ''[[Shikabane Hime]]'': Makina fires something like 500 rounds each from her dual [[wikipedia:Ingram MAC-11|machine guns]] before changing magazines.

* Elie's Guns Tonfa in ''[[Rave Master|Groove Adventure Rave]]'' are often used for [[More Dakka|full auto bullet-spraying]]. There are no visible magazines, integral magazines for guns the size of tonfas shouldn't have that much capacity, and she is never shown reloading. It could be a helical magazine, which would have the right shape and ammo capacity for the tonfas—except that such a design would leave little space for the firing and shell-ejection mechanism.

 

 

* ''[[The Life and Times of Scrooge McDuck]]'' actually averts this—six bullets a clip, then reload.

 

* In ''[[Light and Dark - The Adventures of Dark Yagami]]'', the [[Marty Stu|titular character]] is confronted by [[Exact Words|a million stormtroopers]], so he pulls out his gun and realizes he only has one-hundred thousand bullets left. A magazine with that many bullets would be about a <s>kilometre</s> "[[Rouge Angles of Satin|killmeter]]" long, [[Writers Cannot Do Math|and there's no way you could count them]]. [[Crazy Awesome|Then again...]]

 

=== Films -- Animation ===

* In ''[[Tarzan (Disney film)|Tarzan]]'' Clayton has a double-barrel shotgun that can fire up to five times between reloading.

 

=== Films -- Live-Action ===

* In ''[[The Mummy Trilogy]]'', during the riverboat battle, one American fires a total of twelve shots from a six-cylinder revolver. Have fun with some drinking games based on this one. In the same riverboat battle, Rick fires about fourteen times without reloading, whereas with exactly the same gun three years before he ran out after about three shots in each. During the camp battle he only fires six, so that's okay.

* Similarly, in ''[[The Man Who Fell to Earth]]'', a six-cylinder revolver is fired ''seventeen'' times in succession.

* ''[[Shootout At The OK Corral]]''. Doc Holliday fires three shots in a row... from a double-barreled shotgun.

* In ''[[Snatch]]'' the trope is averted and later followed. Earlier, Bullet Tooth Tony [[Rasputinian Death|runs out of bullets killing Boris the bullet dodger]]—he is unable to kill Tyrone; he pulls the trigger, the gun goes click, and he comments "You lucky bastard". In this sequence, he reloads at least once, and each magazine holds 7 shots (the gun clearly has Desert Eagle .50 on the side). HOWEVER, later on, Cousin Avi gets the gun and fires 10 shots at a dog. but also note that Desert Eagle's are also made in .357 (9 + 1) and .44 (8 + 1 shots) so they could be using a non .50 version for the live firing.

* Although ''[[Dirty Harry]]'' and its sequels make lots of attempts to avoid this, [[Complete Monster|Scorpio's]] sub-machine gun seems to spray a lot of lead with very few reloads. Given, a lot of SMGs tend to have fairly large ammo capacities.

* ''[[Grosse Pointe Blank]]'' has this in abundance. Oddly, his lack of ammo then becomes very important in his brief stand off with Grocer.

* Appears during the hilarious chase scene in ''Raising Arizona'': a cashier reloads his double-barreled shotgun after firing one shell at H.I., but then fires off five shells in a row without stopping.

* John Woo movies. Almost every single one, with the exception of the ''The Killer'' - in that movie's final battle you see one of the main characters toss a magazine to the other so he can reload. The only time the guns ''ever'' seem to run out of ammunition is when it's somehow relevant to the plot. Woo has stated in interviews that showing a reload detracts from the action of a gunfight and he wonders why American film audiences are so obsessed with it. Correlates with the [[Mystery Science Theater 3000]] Mantra.

* Played ludicrously straight in ''[[Underworld (film)|Underworld]]'', in which a pair of automatic pistols can be used to make a person-sized hole in a floor, ''[[Looney Tunes]]''-style, ''after'' firing off about a dozen rounds.

{{quote|'''Willie:''' Now, you got a .45 revolver that holds six bullets! Now, I counted at least twenty shots and you never reloaded!

* ''[[Battle Royale]]'': Kazuo Kiriyama's uzi.

* The director's commentary for ''[[Grindhouse|Planet Terror]]'' notes that even the actors were wondering about it. The director told them, "It's not that kind of movie."

* In ''[[Saving Private Ryan]]'', the American sniper fires more than five shots from his Springfield sniper rifle without reloading, exceeding the weapon's capacity.

* In the first half of the final gun battle in ''[[Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid]]'', Butch and Sundance are shown reloading their guns every six shots... but then they go the entire rest of the fight without ever reloading.

* Seymour's revolver in the film of the musical ''[[Little Shop of Horrors]]'' has at least 12 shots.

* ''[[Der Clown]] -- Payday'': Considering the amount of ammo the villains blow through their machine guns in the many shoot-outs without ever reloading, they would require to have chainguns and pull several feet of ammo after them. In fact, in this movie, clips are only ever ''inserted'' and never ''exchanged''.

* In the 1939 movie ''[[Stagecoach]]'', during the final chase scene, nearly every male riding the stagecoach has a Winchester or revolver, and are shooting them as fast as possible, but none of them are shown reloading them (the Native Americans, on the other hand, sometimes have to reload theirs). Then suddenly, without warning, they're out of ammo and about to be overrun (before [[The Cavalry]] saves them).

* In ''Undead'', the police officer's revolver fires a rather obscene amount of rounds in the first gunfight.

* Lampshaded in ''What's Up, Tiger Lily?'' (and referencing ''[[Peter Pan]]'') -- when the hero is in a shootout and runs out of ammo, he tells us "If all you people in the audience who believe in fairies clap your hands, my gun will be magically full of bullets!"

