Novelist Seeking Gun Assistance

24" and less, a place to discuss all things handgun related, section 7.3. Long barrelled revolvers, long barrelled pistols and section 5. Overseas contributions are more than welcome.

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bradaz11
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Re: Novelist Seeking Gun Assistance

#41 Post by bradaz11 »

strangesam wrote:
bradaz11 wrote:
my subscription list lol. also throw in demolition ranch if you want to see some weirder stuff you can do, and capabilities of certain common calibers against 'stuff'.
I also watch Demolition ranch, but left him off, as firstly I find him a bit too 'showbiz american', second he doesn't really cover the technical stuff, and thirdly, while I'm sure he is working safely, it often doesn't look like it (he's not specific about the safety like the others on the list). Also thinking about it, he doesn't really cover old firearms either much. Or at least not the kind we're looking at here.
very true, all good points. I just added as it goes some way to show what guns actually do to things, a bit like the meat target with the new and improved high tech fleece bullet stop
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Union St
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Re: Novelist Seeking Gun Assistance

#42 Post by Union St »

Thank you, gents, for all your comments. Maybe there are ladies on here too; apologies if so. Why would there not be? Good point about ear protection, so a criminal firing inside a building would probably stuff cotton in his ears? Signed copies? Sure, but twenty might be too many. The book I just completed I thanked a lot of people directly in the Acknowledgements. I will also send about a half dozen to people who helped so much. In many ways, people with real knowledge are better than editors. In the end, eBooks cost, like, $5. But I will definitely consider it, not a problem. I haven't written anything yet :-) Question: if anyone is old enough, do you know how the legal situation was in 1962 in the UK? Could people own handguns? Did they require a license? Could they travel to Europe carrying a gun? (I doubt it). Thank you for all your help. By the way, I just made a website, but I AM NOT here to sell books. Just some background if you are interested.
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Re: Novelist Seeking Gun Assistance

#43 Post by Union St »

1066
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Re: Novelist Seeking Gun Assistance

#44 Post by 1066 »

Personally I think a criminal firing a handgun inside a building in 1962 would be most unlikely to use any hearing protection unless this was very premeditated, the chap was very experienced and the area very confined.
I started shooting fullbore rifle in 1963 - very few people used any form of hearing protection, I used a rolled up cleaning patch, virtually no one used any hearing protection fro smallbore inside or out, it really wasn't a concern in those days.
Short clip from 1953 cadet shooting:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TdunFaQ8SZU
and from the 1960
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WEH_ft3Mlfs

Yes, handguns of any type were freely available in the UK right up until the late 1980's - A firearms certificate was required, issued by the police. Once in hand, you could walk into any gunshop and walk out with your pistol. In the 1960's there was not the paranoia/phobia about guns as there is now, every single small town in the UK had one or more rifle club, in fact the ammunition for fullbore shooting was subsidized by the government to encourage shooting.
Yes, you could take your firearms abroad, just declare them for customs. However, no criminal then, as now, would bother applying for a certificate, just buy an illegal pistol on the black market.
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Re: Novelist Seeking Gun Assistance

#45 Post by 1066 »

:) I too went to sea at the age of 15 and spent a few years roaming the world. Some of the time on Shell supertankers.
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Re: Novelist Seeking Gun Assistance

#46 Post by MistAgain »

Union St wrote:Well, thank you all so much for the very good comments. I can dismiss the Glock, right? I'm thinking that my hero could be offered a small selection of, say, four guns and choses the FN based on its apparent condition. He has to dismiss the Browning because he is suspicious of the condition. I very much like the look of the Walther, but as you say, it cannot be used in literature ever again. Is there any way he can 'test' the condition and function of the gun without actually firing it?
Whoever was supplying him with the gun might not have been happy about doing the deed , checking it and maybe even firing it in a basement or workplace .

Belgium in the 1960's was still littered with pill boxes , gun emplacements and flak towers along the coast line and even a couple of miles inland .

And just about all the forts and barracks were still intact along the German - Belgium border .

So testing a gun would not have been a problem .
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Re: Novelist Seeking Gun Assistance

#47 Post by Union St »

Again, thank you, gents. I think my scenario will be a paid assassin/hitman from London, goes to Belgium to commit the offence. He doesn't take a gun with him. He is ex-soldier, so experienced. Not sure of his age yet. His employer has given him an address to pick up a gun (pre-paid), and he will be offered, say, four, and chooses the FN 1910. He will commit the crime inside a house, with the lights on, but I need it to go wrong, that's why I was going on about the malfunction early on.
I'm surprised he would not have worn some ear protection, say, cotton wool. He should have said all this earlier on.
Oh, thank you for the private messages, but I don't yet have the ability to respond - just joined, I guess.
Yes, I started with Shell in 1977, but went on to much more interesting employers. :-)
I'll look at the two YouTube movies, while also going through a lot of others on the FN 1910. Thank you guys.
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Re: Novelist Seeking Gun Assistance

#48 Post by Dark Skies »

You could make it an FN Pistole 640b, which was the German designation for the FN P35s made under Nazi occupation.
Later models in 1962 had a modification to the internal extractor to make it more reliable. Presumably there were certain circumstances prior to this where the extractor failed often enough to require improvement. The Nazi stamped up pistol offers up possibilities for a back story as to how it came into the character's possession. The age of the weapon and possible occasional issue with the extractor gives a plausible jam scenario.
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Re: Novelist Seeking Gun Assistance

#49 Post by bradaz11 »

but extractor issue would mean the shot would still kill the person. I think the malfunction needs to either be ammo related, or firing related.
if the guy knew he needed to shoot someone, it might even be a possibility that he might pick a 22lr pistol and suppress it. you get far more clicks instead of bangs with .22lr than any CF ammo.
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Re: Novelist Seeking Gun Assistance

#50 Post by Chapuis »

Union St wrote:Again, thank you, gents. I think my scenario will be a paid assassin/hitman from London, goes to Belgium to commit the offence. He doesn't take a gun with him. He is ex-soldier, so experienced. Not sure of his age yet. His employer has given him an address to pick up a gun (pre-paid), and he will be offered, say, four, and chooses the FN 1910. He will commit the crime inside a house, with the lights on, but I need it to go wrong, that's why I was going on about the malfunction early on.
I'm surprised he would not have worn some ear protection, say, cotton wool. He should have said all this earlier on.
Oh, thank you for the private messages, but I don't yet have the ability to respond - just joined, I guess.
Yes, I started with Shell in 1977, but went on to much more interesting employers. :-)
I'll look at the two YouTube movies, while also going through a lot of others on the FN 1910. Thank you guys.
Professional hitman, experienced !
Then as much as I like the FN 1910 or 1922 I doubt if given a choice that he would want to use such a marginal cartridge as the .32acp, unless in something like a Welrod. In which case it would be zero range execution style in the back of the head much like certain criminal organisations use a .22 pistol for these days. I think an experienced soldier would be more likely to go for something with a bit more foot poundage.

Have you thought about arming your "hero" with a Welrod? The story could be on the lines that it was one that was dropped to the resistance during the war and the ammunition has been compromised by poor storage as both pistol and ammunition would have no doubt been literally buried deep somewhere since 1942/43.
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