What's the oddest thing you've heard someone say in regards to firearms, ammunition, etc.?

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Coworker: The 5.56 bullet tumbles through the air on the way to the target.
Me: No it doesn't. If it did, it would be totally inaccurate. It only tumbles on impact, not during flight.
Coworker: No, it tumbles in flight, that's what the barrel rifling is for.
Me: No, barrel rifling twists the bullet to make it spiral like a football.
Coworker: No, it tumbles in the air. I was in the Army during Vietnam and that is what we were trained.
Me: o_O :uhoh:
I wanted to see if anyone else posted this before I did. Glad to see I wasn’t disappointed.
This seems to be a very common belief, and I’ve heard it from everyone from a kid who heard it from his friend’s dad to a thirty year member of the National Guard. It would be interesting, but probably impossible, to discover where this idea got started to achieve such distribution.
 
Some kid about my age in the gun shop with somebody that looked like his father maybe:

"This one is a single action, and on those the trigger is so sweet you really can't miss"

:confused:
 
I met an incredibly knowledgeable man, made guns, tanned leather, worked his own wood. Up on politics, very smart in general, and down to earth. One day, he told me dead serious cooking spray could make bullets armor piercing. I:eek: I guess sensational '90's BS media gets to even the best of us.
It wasn't cooking spray back then, it was Teflon. The rumor was spraying bullets with Teflon would make them able to penetrate typical armor worn at that time. (this was before the 90s when my dad was a cop and folks took it seriously as vests had just started becoming mandatory)
 
No one mentioned calling the 45Colt a “45Long Colt” or collectively calling cartridges “bullets” or detachable box magazines “clips” or Suppressors “Silencers”
As to the .5.56 tumbling in flight a family member, two tour Vietnam army veteran who was his rifle squads point man with a dog made that very statement.
 
(Insert cartridge in military use) is more powerful than anything any civilian can buy. And they swapped to that from (previous military caliber) because it was so weak that it wouldn’t kill somebody with a coat on.... now consider that the exact same thing was said about this one when it was adopted.
 
It wasn't cooking spray back then, it was Teflon. The rumor was spraying bullets with Teflon would make them able to penetrate typical armor worn at that time. (this was before the 90s when my dad was a cop and folks took it seriously as vests had just started becoming mandatory)
Nyclads, I remember some politicians wanted to ban them because they were "cop killers". They just love those special sound bite terms.
 
It wasn't cooking spray back then, it was Teflon. The rumor was spraying bullets with Teflon would make them able to penetrate typical armor worn at that time. (this was before the 90s when my dad was a cop and folks took it seriously as vests had just started becoming mandatory)

To extend this:

It all came from the KTW ammo. They tried very hard to sell to police only, in europe, but some got out and it got a reputation as a Cop Killer. See one of the Lethal Weapon movies for a perfectly period correct version of the mythology.

They worked because they were carefully shaped, hotly loaded (designed for SMGs, carbines), custom metallurgy solid copper-ish bullets.

They were also Teflon coated, IIRC for feeding or bore-erosion purposes, but dropped that after the first generation or so.

Uninformed people somehow misunderstood, thought that it was all Teflon Bullets.

Dumb people thought that you could make any bullet AP by spraying it with Teflon. Which yes you could buy back then. They had Teflon pan repair paint. It was horribly dangerous in 2-3 different ways, so is utterly no longer for sale.

Stupid people misunderstood that teflon pan spray was plain old cooking spray. And... decades later, we're still here.



  • Some KTW ammo sold on an ammo collector auction site, still proudly proclaiming Teflon Coated https://www.gunauction.com/buy/10227330
  • Lethal Weapon 2 clip where they dramatically pierce a trauma plate with Cop Killer bullets "Notice the smooth jacket..." so in this line they don't /say/ teflon, but are trying to ascribe a mechanism to the teflon coating being AP anyway.
  • Broader article on The Cop Killer Bullet which insists the teflon part of KTWs goes to a single news report, though I think it was wider than this, swear back then I saw gun writers discussing the coating incorrectly as well (Fudds were even more common back then) https://www.guns.com/news/2011/10/26/the-myth-of-the-cop-killer-bullet
 
My recollection of KTW history.

