Parts of a handgun?

Well, it will vary by type and manufacturer.

When someone takes a gun apart, either to clean it or clear a jam or do basic repairs, they don't take it completely apart. They break it down into it's basic components.

Is this military or police? An automatic? An automatic is the most common these days for both police and military; a few years ago the most common gun for a police officer in the US was a revolver.

38 on this one:

http://www.impactguns.com/store/media/walther/wal_p99_qa_diagram.jpg


and that's not taking the clip apart, or the grip.

I have just one question. Why does the character have to take the handgun apart?

I mentally went through what it takes to disassemble my S&W 39 9mm in order to clean it thoroughly. I count about six or seven main parts. If I needed to do a more thorough cleaning, or fix something, I would need to disassemble it further.

Two would be sufficient (take the slide, part #3 in the diagram, off). Of course if he could get the firing pin out as well, that would be a bonus

Incidently, this was done in a movie, I think it was Lethal Weapon 12 (or was it only 3?).

Cyia said:

It's a situation where someone is being held hostage and the guy picked the wrong victim. The hostage reacts in a kind of pre-programmed reflex and disarms the guy and takes the gun apart to render it useless. I just didn't know how many parts would hit the floor.

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If it's an automatic, in that case, he's just need to take the round out of the chamber, if there is one loaded, and take out the clip. No bullets, no bang. If he wanted to make sure it couldn't be fired at all in the future, he could damage one of the main parts of the gun (the firing pin or barrel mostly likely).

Of course you take the clip out first.

Here's a video you might find interesting, Cyia. This is very similar to the way many automatics are field stripped.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u6061maLUUo

Of course, this guy wasn't trying to do it quickly. And on some guns taking the slide lock lever pin out can be a bit of a bear; but for your story you can assume it was a piece of cake.

Cyia said:

Thanks for the help guys. I may have the hostage taker be an idiot and assemble the gun wrong after he cleaned it... then it falls apart in his hands. It'll be funnier that way and still use the parts hitting the floor.

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I'm sorry, you wanted to know what?

Oh, what that sound was?

Yeah, that was the sound of a book hitting the wall. Into the dumpster. Followed by the grumbling of disgust of a reader who must now get out of bed and find another story to read.

Rabe...

Cyia said:

If a handgun is broken into its component parts, how many would there be? If the number differs by make and model / caliber, a general number is close enough. 4? 5? More than 10?

I have a character who needs to take one apart like it's a trained reflex.

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The major components of a semi-automatic pistol are:

Receiver
Slide assembly
Barrel
Magazine

Cyia said:

Thanks for the help guys. I may have the hostage taker be an idiot and assemble the gun wrong after he cleaned it... then it falls apart in his hands. It'll be funnier that way and still use the parts hitting the floor.

Click to expand...

This is already pretty funny. You could have the idiot gunman know zip about guns and get advice about gun handling from the hostages.

However, if your object is to have a gun part clatter to the floor, then it's correct that a revolver isn't the best for parts dropping off.

Also, the slick and instant removal of the slide-release pin by Mel Gibson or Steven Seagal is pretty much movie FX hype.

Yet with idiocy a factor, here's a scenario to consider:

The gunman has a Model 1911 or similar knockoff. The pistol is just a threat, so he inserts an empty magazine ("clip" is a good misnomer for someone who doesn't know guns) just for dramatic show to intimidate the hostages.

However, when he racks back the slide to fake loading for the hostages, the slide locks back (as it should, because the magazine is unloaded). When he goes to thumb the slide-release to let the slide go forward to continue his bluff, he accidently thumbs the magazine-release button, and the empty magazine drops free and clatters to the floor.

I tried it , it works, and I'm still giggling while writing this.

In movies they are constantly racking the slide (as an intimidation factor, perhaps?) yet you never see an unfired shell being ejected. Furthermore, when they fire the last round the slide doesn't lock back. That happens to let you know it's empty and to make loading the next round easier.

