Bullet catch

In more recent times, magicians such as Dorothy Dietrich (1981), and later Criss Angel (2000s), and David Blaine (2008) have appeared to catch the bullet in a metal cup in their mouth.

[2] The guns that Penn & Teller use in their effect are fitted with laser sights to add to the suspense and drama of the trick, and the magicians present the bullets still between their teeth, before removing them from their mouths.

An alternate method was described in the Chicago Tribune in 1894, in which the ramrod is modified with a small metal tube that is used to capture the projectile while appearing to tamp it down, leaving just propellant and wadding in the gun.

In another variation of the trick, Scottish magician John Henry Anderson is reported to have exchanged the real projectile with one made from "black lead" (graphite), which was reduced to dust by the action the ramrod and the firing of the gun.

Another method was to use an entirely real gun that is genuinely loaded with a lethal projectile, and simply have the shooter intentionally miss the performer, who has previously hidden a bullet in their mouth, as before.

[5] One of the earliest documentations of the bullet catch appeared in Jean Chassanion's Histoires mémorables des grans & merveilleux iugements et punitions de Dieu (1586), translated as The Theatre of God's Judgements by Reverend Thomas Beard in 1597.

In the source, the magician is considered to have made himself invulnerable by black magic, but a trick by sleight of hand and prepared equipment is clearly being described, despite this misunderstanding.

In Beard's version: "It is not long since there was in Lorraine, a certaine man called Coulen, that was overmuch giuen to this cursed Art, amongst whose tricks this was one to be wondred at: that he would suffer Harquebouses or a pistoll to be shot at him, and catch their bullets in his hand without receiving any hurt".

God's punishment for this use of the cursed art of black magic follows: "but vpon a certaine time one of his seruants being angry with him, hot him[b] such a knock with a pistoll (notwithstanding all his great cunning) that he killed him therewith".

However, two books published in 1761 mentioned the bullet catch as described by Reverend Beard: The Conjuror Unmasked by Thomas Denton, and La Magie blanche dévoilée by Henri Decremps (the former an English translation of the French text).

In 1817 The Times carried a report of a fatal accident in Dublin, allegedly caused when a pistol 'actually loaded with powder and ball was, by mistake, substituted for that prepared in the usual way.

Anderson, or "The Great Wizard of the North" as he was called, performed for P. T. Barnum, Czar Nicholas, Queen Victoria, and Prince Albert and toured in the United States and Australia, thus bringing the bullet catch into mainstream magic illusions.

"[11] Escape artist and daredevil Harry Houdini announced that he would perform a bullet catch at the New York Hippodrome in April 1918, but did not do so.

[12] His decision not to perform the trick is commonly attributed to a letter from Harry Kellar,[13] who wrote to Houdini stating (in part): "And you owe it to your friends and your family to cut out all stuff that entails risk of your life.

[20] He claimed that he was wounded nine times while performing the trick,[19] and that he had two bullets lodged in his body (in his shoulder and back of the throat) as a result.

Preparation of his version of the bullet catch involved the rifle being supported in a rigid frame,[22] rather than the marksman simply aiming at the performer, as is normally seen.

[24] In July 1980, Dorothy Dietrich was booked to perform her version of the bullet catch for the International Brotherhood of Magicians, and to be featured on the TV show Evening Magazine.

Even with perfect timing aided by ultra-high speed photography, the bullet deteriorated into an almost unrecognizable mass of metal upon impact.

In this performance, his musician friend Jonathan Davis appeared to fire a high-powered rifle into a metal cup that was custom-made to fit into Criss' mouth.