Silly myths you have had to fight with

[The Tourist]

As a former credit manager, I'm not sure that the size of former transactions dictates the price adjustments for sellers.

For example, if I have a good day, do I call my distributor and load up on supplies? Of course not. Spikes in sales are never a reliable gauge on pricing.

If there is an upward trend over time and demographics, now you've got demand.

As true gun nuts, I'll admit that most of us have gunrooms, a fairly good stockpile of ammunition, perhaps a few ingots of linotype and a spectrum of reloading supplies.

I'm not sure that makes a ripple. Lots of guys buy a .38 SPL revolver, a box of generic ammo, shoot it once, and stick it in a drawer, never to be heard from again.

In fact, it sometimes drives useage downward, providing a glut.

For example, I only put loose singles in my truck when I buy gas. Sure, we all hear that it takes "fifty bucks to fill a tank," but watch the amounts on the guy who previously used the pump.

If I just put a modicum of tip money or spare change in my truck--that's seven to fifteen dollars--I can get to work for two or three days. Then I have another seven bucks.

Granted, a salesman or a guy in a bigger town is at the mercy of the pumps, but that's not everyone. Wisconsin is a tourist state. I see more and more articles on why citizens should enjoy local events than do extended car trips. I know bikers are serously wondering about Sturgis, especially if they have recently made the trip.

I won't be convinced we've hit rock bottom until I see Harley riders drinking Schlitz.

 

[Ranb]

Who said there is no such thing as a silencer because they are actually sound suppressors? I do not agree. The word silencer as it is applied to a firearm was coined (I think) by Percy Maxim when he first marketed his silencers for sporting use over 100 years ago. In 1934, the USA made the word silencer a legal term when it passed the NFA of 1934.

When making or buying a silencer, the type of weapon listed in 4b of the form 1 or form 4 is "silencer". Has anyone here ever been able to get the form approved when it was listed as suppressor? Thanks.

Ranb

 

[coloradokevin]

Anyone can shoot at 1000 yds. All you need is a Barrett

...and when the bullet gets there, it will cause it's human sized target to explode and go flying 50 feet through/into the air, in defiance of the laws of physics. But, it is a .50 BMG, so it must be capable of supernatural performance!





Anyway, I've personally dealt with the "extra deadly hollow point bullets" argument, from my mother-in-law. She's a bit uninitiated, and was talking one day about how "no one needs those deadly hollow point bullets". I pulled out one of my magazines and showed her what I was carrying, and tried to explain the whole situation to her (as did her daughter). So, I think we made headway on that myth.


Some other things I've heard from other folks (some of these are classics):

"They ought to ban the Glocks... No one needs a gun that can sneak through a metal detector".

"Why does anyone need an assault rifle? I don't see why you need a gun that is more powerful than a hunting rifle!"

"Gun owners are all paranoid"

"The gun just went off"



But, our fellow gun owners aren't necessarily capable of findig the truth either:

From a coworker: "The .308 is much better than the .30-06 because the bullet rises for a much longer period of time, and the bullet is always a different size/width which makes it have less drag!" Huh?!!!

From a guy at the range: "AK-47's are super accurate, people just don't know how to shoot them. Mine (a $300 gun) shoots 0.5" groups at 200 yards"

From every tacticool person buying their first handgun: "I'm buying XYZ because it has more KNOCKDOWN POWER than ZYX"

From a guy who works at a local gun store: "I shoot half inch groups at 500 yards with my $300 gun, and always win competitions against guys with $2,000 guns because I measure my powder to be exactly the same on each of my handloads" (I told him that if his $300 gun was giving him .5 inch groups at 500 yards, he ought to get the company who produced it to sponsor him).

 

[Gun Slinger]

Those who "think" that they understand physics yet make statements that absolutely fly in the face of logic and the calculus that supports physics...

Those who think that it is some sort of "sin" to use synthetic motor oil as a field expedient weapons lubricant...

