Forum: Author Hangout

No worries cause I live in wonderful and sunny California where they are illegal now.

Which means only the criminals will have them, and all of the members of the bigger gangs will have them while the cops and honest people are limited to 10 rounds even when they can get hold of a license to have a gun.

The limits don't apply to cops, either.

The limits don't apply to cops, either.

They may be exempt from the law, but the state and local governments in the states where the law exists doesn't approve the expenditure for the cops to have anything but the standard magazine that's issued with the gun, so it's an irrelevant point.

I'm sure they can afford it.

I'm sure many can afford it too, but the issue is the departmental policy on carrying a weapon or magazine other than that issued by the department. Year ago it used to be easy and common for an officer to carry a person weapon as a back up gun, but the feedback I get from some of the US cops i interact with on-line is that the departments won't allow them to carry non-departmental weapons or weapon accessories. Thus my comment on them not having them.

Hardly irrelevant - many, if not most, modern issue weapons come with standard magazine capacities above the seven to ten rounds that seem to turn a harmless bit of metal into a weapon of mass destruction.

The Glock G17 came with a STANDARD 17-rounder. AR-15-style rifles come with standard 30-rounders. I never knew a cop who backed off from those capacities.

many, if not most, modern issue weapons come with standard magazine capacities above the seven to ten rounds

NOT contradicting because that is mostly true but, for those interested, there has been a tiny resurgence of interest in single-stack guns these days. Glock put out a half-dozen new single-stack models in the last couple of years after the popularity of the G36 caused an outcry of "What about my caliber???"

the anti-gunners consider anything over 10 rounds to be hi-cap.

That's not quite correct. The anti-gunners consider anything more than single shot cap and ball to be hi-cap.

In any event, my Glock 17 Gen 4 came standard with 3 x 17 round magazines, so 51 rounds of 9mm without extra mags or long ones. The long ones are mostly a pain anyway, since the one thing people tend to forget when they're writing stories is the sheer WEIGHT of all that ammo.

I have a combat vest with extra ammo pouches - so I can load out within a few seconds 3 mags for my Glock (plus one in it, for 68 rounds total) and 12 mags for my AR (with the plus one in it) - which is 390 rounds total in 5.56 mm. Vest on, GOTH backpack (3 days rations and water, medical kit, other minor yet basic supplies, including individual shelter), and I'm carrying 60 pounds REAL quick. There's a reason why I have a pull cart with all terrain tires available for the OTHER 3,000 rounds of ammo and additional supplies I have available at any one time.

I'm not a prepper, per se, I'm just a military vet ready for civil unrest and other emergencies that involve the breakdown of what we call civilized society. (That may also be why I have both a machete and a combat tomahawk, too.)

Wouldn't that make it cumbersome to use?

depending on the weapon and how the extra weight affects the balance it may or may not be. Th weight will make it harder to handle and move about while the extra length on the magazine will make it almost impossible to hide with the magazine in it.

A double stack magazine will give you around half again as many rounds in the same length of magazine.

assuming the magazine is still the same width and fits into the gun. A lot will depend on the design of the specific make and model of the gun.

Just a note to say that magazines sold in places like the PRC and other communist states may be artificially limited to ten rounds but otherwise have all the same physical characteristics of the higher capacity mags sold elsewhere.

Look at this image to show you how a full capacity magazine can be plugged to reduce the round count:
https://www.thefirearmblog.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/Capture-10-660x512.png

This diagram will help you better understand the single vs double stack capacity.
https://content.artofmanliness.com/uploads/2012/09/singlevsdouble-stack-400.jpg

Just a note to say that magazines sold in places like the PRC and other communist states may be artificially limited to ten rounds but otherwise have all the same physical characteristics of the higher capacity mags sold elsewhere.

Some can, and some can't, that's why I said to check the make and model as to if it can. There are lots of guns where you can get double stack mags to fit, but there are also lots of gun where their design only allows for single stack mags.

no need to say high capacity at all

There is. He'll be doing a lot of shooting in a short period of time. I don't want a reader saying, "He would have run out of bullets by now," like I do when I watch an old Western with their six-shooters.

The correct view to take is that every character with a gun is re-loading while off camera in the middle of a gun fight.

Except if you look at their gun belts, no bullets are missing.

2. In real life, many cowboys and gunfighters carried two pistols. It wasn't for shooting one with each hand, very few people can shoot accurately with their off hand and actually aiming two pistols at the same time is impossible. No, the real point was empty one draw the second. That's 12 rounds without re-loading

Also known as 'The New York reload', though I don't doubt the concept existed before the phrase was coined. It is just how I learned it way back in when we dodged dinos as we walked to school.

In the snow.

Uphill.

Both ways.

In real life, many cowboys and gunfighters carried two pistols.

In real life:

1. Few cowboys carried pistols at all, and if they had one it was usually a large revolver carried as a saddle-gun for quick defense while on horseback.

2. The few gunmen that were around carried two pistols, usually in a cross-draw configuration as that was faster to draw due to the length of the gun barrels then.

3. Most law enforcement carried a short-barreled shotgun for close work and a rifle on their horse for long work. Some even carried a saddle-gun when out on their horse.