* The first ''[[RoboCop]]'' film plays with this trope. Although the film features plenty of gunplay, characters are seen to reload. However the title character, while tending to fire short, controlled bursts, expends a lot more bullets than is possible for the size of his [[Hand Cannon|admittedly oversized Auto-9]] before returning it to his leg holster ''at the end of any given engagement'', and is never seen performing a reload action during combat at all. Additionally, the ED-209 robot appears to carry more ammunition than a fighter plane; in one of the film's most memorable scenes it empties three 20mm cannon into a hapless executive for nigh-on half a minute.

 

 

* In ''[[Garth Marenghi's Darkplace]]'', after remarking that he only has five shots left in his revolver, Dr. Rick Dagless, M.D. fires off nine shots in a row. Thorton Reed is also known for firing his shotgun repeatedly without reloading, often in a clearly different background. It's deliberately [[So Bad It's Good]], so it gets a pass.

* The ''[[Torchwood]]'' episode "Something Borrowed" is fairly bad about this. In one scene, Owen fires his pistol roughly two dozen times without pausing to reload. Could be hand-waved with alien tech...

* Hershel in season 2 of ''[[The Walking Dead (TV series)|The Walking Dead]]'' fires eleven shots over the limit with his Remington 870 5-shot.

 

** Not to mention another Gift (Garefena's Crown, Level 2) that gives them the infinite-ammo cheat for the duration of the scene. The cost? One Gnosis point and [[Metal Gear Solid|wearing a hat]]. ''[[Shout-Out|Seriously]]''.

** Also, they can create magical one-shot items called Bottomless Magazines, which do just what you'd think they do for one scene.

* In ''[[Hong Kong Action Theatre]]'', as long as your gunplay attack rolls on D20 don't come up a 3 or worse, you can blast off to your heart's content, but if you do roll that 3 or worse, you need to take a full round to reload. This can sometimes get annoying if this happens two to three shots into a freshly-loaded mag.

* In ''[[It Came From The Late Late Late Show]]'', you're playing an actor in a B-movie. Any missile weapons you get have the same number of shots as your Fame score (basically your experience points). If your actor has 48 Fame points, then the derringer he's got up his sleeve has 48 shots.

* The "Infinite Ammunition" option in ''[[GURPS]]'' means the players always have extra bullets or arrows. It's also a perk in the ''[[Gun Fu]]'' splatbook.

* ''[[Mutants and Masterminds]]'' generally assumes that weapons operate under this trope, with a PC's blaster running out of ammo counting as a complication.

* In ''[[Wild Talents]]'', a superhero game taking place in a world in which [[Reed Richards Is Useless|Reed Richards is most definitely NOT useless]], the influence of super intelligent heroes has made it so the vast majority of firearms in use after the 1960's are electromagnetic railguns with magazines containing hundreds of tiny bullets.

* ''Sniper'' has optional rules for a Super-Soldier, including never needing to reload.

 

* Pretty much any and every [[Eastern RPG]] character who uses a bow, gun, or other ranged weapon will play this trope to the hilt.

* ''[[Bullet Witch]]'' intentionally uses a variant of this trope. One of the powers the lead character possesses is to convert part of her constantly-regenerating supply of MP into bullets or shells for her gun. She can't fire forever without reloading, but she can reload forever.

* The ''[[Boktai]]'' series has a protagonist whose main firearm is powered by sunlight. Give him some sunscreen and he can literally shoot all day.

** Said pivotal cutscene involves Steve firing both MAC-11s until they run out of ammo at the same time—despite the fact that 15 seconds earlier, he shoots a wall with a long burst with only one gun. To top it off, he'll still fire in both cutscenes even if the player drains the guns of ammo during the playable Steve sequence.

** Likewise, once you clear the game and unlock the Survivors mini-game, you can fire Steve's twin MAC-11s for almost 30 continuous seconds before they run out, despite the fact that a MAC-11 empties a full magazine (32 rounds) in just under two seconds.

** Even more amusing are Steve's Gold Lugers. Claire actually finds them first, with no ammo in them. Then Steve takes them. Later on, Steve rescues Claire by going [[Guns Akimbo]] with the Gold Lugers, then trading them back to you - with no ammo. Not only that, but there's no ammo for them in ''the entire game''—their use is strictly to [[Locked Door|place into a door so it unlocks]].

*** To add insult to injury, he actually complains that you "tricked him" since the MAC-11s have no ammo (he makes you grab it off a crate).

*** Speaking of the Nemesis, defeating him in every optional fight makes him drop an attachment that allows you to give a single gun infinite ammunition.

** ''[[Resident Evil 4]]'' & ''[[Resident Evil 5|5]]'' start the player off with reasonable, though a bit high, magazine sizes. But the upgrade system plays this straight, eventually allowing your small handgun to hold 50+ Bullets per mag.

*** And again: Rebecca's counter-attack involves her blowing up the offending zombie with a ''grenade to the face.'' It never depletes the player's actual supply of grenades, and even happens if the player doesn't have any to throw normally.

* In the game ''[[John Woo Presents Stranglehold]]'', although you don't have unlimited ammunition, you ''do'' still have Bottomless Magazines—as long as your gun has ammo, you can fire continuously without stopping to reload. In fact, the only time Tequila reloads is when he's gearing up to unleash a Barrage attack.

** Also, the Bill Blasters from the ''[[Super Mario Bros.]]'' series games, which can fire an unlimited number of Bullet Bills. Adding to this is the fact that the Bills are approximately the same size as their Blasters. This is also true with Lakitus, especially in the early years where [[The Spiny|their Spinies]] are all the same size as their clouds, which in turn are the same size as the Lakitus themselves, as with the Hammer Bros., which can throw an unlimited supply of hammers.

** Lady is a peculiar case; although she is shown reloading her small arms regularly, she seems to carry more magazines that should be possible, while she is never seen reloading her "Kalina Ann" rocket launcher.

