Posted on 01/11/2007 5:59:47 AM PST by Vor Lady
I need the expertise of the Freepers. Last night at my writer's meeting, another author described a scene from his current work in progress. The gist was that the protagonist could tell that the safety was off and a round was chambered in a weapon that was being pointed at him. The weapon was an AK-47.
Can a person tell by looking at a gun currently being pointed at them that the safety is off and a round is chambered? When I called the man on it, he told me that one could tell a round was chambered by the way the clip was seated. This sounds a little far fetched to me but I'm willing to be taught. How about it fellow Freepers?
Help!
I thought I put this in chat but it came up here. Can you please move it or send me instructions? Sorry and Thank You!
Though i do not have much experiance with AK's i do know that with a mag. inserted in the weapon there is no way to tell if it is loaded or not. That is why you need to clear a weapon by bring the bolt back and looking up the barrel. So a weapon with a mag could be completly loaded or have 1 round or none and the only way to tell is to drop the mag and look.
I am not sure on the safty though. I do not think it can be seen from the front (i.e. if it was aimed at you)
Absolutely false.
LOL! I guess that is one way to do it!
Ain't no way, absolutely none!
Thanks for confirming what I thought.
The moment he used the word "clip", he disqualified himself as an expert.
For an AK, and just about every semi-auto and auto rifle and handgun, one needs Xray vision to see if a round is chambered. There's a reason why one has to pull the charging handle and look at an angle into the breech in order to "clear" such a weapon.
As far as the safety, I know that an M-16 safety is a small, black 3-position rotary switch on the "face" side for a right-handed shooter, which would hardly be visible at any distance, especially if the rifle is shouldered.
the writer really needs to get a few more gun skills before they try to "finesse" such a scene. (I also write - mostly unpublished thus far - and it always bugs me when someone starts making stuff up that defies common sense)
The author in question is a retired cop, so I didn't feel I could argue with him at the meeting. Thanks for the help!
One can tell if the safety is off, but not if a round is chambered. That said, it's always a good idea to assume that the gun is ready to fire.
The safety lever is on the (shooter's) right hand side of the weapon - up is "safe", down is "fire". The magazine clips into the bottom of the weapon and does not move until the shooter presses the latch to remove it.
This ONLY works on the A-Team reruns, and even then it's unreliable! ;-P
/ sarcasm toward the OTHER writer
See my post #11. He is in his 60's; former Navy and a retired Omaha cop. He is one of our published authors so everyone looks to him for gun information. I'm kind of a thorn in his side, since I do some shooting. Not that I'm any kind of expert in gun handling.
Is the AK safety on the "outside" of a right-handed shooter's rifle? I figured it would be like the M-16, where it is thumb-actuated for a right-hander (i.e.: on the left side of the lower receiver, both for accessibility and shooter visibility reasons).
LOL! I forgot about the A-Team! Maybe that is where he was getting his information. ;)
Sure there is, shoot him and then check it...
Yep, it's on the starboard side of the weapon.
Oops, forgot to add that the AK's safety is manipulated with the right-handed shooter's right index finger.
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