My wife has been paying attention

[J-Bar]

My missus can shoot, and has her concealed carry permit, although she is not into recreational shooting or hunting or blackpowder guns. But I can tell she has been paying attention...

She is reading Glendon Swarthout's "The Homesman" for her next book club meeting. After reading a passage about a gunfight she said, "This can't be right. It's the 1850's and he's talking about cartridges for a Navy Colt!"

I read the passage and it describes reloading a Navy Colt with "cartridges and caps" while running on foot. Even if the author were referring to paper cartridges, I don't think the shooter could seat 6 balls and cap the nipples while running up a flight of stairs.

My wife has heard me complain about other authors' inaccurate firearm descriptions. It's kinda cool she can do it herself now.

Any similar experiences?

 

[Crawdad1]

That's funny J-Bar. Great story.

Why can't an author or a director of a movie for that matter just ask somebody??

 

[AJumbo]

Well........ it would be clumsy, but if the gun had been run dry and the shooter needed to seek cover and return fire, maybe it wouldn't be outside the realm of possibility. I huess I'd have to see the entire passage.

 

[delrom418]

My wife has heard me complain about other authors' inaccurate firearm descriptions. It's kinda cool she can do it herself now.

Any similar experiences?

My wife has heard me complain about gun inaccuracies in movies and on TV.
Now she just tells me to be quiet and enjoy the show!

 

[25cschaefer]

My wife hates when we watch movies now, after gunsmithing school, she told me to shut up before the first ten minutes of Django.

 

[ontarget]

Ditto on the "shut-up". I Hear it all the time, seems like those six shooters NEVER run out of ammo. And how about those 100yard shots between the eyes with a BP revolver?

 

[whughett]

I always likes the old cowboy shoot-ups, you know the guys on horse back who give the bullets extra velocity by "snapping" the gun forward when shooting.

 

[White Walker]

As I understand it, Snap Shooting was a technique where after a Lot of practice, a shooter could accurately "place" his shots by snapping the pistol. This was helpful when on horseback and the movement of the horse wouldn't allow one to aim with the sights, but Snapping the pistol would allow the shooter to hit what he snapped at. I've never tried it. That technique is mentioned by Elmer Keith.

 

[Patocazador]

Lots of things were "mentioned" by Elmer Keith ... some of them were true.

 

[Caliper_Mi]

I read the passage and it describes reloading a Navy Colt with "cartridges and caps" while running on foot. Even if the author were referring to paper cartridges, I don't think the shooter could seat 6 balls and cap the nipples while running up a flight of stairs.

Just because you're not that coordinated...

At least "cartridge and caps" sounds correct to the machanism.

My GF notices problems here and there. But every time there is a head-on shot of a revolver and it's obvious that there's nothing in it, she "thanks" me for pointing that out to her one time (and thus she can't avoid noticing now! )

 

[Noz]

My wife has heard me complain about gun inaccuracies in movies and on TV.
Now she just tells me to be quiet and enjoy the show!

That's what happens in my house.

 

[bainter1212]

Yes......my wife shot me "the look" when I complained about characters unnecessarily cocking/decocking guns while watching "Homeland" last night.

I said "but seriously, who carries a 1911 hammer-down on a chambered round?" at that point she calmly said "stop". Of course I did lol.

 

[Sunray]

It's not "shut-up". It's "Shut up, you!". Worse when you say, "I have one of those." Doesn't need to come from your other half either. snicker.

 

[4v50 Gary]

25schaefer - better for her to tell you to shut up than to have an ashtray tossed at your head.

 

[Officers'Wife]

What I hate most is watching any kind of western with my Dad. He deeply resents;

Hollyweird's habit of disguising swingblock rifles as muzzleoaders
Scenes showing firearms that don't emit clouds of smokes set in an era before smokeless powder.
Chases where ppl aim at a full gallop yet still manage to hit their intended target.


Since he is my father and I can't tell him to shut up... I slip in a DVD of "The A-Team" and quietly and quickly leave.

 

[J-Bar]

As I recall, the technique of cocking a single action revolver with the muzzle up was taught to early actors by fellows who were used to shooting cap and ball revolvers...they supposedly pointed the gun up while cocking to prevent spent caps from falling back into the hammer channel. And the technique became a Hollywood standard even with cartridge guns. The "snapping" motion is so dramatic, don't you know!

I read that somewhere...might have trouble finding the source again though.

 

[Noz]

What was the Angelina Jolie Movie where if you snapped the gun sideways fast enough you could shoot around corners?

 

[whughett]

Wanted.

Wasn't a corner, bullet flew in a circle killing half dozen bad guys. Magic. Just like the leaver or pump gun that gets racked several times.