Authors and Glock safetys, Why oh Why (Rant)

[mjwcaster]

<Rant On>
If the house wasn't asleep I think I would have just screamed. I'm about done with a decent enough book and the bad guy just
'clicked of the safety of the glock 19'

Why, Why, Why?

If the author and the editor/proof reader's don't know guns then just don't use model numbers or names and just describe a handgun/shotgun/rifle.
I read a lot of different books and so many of them contain so many gun related errors, but the glock safety is the most annoying.
They choose a glock because of name recognition, but can't take 10 seconds to research on of the major selling points of the gun, just pull the trigger and bang.

Yes I know that you can get a safety and install it on a glock, but how many have actually been installed?
probably less than .001% of all glocks, so no they don't have a safety.

Why can't publishers get a tech guy to proof anything about guns/cars/tools in a book, the regular editor flags references and then the tech person reviews it.

I've gotten good at ignoring gun goofs, it's just like watching movies but this book was pretty decent and this just kind of ruins it, right at the last 25 pages where they are going to get the bad guy.

Sorry for the rant, thanks for listening.

Oh and what is your most disliked gun goof, book or movie?

Matt

[kbstenberg]

In the Girl With a Dragon Tattoo the killer uses a 45 Magnum. AHHHHH what can you say it was written by a Swede. (I am one)

[William Yanda]

A certain Gauge rifle or caliber shotgun. Being pc must incur a certain amount of ignorance.

[btroj]

Why? Because the general public doesn't care. The books still sell and that is all that matters.
Why would an editor spend extra money to have a "tech" guy read the book for errors like that when it costs them money but doesn't generate any extra revenue?

it is basic business. Spend the least amount possible to get a sellable product to market. Looks to me like it works.

[Artful]

In the Girl With a Dragon Tattoo the killer uses a 45 Magnum. AHHHHH what can you say it was written by a Swede. (I am one)

Don't be too upset - at least it exists, thou not common
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/.45_Winchester_Magnum

[fixit]

In the Girl With a Dragon Tattoo the killer uses a 45 Magnum. AHHHHH what can you say it was written by a Swede. (I am one)

having not seen the movie, [please tell me it was a semi-automatic. that's the only way this reference could be remotely possible. (refering to the .45 win mag)

[Mal Paso]

The History Chanel lost me when they claimed, in an episode on Colt, that the Walker Colt was more powerful than a 44 Magnum. I'm not familiar with BP or that era but I know Muzzle Energy and it made me question the entire show.

[Mk42gunner]

I was reading a book a few years ago were the author descibed buying a Barret M82 and 5,000 rounds of ammo from a co-worker. That wasn't the bad part. The bad part was the seller had all the ammo in his car.

I have issued, moved (by hand and with MHE), and shot a heck of a lot of 50 cal ammo. 5,000 rounds takes a whole pallet. Even without links, I don't think the average car is going to be able to hold the volume, let alone the weight.

Robert

[KCSO]

That's why in the old days i liked Don Hamilton, he at east got his guns right. Jerry Ahern was another one who knew his stuff.

[deltaenterprizes]

There was also the 451 Detonics magnum.

[km101]

I hate the part of the book (s) where the villan screws the silencer on his revolver , and proceeds to soundlessly eliminate people! Aargh!!!

[Awsar]

lol well this thread could go on for months,so many movies , books,tv shows mess up firearm info.
my wife hates hearing me get mad about it but it does they really should do a little homework.
but only about 5% of people watching might have a clue anyway (sigh).
i think they need to hire us and pay us lots of money to keep them straight:)

[km101]

I REALLY hate the character in the movies that opens a suitcase, assembles a rifle from three pieces and then snaps the scope on the thing and proceeds to hit targets at 300 yds!! OFF HAND!!

[DCM]

having not seen the movie, [please tell me it was a semi-automatic. that's the only way this reference could be remotely possible. (refering to the .45 win mag)

They were available in contender barrels also.
Mine was a 45WM 1911 Grizzly that had problems with the thumb safety which was a manufacturer defect that they refused to repair. One of the reasons I no longer own it.

As for the Glocks they do have 3 safeties, but they are all deactivated by pressing the trigger and I have never heard them click although I guess it would be possible if one put their ear next to the pistol while very slowly DRY firing it.
I for obvious reasons I would not try it with a loaded one! But I have to say it after what I have seen in the last 3 weeks.

[scarry scarney]

In the Girl With a Dragon Tattoo the killer uses a 45 Magnum. AHHHHH what can you say it was written by a Swede. (I am one)

FWIW, I have a LAR Grizzly, in 45 Win Mag. It looks like a 1911, with a longer grip.

