5 Ridiculous Gun Myths Everyone Believes

That was highly entertaining. I'd like to add:

8: Nothing can harm your gun, even being submersed in water, and you never need to clean it as long as you are the protagonist.

9. Guns can go off by accident.

Snowstorm said:

9. Guns can go off by accident.

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Some can, but most indeed will not.

Snowstorm said:

9. Guns can go off by accident.

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Not true, the old Sterling SMG could fire with no round in the chamber if you slammed the butt against something hard enough, it would cock and fire all at once. The only death during the FLQ crisis was due to this problem.

10. If you hold the gun sideways (or even upside down) in one hand you can still hit a target and not, you know, break your wrist.

Supposedly the first time they did the "sideways shot" in a movie (and it's cousin the "crosswise" machine guns) it was practicality - the star got upset because the prop gun spit spent rounds in his face, so he tilted the gun. It looked cool on film, so they kept it.

But no way can you shoot a real run like that without some serious pain involved, not to mention your accuracy nosedives.

WildScribe said:

That was highly entertaining. I'd like to add:

8: Nothing can harm your gun, even being submersed in water, and you never need to clean it as long as you are the protagonist.

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The only thing that happens to a modern firearm after it's been immersed in water is that the first few rounds will be of a higher velocity owing to the fluid seal in the barrel.

There are AK47s in Afghanistan that have not been cleaned in 20 years and still operate perfectly. Some firearms fare better without cleaning than others but almost all will do just fine without being cleaned for a few days even while being harshly treated.

hammerklavier said:

Modify that to say, any modern firearm (and most not so modern) in sound mechanical condition

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With that provision yeah, generally. Still a lot of people are shot by accident, it's really carelessness but the firearms are not fired intentionally, it's just some people don't know how to handle them.


Along with the accidental firings though. Older machine guns would sometimes overheat to the point where the bullet would cook off in the chamber so they'd keep firing even after you let go of the trigger and only stop when the ammunition ran out.

Drachen Jager said:

The only thing that happens to a modern firearm after it's been immersed in water is that the first few rounds will be of a higher velocity owing to the fluid seal in the barrel.

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Depends on the gun in question, really.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AGwkHktkTxU (it is a promo video from HK of course, but probably not too much tweaked)

That doesn't surprise me Lhun, note I said AFTER it's been immersed in water, you do have to drain it first, very few will fire properly while under water or full of water, but that wasn't the question.

Glock pistols operate perfectly well under water though, and a few ARs and SMGs as well, although most don't cycle properly.

11. Getting shot in the arm or leg is a trivial injury. All you need to is wince (even that's optional), and you'll be perfectly fine. Definitely won't bleed to death.

Heck, if you're lucky, you'll still have full function of that arm/leg.

Drachen Jager said:

Not true, the old Sterling SMG could fire with no round in the chamber if you slammed the butt against something hard enough, it would cock and fire all at once. The only death during the FLQ crisis was due to this problem.

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Bolding mine. Well, yeah. But a gun doesn't just go off by itself, something causes it go off: whacking it, dropping it, etc.

Snowstorm said:

Bolding mine. Well, yeah. But a gun doesn't just go off by itself, something causes it go off: whacking it, dropping it, etc.

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Well duh! You said, "by accident" initially. Sitting on a table while nothing at all happens is not an accident, that's nothing happening.

Being dropped, catching on a twig, finger or other protrusion or otherwise mishandled is an ACCIDENT. They go off like that all the time!

Snowstorm said:

9. Guns can go off by accident.

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Well... you can accidentally drink massive quantities of whiskey. The rest follows.

I remember Tim Roth's injury in Reservoir Dogs, well depicted. Pity there's not more adherence to realism, it would add to rather than diminish an action movie. Anyone think of other examples where a more realist depiction is used?

Thomas_Anderson said:

11. Getting shot in the arm or leg is a trivial injury. All you need to is wince (even that's optional), and you'll be perfectly fine. Definitely won't bleed to death.

Heck, if you're lucky, you'll still have full function of that arm/leg.

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Oh for sure. Not like there's any great big arteries in the leg or anything.

Don't forget the shoulder. Pah, bullet in the shoulder, minor inconvenience.

Drachen Jager said:

Well duh! You said, "by accident" initially. Sitting on a table while nothing at all happens is not an accident, that's nothing happening.

Being dropped, catching on a twig, finger or other protrusion or otherwise mishandled is an ACCIDENT. They go off like that all the time!

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This thread is about myths. I listed a myth that guns go off by accident.

They don't. Something causes them to go off. As you wrote, dropping the weapon or catching the trigger is the accident. I dropped my--loaded--.357 magnum once. I expected it to go off. (It didn't.) My point is people do something: drop the weapon, catch the trigger and seem shocked--SHOCKED I tell you!--that the thing went off. (ETA: I think we believe the same thing.)


Dr. Zoidberg:

Well... you can accidentally drink massive quantities of whiskey. The rest follows.

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I don't believe anyone "accidentally" drinks massive quantities of whiskey (or for that matter, would want to!).

12. The best way to apprehend a dangerous suspect is to have several officers surround him with guns drawn, creating a circular firing squad.

I'm not a gun person and even I can tell that it's not a bright idea.

I also read somewhere that holding a handgun vertically next to one's head is a move without any tactical value. It was apparently invented by a Hollywood director who wanted to get an actor's weapon and his pretty face into the same frame.

13. If people are shooting at you while you're running up a staircase that has metal railings with thin vertical bars, they you're safe because all the rounds will strike those vertical bars.

14. If you're standing in an intersection of a hallway (or even in the open), and then the bad guys shoot a bunch of rounds at you, you'll have time to recognize that they are shooting and still have time to duck out of the way.

15. Empty barrels and bushes will block bullets from hitting you.

16. If the bad guy is across the room from you and has the bead on you, he will give you time to raise your pistol and to target him, and you both will refuse to fire because ..., er, because you both know that the guy firing last will win.

Wow. I'm impressed. That was actually a well-researched, well thought out, well-written article. Probably a first for Cracked.

Oh Oh I've got one.

An M16 will jam every 10th round. Meanwhile an AK will never ever jam. Even if you dip the casings in mud or put one that is not quite the right size in there.

No an AK-47 is absolutely immune to stove pipes or other jams that happen to every gun. EVERY GUN. and for those who don't believe me EVERY GUN.

sure they only happen once every couple of thousand rounds. but they happen to EVERY GUN.

And the M16 if kept clean jams at the same rate.

I'm surprised these two didn't get mentioned:

Counting the bullets fired of one gun during a gunfight.

Hitting a distant moving person in a small target area, like the leg.