Comments on: Firearms: The Writer’s Guide to “Knowing Your Weapon!” https://authorkristenlamb.com/2021/10/firearms-the-writer-guide-to-knowing-your-weapon/ Author, Blogger, Social Media Jedi Sat, 17 Jan 2026 03:35:03 +0000 hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.5.8 By: Steller F. https://authorkristenlamb.com/2021/10/firearms-the-writer-guide-to-knowing-your-weapon/#comment-121159 Sat, 17 Jan 2026 03:35:03 +0000 https://authorkristenlamb.com/?p=29508#comment-121159 Great breakdown! Semiautomatics are often miscalled “automatic” in media, but knowing the difference; magazine, ejection, and trigger mechanics, makes writing aboutfirearms way more accurate and believable.

]]> By: ? Writing Links Round Up 2/7 – B. Shaun Smith https://authorkristenlamb.com/2021/10/firearms-the-writer-guide-to-knowing-your-weapon/#comment-115365 Mon, 07 Feb 2022 20:05:20 +0000 https://authorkristenlamb.com/?p=29508#comment-115365 […] Firearms: The Writer’s Guide to “Knowing Your Weapon!” […]

]]> By: jguenther5 https://authorkristenlamb.com/2021/10/firearms-the-writer-guide-to-knowing-your-weapon/#comment-115157 Fri, 22 Oct 2021 00:19:41 +0000 https://authorkristenlamb.com/?p=29508#comment-115157 One of my biggest peeves in all of fiction, not just re firearms, occurs when the villain has the drop on the MC. We’re still 30 pages from the end, so the writer can’t just have Basil Babalugats shoot Bondjames Bond, as he would IRL. No, the writer does something like this:

Babalugats took a step forward, stumbled, and dropped his Luger.

Schrecklich! People who stumble don’t drop things; they grasp them tighter. They did “the old stumble trick” in “Pay it Forward,” much to my disgust.

IIRR, this is mentioned in L. Sprague de Camp’s Science Fiction Handbook, circa 1955.

A workshop friend started to argue with me about this, until she remembered hauling herself on-shore, totally drenched, after a canoe mishap. Her companion, similarly damp, had said, “What are you going to do with that?” pointing at the oar still clutched in her hand.

]]> By: Kristen Lamb https://authorkristenlamb.com/2021/10/firearms-the-writer-guide-to-knowing-your-weapon/#comment-115143 Tue, 19 Oct 2021 14:17:06 +0000 https://authorkristenlamb.com/?p=29508#comment-115143 In reply to Roger Nay.

RIGHT? Or the gun is empty but the slide is still closed. But then they reload it before racking the slide to make sure all the ammo cycled through.

]]> By: Crystal https://authorkristenlamb.com/2021/10/firearms-the-writer-guide-to-knowing-your-weapon/#comment-115142 Mon, 18 Oct 2021 16:46:48 +0000 https://authorkristenlamb.com/?p=29508#comment-115142 I must have a strange experience because I am surrounded by gun people who know very well the difference between a clip and a magazine, but pretty much every one of them will call a magazine a clip when talking. So it has never seemed like a big deal to me but I see so many people online criticizing the usage.

]]> By: KB Gardener https://authorkristenlamb.com/2021/10/firearms-the-writer-guide-to-knowing-your-weapon/#comment-115141 Sat, 16 Oct 2021 15:32:30 +0000 https://authorkristenlamb.com/?p=29508#comment-115141 There is a bit of an error in the section on automatic weapons. While some machine guns use magazines, larger machine guns, like the one illustrated, use belts to feed large amounts of cartridges. The belt is a more efficient feeding system in this case, as it can carry 250 or more rounds, vice 20 to 30 for most magazines. The belts are actually interlocking links that the cartridges fit into and the fall apart after the spent casings are ejected from the gun.

]]> By: Roger Nay https://authorkristenlamb.com/2021/10/firearms-the-writer-guide-to-knowing-your-weapon/#comment-115140 Fri, 15 Oct 2021 21:25:23 +0000 https://authorkristenlamb.com/?p=29508#comment-115140 In reply to Kristen Lamb.

The .50 caliber Desert Eagle? I roll my eyes when the main character fires the last of forty rounds from their 9mm, drops the magazine, inserts a new one then racks the slide when it should be locked open.

]]> By: Kristen Lamb https://authorkristenlamb.com/2021/10/firearms-the-writer-guide-to-knowing-your-weapon/#comment-115139 Fri, 15 Oct 2021 20:49:04 +0000 https://authorkristenlamb.com/?p=29508#comment-115139 In reply to Roger Nay.

Same thing happened to me standing near someone shooting a Desert Eagle, LOL.

That drives me BONKERS. A clip goes in your HAIR a magazine in your GUN. And movies have gotten better (LOVE Wick) but I was one of those picky people who counted rounds as I rolled my eyes and wished for a magic pistol with an unlimited magazine.

]]> By: Kristen Lamb https://authorkristenlamb.com/2021/10/firearms-the-writer-guide-to-knowing-your-weapon/#comment-115138 Fri, 15 Oct 2021 20:46:55 +0000 https://authorkristenlamb.com/?p=29508#comment-115138 In reply to Bob Mueller.

LMAO that is SOOOO a peeve of mine! Bwa ha ha ha ha ha ha!

]]> By: Roger Nay https://authorkristenlamb.com/2021/10/firearms-the-writer-guide-to-knowing-your-weapon/#comment-115136 Fri, 15 Oct 2021 18:50:49 +0000 https://authorkristenlamb.com/?p=29508#comment-115136 Great post for writers with gun scenes in their stories. As a veteran and twenty-four year resident of Texas, take a wild guess as to whether or not I’m a gun owner. My pet peeve in both novels and movies is the inaccurate portrayal of firearms. I recently read the first book in a popular fantasy series, although the author correctly referred to handguns as either revolvers or semi automatic pistols, he insisted on calling the magazine a clip. Characters in movies often blast away with unlimited rounds from magazines that at most hold half the number. This information is easy to research. As a side note, I’ve never shot a .44 magnum, but in a Lewisville gun range stood in the booth next to someone practicing with one. It was loud and from five feet away I could feel a shock wave. I don’t know if that’s an indoor thing, but it took me by surprise.

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