First generation KTW had a tungsten core in a copper half jacket to take the rifling, all coated with Teflon.
Second generation had a hardened steel core in a copper half jacket, Teflon coated.
Third generation had a solid bronze bullet, Teflon coated.
The designers said the Teflon improved penetration on car bodies and windshields.
There weren't many if any daily wear bulletproof vests in the 1960s when KTW started out.
They sold ammo only to police departments for use against driving or barricaded felons.
But then a greedy dealer threatened them with a restraint of trade lawsuit and got some to "get out on the street" which drew the attention of left liberal reporters who televised a KTW shooting through a vest and coined the term "cop killer bullet."
 
Heard from a deputy "educating" staff and customers in a gun store.
You shouldn't use a Magnum for self defense, the bullet is so fast it doesn't stay in a man long enough to hurt him. Why, one of our deputies shot at a suspect with a .44 Magnum. The bullet went right through him and killed an old man sitting on his front porch in the next block. The criminal ran away.
 
No one mentioned calling the 45Colt a “45Long Colt” ...

That's actually what some manufacturers call it and quite a few old timers call it. I've heard it used interchangeably over the years.

Here's why...

https://www.ammoland.com/2016/09/45-colt-vs-45-long-colt/#axzz6IrNiC7et
Read more: https://www.ammoland.com/2016/09/45-colt-vs-45-long-colt/#ixzz6IrOLmzSS
Under Creative Commons License: Attribution
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The Colt shooters could easily use the shorter Smith & Wesson cartridge, so the quartermasters began referring to the Colt round as “45 Long Colt”. The Frankford Arsenal ended up dropping the longer round from production in 1887 and solely manufactured the 45 S&W round as the “.45 caliber M1887 Military Ball Cartridge until 1892 when it was replaced by the 38 Long Colt round in a new double action revolver.

For about a decade the moniker 45 Long Colt was applicable when differentiating between the two rounds but by the dawn of the 20th century the Schofield had long been retired and sold on the surplus market, by the end of World War 2, both revolvers were becoming distant memories and Colt's latest offering that proved itself in the Second World War (the M1911 chambered in 45 ACP) was becoming the new favorite among shooters.




So is it 45 Colt or 45 Long Colt?


While either term is correct, 45 Long Colt was really just a nickname. The majority of ammunition manufacturers stamp their cases with “45 Colt” as do the majority of firearm manufacturers mark their firearms with the same.

The reason for this is because .45 COLT is the official name used by the Sporting Arms and Ammunition Manufacturers' Institute (SAAMI). When all else fails, this is the correct term to which we fall back.
 
‘I don’t need bullets for my shotgun, the sound of racking it is enough to scare someone away’

or the one said to me right after I just got done spending 1 hour in the store teaching someone about legal AR mods in my state “stupid libs, don’t know anything about guns” to
Me, a lib.

oh and I forgot the classic distance errors. Comes up in conversation so
I ask people how far across the store they thought it was (I measured) and I’d get answers from 100-200 yards. Truth is, it was only 70. A lot of people just have no idea how far they shoot.
 
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A very anti-gun friend expounding on a recent police shooting resulting in the death of the perp: "I don't understand why they have to kill anyone. After all, they can just shoot them in the knee instead."

When I asked her how she knew that was a possible alternative, she responded, "I know they can do it that way because I saw it in "Fargo" ".
 
Counter man at Dicks to a old man with a model 95 7x57 Mauser looking for ammo:
"NO, NO they don't make that ammo anymore. They make a 7mm magnum now. You have to get a bit and ream it out to fit."
Over hearing that I asked as a joke: Oh who makes that bit, B&D?
"No it's a special order from Craftsman." he seriously said.
I talked to the old guy outside of the store.
Same counter guy a couple months later. A guy was asking him about reloading.
customer.:" The highest load listed still doesn't fill the case."
counter guy: "Welllllllll you know those loading manuals only list light loads. If you want to make'm like the factory does you fill them to the bottom of the neck":eek:
I made sure I talked to the customer and also the manager. Last time I saw him.
 
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