It amuses some of the information I find on the Internet. Just remember everyone, you should believe everything you read on the net. Especially if its a “how to” guide, and the authors bio sounds authentic — because they’ll know what they are talking about. (As a note, I make no claim that every piece of info in this blog is correct. Its all my personal expediences. Like the subtitle says “YMMV”)
Today, lets take a look at “A Newbie’s Guide to Publishing … So You Wanna Write About Handguns“. This guy knows his stuff about guns, so I’ll just pull out a few bits for you all to enjoy:
Silencers aren’t real.
Really? I beg to differ. They do exist, maybe silencer is a bad term, but its what alot of people call them. A rock 65mm in size isn’t a pebble, you’ll probably call it that. Go get a ruler!
Suppressors are illegal for public citizens.
Oh really? You mean I can’t order this suppressor for my P99 from CarlWalther.com. I better go tell my boss too, because he has a couple. Oh, and don’t forget all thoes guys at the gun shows that I see selling P22 w/ suppressor bundles. I’ll make sure to reference the blog. Guys at gun shows obviously don’t know anything about the law. Oh, and don’t forget the BATF who you send the paper work to when buying a silencer. WELCOME TO A CLASS 3 STATE!
Full metal jacket means the slug is encased in metal and doesn’t expand when it hits the target.
Well first off, slugs tend to be made out of lead, or other such fun METALS. So your telling me that FMJ is metal…in metal…. How does this differ? “A full metal jacket bullet (or FMJ) is a bullet encased in a copper alloy such as gilding metal, cupronickel, or a steel alloy shell.” —FMJ on WP. Also as a note, FMJ’s will still expand when they hit a target, it just depends on WHAT kind of target. If your shooting a soft target (see also: human), they wont expand (much). Though if you happen to be shooting at a hard target (see also: several inches of steel plating on an M1A1) I’m pretty sure your FMJ ammo is going to go SPLAT like a bug. Then again no one is willing to lend me a M1A1 or a 50cal to test this theory.
Cocking a handgun involves chambering a round in a semi-auto, and/or pulling the hammer back.
Last time I checked cocking had very little to do with chambering a round and alot more to do with the hammer being pulled back (or firing pin for those of us w/ new fangled guns). Or it could have something to do with the Antonov AN-22, not sure.
Semi-automatics can jam. If a gun isn’t clean, it can jam a lot.
Lets re-write this sentence to be un-stupid. “All guns can jam. If a gun isn’t clean, it can jam a lot.” Seriously. Granted a semi-auto is much more likely to jam if unclean (just don’t tell the Glock owners I said that), but it is possible to jam any gun.
Loading clips is time consuming and hard on the fingers. The spring inside a clip is powerful, and it takes some force and some time to get the bullets in there.
A brand new clip, at full cap… yes is hard to load. But otherwise… WRONG. If you soften up your spring a bit by loading a clip to the max and let it sit there for a while, the spring will soften enough to make the process much easier. Also, if you practice just a little bit (read: goto the range once or twice) you’ll get purdy good at loading your clips. Also — which clip it is makes a difference. For example my 15 round clip for my P99, very easy to load 14 rounds. My P11’s 10 round clip on the other hand has taken several portions of my tumb, several times (bastard is SHARP).
Guns and bullets are heavy. Sticking a 9mm in your front pocket is not a smart idea for many reasons, one of which is it will pull down your pants.
This is wrong on just so many levels. First off, lets take a look at a 5 shot Scandium revolver. Um, can you say “barely there“? Yes, if you grab your Glock 17 and load it with 17+1, its going to be a bit hefty. You can still put it in your pocket — WEAR A BELT. More importantly DONT put it in your pocket unless you WANT to shoot yourself in the leg, or the family jewels.
Someone unfamiliar with semi-autos wouldn’t be able to fire one, at least not quickly.
Of course not, because every gun laying around is unloaded with the safety on. Oh wait… Glocks don’t have safety’s, neither do alot of guns. Oh, wait, I forgot that most guns ARE loaded. Oh, and that entire “pulling the slide back” thing, isn’t much for stopping a newb w/ a gun. If you’ve watched any semi violent movie in the last 20 years, you can probably operate a firearm. So just remember, your 10 year old kids (who’s never touched a “real” gun) won’t be able to pick up your loaded Glock and kill someone — its just not possible… Right…..
Aiming isn’t easy.
I’m sorry, did I miss something here? Last I checked the process of aiming a firearm was to point it in the general direction of where you want to shoot. Thats really, really not that hard. The first time I picked up a handgun, without any training, I was able to put 30 of 30 rounds into an upper torso sized target at 21feet. (CCW ^_^) Kids play games these days, alot of people are better trained for operating guns than they realize. Aiming accurately at long distances may be hard, but I can give most anyone a gun and have them hit a person sized target at 20 feet (its actually really hard not to hit the target at that range)
Teflon coated, or cop-killer bullets, aren’t real.
Teflon coated, I’ll give the guy. Lets just not tell him about AP rounds. I mean, we’ve already hurt his feelings badly enough for one day.
Always treat every gun you encounter as loaded.
Probably the single best piece of advise this guy wrote — and the single MOST IMPORTANT. And where do we put important information class? At the TOP of the webpage.