[jonas302]

It always gets me how many time you need to cock your gun before shooting the bad guy

[starbits]

I recently read a book where the author had a character take a half hour plane flight from Oahu to Honolulu. Honolulu is the main city on the island of Oahu. Wasn't even the worst mistake in the book. I think it is a statement on the status of the education system more than anything else.

Starbits

[2wheelDuke]

I don't read many books, but have read 3 in the "Monster Hunter" series. Larry Correria is a gun guy and it shows.

[Artful]

I hate the part of the book (s) where the villan screws the silencer on his revolver , and proceeds to soundlessly eliminate people! Aargh!!!

Well not soudlessly - but it can be done with right gun

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vvF4yurWSc0

Only if he's using a nagant 1895 7.62x38R gas seal revolver

[Artful]

I REALLY hate the character in the movies that opens a suitcase, assembles a rifle from three pieces and then snaps the scope on the thing and proceeds to hit targets at 300 yds!! OFF HAND!!

Well I don't know about the 300 yds off hand but guns that come apart for transport have been out there a long time
and some are designed to remain reasonably sighted in.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7I9lLwIdmGs

http://www.ketmer.com/ai/defense/awcovert/covert1.gif
http://www.ketmer.com/ai/defense/awcovert/covert2.jpg
http://www.ketmer.com/ai/defense/awcovert/index.htm

http://gunssavelives.net/gear/video-308-battle-rifle-that-fits-in-a-suitcase-the-takedown-308-paratus-battle-rifle/

http://www.drdtactical.com/
http://www.drdtactical.com/images/slider/2.png

http://dimensionrifle.tcarms.com/how-it-works/
http://dimensionrifle.tcarms.com/wp-content/uploads/rifle-dis-assembled.png

[JLDickmon]

Don't be too upset - at least it exists, thou not common
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/.45_Winchester_Magnum

guy I work with has one.
I build his ammo for it.

[PS Paul]

I have a feeling there are actually MORE than 5% of the public who know about the firearms gaffes in film. There seems to be an entire sub-culture built around the issue of film goofs, gaffes and incontinuity who are very vocal (on the interweb anyway) about finding mistakes in film and television. One of my very favorites is the little fat kid who plugs his ears BEFORE the gunshot in the scene from North by Northwest. Pretty classic.

I also love the 20-shot revolver, the black powder guns that create VERY little smoke despite dozens of shots (from the 20-shot revolvers again) and the magnum revolvers with zero recoil!! Good times!

[darkroommike]

Glock is also used generically as a term for any expensive looking semi-automatic.

[GOPHER SLAYER]

I am not a James Bond fan and I think Ian Fleming was a big phoney. I did watch one of the films starring Jean Connery. In the movie they were taking away Bond's Berrita which I think was a 25 cal and replacing it with a Wather 7.62. Bond asked about it's power and the weapons expert said" it's like throwing a brick through a plate glass window". A .32 ACP? PALEEEEEZE.

[Bent Ramrod]

G.S., The Bond PPK was actually in the hard-hittin', brush-bustin', tack-drivin', wind-buckin' .380 caliber. Remember, most of the Bond books (and many of the most definitive Bond movies) came out years before a .44 Magnum was the minimum needed to stop bad guys.

A lot of TV SWAT Team members seem to pump a round into the chamber of their pump shotguns as they get out of their cars, then pump a round into the chamber just before going into the sleazy apartment building, and finally pump a round into the chamber just before breaking down the squalid apartment door. I never see any loaded shells come out and fall on the ground. If the writers are ignoramuses and the actors are just following the script, you would think the continuity director or the editor would pick up on this.

[PS Paul]

Ah, Gopher Slayer is correct: issued a .32 auto PPK to replace a .25 pistol that Bond's supervisors did not approve of, NOT the .380. And yes, the .32 "hits like a brick" is also correct directly from the movie, the name escapes me right now.....

[GOPHER SLAYER]

Ramrod, you nailed it. The same thing happens in westerns with lever action rifles. The directors just can't resist having the actor work that lever and when the bozo takes aim his thumb cocks the hammer. Ever lever gun I own or ever did own cocked the hammer when I worked the lever.

[Gliden07]

What drives me crazy is when the Bad Guy/Good Guy has 2 Micro Uzis 1 in each hand and shoots and shoots and shoots without reloading the whole time on target and without lifting on the trigger once!! Car doors that stop rifle rounds when they duck behind them?

[darkroommike]

Ah, Gopher Slayer is correct: issued a .32 auto PPK to replace a .25 pistol that Bond's supervisors did not approve of, NOT the .380. And yes, the .32 "hits like a brick" is also correct directly from the movie, the name escapes me right now.....

Somewhere along the way the PPK .32ACP morphed into the PPK .380 and most recently the PPK 9mm Short (same round, just the new metric designation in Skyfall). The original holster was a Berns Martin (revolver holster). Fleming was not a gun guy, but he consulted with a couple, just not about the "system". One of the reasons the PPK was chosen was ammo availability, the .32 and .380 were common European police rounds in the '50's.

