Expert Info Needed!

[lagilman]

Okay, I have come to a place in the manuscript where my note says "get Expert info." So here I am, asking for expert info.

I need a handgun, preferably small but powerful, that a man who had access to quite the toyshop about ten-fifteen years ago would have chosen to carry.

Anyone? Kath? Sinjun? Help?

Comments

[amilyn.livejournal.com]

I checked with my husband, who knows whereof he speaks, and he replied that, with the info you've listed here, you've got a wide open field. There are a hole passal of compact revolvers in .38Spl (.38 Special), 357mag, and 44mag. There are also your standard .45auto down to .380autos.

So, the questions, to narrow the field:
-Do you want a revolver or an automatic?
-Do you want it to be powerful as in "blows a big hole" or "goes real fast" or "is really accurate" or best of all those worlds?
-Are you more concerned with comfortable to shoot or concealability?
-If you want easy concealability, where do you want it concealed? -Shoulder holster under jacket? Ankle holster? In other words, how small is "small"?
-The background of the man also makes a difference in what he's likely to prefer to carry. Is he military? Rural? Suburban? A city-dweller?
-How affluent is he? Or does the access he had mean he could get whatever without it necessarily costing him regardless of his income bracket?

He did add that a rough offhand guess for a middleclass businessman would be a stubbie .38Spl revolver or a Walther PP/PPK in .380 (http://www.securityarms.com/20010315/galleryfiles/0400/405.htm) (that last is the typical James Bond gun, and an automatic).

[lagilman]

Automatic, accurate, a city-dweller who was likely to be in all sorts of situations where the main importance was how fast he could access the gun (he's used to wearing it in either shoulder hoster or tucked stupid-style in the small of his back). Not military but working somewhere they would have given him comparable training.

And Money No Object, as per above organization's training and budget.


Also, as long as we're on the topic, what's the preferred professional sniper's weapon?

(I love the fact that my job lets me ask these sorts of questions. When asked, in court, why she needed to know these things, she replied "sometimes the elves get tired of bows and arrows.")

[amilyn.livejournal.com]

In order to answer these questions effectively, really detailed information is more useful.

Exactly when is this guy using the weapon? Is it set 10-15 years ago, or is that just when he had access to weapons? (There have been a lot of upgrades just recently.)
Is he a hit man/assassin type? Is he working for an official (even if covert) agency?
Character synopsis is useful--who is he, who trained him, what specific job is he using the gun for?
What year is it in the story? How old is he in the story?
Is the guy with the handgun the same guy as with the sniper rifle?
Is the guy with the sniper rifle needing to transport it covertly or semi-covertly (if so, he'll want a model that breaks down into pieces)? Again, in what year will he be using this weapon?

In terms of your guy, as described here, if he's military-like, very likely choice would be the .45 auto, classic Colt 1911a1 (http://www.securityarms.com/20010315/galleryfiles/1100/1140.htm) (there's also an Officers' model of this Colt with a 4" instead of a 5" barrel, slightly smaller, possibly loses a round, but is a bit lighter). This was the standard military sidearm for decades (from 1911 till 1986 or 1988). Another possibility would be a Browning Hi-Power 9mm. These are similar size guns, standard large-frame combat gun.

Husband is saying this because small and concealable is mutually exclusive of heavy-hitting and accurate; if he wants to stay alive in situations with nasties all the time: full-size weapon will be his much better (and wiser) option. James Bond was, according to my husband, a fool to carry a Walther PPK (http://www.securityarms.com/20010315/galleryfiles/0400/405.htm). Husband admits that that was the best smallish choice at the time (60s), but he's glad they've switched Bond to a full-size 9mm because it makes more sense in terms of firepower and accuracy, even if it's not quite as pretty.

There are some mid-size autos, but they were just coming into popularity 10-15 years ago. If he's using this gun today in your story, the Makarov (http://www.securityarms.com/20010315/galleryfiles/0800/874.htm) is between the power of a Walther PPK bullet and a full size 9mm, so it's heavy hitting, but based off the Walther PPK. The Russians stole...um...adopted the Walther PPK frame. It's a very popular, $130 gun (surplus). Other than that, today there is a whole bevy of these mid-size 9mm guns, including Berettas and, the Glocks, which would be the de facto. Glock available in any of three sizes (full size, medium, small) available pretty much in all calibers.

re: sniper...need more info again: military? police? exactly who trained him? what year is he using the weapon in the story? who's he sniping at? does he need concealability?
The Remington 700 is good, and available in about 30 different rounds. If your guy is a hit man/assassin, and if the story is set 10-15 years ago, he probably would be using a .308 round. If it's set now, the .308 is still insanely popular, but the .300 Winchester Mag (WinMag) is another good option and much more powerful.

Husband commented that most adult males purchase their weapons
before age 28 (or marriage) and keep them till they die, so the gun's age would reflect that. Exceptions are usually active hunters or competative shooters. Old military guys almost
always have a 1911 around but it's a fairly large weapon. Urban shopkeepers tend for the fairly small such as this small .38Spl revolver (http://www.securityarms.com/20010315/galleryfiles/1300/1305.htm) or this old .38Spl wheelgun (http://www.securityarms.com/20010315/galleryfiles/1000/1044.htm) (imagine a shorter barrel), or would have something very large in the form of a pump-action shotgun.

[lagilman]

Thanks for the info. Explaining the characters/set-up would take waaaay too long so I'm going to make an educated guess based on what I've gotten.

[kathlaw.livejournal.com]

Hi, sorry I'm too late, but just had time to check LJ.

The problem with many very small, like the titanium ones is that they're hell on the hand/arm/body if one needs to shoot them regularly. Good for 1-2 shots, but the lighter the weight/small the size, the more of the force of the shot transfers back to the shooter.

Small as in not big, might be the standard cop gun, the Smith & Wesson J-frame (small frame) .38 police special. It'll fit into a pants pocket (not that one would want to), and is a revolver, so it won't jam like a semi-automatic would due to lint or other problems. If you want more than 6 shots, however, then he'll need a semi-auto.

But sometimes "small semi-auto" works, unless it's a point of view character talking about it. In which case he'd know all the loving details. :-)