** Snake automatically collects empty magazines to use as a distraction. The magic sidecar also has an unlimited supply of them [[Fridge Logic|for some reason]].

** Also, late in the game, {{spoiler|when Raiden and Snake help each other fight their way out of Arsenal Gear, Raiden asks Snake why he doesn't have to worry about ammo. Snake points at his headband and says "infinite ammo". Raiden accepts this explanation with no further discussion. Is that lampshading, or shining a giant neon spotlight on it?}}

*** Oddly enough, it's a reference to the {{spoiler|good ending}} of the first game; the item received has that exact property.

* In ''[[Left 4 Dead]]'', your pistols will never run out of ammo, but you have to reload at the end of the magazine. Other weapons can eventually run out of ammo, but there are strategically placed ammo piles lying around that you can use to reload nearly any of the guns you find. Such piles are spaced out farther in the sequel, however, so running out of ammo is a much more common occurrence, unless you're using pistols or melee weapons to save ammo. Also, some weapons have unusual round capacities than depicted in the player models.

** And played perfectly straight in the [[Exactly What It Says on the Tin|Gib Fest]] mutation; Every player starts with an M60 LMG, with infinite ammo. Combine with boomer bile to get all the common infected in one spot, and, to quote another of [[Team Fortress 2|Valve's games]], [[Ludicrous Gibs|"SO MUCH BLOOD! HA HA HA!"]]

* ''Afterburner Climax'', where missiles will automatically rematerialize on your plane after they have been fired, to say nothing of the [[Macross Missile Massacre]] "Climax Mode" [[Limit Break]] where you can lock onto and fire on more targets than the usual max missile capacity of your plane. By the end of the game you probably have launched more missiles than are available to a small country's air force. Your cannon also has unlimited rounds. Then again, you are a [[One-Man Army|One Man Air Force]] going up against what feels like an entire air force.

* The first ''[[Half-Life]]'' has the Hornet Gun/Hive hand that ''regrew'' ammo. ''Opposing Force'' had the Shockroach, which recharged itself, and the Barnacle, which apparently doesn't need ammo. Living infinite ammo weaponry, [[Squick|"lovely"]].

* In ''[[Borderlands]]'', some guns are equipped with a regenerating ammo stat, and one particular gun, The Dove, combines this with having no reload animation. This is lampshaded by the description for The Dove itself, which is: "Sometimes I forget to reload..."

** Some class abilities allow more ammo to be used than some guns can hold. In some cases this allows for [[Up to Eleven|five shotgun rounds to be used when normally two are loaded as well as sub-machinegun and assault rifles being able to hold as much as THOUSANDS of rounds.]]

** Lest we forget, helicopters would fire a salvo of rockets, wait a bit to reload, and then fire another salvo of rockets. Endlessly.

** Perfectly justified for the Orkz, whose gear runs entirely on [[Clap Your Hands If You Believe]].

* The original ''[[Medal of Honor]]'' for the [[PlayStation]] lampshaded this trope. One of the unlockable bonus cheat modes was called 'American Movie Mode', which gave unlimited ammo.

* In the MMO Third Person Shooter S4 League, all of your weapons except for the grenade launcher and installation weapons have limited ammo but unlimited magazine. Justified because it takes place in a virtual setting where ammo is unlimited because the designer said so.

* The latest [[World of Warcraft]] patch plays this trope straight, hunters no longer need ammo for their ranged weapons, though if you had a quiver on your person (they've turned into normal bags) it will still display.

** Secondary material suggests the [[Shoulders of Doom|giant shoulderpads]] are for ammo storage. More mystifying is how missile-bearing units such as the Goliath never run out—or, for that matter, how hydralisks never run out of poisoned spines.

* [[The Dishwasher]] gets "The Arsenal" in the first game while both the Dishwasher and Yuki get an SMG and a Gatling arm in the second [[Awesome but Impractical|with limited effectiveness in most situations.]] They later get far more effective [[Short-Range Shotgun|shotguns]]. Both weapons (which The Arsenal consists of) can be reloaded as much as you want, with the character ejecting the old mag/shell, with the new magazine magically showing up as soon as the old one hits the ground.

* In the original Xbox game ''[[Video Game]]/Black'', after completing a level on multiple difficulties, you can unlock "Silver Weapons" which make the guns shinier, and invoke this trope. Which makes sense, when you start with a pistol or shotgun (Reloading Optional), but when you find a RPG mid-level, pick it up, and can turn anything breakable in the level broken, it turns it up to eleven.

* In [[Rance II]] of the [[Rance]] series, Maria seems to have a bazooka with unlimited ammo. Averted in the more recent games where units have a limited amount of actions.

 

* Also parodied in ''[http://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/348370 There's Something About Halo 2]''. MC's firing his pistol at the Covenant, who respond: "Does he not need to stop, and reload?" "He must have a really big clip or something..." Cue MC running out of bullets, and a magazine several metres long dropping out.

 

* Spoofed in [http://www.strangecandy.net/d/20010322.html this strip] of ''[[Strange Candy]]''.

* Guns in the ''[[Adventurers!]]!'' webcomic don't have to be reloaded and never run out of ammo, because ''Adventurers!'' takes place in a Console RPG.

 

* Repeatedly parodied in ''[[Italian Spiderman]]'', starting with a fifteen-round barrage from a six-shooter.

* In ''[[Survival of the Fittest]]'', a particularly blatant example occurred with Madison Conner, who had taken an MP5 with only one magazine of ammo. She was specified to have "emptied the clip" (or other variations) at least three times with no mention of reloading whatsoever. This was semi-prevalent in all versions of the game (at least in terms of reloading but never actually running out of bullets) until v4, where each firearm assigned has a specific ammo count.

