[Troy Spiral]

Im writing a short story for a college course. A minor character in the story (the dead guy my protagonist finds dead from suicide) as the very brief background story goes:


"John was a firearms enthusiast.. probably a bit to much of an enthusiast..."

toward the end of the story there's a line where I want my protagonists girlfriend to reference ".... and thats when you found the XYZ ? (referencing the victems weapon)" and have the model of a handgun listed where XYZ is.

Since this guy was supposed to be a gun buff, im assuming he should know what type of gun to use on himself. What type of gun would a guy like this probably pick? Or would he even use a handgun?

[cslinger]

No offense and welcome to the forum but just like most gun ranges will not allow new folks to shoot alone I don't think I want to be telling somebody how best to blow somebody's/their own brains out.

I understand that this is probably just research but the question is just a bit to creepy for me.

Sorry for being no help, but welcome anyway. Hang around you will learn a lot more about firearms just by browsing.

Chris

[armoredman]

Have your main charchter off himself with a butcher knife. We have enough disinformation from the main media/Hollyweird. Gun collectors are less likely to kill themselves than non-gun collectors.:cool:

[SnWnMe]

Why can't he just beat himself to death with a laptop?

:confused:

[DigMe]

I agree...having a gun buff kill himself with his guns only encourages the negative attitudes of the antis. Having said that I'll just say that Kurt Cobain seemed to know what he was doing and my grandfather went out the same way. :(

brad cook

[SLCDave]

a super soaker.

Thanks for stopping by.

[Intune]

You may find the best info of this type at a forensic, autopsy site. The platform used to launch the projectile would have no bearing on terminal performance.

Why not show some originality and have him throw himself on an icicle leaving no trace...

[Troy Spiral]

I run into this kind of opposition all the time. I dont take offense to it anymore. My stories are usually a bit Edgar Allen Poe and a bit Raymond Chandler / Dashnell Hammet (Detective stories).

I've avoided firearms i all my work so far, just becasue i generally thing guns in Noir litereature have been overused to hell.

I've had to do research on all sorts of grim subjects and often i get this sort totally useless "*** are you doing to our industry you ????ing media bastards!!" response. (a local funeral home director gave me this attitude when i called , researching a story and needed some info on their practices)

Im used to it now. Usually though somone with a non knee-jerk personality gives me some useful info.

In this case the plot point is so minor that its not worth me spending XXX hours researching it independently , and i dont plan on making firearms a large part of my work in the future so spending XXX hours on this one would be pointless.

Often i suspect they just dont want to be caught with their pants down if i ever quote them, and i find out later their info was faulty. :p

[matis]

Here's another vote for ommitting the handgun part.

Have him use ANYTHING else.

Why would you want to give aid to the anti-gunners when you can help our side by having your character cut his wrists, take poison, jump off a roof, drown himself, step in front of a subway train or car, etc.?

Think strategically!



matis

[matis]

Troy Spiral said:
In this case the plot point is so minor that its not worth me spending XXX hours researching it independently , and i dont plan on making firearms a large part of my work in the future so spending XXX hours on this one would be pointless
_______________________________________________________

If the point is so minor why would you want to hurt the 2nd amendment cause for the sake of it?


matis

[Troy Spiral]

Have him use ANYTHING else.

I thought about various options. Like i said i generaly avoid any reference to firearms in my work, and this is the first chr i've ever had die by his own hand. But, In this case, i dont see this no-nonsense guy messing around with anything else. Suicide by guy has the least chance of discovery (becasue its so fast) coupled with very high unservivabllity. I did spend a few nights researching suicide in general , and firearms are far and away the prefered method for this chr. Hes not making a politcal statement, hes ending his days.



This is not a poltical statement about the use of firearms. Dont make me start a new thread becasue of pointless off-topic spam about the political or social implications of firearms in the media. If you want to talk about that , thats what "new posts" are for.

And yes my spelling is for ????. Thank god writers dont have to know how to spell anymore :p

[matis]

quote:

This is not a poltical statement about the use of firearms.
_________________________________________________

OK. But it WILL have a political effect.

Are you willing to think about issues larger than yourself and your writing?

They don't have to be mutually exclusive, do they?

matis

[Telemekhos]

COLT 45.....Works Everytime. Make sure that Billy D Williams is the character though or it just doesnt come out right, lol.

thanks,
-T-

[Intune]

A no-nonsense guy would grab the bottle of Jack, percodans and head for the garage to crank up the V-8.

A nonsense guy would make a big mess and give himself a lobotomy.
Like i said i generaly avoid any reference to firearms in my work, and this is the first chr i've ever had die by his own hand. Great! You hardly ever refer to firearms but you'll take this opportunity to refer to them in one of the darkest connotations possible. Maybe you can use this opportunity to continue your general avoidance? Thanks.

[mr_dove]

No offense meant to Troy but I think we're giving him too much credit for giving a crap about our cause. He's here for research not because he agrees with our RKBA.

That being said, Intune gave you the correct answer but not in many words.

The model of a gun has nothing to do with how effective it is. The deciding factor is the size the projectile and the speed of the projectile. Nevertheless, even the smallest of calibers can be fatal if put in the right place. Placement would be more the hallmark of a knowledgable person than choice of weapon. Like I mentioned before, weapon choice just doesn't mean that much here.

A handgun that just about any "enthusiast" would own would probably be a 1911 of some sort. 1911 is a design (not a model) that was thought up by John Browning. It is an old design but is still one of the most popular. I would wager that just about every collector has at least 1 1911 style pistol. If you were to choose a maker, I'd say that Colt has probably been making 1911's for the longest time.

