I remember gun fire further back. The westerns of the fifties had a particular noise to revolvers being fired and the gunmen shoved their gun forwards as they fired as though to give more impetus to the bullets. Now you have clowns holding revolvers at all sorts of odd angles as they threaten to fire. Whatever happened to looking down the barrel for accuracy?
The cowboy hero who used to drive me nuts the way he'd shoot was "Wild" Bill Elliott. First of all, he wore his six-gun (either one or two) facing butt forward, which is about the most awkward position possible if you're pulling a piston from your right holster with your right hand because you have to twist your hand at the wrist to grasp the forward facing pistol butt. Now it makes more sense if one is wearing one's gun in a belly holster, situated at a near-horizontal level over one's belly-button as Lee Marvin carries his in
The Comancheros. Marvin carried two guns accessible to a right-hand draw--one worn in a holster on his right side that allows for a fast draw while standing, and a second in a belly holster that is more accessible if one is drawing while in the saddle or seated in a chair. (Cavalry soldiers carrried pistols in holsters designed for across the body draws while in the saddle, but those holsters weren't designed for speed, having a flap that buttoned over the pistol to help hold it in the holster while at a gallop.
Real-life gunman James Butler "Wild Bill" Hickok stuck two pistols in a silk sash around his waist for a cross-body draw, being equally fast and deadly accurate with either hand. Famed Texas gunman John Wesley Hardin carried two guns facing butt-forward in shoulder hosters for cross-body draw. But I don't think anyone in real life ever carried a pistol facing butt forward on the same side as the hand he'd draw with.
The icing on the cake with Bill Elliot was that after drawing his pistol, he'd raise until it was pointing up and a little behind his shoulder and then would snap it down to where it was at waist level and pointing forward as he fired. I suppose the snapping effect would help in cocking the pistol prior to firing, but it looke as though he was sort of flinging the bullets out of the barrel of the gun. Of course, there was no need to cock the later model pistols that were desgined to cock and fire with a single pull of the trigger.
Another thing that always drove me crazy in cowboy and gangster films was someone is inside a house preparing to fight someone who is attacking from the outside, and the first thing they do is take their gun barrels and break the glass out of the window. Of course, in real life, the first shot would shattered the window pane without tipping off your position in advance. But if one is firing blanks in a movie, the audience will see the window pane still intact after firing 4-5-10 times.