Rene wrote:
"On this topic, I recently read something (I think maybe a
short story in a Black Mask anthology but I'm not sure) where
somebody is described as carrying an automatic with a
silencer. As I've just said, I don't know from guns (or
pistols) but I thought you couldn't use a silencer on
automatics, at least not the automatics available in the
1940's & 1950's. I know there are at least a few people
on the list who could clarify that for me."
I don't know much about weapons either, but I thought it was
the other way around, that only automatics could use
silencers, or at least use them effectively, as sound would
still come out of the exposed chambers in a revolver, thereby
making irrelevant any sound dampening from the barrel. I seem
to remember Elmore Leonard noting this mistake was a pet
peeve of his.
If you want to see gun-handling that looks far more
authentic, even to someone as unknowledgeable as myself,
check out Way of the Gun. There's just something different
about it, even beyond showing the reloading.
Someone else can probably explain this much better, but as I
recall my brother's explanation, drilled into him by drill
sergeants (who would make those who screwed up hold their
rifle over their head in one hand, hold their cock with the
other and chant this is my rifle and this is my gun, one is
for killing, one is for fun), a gun is a stationary weapon,
usually requiring more than one person to fire it (machine
guns on tripods or guns on the deck of a ship, for instance;
there are probably certain caliber requirements, too), while
rifles are rifles and pistols are sidearms. Can anyone with
more knowledge tell me if I'm even close to remembering
correctly? (And as they always note at the beginning of
books, any mistakes are mine, not my brother's.)
Mark
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