 

** In the [[Stephen King]] episode, Stewie fires another double barreled shotgun three times.

** In another episode, Brian receives a free revolver with the liquor he bought as per "Texas state law". It [[Shur Fine Guns|fires once on its own]] when he tries to throw it away, after which he picks it up and fires it into the air six more times. Granted, some revolvers hold more than six bullets.

 

== Other weaponry ==

* Justified in ''[[Fate/stay night]]'' since Archer doesn't really fire his arrows that often and even when he does, he is making them through magic. In the case of Gilgamesh, his Gate of Babylon can fire swords like arrows infinitely because he has just that many weapons in his vault and they reappear inside the vault after an unspecified period of time.

* Not quite guns, but [[Serious Business|just as important]]: Duelists in ''[[Yu-Gi-Oh!]]!'' never seem to run out of ''cards''. A duel deck typically consists of 40 cards; during a duel, the players will draw 10, 20, or even 30 cards from their deck to place them in their hand—and yet, the deck ''never grows smaller'' (unless the plot requires it).

 

 

* The ''[[Savage Dragon]]'' villain Dung is equipped with hydraulic cannons that spray apartment-filling amounts of [[Exactly What It Says on the Tin|dung]]... teleported in from the local sewer systems. Thank God the Dragon has awesome healing abilities...

 

 

 

* Susan in ''[[The Chronicles of Narnia]]'' has a Bottomless Quiver, but it's a magical one.

 

 

* ''[[Mighty Morphin Power Rangers]]'': Kimberly's Power Bow has an endless supply of arrows. Said arrows can explode and chase after monsters like guided missiles. The Dragonzord seems to have an infinite amount of missiles.

 

 

** And 3.5. They called it the Quiver of Plenty back then.

** They also had the Quiver of Ehlonna, which wasn't actually bottomless but, despite being the size of a normal 20-arrow quiver, it can hold 180 arrows (or objects of equivalent size), 12 bow-sized objects, and 6 spear-sized objects.

 

 

* The ''[[Metroid]]'' series uses this, but explains it by having Samus' suit have the ability to convert almost anything into ammunition and health.

* Played straight in the ''[[Warcraft]]'' RTS series. In ''3'', a Night Elf archer named Shandris does a [[Lampshade Hanging]], [[Stop Poking Me|if clicked repeatedly enough]], by opening wondering why she never runs out of arrows.

* Ranged weaponry in the [[Might and Magic]] series (the [[More Popular Spinoff|original series]], not Heroes - for that, look under Exceptions) never run out of ammunition. This may be justified for blasters.<ref>hand-held energy weapons made by a very, very advanced civilization.</ref> Bows and crossbows, not so much.

* ''[[Lego Indiana Jones]]'': Not only are the ranged weapons capable of firing limitless shots, but Marion Ravenwood carries a ridiculous number of [[Improbable Weapon User|bottles to throw]].

 

* [http://www.flipsidecomics.com/comic.php?i=323 Maytag's throwing knives], from ''[[Flipside]]''. Summoned from a dematerialized [[Hyperspace Arsenal|Bag of Holding]], there are actually a finite amount—nearly two hundred.

* Of all things, '''bread''' in ''[[Persona 3 FTW]]''.

 

 

* Speedy on ''[[Teen Titans (animation)|Teen Titans]]'': How many arrows can he fit in that quiver? In the Season 3 finale, he's firing them off nonstop three at a time but always with plenty to spare for the next scene.

** Similarly, Green Arrow from ''[[Justice League Unlimited]]'' seems to have a bottomless supply of arrows.

* Averted on the ''Dungeons & Dragons'' cartoon, as Hank's magical bow fired [[Hard Light]] rather than physical arrows.

 

* In volume 1 of the ''[[Read or Die]]'' manga, Yomiko whirls to face a henchman, only to find that she's out of paper -- [[Mexican Standoff|but he's out of bullets, too, and they both take a moment to reload before continuing]].

** The first scene of the anime itself involves Vash nonchalantly surviving an incredible tavern-demolishing volley of gunfire; frequent cuts to the [[Mooks]] delivering said volley show that they do stop to reload.

* Both played straight and averted in ''[[Ghost in the Shell]] Stand Alone Complex''. Some episodes have characters frequently reloading, while others show characters firing weapons for far longer than they should be able to (even if the weapons used caseless ammunition).

* ''[[Grenadier]]''. A fairly accurate bullet count is kept since the highlight of every episode is when Rushuna Tendo reloads her revolver. Fresh bullets are ejected from her [[Fan Service|considerable]] [[Gag Boobs|cleavage]], then scooped out of the air with the cylinder. In this case it's her cleavage that's bottomless.

** Subverted once, when even her cleavage runs out of ammo and it's up to her companions to supply her with bullets.

* Also generally averted in ''[[Noir (anime)|Noir]]''. Kirika and Mireille are often seen reloading during gunfights with mooks, though sometimes the reloading is presumed to happen off-screen (e.g., Mireille fires off a dozen rounds from her gun's 15-round magazine, the action cuts away to show Kirika fighting, then we cut back to Mireille firing another dozen rounds or so). Where they keep their spare magazines is never shown, though.

* Played with in ''[[Black Lagoon]]''. When the scene is serious, Revy needs to reload realistically (no one else lives long enough to get the chance). When it's not, everyone can empty enough rounds to swiss cheese a car without reloading.

 

* Subverted in ''[[100 Bullets]]''. Most of the plots revolve around a protagonist who is given a finite supply of untraceable bullets. [[Exactly What It Says on the Tin|Guess how many]].

* A '''[[Runaways]]''' arc one dealt with time travel to the 1900s. One of the villains there had a particularly nasty pair of magic revolvers that hit its target every time. He ended up being killed when he wasted his shots on a undead hero who couldn't be killed so easily.

'''Chief:''' Then ''reload!''

