Guns in non-gun books, ones you liked, ones you laughed at.

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White Horseradish

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Reading the two recent threads, I thought of a couple of examples, but since they deal with specific authors, I thought I'd start a more generic one.

One of my favorite gun-related lines is from David Brin's The Postman. This line did not make it into the movie. When he talks about SHTF and armed people, he says "Most of them were people indulging a harmless passion for rifles."

Isn't that just a great description for a lot of us?


On the other hand, Robert Ludlum has been a constant source of gun amusement for me. "Graz" and "Burya" in the hands of his KGB bad guys are just hilarious. I saw those before the Grach pistol was invented, so the only real piece of armament the name of which sounds even remotely similar was the Grad MRLS. And Burya is an ICBM. I'd love to see the holsters they used.
 
The Road by Cormac McCarthy did a fairly good job in my opinion. They aren't used much since it takes place in a time when ammunition stocks are almost gone, but they are portrayed as a needed line of defense by the good guys with out all the over blown technical aspects that only distract from the plot.
 
How about Stephen Hunter?

In American Gunfight: The Plot to Kill Harry Truman - and the Shoot-out That Stoped It he (and his co-author) refer to supersonic .38 Special and .45 ACP rounds and silver styphnate in primers.
 
Ian Rankin writes terrific police procedural novels about a Scottish detective. His gun bloopers are hilarious: in one book he has the victim shot with a 9mm revolver, "called the "Colt 45," which is said to be very common in America. I think he's also referred to safties on revolvers a few times. I suppose somebody, somewhere has made a revolver with a safety, but, even if so, I don't imagine they find much use on the streets of Edinburgh.
 
I enjoy Robert Crais' "Elvis Cole" novels. Good detective/suspense stories with a good amount of gun stuff.
 
I think the "Colt .45" part refers to what the author was drinking when he came up with the safety-enhanced 9mm revolver. At least he didn't put a silencer on it like Ludlum loved to do. :)
 
Y'all are welcome . . .

...to give mine a go. Set in 2052, but the guns 'make sense'. While a part of the action, it is anything but a "gun book". Or at least that's my take on it. I suppose some antis might see it otherwise.

7
 
James Patterson's books are full of gun goofs, safeties on Glocks, magazines in revolvers, .40 caliber sniper rifles shooting unjacketed bullets, etcetera. At one point I compiled a list of them and sent them to him along with my credentials and an offer to vet his firearm related material for authenticity. No reply.
...silver styphnate in primers.
Click to expand...
"Silver styphnate
This compound is used as an alternative to lead styphnate in primer compounds. It is reported as being superior in performance and stability to lead styphnate, less toxic, but more expensive."
 
Yes But...

"Silver styphnate: This compound is used as an alternative to lead styphnate in primer compounds. It is reported as being superior in performance and stability to lead styphnate, less toxic, but more expensive."
Click to expand...
...if it's not in use to any significant degree to day, it's really hard to believe that it was more commonly used than lead styphnate back in 1950.
 
And of course a few authors have written of releasing the safeties on Sigs and Glocks. Or cocking a Glock.

Ken
 
The smug chortling at safeties on revolvers in novels needs to stop, especially if said novel is set in Europe. There have been a fair few revolvers over the years that have had safeties. In the US, S&W used a grip safety on several models. In Europe, it wasn't uncommon, especially among the makers on the Continent.
It's one thing if the author cites a specific model, say a Colt Python, that is known to not have a safety and has his character snap one off anyway. If the firearm is just described as a revolver, its having a safety is far from impossible. There's more to the world than just the US and more to revolvers than Colt and (most) Smith & Wesson.

PS Glock has marketed their product with a thumb safety, just not in the US.
 
I like the Clive Cussler books with "Dirk Pitt" as the star. In all honesty, those books are what inspired me to buy a 1911.

I forget which novels in the series his 1911 is specifically mentioned, but it's always with him.

A pretty good read if your into adventure.
 
I'm a big fan of Michael Connelly's "Harry Bosch" series. There are occasional references to pistols such as a Glock 27 Harry has when he works as a P.I. briefly, and his service pistol for the most part was a S&W 5906 (I think). In his latest novel, Bosch is now carrying a Kimber Ultra. However, as has already been noted, sometimes getting overly technical can be a distraction. For example, in Point of Impact there are some stretches of in depth description of loads and trajectories and such that can really pull a non gunnie out of the book. Also John Sandford's "Prey" series does a good job of incorporating specifics of firearms as well.
 
Joe Demko is technically correct

There are enough different guns in this world that just throwning random termonology together you will often be able to find an obscure gun that matches.

However, Joe Demko is wrong in spirit. These guys aren't referring to the handful of revolvers with safties, or the special glocks. They are just writing off the incorrect assumption that all guns can be cocked for dramatic effect at any time, and all guns have safties that do something but only sometime, and that revolver is to automatic like dog is to canine
 
it's really hard to believe that it was more commonly used than lead styphnate back in 1950.
Click to expand...
I haven't read the book so I didn't know that the book claimed/implied that it was more commonly used than lead styphnate.
 
The most memorable gun blooper I've come across was in the book "Train to Potevka." At one point our hero uses a 45mm handgun to clear a building.

Now that would be some serious firepower.
 
John Grisham-The Juror/general goofs in novels

I read Grisham's The Juror and he has a shady PI type that had a Glock pistol. That's ok, but that part of the novel took place in the early-mid 1970s. :rolleyes:

I've also have heard of safeties on revolvers, large caliber revolvers that somehow fire 10-15 times w/o a reload and of course everybody's favorite; "cop-killer" bullets. :rolleyes:

I may think of a few more gems...

Rusty
 
However, Joe Demko is wrong in spirit. These guys aren't referring to the handful of revolvers with safties, or the special glocks. They are just writing off the incorrect assumption that all guns can be cocked for dramatic effect at any time, and all guns have safties that do something but only sometime, and that revolver is to automatic like dog is to canine
Click to expand...

Akodo is mistaken. I am not defending authors who don't do their research. I am cautioning gun enthusiasts against an unjustified feeling of smugness and superiority at "catching" authors in mistakes that don't exist. The average gun enthusiast who sneers at safeties on Glocks or revolvers in novels isn't sneering because he knows the author didn't really mean one of the safety equipped Glocks or revolvers. He sneers because he wrongly believes that Glocks and revolvers "don't have safeties."
 
It's been a lotta' years, so I'll probably mess it up...In Robert Heinlein's book "Revolt in 2100" the main character has an antique type handgun recreated. While everyone else is using beam weapons, he has a model 1911 A1, .45. The picture on the cover of the book is a generic percussion revolver.
 
I don't know if Tom Clancy's fiction would be considered gun related, but I've always liked his stuff. I haven't read much from him in the last few years and I've only been a certifiable gun nut for that same period, so specifics don't really come to mind.
 
He sneers because he wrongly believes that Glocks and revolvers "don't have safeties."
Click to expand...

okay then, I sneer because I know that the vast vast vast majority of them do not have these features...unless the author is talking about opening up the gun and removing the hammer block or something
 
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