8 behind-the-scenes secrets we learned about making 'The Walking Dead'

It takes a lot of guns and a lot of blood for the props and effects teams to manage AMC's behemoth hit "The Walking Dead."

Tech Insider recently spoke with John Sanders, the property master for the hit show, who was kind enough to reveal all the tricks of the "wetwork" trade that goes into making the wildly popular show. 

The cast visits shooting ranges and trains with SWAT and military experts to learn how to use their guns.

According to Sanders, the actors all have extensive firearms training to prepare for the intense action sequences on the show.  

"[The actors] go through a range as part of [training]," he told us. "[They] have rifles and handguns in there so we’re able to shoot them. They also have some machine guns in there, so they’re also able to shoot live machine guns, so they know how those feel, because there’s a lot of that type of firing on the show."

Sanders also revealed that the heavy duty weapons they use on the show are real – including the huge machine gun that appeared in the season three finale. 

"The gun range trainer, Russ Smith, has worked with us for years," he said. "He owns a range, he’s also come on set with us on days we have big days, big weapons, such as the 50 caliber. He actually owned that weapon and transferred it over so it could fire blanks and operated that gun on set for us in season three when we drove the jeep in and we shot up the prison." 

Here Sanders explains the heavy-duty firearms training sessions.

They have at least three versions of every weapon which appears on the show.

"Any weapon you see, doesn’t matter what weapon, we have at least three versions of it:  at least a rubber, a plastic, and a real one," Sanders told us. 

The rubber and plastic copies help with cleaning and making sure that weapons appear either well used or new depending on what makes the most sense for the story. In addition to these easier to clean copies, some weapons also have a digital version. Michonne's katana is one example. The digital version of the blade is covered in distinctive green tape which allows the effects team to digitally add in the blade in post production. Consider this shot of Michonne impaling Penny. 

However, Andrew Lincoln (Rick) only uses the same Colt Python gun.

Lincoln has remained faithful to a single version of Rick's signature weapon, the Colt Python .357 Magnum. 

"He's had that every time you’ve ever seen him hold that gun," Sanders told us. "It’s always the original gun. He doesn’t use any other gun."

 "When that gun is in play, the iconic gun for Rick, it's always the exact same gun," Sanders said.