'''Officer 2:''' No, he means we're ''really'' out of ammo. That was it. Small-town budget. We never thought we'd ''need'' it. }}

 

=== Films -- Live-Action ===

** Additionally, a few SWAT team members engage the Terminator with their backup pistols. Given that they'd been firing their MP5 submachine guns for a good thirty seconds straight before that, it's implied that they were out of magazines for them.

** Also, the T-800 uses exactly as many M79 grenades as he is shown to have on his ammo belt, using his very last one on the T-1000.

** The T-1000 also fired about 21 times with his Beretta 92 before reloading (without extended mag, it only holds 15, or 16 with a round in the chamber).

* The film ''[[Kick-Ass (film)|Kick-Ass]]'' averts this -- in the climax, Hit-Girl [[Unorthodox Reload|reloads her guns in the air...literally]]. Something that has to be seen, preferably widescreen. {{spoiler|And at some point she finally does run out of bullets.}}

* Used in ''[[Last Man Standing (film)|Last Man Standing]]''. We do see Bruce Willis using up mags and having to reload, and there is a scene which shows him loading numerous spare magazines from boxes of cartridges, but he seems to be able to fit [[Hyperspace Arsenal|an inordinate number of magazines in his pockets]].

* Averted in the 1962 ''[[James Bond]]'' film ''[[Dr. No]]''. Bond ([[Sean Connery]]) hides behind the door as an assassin fires several shots into [[Sleeping Dummy|blanked-covered pillows]] on the bed. Bond disarms the assassin and the two converse, but Bond "carelessly" allows the assassin to retrieve his dropped pistol—which clicks on an empty chamber. Bond doesn't even flinch and says "That's a Smith and Wesson, and you've had your six." before killing the assassin.

** Unfortunately the gun in question is a Colt automatic...

* Averted in ''[[The Adventure of Sherlock Holmes' Smarter Brother|The Adventure of Sherlock Holmes Smarter Brother]]''. If you count carefully, Moriarty shoots off exactly 6 rounds from his revolver while pursuing Sigerson. When he catches up:

{{quote|Sigerson: A Webley's #2, I think, carries only six cartridges.

* A bit of an [[Ass Pull]] in ''[[Star Trek: First Contact]]'' where the Borg will adapt to the crew's phaser rifle frequencies after about twelve or so shots.

* [[The Book of Eli]] is one of the few [[After the End]] movies in which it is mentioned that bullets are hard to come by. The main character is shown reloading during his gun fights.

* Name a Michael Mann movie, and I will show you an aversion.

* In ''[[Predators]]'', Royce warns everyone to count how many bullets they have left and to conserve ammunition. Isabelle's sniper rifle runs out in one scene.

* In ''[[Sucker Punch]]'', the girls never fire more than their weapons can hold, and constantly pause to reload.

* ''[[Aliens]]'' carefully avoids this. Hicks instructs the Marines to use "short, controlled bursts" to avoid wasting ammo. Vasquez is eventually reduced to a sidearm when her rifle runs dry, and Ripley's ammo counter is constantly shown during the finale.

 

* Averted in [[Marion Zimmer Bradley]]'s ''Warrior Woman'', in which gladiators using slingshots are handicapped by being given a fixed number of stones (fourteen); the crowd chants the number of shots taken.

* [[Louis L'Amour]] usually averted this in his Western novels, even pointing out that even in a loaded pistol, the chamber under the hammer was left empty (to prevent accidents since most pistols at the time did not have a safety), meaning one less bullet than modern audiences might expect.

** Almost all revolvers lack a safety. The issue with the revolvers in Lamour's novels is that when the hammer is down, it rests directly on the percussion cap (in early revolvers) or the primer (in cartridge-fed arms) and a sharp knock to the hammer can set it off. Not an issue in the heat of battle, since once you fired a shot, the hammer was "down" on a fired chamber anyway and thereby safe until you thumbed the hammer back (as you had to with many of these guns) to cock it and spin the cylinder for the next round. Modern double-action revolvers have a modified and much safer trigger mechanism, which removes the need for this practice, though exponents of Wild West reenactment shoots still need to bear it in mind as their revolvers are faithful copies of the originals (with all that this implies).

* [[Samurai Cat]]'s older brother Shimura demonstrated in the second book that the "Badass" part of [[Retired Badass]] still applied: he carried an utterly ridiculous number of Colt .45 semi-automatic pistols [[Hyperspace Arsenal|in his kimono]], and his wife had an even more ludicrous amount of extra ammunition. But they ''still'' ran dry during the big shoot-out of that story.

* Carefully averted in ''[[The Hunger Games]]'': Katniss is limited to a total of twelve arrows, and retrieves used arrows whenever she can. Several times throughout the story, the reader is informed about exactly how many arrows she still has.

 

* Averted with [[Energy Weapons]] no less in ''[[Firefly]]'' for at least one character who discovered that, although [[Awesome but Impractical|a hand laser looks pretty cool]], it starts giving the "low battery" warning after only three shots or so.

* Averted on the old ''[[Batman (TV series)|Batman]]'' TV series, where the villains are shooting at Batman behind smoke; when the smoke clears, it's revealed that not only does Batman have a shield, he knows the villains are now out of bullets and can attack them.

* Averted in ''[[Jericho]]'', wherein the people of the town are very conscious of their ammunition, and the heroes are continually requesting new magazines and fighting over the actual weapons themselves.

* Averted in the ''[[Doctor Who]]'' episode "The Doctor Dances" when Capt. Jack's Sonic Blaster runs out of power; amusingly, a few moments before, he was making fun of the Doctor's Sonic Screwdriver.

** In another episode, they give the villagers guns and join them to try and repel Ori footsoldiers, but are overrun when they run out of ammo... And judging by the befuddled looks of the villagers, they didn't have time to warn them beforehand.