Those who believe in "majical" bullets and ballistically impossible phenomena...

I could go on, but it'll get my blood pressure up. I think that I'll go lay down now......

 

[pbearperry]

I love this one.The M16 bullet tumbles through the air,that's why it is such a great manstopper.

 

[learn2shoot]

Hi-Point guns are worthless pieces of junk
I am the only person in this room professional enough....

In fact, you don't need a firearm to discharge a round of ammo.

I disagree - any system that you rig up to make ammo go boom is a firearm - regardless of how rudimentary. I once (briefly) considered using the Dillon bullet length checker things to fire a round. Chickened out (wisely)

 

[SN13]

That AK's are inaccurate past 100yrds.

An M4 that can shoot a weaker round at 1MOA is better for building assaults than an AK shooting a more powerful round at 2MOA.

That the 7.62x39 AK/SKS round is unsuitable for taking a deer past 100yrds but a 30-30 with LESS energy @200 is ok out to and past that distance for deer. ??? (See HERE)

That full auto is uncontrollable in an M14. I disagree

 

[Sebastian the Ibis]

That full auto is uncontrollable in an M14

It is when bump fired, that is why full auto is necessary for public safety.

How about the gun killed RFK not Sirhan Sirhan or his ideas? I heard this on Nominal Pubic Radio this afternoon and nearly choked on my coffee.

 

[XDKingslayer]

Another one that annoys me is the myth that enemy soldiers waited for the ping of an empty Garand and then attacked, knowing that the gun was empty. I can reload a Garand pretty fast and I'm positive that a skilled soldier or Marine could do it a whole lot faster. Besides that, the ping isn't that loud. 50 yds away, and you wouldn't even hear it, especially not in a battle.

Don't know if that's a myth or not, but I do remember a show on the History channel where they were interviewing an old Marine and he said that they would reproduce that sound in order to lure then enemy into thinking they were empty and using it against them.

 

[Heavy Metal Hero]

You can't miss with buckshot...

 

[fletcher]

Can't believe nobody mentioned the "don't leave your mags loaded or the springs will go bad" myth. I swear I hear that every other time I'm at the gun store :banghead: If that was true, every single one of my magazines would probably have failed by now.

And the hollow-point and/or teflon-coated bullets penetrating through vests better - I hear that one once in a while as well, though mainly online or in the news (only heard this once in person - individual was quickly corrected).

 

[lance22]

Myth: Stopping Power

It took me a while to figure out several things regarding the myth of stopping power.

First - that a person hit with a bullet will not get knocked down.
Second - that person hit with a bullet is incapacitated only through bleeding or a nerve hit (spinal / brain), or structural collapse (knee / critical bone).

Seeing people "knocked down" countless times on the big screen had a profound influence on my assumptions.

Bullet Rise

Mentioned by JR1, those trajectory charts CLEARLY showed the bullet rising above the bore line. I was shocked when somebody told me a bullet falls just as fast whether shot by a gun or dropped from your hand. But what about those charts!?! LOL color me stupid. I often wondered what physical force could cause a bullet to rise.

Second Amendment is About Hunting

I grew up with the notion that we had the right to 'own guns', and those guns 'are for hunting'. Back in an era where everyone hunted it was an easy and safe mistake. Why else would we own guns? LOL I had a lot to learn.

 

[Brass Rain]

I have a friend that used to think cartridges were a single unit--only the bullet itself. I spent an hour and a half or so teaching her over the internet how bullets, semi-automatic handguns, and revolvers work along with the Four Rules. She went from fearing guns to understanding them in just one night. This thread really shows how ignorant people can be. But many of them can be turned around if we try hard enough.

 

[1911Tuner]

I often wondered what physical force could cause a bullet to rise.

Muzzle elevation and the angle of departure from the line of sight.

The bullet only appears to rise. In reality, it starts to fall the instant that it leaves the muzzle. Gravity simply won't be denied.

