Gun-ignorant writer with research question...

[Sharon Waite]

I'm hoping someone here can help me. I'm a writer working on a novel with a secondary character who's a former big city cop, now owner of his own security company. He's guarding a celebrity VIP who doesn't know he's her bodyguard. I figure he has to be armed, so I've given him an ankle holster with some kind of gun in it--probably a revolver of some type, right? (Please, be kind! I admitted I was ignorant!) Anyway, he and the gun end up falling in a lake. So my question is... What does he do about that wet gun? I'm figuring as soon as he climbs out of the lake, he's going to sit down on the dock, pull up his pants leg, take the gun out and... do what? (Other than shoot the girl who pulled him in the water! Not an option!) How do you dry out a gun? I"ve been Googling around and haven't been able to figure anything out. To make it more complicated, this is a relatively minor plot point and I can't spend too much time on it. Still, that wet gun is driving me crazy! Any help would be appreciated.

 

[Patrón]

I'm hoping someone here can help me. I'm a writer working on a novel with a secondary character who's a former big city cop, now owner of his own security company. He's guarding a celebrity VIP who doesn't know he's her bodyguard. I figure he has to be armed, so I've given him an ankle holster with some kind of gun in it--probably a revolver of some type, right? (Please, be kind! I admitted I was ignorant!) Anyway, he and the gun end up falling in a lake. So my question is... What does he do about that wet gun? I'm figuring as soon as he climbs out of the lake, he's going to sit down on the dock, pull up his pants leg, take the gun out and... do what? (Other than shoot the girl who pulled him in the water! Not an option!) How do you dry out a gun? I"ve been Googling around and haven't been able to figure anything out. To make it more complicated, this is a relatively minor plot point and I can't spend too much time on it. Still, that wet gun is driving me crazy! Any help would be appreciated.

If he is going to shoot it right away, I say flip the cylinder and blow down the front of the barrel and maybe through the cylinder area as well.
flip the cylinder back and bang.

if he's not, do the same as above and maybe eject the rounds in the cylinder and blow through those holes as well.

I'd give the bodyguard an automatic handgun unless the story takes place in the 70's or earlier and he wouldn't carry it on his ankle unless it is a backup weapon.

 

[okie556]

In fiction and real life a revolver would still function straight out of the water.....as would any good semi-auto. The imediate action would be to remove ammo & dry along with drying gun. If realism is important..........later that night gun should be throughly cleaned and oiled.

Okie556

 

[JKTex]

Ya, it showed up twice.

It's a story, he's gonna come up shooting at the bad guy and get off about 13 rounds from that 5 round revolver and never have to reload and if it's not at the end of the story, all 13 shots at 5-10 feet will miss, miss everything.

If he's got a small revolver in an ankle holster, he's probably not going to do much, if anything that wold be interesting in a book. Clean and oil it later at home, but other than that, if he pulls it out, not planning on using it, he may just blow the water out of it, then not put it back in the wet leather (if it's a good one ) holster.

 

[JKTex]

If he is going to shoot it right away, I say flip the cylinder and blow down the front of the barrel and maybe through the cylinder area as well. flip the cylinder back and bang.

Just be sure to politely ask the bad guy to be patient while he blows his gun....

BTW, you might want to delete the text from one of these threads so you wont continue to have people posting in both.

 

[Texas1911]

If the gun gets soaked there is a greater propensity for dead ammo (the primer is killed by the water), but generally they will fire just the same. If the gun is full of water, it's possible that it can explode since water is relatively incompressible.

Long story short, you'd simply wring it a few times to get most of the water out of it and pull the trigger.

Thanks for asking before you publish something though. If only we could get Hollywood to actually do the same...

 

[Texas1911]

all 13 shots at 5-10 feet will miss, miss everything.

Well she did say he was an ex-Cop.

I kid, I kid!

 

[Sharon Waite]

You guys are great. (And funny!) Thanks for the help! I'll probably show up again with another question at some point... Wait... Okay, I know this is stupid, but should I refer to the gun in the ankle holster as a revolver or a pistol? (This is what you get for not laughing me off...)

 

[Shorts]

You guys are great. (And funny!) Thanks for the help! I'll probably show up again with another question at some point... Wait... Okay, I know this is stupid, but should I refer to the gun in the ankle holster as a revolver or a pistol? (This is what you get for not laughing me off...)

I'd say revolver


An ex-cop, it's likely the .38spl snubby eh? Maybe in a nice blue

 

[mac79912]

Call it a shiny piece of metal that projects lead or copper.