Vanity: Question for Gun Enthusiasts

Grannyx4 | 1/11/07 | Grannyx4

[Vor Lady]

Thanks for all your technical help! I know that the great citizens of Free Republic can answer most of life's weird little questions :)

[pikachu]

I had a cop tell me one time at a crime scene they found a gun and the safety was 'on'. One of his fellow officers picked it up and quickly found out that the safety was broken. The cops words were 'never trust a gun you do not know'.

[MortMan]

Consider this about his "clip" comment. An AK-47 chambers a round through the bolt latching forward (from its rear position), pushing a round forward and up out of the magazine into the chamber. Once the bolt is seated all the way forward, behind the chambered round, the magazine can be completely removed without affecting the chambered round at all.

When the magazine is empty, it does not move. One has to push the release button for it to drop out of the lower receiver. There is no visible change in its position at all between its empty and full (or chambered and unchambered) positions.

As a matter of fact, there is generally (barring mechanical problems with the weapon) no way to seat a magazine in a different position in the weapon at all. If there were, then this second position (which, supposedly, does not chamber a round) would be considered a defective weapon, unreliable for use.

If the bolt is locked back, it generally means that the magazine is empty (though still inserted) and the last chambered round has been fired. the bolt locks back in order to facilitate insertion of a fresh magazine and immediate chambering of another round. One might be able to see if the bolt were locked back, but NOT if the weapon were actually pointed at you.

Bottom line - the other author's scene and his defense of it are decidedly wrong.

BTW - I resigned my Army commission in 1997, and was a range safety officer for my battalion in Germany. I offer this only to provide evidence of some real-world experience in such matters.

[MortMan]

Yep, it's on the starboard side of the weapon.

So, for us hopeless landlubbers, is starboard LEFT or RIGHT? ;-P

[Loud Mime]

Is this it?

[Deguello]

Is the X-cop's name Barney Miller?

[Steel Wolf]

Any AK I've handled had a selector level with a very small range of motion. For instance, on an AR/M16/M4 series rifle, the selector level rotates a full 90 degrees on each click. It's probably closer to 25 degrees on an AK, if memory serves. While you could probably tell from the side or at an angle where the lever was, but from the front? Pretty unlikely when it's pointed straight at you, since the lever lies flat and on the side.

Also, AKs go from safe to full auto to semi, as opposed to ours that go from safe to semi to full auto. It would be hard for anyone downrange to judge exactly where it is, unless it's well lit and you're very close. A pretty useless point, anyway, since you can go from safe to accurate fire in a fraction of a second, if you already have your sight picture.

As far as a round being chambered, the only, and I mean, only way you ever know that for sure about the status of a weapon is if you saw the chamber was empty, and then watched someone load. Otherwise, there's no way to know, and only a fool would bet his life that he's facing an unloaded gun.

[Hawthorn]

> So, for us hopeless landlubbers, is starboard LEFT or RIGHT? <


Here's how to remember:

PORT = LEFT, because both words have four letters.

Therefore, STARBOARD = RIGHT.

[blarney]

Pretty much all forms of AK will lock the bolt back on an empty magazine. You can push down the feed on the magazine to drop the bolt back into firing position though. This also depends though on if it's a converted sks or an actual ak. The safety is on the right hand side of the gun and is accessible via the index finger but you need to remember that this stuff is all the same color and would be fairly hard to see unless you are close and have time to actually look at it.

What I am getting to is any Police Officer first of all knows never to assume or expect a gun pointed at them is unloaded or has the safety on. Even if he could discern this he is going against his training to assume such a thing. Not many police officers would survive in the field using this kind of logic when someone is pointing a gun at them.

[Tijeras_Slim]

Round chambered, absolutely not. Safety off, easier if viewing the right side of the weapon, but barely possible if viewed from the front. The last time a weapon was pointed at me, although I know a good deal about firearms, I noticed very little except how big the "hole" in the end of the barrel was. :)

[Tijeras_Slim]

Thats the safety on an AK.

[Enosh]

I appreciate you doing your research.

I remember once laughing at novel wherein a character had to reload a .38 special. (After firing eight rounds from the five-shot revolver...)

The author then perfectly described the reload procedure for a semi-automatic handgun.

Come on!

[MortMan]

I remember once laughing at novel wherein a character had to reload a .38 special.

that was a .38 extra-special! ;-P

[Enosh]

LOL!

[Loud Mime]

The last time a gun was pointed at me I started evaluating the situation by looking around me. The officer said "Look at me and nowhere else!" I didn't care to see of the gun were loaded or the safety was on/off.

I put this writer's scenario and knowledge in the same volume as the idea that you can disassemble a Beretta while it's in the shooter's hand. If you're brave enough, slap the weapon aside, kick the groin, gouge the eyes and don't mess with cleaning the weapon.

Of course, the line between bravery and stupidity is thin and judged solely by the results.

[AngryJawa]

Is this it?

That's her. You can even see the scratch in the oh-so-lovely commie-bloc finish showing the arc of travel between safe and fire.

[Vor Lady]

LOL! Now a .38 Special I know about.

[Vor Lady]

Barney Miller was in NY. 'My cop' is in Omaha.

[Little Ray]

If I am not mistaken, the AK47 has a selector lever. The lever is on the right side, above the grip, and it is pretty large. From the right side, the character might be able to tell that the weapon off safe. Dunno 'bout from the from the front, but maybe.

You can't tell if there is a round in the chamber as the weapon fires from a closed bolt and you can't see the bolt from the front, anyway.

Also, AK-47s are kinda old. Nowadays they use AKMs (AK-47s modified for easier production - still kinda old...) and AK-74s and AKSs. Your fellow writer needs to do some research.

[fredhead]

Not dealing with weapons, but vessels (boats, etc.) the other thing to remember about port and starboard is port is left and starboard is right WHEN FACING FORWARD, i.e. the bow of the said vessel.

On a Navy ship, this is used in compartment numbers to help locate where the compartment is:
first number is the deck, second number the frame number (frame numbers start with 0 at the bow) and the third number is relative to the centerline of the ship, 0 for centerline, odd on starboard, and even to port. Last is a letter to delineate the use of the space.

Example: 2-135-3-L

Second deck, frame 135, second space to starboard of centerline, and a living space (berthing, head, passageway).