BTW the iconic Sean Connery long barrel pistol in the posters is a Walther air pistol.

[Artful]

BTW the iconic Sean Connery long barrel pistol in the posters is a Walther air pistol.

http://www.extravaganzi.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/Walther-LP53-air-pistol-1.jpg
http://www.extravaganzi.com/walther-air-pistol-held-by-sean-connery-on-james-bond-poster-could-fetch-15000-at-auction/

At the end of year that celebrates 50th anniversary of since the first onscreen incarnation of James Bond in 1962’s Dr. No. So, one more 007 memorabilia awaits for its new owner. Walther LP53 air pistol held by Sean Connery as James Bond on a iconic poster from the 1963 for the film From Russia With Love could fetch £150,00 ($239,000) at Sotheby’s London sale on 12th Dec.

There is an interesting story behind this gun and this iconic poster. Sean Connery was suppose to pose with his Walther PPK automatic for the photo-shoot, but someone forgot to pick up it, so photographer David Hurn, came to idea to improvise with its replica. The photos were never airbrushed, and Sean Connery with the a air pistol still remains the poster which shows James Bond as the coolest spy of Sixties.

Dr Gabriel Heaton, of Sotheby’s auctioneers, said: “Sean Connery clearly had such a presence that it was never questioned. A lot of people presumed it had a silencer attached.”

In 2010 at Christie’s auction, the same pistol has sold for a staggering £277,250 (around $430,000), more than 10 times the estimate, so there’s no doubt that’ll now also reach vertiginous amount.

http://www.dvdbeaver.com/film/dvdreviews23/a%20james%20bond%20from%20russia%20with%20love/poster8%20sean%20connery%20from%20russia%20with%20 love.jpg
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_04kZGR_ltmE/St037H7M1ZI/AAAAAAAAE5g/kCfrv0-lrvg/s1600/Sean-Connery-Thunderball-Poster.jpg
http://www.elite-view.com/art/Movie_Poster/Action_Adventure_Movies/10101807A~Sean-Connery-James-Bond-Posters.jpg
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_OvryYdVtfSo/S2HhnP3sAcI/AAAAAAAAFXs/Y4YYFMsdbgQ/s400/Thunderball_Look_Up_poster_Sean_Connery_James_Bond _007_Frank_McCarthy.jpg
http://www.tailslate.net/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/james_bond_poster_pose.jpg

[WRideout]

Don't mean to be sacriligious, but in the first Dirty Harry movie, they make a big deal about the 44 mag being the "world's most powerful handgun." Somewhere in the dialogue, Clint Eastwood admits to using 44 special ammo; he refers to them as "city loads."
Wayne

[Gliden07]

Don't mean to be sacriligious, but in the first Dirty Harry movie, they make a big deal about the 44 mag being the "world's most powerful handgun." Somewhere in the dialogue, Clint Eastwood admits to using 44 special ammo; he refers to them as "city loads."
Wayne

I was just talking to someone about this they told me the gun Clint had in first movie was'nt even a 44mag it was a 41?? I don't know this for certin but the Gentlmen I was talking to sure seemed convinced of this??

[Charley]

I was just talking to someone about this they told me the gun Clint had in first movie was'nt even a 44mag it was a 41?? I don't know this for certin but the Gentlmen I was talking to sure seemed convinced of this??

I've read and heard several times over the years that the handgun Eastwood carried in the original Dirty Harry was indeed a model 57, not a 29. Likely that's the only thing the prop house had available at the time.

Lots of bad novels from the 50's/60's had lines stating the bad guy "snicked the safety off his revolver" and shoot someone. Except for a very few European revolvers from the early years, it isn't gonna happen that way

[williamwaco]

I've read and heard several times over the years that the handgun Eastwood carried in the original Dirty Harry was indeed a model 57, not a 29. Likely that's the only thing the prop house had available at the time.

Lots of bad novels from the 50's/60's had lines stating the bad guy "snicked the safety off his revolver" and shoot someone. Except for a very few European revolvers from the early years, it isn't gonna happen that way

My favorite is "Slipped the .357 Magnum automatic out of his hip pocket . . ."

[bruce drake]

My favorite is "Slipped the .357 Magnum automatic out of his hip pocket . . ."

Those Desert Eagles just slip into hip pockets so easily...

[thegreatdane]

http://www.coonaninc.com/products.php/pistol/cPath,5/osCsid,a88a171c8e8371d27294544cf8c07fcb (http://www.coonaninc.com/products.php/pistol/...)

The though occurred, as i was reading this that we sure are posting serious replies to the rant. Then I went and did the same. ha.

