A Handgun with a Built-In Silencer?

/ Ben / 5 Comments
The Silencerco Maxim doesn't look like other pistols because it isn't. (Gun Digest photo)

The Silencerco Maxim doesn’t look like other pistols because it isn’t. (Gun Digest photo)

Fiction has a hard time with this whole business of silencers (aka suppressors, if you want to look smart), so I’d like to draw your attention to something that’s going to make everything a helluva lot easier. Continue reading →

Laser Sights and Snipers: Don’t Mix ’em

/ Ben / 5 Comments
A SWAT team uses red laser sights in this still from the movie, "3,000 Miles to Graceland." (Image via imfdb.org)

A SWAT team uses red laser sights in this still from the movie, “3,000 Miles to Graceland.” (Image via imfdb.org)

TLDR: Laser sights are best suited for quickly aiming over short distances, not the precision shooting fiction sometimes likes to portray with them.

Laser sights are basically glorified laser pointers your teachers used back in school (or what you used on other kids when you were supposed to be paying attention). The difference, as explained in detail here, is that they’re mounted on firearms. This makes aiming in intense, close-quarter or low-light situations easier.

Fiction sometimes takes that a step further by popping them onto guns for long-distance shots. And that’s where things head south in a hurry. Continue reading →

How Much Can a Gunshot Injury Say About the Gun Used?

/ Ben / 8 Comments
Gunshot injuries can reveal a lot of information, but don't expect miracles. (Shutterstock photo)

Gunshot injuries can reveal a lot of information, but don’t expect miracles. (Shutterstock photo)

TLDR: It depends, but it’s probably not as much as you think.

Howdunit Forensics DP LyleFull disclosure: I’m not a forensic scientist. I can’t hold a candle to books like Dr. D.P. Lyle’s Howdunit Forensics (Writer’s Digest Books) unless I’m burning it as part of a book ban, and I gave those up years ago.

Regardless, I’ve served as a resource for journalists working on stories involving firearms and crime, including homicide. In one instance from last year, I provided commentary on autopsy reports from a notorious shootout in Texas about the firearms used. The experience highlighted how much and how little a gunshot injury can reveal about the firearm used. Continue reading →

.223 vs 5.56: You Say Tomato, I Say Red Squishy Thing

/ Ben / 4 Comments

Would you believe there was actually a pic of a gun and a tomato in Shutterstock? I wrote the first paragraph before looking for a pic, and I didn't doctor this photo. Shutterstock is a strange place. (Shutterstock photo)

Would you believe there was actually a pic of a gun and a tomato in Shutterstock? I wrote the first paragraph before looking for a pic, and I didn’t doctor this photo. Shutterstock is a strange place. (Shutterstock photo)

Hang on to your vegetables, it’s “you say to-may-to, I say to-mah-to” time. Or hang on to your fruits. Tomatoes are actually fruits, right? And there’s no “e” at the end unless it’s plural, as in “potato” and “potatoes,” right? Right.

If there’s an equivalent of that kind of nuance in the firearm world, it’s with the rifle calibers .223 and 5.56mm, along with .308 and 7.62mm. If you decide to go down a more technical route in your writing, you might wind up getting mighty confused. And if this is new to you, prepare to learn how to be confused by it. Continue reading →