Not a bad guide, although it has some problems. For example, not all magazines are removable.
The AP Styleguide has a section on firearms, but that doesn’t seem to help most reporters. I hope this does.
Ping
Where’s that picture of the cop-killer assault glock pistol with bayonnet when you need it?
DANG! I do not own 8 of those calibers/gauges itemized.
Too bad he didn’t educate the press on what an “assault rifle” is.
Colt has made “both kinds [semi-auto and auto pistols].”
Colt made a machine pistol??
Ed
BTTT
Probably one of the funniest things I’ve ever read in a novel concerning firearms is a break-action double-barrel shotgun that has a pump-action.
As far as I know a pistol doesn’t have to be self-loading. Single-shot handguns are pistols. All a pistol is is a handgun that is not a revolver.
Good effort. Needs fine tuning (corrections in caps, if you will forgive the shouting):
ACTION: Moveable mechanical parts of a firearm. LOTS OF PARTS MIGHT MOVE, BUT THE ACTION ARE THOSE PARTS THAT OPERATE TO FEED AMMUNITION
BREECH: Rear portion of the barrel which includes the chamber. NOT ALL FIREARM BARRELS INCLUDE THE CHAMBER (E.G. REVOLVERS)
INSTINCT COMBAT SHOOTING: The act of operating a HANDGUN by focusing on the target and instinctively coordinating the hand and mind to cause the HANDGUN to discharge at a time and point that ensures interception of the target with the projectile. Method developed by and term coined by Police Firearms Instructor CHUCK KLEIN. (WHO HAPPENS TO BE THE AUTHOR OF THIS PIECE, AND WHO COINED THE TERM, AND TITLED A BOOK AFTER IT. IT HAS NOT BEEN ADOPTED BY ANYONE ELSE, BASED ON A QUICK GOOGLE SEARCH)
MAGAZINE: Removable part of a pistol (OR RIFLE) which holds cartridges in such a way as to facilitate the chambering of these cartridges during operational functioning.
PISTOL: aka: Autoloader, auto pistol, semi-auto. Any self-loading handgun that is not a revolver. Usually incorporates the chamber as part of the barrel. Requires the manually pulling and releasing of the trigger for each shot. After each shot the recoil “automatically” pushes the slide rearward, ejecting the spent cartridge, cocking the hammer/firing pin and, on the return forward movement, striping a fresh cartridge from the magazine for insertion into the chamber. This action/reaction does not disengage the sear, which can only be done by releasing the trigger. MANY EXCEPTIONS TO CERTAIN ASPETS. NOT ALL PISTOLS ARE SEMI, AND NOT ALL HAVE SLIDES.
POINT BLANK RANGE: Distance so close that appreciable projectile deviation of line of flight is negligible. NO, BECAUSE MANY CARTRIDGES DEVIATE (BULLET DROP) ONLY MINIMALLY OVER HUNDREDS OF FEET OF TRAVEL. POINT BLANK REFERS TO DISTANCES WHERE PRECISE AIMING OF THE GUN IS NOT NEEDED.
RIFLING: Parallel spiral groves cut into the bore to impart spin on the projectile. This spin aids in stabilizing the bullet in flight which greatly improves accuracy. This rifling so marks the bullet as it passes through the bore. These engravings (fingerprints) are unique to that particular bore and bullet. NO, THE RIFLEING IS UNIFORM FROM ONE BARREL TO THE NEXT MADE FROM THE SAME TYPE OF TOOL. ONLY THE TOOL MARKS ARE ARGUABLY UNIQUE.
SLIDE: On semi-automatic or automatic weapons, the movable mechanical device which functions to extract spent cases and insert loaded cartridges. MANY SUCH ARMS HAVE NO SLIDE, BUT INSTEAD AN INTERNAL BOLT THAT RECOPROCATES.
TRAJECTORY: The parabolical path of a projectile in flight from muzzle to impact. IT IS PARABOLIC (NOT “PARABOLICAL”) ONLY IN A VACCUUM. AIR RESISTANCE PLAYS A LARGE PART IN MANY IMPORTANT INSTANCES BEYIND SHORT RANGE, AND YEILD A NON-PARABOLIC FLIGHT PATH.
The Steyr Model 1912 pistol has an integral magazine in the handle. Note how it is loaded from the top with a stripper clip:
What would also be useful is definition of “rifle,” as opposed to, say a smoothbore.
Chuck is right on. But what about the .25-06? One of the best trajectories in a rifle?
If followed this is going to take all of the fun out of reading incompetent reporter’s articles.
“The gun used was a Colt automatic.” (Did the writer mean machinegun or the more common SEMI-automatic pistol? Colt has made both).
And when one says Colt Automatic it's safe to say that what comes to the mind of many, if not most, is what Mike Hammer carried.
“He took out his pistol, opened the cylinder….” (Pistols don’t have cylinders – only revolvers do.)
“The killer placed a fresh bullet into his gun.” (I think he means, cartridge.)
Well since all cartridges (think blanks) don't have bullets and the writer was probably trying to make the point the gun was once again ready to kill, maybe this fellow ought to stick to firearms rather than literary criticism. Or maybe he should just keep his yap shut.
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