Stupid Gun Mistakes EVERY Writer Makes

[atxgun]

http://dixonverse.net/articles/guns.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

I made a partial list below (I'm sure Duane Thomas can add to it) of dumb things I see in novels and comics and movies in the area of firearms. A few of these (for dramatic license) I make myself. But they're still dumb.

As for the 'THE "EMPTY" AUTOMATIC' gripe, while movies do use this as a matter-of-fact mode of operation too often, I have had time my slide didn't lock back after firing the last round. Also if you have a DA there very well could be a "click" (Tarus Millennium, anyone?)

[Morgan]

His comments on the "super accurate sniper scope" show that the author himself has zero notion of gun zeroing. I stopped reading there.

[jimlongley]

He's right, but usually for the wrong reason. IOW, he makes almost as many mistakes explaining the mistakes as the mistakes he's complaining about.

I do like the thing about Cordite, though.

[mr.72]

He mentions racking a shotgun, but my pet peeve is when they rack the slide on a semi-auto just for dramatic effect. Funny how I have never, ever, seen a live round be ejected when they do this, except for one notable exception.

I love watching Lost, but they are the worst about these gun handling errors. I once saw Sayid "cock the hammer" with his thumb, complete with clicking sound effect, on a Glock. Or every time they hand a gun to someone or even move with a gun in their hand, it makes all kinds of clicking noises. Boy that sure would make these concealed handguns hard to conceal if they went "click-clack" every time we moved with them. And every single time any of them picks up a gun to do anything, they rack the slide. Every. Single. Time. In fact you can see one guy pick up a gun, drop the magazine, put it back in, rack the slide (complete with all kinds of extra sounds), then hand it butt-first to another character. Then about two scenes later, the character now in possession of the gun is going to need to use the gun, so what do they do? Well of course they rack the slide. So we are to believe that while the viewer wasn't watching that character, they removed the magazine, ejected the chambered round, and then put the mag back in on an empty chamber? I guess we are to believe that Sayid carries Israeli-style? I have watched the "Special Features" on the season 4 DVD set and they talk about the careful detail they put into the gun handling, and there is an interview with their "gun guy". But hey, where are you going to find someone in Hollywood who really knows anything about guns?

I have noticed on BSG, the only show that does this right, when they cycle the action of a semi-auto pistol, a live round pops out. The only times I have seen it where a live round doesn't pop out is when they pick up the gun and magazine, put in the magazine, and then rack it (presumably the gun's chamber was empty before there was a magazine in it). I also recall a scene in Raiders of the Lost Ark where Indy is going to check why the boat's engines have stopped and he does a press-check on the 1911 he has with him, and it doesn't make any extraneous noises. Kudos to Speilberg for getting it right.

But it's a fool's errand to try and track the technical inaccuracies in movies. They are just too numerous to list. As a musician I get very irritated with the portrayal of musicians in most movies. They just don't even bother to make it believable. The worst ever has to be either Sean Penn in "Sweet and Down Low". What a joke. Or Antonio Banderas in "Desperado". Yikes. Or maybe the scene in "Groundhog Day" when Bill Murray takes over the band. But I give Bill Murray a pass, that was a comedy. In another Sean Penn classic, "U-Turn", the bad guys get stopped and arrested by the local PD in the one-horse town because they are carrying a gun, in Arizona. Mmmm, ok. It's all a mixture of ignorance and creative license, in just about equal parts. It helps that the audience is basically more ignorant of most technical elements of the story or props than the film makers are.

[Keith B]

He mentions racking a shotgun, but my pet peeve is when they rack the slide on a semi-auto just for dramatic effect. Funny how I have never, ever, seen a live round be ejected when they do this, except for one notable exception. ......

How do you rack the slide on a semi-auto shotgun?

[mr.72]

He mentions racking a shotgun, but my pet peeve is when they rack the slide on a semi-auto just for dramatic effect. Funny how I have never, ever, seen a live round be ejected when they do this, except for one notable exception. ......

How do you rack the slide on a semi-auto shotgun?

I think I meant semi-auto PISTOL.

[agbullet2k1]

I have noticed on BSG, the only show that does this right, when they cycle the action of a semi-auto pistol, a live round pops out. The only times I have seen it where a live round doesn't pop out is when they pick up the gun and magazine, put in the magazine, and then rack it (presumably the gun's chamber was empty before there was a magazine in it). I also recall a scene in Raiders of the Lost Ark where Indy is going to check why the boat's engines have stopped and he does a press-check on the 1911 he has with him, and it doesn't make any extraneous noises. Kudos to Speilberg for getting it right.

I noticed on the last episode, Saul actually performed a textbook unloading of Adama's pistol. I've been very impressed with the attention to detail on that show concerning firearms (and the kinematics of spaceflight, for that matter). I've even noticed the finger off the trigger rule quite a bit on the show. I still don't understand why the standard issue is a FN 5.7. Maybe it looks more high tech?

[DoubleJ]

maybe we should resurrect TxInvestigator's old thread....

anywho, I watched Max Payne last night (was a cool movie) and noticed the rackin' the slide on an empty chamber thing a few times. near the beginning, Max is blowing open some bathroom stalls with a Taurus Judge (which I thought was pretty cool, as I haven't seen it in a movie, that I recall), fires all cylinders, then puts the gun up underneath the chin of the bad guy.
I chuckled.
uh, reload?
uh, burn the bajeezus out of the guy?

[KC5AV]

maybe we should resurrect TxInvestigator's old thread....

anywho, I watched Max Payne last night (was a cool movie) and noticed the rackin' the slide on an empty chamber thing a few times. near the beginning, Max is blowing open some bathroom stalls with a Taurus Judge (which I thought was pretty cool, as I haven't seen it in a movie, that I recall), fires all cylinders, then puts the gun up underneath the chin of the bad guy.
I chuckled.
uh, reload?
uh, burn the bajeezus out of the guy?

Maybe the BG couldn't count. Isn't the Judge a 5 shot?

[mr.72]

I noticed on the last episode, Saul actually performed a textbook unloading of Adama's pistol. I've been very impressed with the attention to detail on that show concerning firearms (and the kinematics of spaceflight, for that matter). I've even noticed the finger off the trigger rule quite a bit on the show. I still don't understand why the standard issue is a FN 5.7. Maybe it looks more high tech?

I kind of bet they are using the FN 5.7 largely due to the futuristic look and also the fact that it is unfamiliar to many people. You know if they had Glocks or 1911s then everyone and their brother would know it wasn't some gun from the future.

Seems the duty pistol is the FN with the exploding-ammo-firing thingy stuck on the underside of the rail. The personal/off-duty weapon seems to be a Vector CP-1. Isn't that what Dee used to shoot herself the other day? And that's the gun that Gaeta threatened Baltar with while on New Caprica. Again, the Vector is very unfamiliar, looks kind of futuristic.

BSG is always very good about the way they handle traditional weapons, plus the technical details are spot on for nearly everything. No point in hijacking this thread to discuss BSG though.

[DoubleJ]

yeah, don't go BSC for BSG! hahaha

yeah, it's a 5 shot. was on the cover of January's issue of American RifleMan.

[ELB]

I watch few movies, and rarely TV -- prefer to read -- so my favorite author gun boo-boo is when he has the character take the safety off... his revolver.

(Yes I know there were revolvers produced with safeties, but they are old and uncommon -- you have to work to find one.)