Did H&K ever make revolvers?

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dr0

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I was reading a circa 1990 crime novel and the protagonist is armed, at one point, with a "issue H&K .38". I did some web-searching, but didn't come up with any info on them, if they ever existed.

I know a lot of authors just make up things that sound good when they write about guns. Probably that's the case here, but I wondered if anyone with more knowledge of things might know the answer.
 
I was reading a circa 1990 crime novel and the protagonist is armed, at one point, with a "issue H&K .38". I did some web-searching, but didn't come up with any info on them, if they ever existed.

I know a lot of authors just make up things that sound good when they write about guns. Probably that's the case here, but I wondered if anyone with more knowledge of things might know the answer.
Also could have dropped a zero. "HK .380" but then messed up the caliber as the only issue ones I know of are in .32.

But probably like the back of the Die Hard VHS back in the day where John is "armed only with his service revolver and his cunning." All issue guns are revolvers even to way too many un-knowledgable people today, and HK is high quality so done!

Try asking the author. If alive, he may well be on social media, or have an email, his own website, etc. Many are surprisingly easy to contact. IF he remembers this even :)
 
Also could have dropped a zero. "HK .380" but then messed up the caliber as the only issue ones I know of are in .32.

But probably like the back of the Die Hard VHS back in the day where John is "armed only with his service revolver and his cunning." All issue guns are revolvers even to way too many un-knowledgable people today, and HK is high quality so done!

Try asking the author. If alive, he may well be on social media, or have an email, his own website, etc. Many are surprisingly easy to contact. IF he remembers this even :)

Sadly, the author has passed away. The book is one of the ones written by E. Howard Hunt, the former CIA officer and leader of both the Watergate and Bay of Pigs operations. (Which may suggest he was better at writing then covert ops!)

He wrote a ton of books, many under pseudonyms, and he's a good storyteller. I haven't noticed any other obvious errors about guns in his other stories, so it sort of surprised me. His first books were spy novels, pretty clearly patterned on Ian Fleming's James Bond series. As the cold war wound down he moved on to writing about the Latin American drug trade. The particular one this was in was "Sonora" (the whole series are all named after Mexican locations.)
 
Typically, authors are shown the corrections, but a great many authors don't feel like re-reading the thing they've been neck-deep in for months or years. Editor "corrections" that foul up the work are pretty common - although editors surely fix more basic grammar and syntax and semantic errors than they cause. Just read a couple of self-published books if you doubt the latter claim!
 
Who are good gun-nut writers who routinely get it right?

The entire Bob Lee Swagger series (which the movie and TV series "Shooter" were based upon) by Stephen Hunter are pretty excellent in that regard. Bob Lee at one point takes to carrying a .38 Super Commander. I remember his loving description of the Winchester 1 in 1000 rifle in one of the books too.
 
I had a friend who was friends with Tony Hillerman (Chee, Leaphorn, Navajo Tribal Police novels), and he introduced us to each other. I mentioned to Tony that I really liked his books, but he had two areas that could use some improvement, firearms and radios. His response? "Well, that certainly hasn't kept me from selling books."

Can't argue with that.
 
Heinlein is pretty accurate on the few occasions when he talks about historical weapons and not fictional ones. There is a scene in Glory Road where the protagonist is giddy over discovering a National Match Springfield in his kit.

Of course, many of the fictitious weapons systems he described have since become reality too.
 
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H&R made some 38 revolvers, though it doesn’t seem likely that’s what he was referring to unless the book was based in the earlier 1900’s.

Probably just ignorance.
 
Also could have dropped a zero. "HK .380" but then messed up the caliber as the only issue ones I know of are in .32.
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I used to own an H&K Model 4. The one I had just had two barrels (.32 ACP and .22LR), but they made them with kits where you could swap out barrels for .380, .32, .25 and .22 LR.

A separate mag came for each separate cartridge.
 
I took a writer to task for upgrading an army to smokeless powder and cupronickel jacketed bullets. He replied with a cite of a European brand of hunting bullet. Which I think would be easier to clean up after than a military weapon in rapid fire.

There was the deaf detective who stashed his Python cocked so a hearing intruder would not hear... something.
 
The point about editors is well made! Finding an editor who knows anything about firearms is more rare than finding an author who knows something about firearms. Once upon a time an editor changed the phrase "it was a real 'Mickey Mouse' operation" to "it was a real 'Donald Duck' type of operation. I tried to explan to her that the term "'Mickey Mouse' type of operation" was a slang phrase or synonym for a poorly run organization or operation. She simply refused to admit her lack of understanding and refused to allow the book to go forward with the "Mickey Mouse" phrase. It was never published!
 
Older European terms, most any handgun could be called a "revolver". If it were noticed to be an automatic, it was a "Browning" whether a real FN or a knockoff, or even a different design altogether.
Any lever action was a "Winchester," sorry, Marlin.
A .22 was a Flobert.
 
Browning designed a lot of pistols for Colt, in 38 automatic. 30 some years before the 38 super.

Raymond Chandler characters often slipped a 38 auto into a pocket, though his most famous detective, Phillip Marlowe usually packed a Luger. (Caliber never cited to my knowledge)

Chandler seemed to have a passing interest in arms, as they are sometimes described in detail.
 
Authors don't always accurately describe their guns in their stories. For example, Steven King's Dark Tower series. One of the main characters has a Ruger 44 Automatic pistol. It sounds fantastic, but, as is most neat things, its all fantasy.
 
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