* Averted {{spoiler|at least}} once in ''Due South''. Constable Fraser confidently approaches a criminal pointing a gun at him, telling him that he's out of ammo (the pistol is a 9-shot), while his partner and another cop argue over whether he is, or whether he still has a bullet or two left (one says he's heard 8 shots, the other says only 7). {{spoiler|Turns out Fraser was right and he had used all 9.}}

* Subverted multiple times in ''[[Get Smart]]'':

* ''[[Farscape]]'' seems to play this straight as pulse pistols have absurd numbers of shots. ...But one episode John runs out of ammo. Lampshading how unlikely it is to run out of shots with a 500 round battery, and then getting understandably irate when the pulse pistol he loots from an enemy ALSO runs out of energy after only a handful of shots.

 

*** It's also entirely reasonable that each trooper carries enough ammunition for the battle, as (due to the turn-based movement) each hour translates to roughly 15 minutes in-universe. In addition, alot of the ammunition has either been handwaved due to [[Applied Phlebotinum]] (such as Tyranids biologically producing the ammunition from within their bodies to guns that literally recharge their batteries in heat or sunlight). In addition, given the average length of a game (which is 6 turns) it's understandable that a standard pistol might never even need to be reloaded, much less need additional ammunition (in 6 turns, a pistol will fire only 6 shots, and that's if it's fired every single turn and the bearer isnt killed), to say nothing of larger, automatic guns (which fire a maximum of 12 shots in those 6 turns).

*** On the whole, the 40k and Fantasy universes tend to avert the trope - some by the simple expedient of "The model has enough shots to last the battle", but in the specialist games this is looked into in more details. The fantasy spinoff ''Mordheim'' has certain weapons (such as barbed arrows and vials of holy water) that had limited ammunition, but the 40k narrative game ''Inquisitor'' took it to ridiculous levels with noting down the number of shots, the time taken to reload, the number of magazines a person has and even what order the [[Abnormal Ammo|special bullet types]] were preloaded in. As a general rule, the less models to keep track of, the more detailed the mechanics.

* Laser barrels in ''[[Paranoia]]'' are rated for six shots (with [[Crapsack World|the usual 5% chance of exploding]] during any given shot). You ''can'' go over the limit, but the chance of explosion keeps going up. Some gamemasters keep careful count of shots fired; [[Killer Game Master|others]] just pick someone who hasn't reloaded in a while, roll some dice, [[Played for Laughs|ignore the result]] and [[Stuff Blowing Up|declare that their weapon explodes]]. [[Running Gag|Now please report for termination, Citizen. Have a pleasant day. The Computer is your friend.]]

* ''[[BattleTech]]'' mostly averts this. Non-energy weapons draw upon a finite supply of ammunition stored in the carrying unit and individual shots or salvos are tracked not just to determine when they run out, but also to compute the damage caused by an exploding ammo bin on an appropriate critical hit—shots already expended obviously can't blow up anymore. Some weapons still do pack fairly silly numbers of shots into a single ammo slot, though (machine guns being particularly bad offenders), and ammo expenditure for most infantry-level weapons is indeed not tracked on the boardgame level (which, to be fair, is more concerned with the interaction between larger units with bigger guns).

 

* Ammunition is a precious commodity in the various ''[[Resident Evil]]'' games, most notably in ''Code Veronica'' where there is simply not enough ammo to kill everything - fortunately, it's also the first game in the series where [[Emergency Weapon|the knife]] is truly useful.

* Averted in ''[[Star Wars Battlefront]]'' and it's sequel. This is actually very strange, as the source material commonly portrays most of the weapons as having unlimited ammunition, or at least very large magazines.

* In the [[Fighting Game]] ''Bushido Blade''; during your fight with the [[Giant Space Flea From Nowhere]] Katze, he has a pistol and you have a sword. However, he only has six shots before he has to stop and reload. While he reloads, he's absolutely helpless and can be easily killed.

** This was repeated in the sequel, although one of your opponents carries a freaking machine gun and both of them are practically impossible to kill while reloading now.

* ''[[Call of Duty]]'' is generally accurate as far as ammo goes, with guns having correctly sized magazines and spare ammo being available only from the dropped guns of deceased enemies. However, all fixed weapon emplacements have Bottomless Magazines.

** The secondary part of this trope is played straight in the ''World at War'' mission "Black Cats". The ammo on your PBY Catalina's various gun turrets run out of ammo just in time for the [[Big Damn Heroes|Corsairs to show up]].

* In the ''[[Crusader: No Remorse|Crusader]]'' games, waaaay back in 1995/96, you had to manage magazines for the various projectile-based weapons.

* ''[[Deus Ex]]'' avoids this. You and your enemies have to reload, and a limited amount of magazines, when they've spent all their ammo they'll usually start hitting you with melee weapons instead—and though Bots have bottomless magazines, they will run out of ammo if you wait long enough (usually long enough to kill you several times over). When the bots run out of ammo they'll say "Low Ammo" and attempt to run away.

* ''[[Earth 2150]]'' has limited ammo for all weapons. Energy weapons recharge over time, but units using grenades, bullets or rockets need to be resupplied by plane. Guard your supply center well.

** Ballistic weapons in ''[[Earth 2150]]'' carry limited amounts of ammo and must be re-supplied from a supply depot. Fortunately, there are air units that will bring the ammo to units in the field.

* In ''[[Fallout]]'', all weapons have limited capacities and can only be fired a limited number of times (using action points) before you need to manually reload them (which also costs action points). If an NPC runs out of ammunition, he usually switches to a melee weapon and close the distance. An idling animation for pistols, on the other hand, has the character empty a magazine from the gun and load another one without that actually affecting the number of bullets in the gun at the moment.

** Additionally the spare ammo for a gun takes up room in your inventory. For pistols and rifles this is negligible but for heavier weapons (such as machine guns and rocket launchers) carrying enough ammo for a prolonged engagement can put a crimp in the amount of space in your inventory for loot.