 

[coloradokevin]

Can't believe nobody mentioned the "don't leave your mags loaded or the springs will go bad" myth. I swear I hear that every other time I'm at the gun store If that was true, every single one of my magazines would probably have failed by now.

And all of my duty magazines would have failed! Three loaded pistol mags, and five loaded AR-15 mags.


A few more myths aren't as easily put into one sentence explanations:

1) The Hollywood myth of a guy shooting through a rope/powerline/wire/etc with a snub-nose revolver at 200 yards, off-hand.

2) The myth that a bullet will send you flying through the air to your demise.

3) "Buy a shotgun for home defense. Since it scatters you can't miss your target" (have these "savy" gun shop workers ever actually put a shot pattern onto paper at typical defensive shooting distances???)

 

[springmom]

As a woman, I'd say it has to do with calibers, but type of gun comes in a close second.

---a woman can't handle a .45
---a woman shouldn't get a semiauto because she can't rack the slide
---a woman's first gun must be a J-frame .38 spl

Having said that, I have watched those old myths DIE here on this board, and not because I and other women shooters kill them....but because the men here do. Hats off to those of you who have done so.

Springmom

 

[1911Tuner]

Springmom...Check your PMs in a few.
Got a funny for ya.

 

[Funderb]

Muzzle elevation and the angle of departure from the line of sight.

The bullet only appears to rise. In reality, it starts to fall the instant that it leaves the muzzle. Gravity simply won't be denied.
__________________

THANK YOU 1911Tuner.
Someone else who doesn't succumb to the stupids.


When fired on a flat, the dropping round and the fired round hit at the same time. every time.

 

[Gunsby_Blazen]

Mini-14s are inaccurate...

 

[Defensory]

Posted by springmom
As a woman, I'd say it has to do with calibers, but type of gun comes in a close second.

---a woman can't handle a .45
---a woman shouldn't get a semiauto because she can't rack the slide
---a woman's first gun must be a J-frame .38 spl

Having said that, I have watched those old myths DIE here on this board, and not because I and other women shooters kill them....but because the men here do. Hats off to those of you who have done so.

Ain't it the truth, springmom!

A variation I hear quite often from a lot of revolver advocates (RA's) is---"Wimin should use revolvers, because there's less to have to think about. They're simpler, by jingo!"

They've got this attitude that "Da little woomin might have a problem trying to figger out how a semi-auto works, so gitter a revolver."

Sheesh. The RA's act like firing a semi-auto is rocket science or something. Of course, for them it might very well be. But thus far, I have yet to run across even one woman who couldn't handle the alleged "intricacies" of a semi-auto. Even rank beginners can do reasonably well with one after a few hours of quality instruction.

 

[Pigspitter]

At $200 tax on a silencer for a .22lr rifle when the rifle and the silencer together cost $185 is reasonable

Where are you finding a rifle and supressor for $185!!!!!! I'll take 15.

 

[BrianB]

With a standing army and police, we have no need to keep and bear arms.

 

[mossberg]

This has probably been said already, but: If you shoot a .50 cal within a meter of someone the wind from the bullet will rip their arm off :SIGH:

 

[WinchesterAA]

Guns are for killing people...

My favored response is that of absolute fact.

Firearms functioning as intended are long distance hole-punchers. What you punch a hole in is entirely up to you, be it a fencepost, a piece of paper, or just about anything else you might want to poke a hole in.

 

[jackdanson]

Muzzle elevation and the angle of departure from the line of sight.

The bullet only appears to rise. In reality, it starts to fall the instant that it leaves the muzzle. Gravity simply won't be denied.

Huh, why on ballistics graphs do the bullets always seem to rise? Serious inquiry, not being a smart-s.

I always thought it was b/c of aerodynamics.. like a plane wing.. when going a certain speed it raises an inch or two before slowing down and dropping.. guess I was wrong.