NaNoWriMo Day 9

[secret_history]

Current wordcount stands at 47,111 words. Go me!

I went to bed instead of pushing for that extra 2,889 words last night, for reasons of health and sanity. Today I shall be shopping for boots, so no wordcount will be forthcoming until this evening, when I also have Conflation to write.

I also have three other writing deadlines for tomorrow.

So, I have my work cut out for me, it would seem.

Onward and upward!

Comments

You are a machine....

[fearsclave.livejournal.com]

...as noted previously. So when can we expect an update? Want me to review any firearms-related stuff?

Re: You are a machine....

[secret-history.livejournal.com]

Updates will happen tonight most likely.

I haven't yet gotten to the fire-arms stuff, but I would very much appreciate a review when the time comes. Right now I've just managed to coax the characters into the Canadian Tire, so no guns yet. ;)

Re: You are a machine....

[fearsclave.livejournal.com]

I'll rush home after work and start obssessively refreshing my flist then :).

One thing that has occurred to me, having recently had to learn to operate the Zombie Rifle and Marla and Alice, is the non-instinctive nature of learning to shoot, and the high fumble factor that would result from having to learn to a) operate a firearm and b) shoot based on a hurried five-minute lecture from a gung-ho gun store sales guy in the middle of a Class 3 outbreak. Your characters have probably only ever seen guns fired and handled on TV and in the movies, which is sort of like learning about dating by watching only furry pr0n from Uzbekistan. Lots of fumbling around, negligent discharges, missing, forgetting to take safeties off, etc...

Re: You are a machine....

[secret-history.livejournal.com]

I have indeed thought of that.

Mickey, I have decided for the sake of the story, does have a firearms license and knows what she's doing, even if she's not a crack shot. I need at least one competent shootist in the bunch if I want them to survive. She also has a friend named "Rob" who's a survivalist nut and lives in Alexandria. ;) *cough*

Hope you don't mind being seriously ripped off for the purposes of my novel. :)

The rest of the MCs, though, are certainly going to have a pretty hard time with firing their weapons in a safe and appropriate manner. I will have to pick your mind about negligent discharges, in what ways you can seriously load a gun *wrong* and all sorts of other fun things.

*bounce*

Re: You are a machine....

[fearsclave.livejournal.com]

*snerk*

That should be entertaining :).

Loading a gun wrong? Very hard to do; in some cases you can damage magazines by overfilling them or damaging their lips. you have to be careful about having twenty-gauge shells lying around when shooting a twelve-gauge; if you drop a twenty into the twelve, it'll fall down into the forcing cone, and if you then chamber a twelve-gauge shell and fire it, a very nasty kaboom results.

On the other hand, successfully loading a gun does take a fair bit of practice.

Re: You are a machine....

[secret-history.livejournal.com]

On the other hand, successfully loading a gun does take a fair bit of practice.

Tell me about it. Remind me what the name of the gizmos were with which I always have trouble on the 22? It's a "pull-this-lever-while-pushing-this-doohickey" process that I can never quite manage without a struggle, as I recall.

Re: You are a machine....

[fearsclave.livejournal.com]

The proper process for loading and firing a Ruger 10/22 is:

1) pick up rifle IAW all standard safe weapons handling rules.
2) Pull and hold charging handle all the way back, opening the action.
3) While holding the charging handle all the way back, press the bolt release backwards, and then release the charging handle, locking the action in the open position.
4) Visually and manually verify that both the chamber and the magazine well are free of ammunition or other obstruction.
5) Insert loaded magazine.
6) Pull back all the way back on charging handle, press upwards on the bolt release, and release the charging handle. The bolt will slide forwards, scooping a round out of the magazine and chambering it.
7) Push the safety button to the off position. The rifle is now ready to fire. Open fire IAW all rules of firearms safety.

Once the rifle is empty, you can reload in two ways. The safe way is:

1) Push the safety button to the on position.
2) Pull and hold charging handle all the way back, opening the action.
3) While holding the charging handle all the way back, press the bolt release backwards, and then release the charging handle, locking the action in the open position.
4) Depress the magazine release and remove the empty magazine.
5) Visually and manually verify that both the chamber and the magazine well are free of ammunition or other obstruction.
6) Insert loaded magazine. Follow steps 6-7 above.

The much easier and faster but not-so-safe way:

1) Depress the magazine release and remove the empty magazine.
3) Immediately insert loaded magazine.
4) Pull the charging handle all the way back and release. The bolt will slide forwards, scooping a round out of the magazine and chambering it.
5) Resume firing.