So, perhaps a Colt 1911 would be a good gun to put into an enthusiasts collection.

On a sidenote (and possibly insulting) I found it interesting that there was a spelling error in the sample of 11 words that you posted from your writing. Do you typically mispell 10% of your words. The difference between to and too should be readily apparent to a writer such as yourself.

[Intune]

Don't know about the 1911 choice mr_ dove. .45 recoil may slow down the follow-up shot. Also, with an auto there is the danger of limp-wristing. All factors to consider. :uhoh:

[jrpeterman]

Most gun enthusiaist that I know would not commit suicide with a firearm. Their reasoning: They don't want anyone to find them (usually in reference to a family member) and clean up or be traumatized by their mess.

[AngryBassets]

I apologize for all these "you'll make us look bad" 2nd amendment types who have discouraged you. They can really circle the wagons sometimes!

I don't see the harm in your story about the gun collector killing himself with one of his weapons, nor your quest for information on what would be a good, accurate nice gun that a person-in-the-know would use. Something (believebly) exotic.

I'd say an .88 Magnum. A Bryco-Jennings .88 magnum polymer-scadium framed revolver. For added detail, describe how the slide was locked back, indicating that there was only one round in the extractor. Something like "even in his hopelessness, it was easy for him to pull the 1 pound trigger, as he had the custom Detroit trigger installed. Mention that the ammo was triple-charged Federal Golden Saber Stingers truncated hollow point (the extra-heavy 5 grain).

I hope this helps making your story more credible.

[BeLikeTrey]

I totally agree tha old Eighty-eight is a classic and sure to do the "job" right every time.

[R.H. Lee]

As a collector and shooter of the .88 magnum, I would hate to see it portrayed in this manner. The attorney general here has been trying to ban the .88 from importation into California. It's really a public relations battle at this point, and I don't want the .88 seen in a bad light.

[Carlos Cabeza]

Dude ! Gimme a break.:rolleyes: Just make something up and move on fer chrissake. I can't believe you call yourself a writer..........................:scrutiny:

[mr_dove]

yeah, the .88 magnum slipped my mind. That would certainly be the best choice, hands down.

[HiWayMan]

Damn, I forgot about the .88. If I could afford one, that is what I would use. Good luck on your story Troy.

[Agent Schmuckatelli]

Dear THRers,
My good friend and alter-ego cpileri has seen alot of bullet wounds. He says, rather than what to use, here's what NOT to use: a 22.
See this once 16-year old kid got depressed over his girlfreind breaking up with him so he shoves the muzzle of a 22 rifle in his mouth. Bang.
When he awakens, he is in the hospital with a 22 slug removed from the part of his brain that controls what word your brain is thinking of and what your mouth says.
IOW: he may be saying "Hi, how are you?" but he says "Apple. Fish in dance, everything". Its obvious he understands everything, just cant get his message across.
So don't use a 22.
Regards,
S-

[cpileri]

Unless you are set on a firearm, have this 'no nonesence' guy jump off a cliff.
But if its a firearm you need, a 'no nonesence' kind of fellow would use whatever was at hand.
Where does he live? In the city, a small auto handgun that some homey left in a paperbag by a park bench after his last score is something he may find. Since alot of cities have restrictive gun laws, there wouldn't be a conveniently located store for him to walk into and buy one, so he has to find it.

Maybe he is in the rural countryside? Then a rifle perhaps, and depending on the area of the nation, he (and you) can just walk in and find whichever is the local sellers best selling item.

In fact, you can just walk in to, or call, a shop local to the protagonist and ask what is the dealers most popular item. Then have him pay some 'no nonesence' cash only and he's out the door.

How helpful was that?
C-

[Elkslayer]

"Why not show some originality and have him throw himself on an icicle leaving no trace..."

I love the icicle! Intrigue! Mystery! Speculation! What a task for the forensic experts!

[MJRW]

Looking at your writing, I'd say the particular description of the firearm is the least of your worries. In your particular situation and what appears to be your level of writing you may want to consider subscribing to the philosophy that less is more. The less words you write, the better the chance you'll not have a fundamental failure in the writing. You may wish to just refer to the gun by a generic description as this will have the least amount of detail which will or may be written poorly and/or inaccurately. Phrases such as "handgun," "semi-auto," "revolver," "black," "steel," and so on will convey the information just as successfully as "North American Arms, Inc. Black Widow with fixed sights and a Magnum Grip Holster loaded with 35 grain rounds."




And an aside, raise your hand if you went to college at a time when you had to know grammar and spelling and you would have been failed for ever writing like that.

[NORM]

have him go out and crack off a few shots at a apache helicopter on maneuvers, when they respond even a mop would be useless.

[Jubei]

Hey,

If you don't use the .88 Magnum, or have him kill himself with an icicle, why don't you have him jump naked into the running engine of a 737. That would make a hell of a mess. A real gun nut wouldn't use one of his own guns because he would probably damage it when he dropped it.

Or better yet, have him cover himself with cream, and throw himself to the hungry feral alley-cats. Or he could strap a pork chop to his chest and go to the zoo to pet the Grizzly bear. Or he could run around NY City yelling at the top of his lungs, "Bush Rules and Kerry Drools!!". That'd probably get him killed real good.

Just tryin' to help,

Jubei

[cpileri]

MJRW-
My hand is up. In college, a single comma splice ANYWHERE in the paper earned a failing mark!
To be fair, we can allow liberties for a internet web board as well as for creative writing classes.
C-

[Derek Zeanah]

Closing -- just isn't High Road material.

My opinion? Find a copy of Cooper's To Ride, Shoot Straight, and Tell the Truth and check the last few chapters. Oughta give you something interesting and very real for your book.