On TV westerns, when there is a gunfight and people are taking cover behind buildings, how do they get the bullets to ricochet off the buildings so close to the faces of the people in the fight? I always look to see if they stop the camera and then gouge out a piece of wood, but that's definitely not it.
SOME.... of those in your face explosions were preset explosives and were set off by an expert off camera as needed.
What I noticed about those shootouts is that during the gunfights the horses and/or persons in surounding/backgroud area never got hit.
And .... during the big ambush and /or fights everybody is hid behind a rock or building shooting away and being shot at. For some unknown reason (except it's in the script) the shooter steps out in plain sight and bam they get shot. WHY ? Not me... I'm more of a Tank gunner type ... lots of armour.