[Mal Paso]

I was just talking to someone about this they told me the gun Clint had in first movie was'nt even a 44mag it was a 41?? I don't know this for certin but the Gentlmen I was talking to sure seemed convinced of this??

It was a 45 in many shots. Look close at the barrel thickness/diameter. Early on there were no blanks for the 44.

Yep, it was a S&W Model 25 in 45 Long Colt in many shots. Takes 45 Colt and 5 in 1 Blanks.

Online sources say no it was all 45 blanks but I remember at some point 44 Blanks were made up for the movie. Hornady does make a Universal Blank Crimp Die that works with many calibers.

[GOPHER SLAYER]

Have you noticed in recent movies a man will meet someone at the door while carrying a double barreled shotgun, and proceeds to work his hand on the forend to the sound of a pump gun. Directors love the sound.

[wrangler5]

I some of the cop series on TV (Law & Order SVU and Castle come to mind) the Glock goes "snick snick" every time it's brought up from low ready. I've had special work done to my home defense Glocks to keep 'em from doing that and alerting the home invaders every time I throw down on 'em. [smilie=l:

[a.squibload]

"snick snick"

Yeah in movies too you hear that every time
they walk around a corner, look left or right,
think about a sandwich, etc. Drives me crazy,
guess it's to remind us the actor is holding a gun.
Sounds like the dang thing is about to fall apart.

[darkroommike]

Somewhere along the way the PPK .32ACP morphed into the PPK .380 and most recently the PPK 9mm Short (same round, just the new metric designation in Skyfall). The original holster was a Berns Martin (revolver holster). Fleming was not a gun guy, but he consulted with a couple, just not about the "system". One of the reasons the PPK was chosen was ammo availability, the .32 and .380 were common European police rounds in the '50's.

BTW the iconic Sean Connery long barrel pistol in the posters is a Walther air pistol.

There is a scene in Thunderball(?) where Q, the armorer, (aka Major Boothroyd) says something to the effect that the Beretta is a "lady's gun" and "we can do better 007", Q is based on the well known English weapons expert Geoffrey Boothroyd, who advised Fleming later on, just as James Bond is also the name of a well known 50's ornithologist. Fleming was not only NOT a gun guy but had trouble making up names for his characters. I.E. Tiffany Case, ***** Galore, etc.

Still, when I was growing up I read the novels over and over, Bond seems pretty cool to a 13 year old. As did Matt Helm, Mack Bolan, Derek Flint, and Remo Williams.

[Aces an Eights]

In movies, it's always hilarious to hear a Glock's hammer beeing cocked back.

In Kill Bill, when Uma had her sword sitting next to her on the plane.... too funny

[Recluse]

I recently read a book where the author had a character take a half hour plane flight from Oahu to Honolulu. Honolulu is the main city on the island of Oahu. Wasn't even the worst mistake in the book. I think it is a statement on the status of the education system more than anything else.


I don't read many books, but have read 3 in the "Monster Hunter" series. Larry Correria is a gun guy and it shows.

Yep, Larry's weapons work and terminology is accurate.

I think it boils down to laziness on a writer's part. It takes research and sometimes technical consultants or sources to get all info correct.

In my book, there are guns and airplanes and I'm familiar with both--drives me crazy when I read things like "He flipped the gear handle up on the Cessna 172" or giving small airplanes completely unattainable speeds that would cause the aircraft to literally break up in mid-air.

There is a writer out there who is ex-military and ex-special operations who wrote about a common caliber lever gun (30-30) having a safety. Same writer gave incredible load-hauling capabilities to a Cessna 172 and incredible speed and performance to a Cessna 210. I was shaking my head reading that--we own a 172 and were in the market for a T210 and I've logged hours in a T210 and know pretty well what it can and cannot do.

A writer can hang around an airport and find out everything he/she needs to know about small airplanes. Likewise, they can hang around a gun store or better yet, a gun range and learn a LOT about guns--at least enough that they don't look like a dolt when they put frame-mounted safeties on revolvers as Lee Child once did (along with a silencer) or have AK47s shooting through engine blocks, etc etc.

Where you can take liberties is with intelligence agencies because even in real life, they rarely ever "confirm or deny" any assertions made about them or their methods. Same thing with politicians--they're public figures and as everyone has seen, can be as outlandish as need be, as crooked as need be, as stupid as need be. . .

I always research my physical/geographical areas as well. I spent some time in Tulsa while writing my book so that I'd get a feel for how things and people were up there, as well as the local airports and the hospital I staged the first part of the book in. Same with Bloomington (Indiana) and Pocatello (Idaho) and the other towns featured.

But, it does take time and effort and often times most folks don't know one street from another in Chicago or Dallas and writers always have the "Hey, it's FICTION, you know" excuse handy.

:coffee: