Category Archives: Writing

Today’s blog entry is a continuation of a series I began on Monday—a look at what fiction writers need to know about handguns.  First, we discussed revolvers, and today we begin a two-part look at semiautomatics.

But first, in continuing with Monday’s numbers theme, how many Californians does it take to change a lightbulb?  Six:  One to actually change the bulb, two to share in the experience, another to bring the tofu, and two more to present the award for best technical achievement in lighting.

So, how many kinds of semiautomatic handguns are there?  A lot:  Single- action only; double-action only (DAO); single/double-action; partially cocked striker.  And that’s just triggering systems.  Then there’s the traditional metal-framed pistols and the newer polymer frames, traditional hammer pistols and newer striker types, semiautomatics with manually operated external safeties and the recent trend popularized by Glock to eliminate such safeties.

Let’s start with single-action (SA) semiautomatics.  Just as with single-action revolvers, single-action semiautomatics require the hammer to be cocked before the weapon can be fired.  On subsequent shots, the hammer is cocked by the action of the slide moving back to eject the spent cartridge, after which a new cartridge is stripped off the top of the magazine and fed into the firing chamber as the slide returns forward.  But, unlike the single-action revolver, this type weapon is usually designed to be safely carried with the hammer in the cocked position because it comes equipped with a manual safety that prevents the weapon from firing unless the safety is disengaged.  This is what is described as, “Cocked and locked.”  So, now you know the origination of this famous phrase.  Most single-action only weapons are designed to do this.

The most famous example of this type weapon is John Browning’s century-old design, the .45 caliber Colt M1911.  You would be hard pressed to watch an action movie or television show in which at least one character doesn’t produce one of these weapons.  The 1911 was the weapon of choice for fictional heroes from Mike Hammer to Magnum, P.I., and it’s still manufactured today.

Just as revolvers evolved from straight single-action to combination double-action/single-action, semiautomatics did as well.  With a double-action/single-action pistol, the hammer can either be manually cocked (single-action), or the pulling the trigger will cause the hammer to pull back into firing position (double-action).  The most famous of these is probably the Walther PP-series.  Indeed, this pistol is one of the most copied designs ever produced, probably coming in second only to the Model 1911 described above.

Who in literature used a PP-series pistol?  Bond . . . James Bond—also known in some circles as agent OO7 of Her Majesty’s Secret Service.  James Bond made the switch to the smallest version of the PP-series, the PPK, after his original carry piece, the Beretta 418, nearly costs him his life at the conclusion of the novel From Russia with Love.  In television, the PPK was used by Magnum, P.I., as a backup piece, and the slightly larger PPK/S was used by Robert McCall in The Equalizer, Sgt. Dee Dee McCall in Hunter, and more recently by Fiona Glenanne in Burn Notice.

In 1979 an Austrian company set out to revolutionize the modern semiautomatic pistol, and in 1982 they launched the Glock 17.  The Glock series of pistols were pretty unique.  The frames were made of light-weight polymer, reducing the weight of the gun considerably.  Gone was the hammer, replaced by an internal striker (basically a spring-loaded firing pin) that was less likely to snag on clothing when drawn.  Also missing from the Glock design were any manually operated external safeties.

And then there was the Glock trigger action—not single-action and not double-action, it held a sort of middle ground between the two in that the striker was partially cocked.  Pulling the trigger would complete the cocking of the striker until the trigger reached the trip point, at which time the internal striker would move forward under spring tension, striking the primer of the bullet.  This Glock-style trigger is not as stiff and long as a double-action trigger, but neither is it as short and light as a single-action trigger.

Friday: Firearms for Formulators of Fiction—Semiautomatics Part 2

This week we’re going to try something a bit different.  Yes, it’s handgun week, and during this time we’re going to discuss a device that is frequently used in storytelling, yet which far too few novelists understand well enough to make believable.

First, there are 10 kinds of people in this world:  Those who understand binary, and those who do not.

As for novelists, the vast majority of them fall into one of two categories:  Those who’ve used handguns in their stories, and those who will use handguns in their stories.  The problem is that too many novelists are functionally illiterate when it comes to handguns.  You don’t want to be one of those.  If you’re going to use a handgun in your story, make it believable.

And, just as most novelists fall into two categories, so too do most modern handguns:  Revolvers and semiautomatics.  The revolver still has a following, but it’s rapidly losing popularity to the more versatile, higher capacity, easier to reload semiautomatic.

The modern revolver is a descendent of the six shooter from the old West—a gun that held six bullets in a cylinder that rotated as the hammer was thumbed back into firing position, thus bringing the next unfired cartridge into firing position.

And, continuing in today’s number theme, there are two basic categories for revolvers:  Single-action, and double-action.

With a single-action revolver (again using the wild West six shooter as an example), the hammer must be thumbed back into firing position, where it locks into place until the trigger is pulled.  When the trigger is pulled, the hammer snaps forward under spring pressure.  The firing pin contacts the primer (a small explosive charge used to set off the much larger charge that propels the bullet), and if all goes well, the bullet leaves the barrel of the gun on its way toward dispatching either a victim or a bad guy from your story.

Most double-action revolvers can act in one of two ways:  The hammer can be thumbed back into position, converting the revolver into a traditional single-action weapon; or, the trigger can be pulled back and the internal mechanisms of the double-action revolver will cause the hammer to move back until the trigger trips the release (seer) and the hammer falls under spring pressure onto the cartridge primer.  The advantage to a double-action revolver is that it eliminates the need to manually thumb the hammer back into firing position before discharging the weapon.  That’s fine for close range, but there’s a problem that affects the shooter’s accuracy beyond just a few yards.  This downside to double-action is that the trigger is very, very stiff.  That’s a consequence of the trigger having to overcome the tension of the hammer spring to bring the hammer back into firing position.  But, as previously noted, most handguns of this type can revert to single-action mode, thus nullifying this disadvantage.

Be aware that some double-action revolvers cannot be placed into single-action mode, but these are the exception, and most of these have internal hammers that cannot be thumbed back anyway.  These “double-action only (DAO)” revolvers are made for close-up self-defense.

There are three basic mistakes gun novices use when writing novels containing revolvers:

• First, don’t have your character carry a revolver with the hammer cocked.  It’s dangerous, dumb, and may very well result in your character accidently blowing a hole in his foot or, worse, some other part of his body.  If your male character carries his “cocked” revolver tucked into the front of his pants, you’d better be doing a story involving sex change, because if that hammer trips, the gun won’t be the only thing that is suddenly decocked, if you catch my drift.
• Second, don’t have your character disengaging the “safety” on the revolver after drawing it, or engaging the “safety” prior to holstering it.  This gives readers in the know one of those rolling-of-the-eyes moments that every author should strive to avoid.  Yes, there are revolvers that were made with safeties (some Webley revolvers come to mind), but again, these are the exception.
• And, finally, do not have your character put a suppressor (silencer for the uninformed—suppressors don’t “silence” anything; they merely suppress the noise but do not eliminate it) on his revolver.  The barrel is not where most of the sound comes from on a revolver; it comes from the gap between the cylinder and the frame/barrel.  As such, a suppressor just won’t do much more than look stupid.  How many times have you seen Hollywood make this mistake? And it’s really aggravating when they do.   Again, there are exceptions, but revolvers designed to take suppressors are a very rare and specialized breed.

Next Up:  Firearms for Formulators of Fiction—Semiautomatics Part 1