4. Some wealthier people and gamblers carried pocket pistols which were short guns meant only for close range work.

Pistols were costly things and not good for hunting, so few people bought them, because few people could afford them. Rifles for hunting a self-defense were a necessity in many areas and were common.

Also, much of what you see in the movies is based on a small time period in the late 1800s. After the War Between the States pistols were a lot more common due to the number of them kept by people after the war.

edit to add: I forgot to mention reloading was a long task during the 1800s and took a few minutes, which is why those who did use a pistol on a daily basis (eg gunmen etc.) carried preloaded cylinders and did a cylinder swap as it took about a tenth of the time of reloading.

Cowboys on trail drives worried more about stampedes than being attacked by people.

As explain in Boone, the cowboys usually had older and large revolvers as saddle guns like the Colt Walker for defense against wildlife like cougars and snakes, people were well down on the list.

He'll be doing a lot of shooting in a short period of time.

Just make a comment that he was glad he'd brought along half a dozen extra magazines for quick reloads, and you don't have to say anything at all about capacity.

Just make a comment that he was glad he'd brought along half a dozen extra magazines for quick reloads, and you don't have to say anything at all about capacity.

This is what I have so far about the extra magazines:

The boy scrambled to his feet and yanked his jeans up. The high-capacity magazines were heavy. One in each pocket was all he needed. It would be done quickly.

What's it called when the last round is fired and the slide slides back to show the pistol is empty?

Most semi-automatic pistols lock open when the magazine and breech are empty due to having fired all of the rounds.

So the pistol is "locked open" when the last round was fired.

Thanks.

What's the breech? What I call the chamber?

Also, with it in the locked open position, after he ejects the empty magazine and snaps in a full one, the slide is still locked open. Does he simply "rack the slide" to get the gun ready again or is it a two step process (one to unlock the slide and then to rack it)?

What's the breech? What I call the chamber?

some people call it a breech, and some call it a chamber. It's where the casing is ejected and the new round goes in.

When you fire your last round, the standard mechanism to lock the slide back is a small lever. If you look at most modern magazines, you will see a small flat spot that sits lower than the canted section that holds the round. See here:

http://www.hallowellco.com/magazine-follower-top---pistol-sm.jpg

That small part that is depressed on the leading edge impacts the slide stop and pushes it upward:

http://www.nelsoncustomguns.com/store/images/products/large_8_Slide_Stop_with_Pin.jpg

The slide stop usually attaches to the frame and interacts with a notch in the slide

http://www.hunt101.com/data/500/medium/Dave_Williams_10-8_Slide_Stop.jpg

Now, the sequence of events is this: You fire the last round from the magazine. The magazine follower, no longer depressed into the body of the magazine by the rounds, rises enough to push upwards on the slide stop. The slide stop does just that, it stops the slide from moving back into battery (moving forward and stripping a new round from the magazine) and this lock back displays that you are out of rounds.

This also makes it easier to load a new magazine!

You can do two things at this point (after loading a new magazine) 1) You can depress the slide-stop and allow the recoil spring to move the slide forward so it loads a new round and is ready to fire. Some claim that this can be detrimental to the long life of the handgun because it causes wear on the slide stop notch on the slide.

The second method is to firmly grasp the rear of the slide, pulling the slide back all the way to fully compress the recoil spring, then release the slide so that you get the full power of that spring putting the slide back into battery.

The best method is a combination of the two.

1) You can depress the slide-stop and allow the recoil spring to move the slide forward so it loads a new round and is ready to fire.

This is what I see in a movie. Thanks for the info.

In my misspent youth I used to instruct armor crewman trainees on the use of the M1911A1 pistol - also commonly know as the colt .45 Automatic.

The use of the slide stop to return the slide to battery was the official method in training.

The use of the slide stop to return the slide to battery was the official method in training.

I found this now that I know it's called a slide stop.

It's a Stop, Not a Release

Gunsite Academy teaches that once you've reloaded your handgun, you should point your thumb toward your chest and grasp the slide between your thumb and all four fingers. Then you should forcefully pull the slide to the rear and release. This will disengage the slide stop, and as the slide goes forward, it will chamber a cartridge from the new and fully loaded magazine you've just inserted. Instructors who advocate using the slide stop as a slide release argue that it's faster. It probably is. Others, like those at Gunsite, who teach releasing the slide by pulling it to the rear, suggest that pushing down on the slide stop with your thumb is a fine motor skill, and that fine motor skills can deteriorate when you're under stress. They can and do.

This person says to pull back on the slide. But he says it's faster to press the slide stop. So I'll probably write it that way.

Only one rifle uses a "clip", the M1 Garand. All other weapons use a magazine.

Wrong. Many other rifles and pistols used clips, some used a stripper clip and some used an en-bloc clip. The Steyr M95, a few Mannlicher rifles used clips, the Mosin-Nagant, Lee-Enfield, a number of Mauser rifles , and the SKS used clips to name a few, as well as a few pistols like the Mauser C96. Then there were the stripper clips used to reload some M16 magazines.

The confusion in the US between the use of a magazine and a clip is to do with the M1 Garand en-bloc clip because it looks a lot like a box magazine and it's the one most US gun users are familiar with. With the Garand en-bloc clip you load the clip into the rifle, with a magazine you load the magazine into the rifle, but with a stripper clip you only load the rounds into the rifle and the clip is removed prior to you start firing again.