** In ''[[Fallout 3]]'', while you do have to reload regularly depending on weapon, your ammo weighs nothing, which means you can carry absurd amounts of ammunition around the world with you especially if you trade excessively with the outcasts who trade ammunition for other equipment. Amusingly enough, ''nuclear warheads'' count as ammunition for game purposes.

** This is also played with for the enemies of the game. They reload like the player but have literally infinite ammo. They can even spawn ammo for a weapon they pick up off their slain comrades. This is [[Sarcasm Mode|rather interesting]] for a game that came out a decade after the predecessors, which avert this trope.

** Averted in ''[[Fallout: New Vegas]]'', where Hardcore mode gives ammo weight, and require the player to eat, drink, and sleep regularly. The normal mode works like ''Fallout 3'', however.

* In the ''[[Fire Emblem]]'' series of games, all weapons have limited ammo, after which they break. Archers, swordsmen, axemen, spearmen and spellcasters all run out of ammo. The only ones who don't attack with their teeth/claws, which would be troublesome if they broke, to say the least.

** The weapon's "ammo" actually represents its durability. After using it all up, the [[Breakable Weapons|weapon breaks]]. One has to wonder, however, why archers never need to carry arrows, they just pull infinite amounts out of the quivers. And why does a spell book break after having a spell in it cast 40 times? And why does a spell book only contain ONE spell anyways?!

* ''[[Metal Gear Solid]]'' has Vulcan Raven lugging around a huge minigun... and an ammo drum that's almost as big as he is. And the guy's ''giant''.

** On the other hand, the fight with Revolver Ocelot is very specific about giving him six shots, after which he has to reload.

** In the boss fight later, he uses a second revolver to get around this. The game also goes out of the way to show you how much ammo ''he'' has remaining, and shooting him while he's reloading is an important tactic.

*** In a later cutscene Ocelot is shown to be carrying ''three'' revolvers, apparently for juggling, and towards the end of the game he uses an attachable stock to brace a revolver against his shoulder for a long shot. [[Captain Obvious|The man]] [[Exactly What It Says on the Tin|really loves]] [[Revolvers Are Just Better|revolvers]].

* Mercenaries in ''[[Jagged Alliance]]'' require ammo, but if they've got spare ammo when their current magazine runs out, they reload by themselves.

* Completely avoided in [[Operation Flashpoint]] and [[Arm A|its sequels]]. All guns in the game, including ones in vehicles or mounted on tripods, run out of ammunition. Reloading early moves that magazine to the end of the queue, and it's possible to end up loading that magazine again depending on how much ammo you expend and how often you reload.

** Scarabs are classed independent units (in the scenario editor, the same as Interceptors), not ammunition.

* In ''[[Submarine Titans]]'' every sub has a limit on how many torpedoes it can carry (usually 20). Fortunately, if they run out, the unit in most cases needs only to stop fighting for a few seconds, while swimming a few meters toward the player's home base to replenish them.

* Partial exception: most units in ''[[Supreme Commander]]'' have infinite energy or ammunition for their guns, but tactical missile launchers, strategic missile launchers, and strategic missile submarines all need to be ordered to construct missiles. Considering how short the lifespan of most units in the game is, it's unlikely an ammunition limit for normal units would matter.

** The spiritual predecessor ''[[Total Annihilation]]'' [[All There in the Manual|says]] that all non-nuclear-missile weapons in the game are actually energy weapons. This is quite noticeable with the long range artillery which take a big chunk of out of your energy reserves when fired.

* Averted in the classic ''[[X-COM]]'', where other than the laser weapons, all hand-held and all craft-mounted weapons have finite magazines, soldiers and craft have limited carrying space in which to cram replacement magazines, and you have to buy, build or scavenge replacement ammunition unless you want your entire organization to run out. As if that wasn't enough, you have to fund research to develop most of the weapons and equipment you'll be using.

** Not only averted, but inverted in the original game - any magazine still loaded into a gun at the end of a mission could only be salvaged for reuse if it was still full (loose part-full mags were still scavenged) - meaning that, when ammo was tight, it was worth going round unloading all non-laser guns that had been fired during the mission when you got down to the last alien or two...

** ''And'' you had to specify where on the paper doll the various pieces of equipment were. If you put your clips on your belt, they cost less time to reload than ones put in the leg pockets of the cargo pants.

* Subverted in the opening of ''[[Xenosaga]] Episode 2'', where while the mecha piloted by the characters is descending onto a planet and assaulted by mooks, the giant energy gun (capable of firing through five enemies at once) runs out of energy. Of course, it is then used to stab the last enemy, ejected, and replaced by a blade weapon and a machine gun that doesn't run out ammo..

** ''[[Xenogears]]'' had Billy, who was the only playable character to use guns. His ammo was limited, and had to be bought or found in chests regularly. This also extended to his Gear.

* All ammunition types in ''[[Ikari Warriors]]'' are limited.

* Averted in ''[[Blitzkrieg]]'' where transports, trucks and haulers must be used to resupply units, down to the last rifleman. Skilled players could cripple their enemies by destroying their supply vehicles, adding a strategic dimension.

** During the campaign, enemies will always have unlimited ammo, though they have to reload (except for the GAU-21, which the enemies can fire endlessly). Mounted weapons actually ''don't'' have bottomless magazines (they generally hold 200 or so rounds), and if you activate the infinite ammo cheat, you still have to reload.

* ''[[Kingdom Hearts]]'' manages to avoid this with the Organization's gunner, Xigbar. While he has unlimited "magazines"(seeing as his bullets/arrows seem to come from nothingness itself) he does have to reload. This is the characters biggest weakness in the multiplayer mode in ''358/2 Days''.