Something an idiot gunman might do? Maybe if he manually cocked the semi-auto with his thumb and left his thumb sitting on the hammer and then fires the weapon: broken thumb, dropped gun.

Hammerklavier's suggestion to drop the entire pistol is even better for humor.

In a two-hand hold, any of the weak hand behind the sharp-edge slide when fired could draw blood and cause a novice to drop the gun.

In a one-hand hold, as said, the thumb or wrist behind the slide gets an owie. Another is a tendency for novice shooters to grip autoloaders improperly and pinch the web of skin between thumb and trigger when fired.

The latter can be exacerbated by ridiculous "thug" shooting positions seen in movies and on TV:

1. Holding the pistol sideways not only spoils aim and may cause operation malfunctions, but can cause other fun effects, not the least of which is getting an eyefull of hot ejected casing.

2. Holding the pistol high overhead and angled down at the victim in a threatening manner is good for causing a miss or the slide slicing part of the gunhand.

Cy,
it's pretty easy to get a word or two wrong here and have the description fall apart because of the error. For ex, this discussion often mentions autos when we're really talking about semi-autos. And a revolver is not called a manual revolver. Revolvers are either single action or double action.

Someone who's armorer level can quickly dissemble a semi-auto pistol beyond basic component parts (more than a dozens and dozens of parts on a 1911, mid thirties on a Glock) and even the average handgun shooter will not get it back together without a lunch break. However, it's unkikely your intended goober can be so bad at reassembling a semi-auto that it falls to pieces in his hands.

alleycat said:

Is this military or police? An automatic? An automatic is the most common these days for both police and military; a few years ago the most common gun for a police officer in the US was a revolver.

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SEMI-automatic. Not automatic. An automatic gun is a machine gun. Very different.

Cyia said:

It's a situation where someone is being held hostage and the guy picked the wrong victim. The hostage reacts in a kind of pre-programmed reflex and disarms the guy and takes the gun apart to render it useless.

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Why would he (or she) do that? Why not just hang onto the gun, in its useful form?

Chase said:

Hammerklavier's suggestion to drop the entire pistol is even better for humor.

In a two-hand hold, any of the weak hand behind the sharp-edge slide when fired could draw blood and cause a novice to drop the gun.

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There's a Sig Sauer model that's particularly good for that, the P232. It's why I didn't get that gun--afraid it might cut me, because if you don't hold it just right it will, and I didn't want to have to be thinking about how to hold it when I was in a situation dangerous enough to have my gun drawn.
http://www.sigsauer.com/Products/ShowCatalogProductDetails.aspx?categoryid=10&productid=69

Third generation Smith & Wessons, plus many of the other autos based on the Browning design, can be field stripped easily by pulling back the slide until the notch on the slide aligns with a release pin/slide release--this can be done with one hand. All that's needed next is to pull slide release out and there will be nothing left to hold the slide onto the receiver.

There will also be nothing but pressure from the recoil spring holding the barrel to the inside of the slide: all three componants will fall apart with just a little push.

Tiger said:

Third generation Smith & Wessons, plus many of the other autos based on the Browning design, can be field stripped easily by pulling back the slide until the notch on the slide aligns with a release pin/slide release--this can be done with one hand. All that's needed next is to pull slide release out and there will be nothing left to hold the slide onto the receiver.

There will also be nothing but pressure from the recoil spring holding the barrel to the inside of the slide: all three componants will fall apart with just a little push.

Click to expand...

All of what you say is true. By holding my Browning-designed 1911 against my body, I could rotate and remove the barrel bushing with one hand, letting the spring ease out so not to lose it or the spring housing.

Then I was able the work the slide back to begin removing the slide release/barrel link pin loose. Again, with one hand I needed lots of time and body english because my pistol is tight.

You never mentioned "quickly," so what you wrote is still true and doable. After half a dozen tries I'm getting faster. Dropped parts are few, but I guess I just don't have the same autoloader as the movie guys who can do it all in a flash.