** Then again, his reloading consists of spinning his Arrowguns and grasping them again, causing the ammo to magically appear in the magazines, instantly ready for firing. Takes him about five seconds in his boss fight.

* ''[[Master of Magic]]'' units have limited ranged shots per battle, whether they use bows or magic. Warships have 99 ammo, though (draw is called after 50 turns, but Haste spell doubles the unit's actions).

** Which gets rather weird when applied to creatures like Beholders whose ranged attack is shooting [[Frickin' Laser Beams]] out of their eyes. What exactly could Ammo Cart hold for them?

*** Visine?

* Averted in ''[[Mass Effect 2]]''. The weapons have been upgraded since the original to use "thermal clips" which are rapidly ejected from the weapon and thus bypass the original's cooling time. In-story and gameplay, it's an upgrade because players may continue shooting faster, but running out of themal clips can definitely be a problem, especially on higher difficulties.

* In ''[[Vega Strike]]'' even some beam weapons have ammo. For low-powered it doesn't matter much—Light Ion Burster has 10,000 (!) vaporization plates per slot (vs. 5,000 bullets of [[Magnetic Weapons|Micro Driver]] for the same light mount) and it's a common ammo in human space. Jackhammer heavy laser boils out a special coolant and Mini Grav-thumper of Rlaan has an expendable component, these are much less ubiquitous.

* Averted in ''[[Wasteland (video game)|Wasteland]]''. A clip contains a limited number of bullets. Each individual item a character carries takes the same inventory space (a match takes the same space as a power armor). Clips are treated as any other inventory item and thus are in limited supply ("clip" is the game's terminology).

* ''Armed and Dangerous'' has conversations between Q and Jonsey that blatantly poke fun at this Trope.

* Partially adverted in ''Little King's Story''. Animal Hunters have finite arrows (forty for each Hunter) and when they run out of them, they're pretty useless. However they all seem to share the same pool of arrows.

* Weapons in the first ''[[Parasite Eve]]'' may as well have bottomless magazines, because just about every enemy drops ammo (and in larger amounts towards the end of the game) and you can find it scattered everywhere throughout the game. The game uses the same kind of ammo for handguns, rifles, shotguns, machine guns, etc. The one kind of ammo that is scarce, however, are rockets, which you'll only get a handful of throughout the game. Using the rocket launcher is only advised against very tough bosses.

* Most weapons in ''[[E.Y.E.: Divine Cybermancy|EYE Divine Cybermancy]]'' have quite limited magazine sizes; players will reload frequently. Every set of two or three magazines takes up a spot in the player's inventory, so some planning is needed on how much ammunition will be required for every gun the user is taking - and indeed the choice of how many guns to take - with every gun in the player's inventory cutting into the ammunition space of the others.

* Curiously subverted in ''[[Team Fortress 2]]'', of all games. The Sniper ejects a spent casing from his bolt action rifle after each shot, but is never seen loading a new bullet afterwards. However, in the promotional video "Meet the Sniper" it's shown that he actually holds a new bullet between his ring and index fingers before pulling the bolt and loads it into the barrel SIMULTANEOUSLY with ejecting the old one.

** Though for gameplay purposes it still has a bottomless magazine as he can switch to another weapon before the reloading completes, switch back to the sniper rifle, and it will still be able to fire immediately. In fact, immediately switching back and forth right after firing a round will let him fire slightly '''[[Good Bad Bugs|faster]]''' than reloading normally (it saves slightly less than 1/5 of a second). The Flare Gun and its variants can also have the reload interrupted and fire as normal, but it can't be fired faster this way. In contrast the [[The Straight and Arrow Path|Huntsman and Crusader's Crossbow]] have actual 1-arrow/bolt magazines that must have their reloads completed without interruption before firing again.

* ''[[Star Ruler]]'' averts this with kinetics; when designing your starships you must take into account how long they can fire with the ammo stocks they have on board and add more ammo caches if they do not pack enough. Or you could design dedicated ammo colliers and send them with your expeditionary forces, but best hope the enemy doesn't [[Shoot the Medic First|shoot them first...]] Energy weapons on the other hand have no such problems, giving you a reason to put time into improving them. Later research allows you to unlock the Matter Generator, which can generate ammo; with a high enough research level you can generate more ammo than you expend, conforming to this trope again.

 

{{quote|'''Simmons:''' Ah crap, I'm out. Give me some ammunition, Grif.

'''Grif:''' Me? I don't have any extra. I'm down to one bullet!

'''Grif:''' We actually ''talk'' about stuff in those things? I just fall asleep inside my helmet.

'''Simmons:''' Well, you missed your job assignment, and now we have no ammo. }}

 

* Averted in ''[[Code Lyoko]]'', in which early on, Odd is equipped with a certain amount of "Lazer Arrows", and once he's out, he's out until Jérémie restocks his arrows. Through Season 1, barely any episode went by without Odd running out of arrows at some point. Jérémie, however, is eventually able in Season 2 to upgrade Odd's virtual form, enabling his gloves to hold 10,000 arrows apiece.

* There's one ''[[Robot Chicken]]'' sketch, based on [[The Farmer and the Viper|the fable about the scorpion and the frog]], where the frog pulls out a revolver and shoots at the scorpion twice when it tries to sting him. When a gerbil on the other side asks for his help again, [[Suspiciously Specific Denial|promising not to crawl into his anus]], the frog pulls the trigger six times - four shots and two clicks.

** Another sketch parodies The Tortoise and the Hare with a movie-western style gunfight. The hare has enough time to empty his guns before the tortoise even reaches his. Unfortunately, bullets don't bounce off hares.

 

{{reflist}}

[[Category:Guns and Gunplay Tropes]]

[[Category:Acceptable Breaks From Reality]]

[[Category:Guns Do Not Work That Way]]

[[Category:Hammerspace]]