Saturday, November 12, 2011

Misfire



Just got back from a long day at Orycon, followed by a dinner with some friends at the Oregon Historical Society, and I'll report on those later. To unwind–I get pretty ramped up when I go to a convention, it's like being onstage wearing my party hat from start to finish–I decided to read a mystery novel I downloaded from iBooks.


Well-known writer, bestseller, and he throws a lot of gun stuff at the reader, most of which doesn't seem too bad. Then I came to a scene wherein the local cop points her Colt Cobra at a military investigator. Which starts out fine, writer calling it a double-action revolver,  and then he gets to telling us the caliber: .45.


Nope, it isn't. The basic Cobra is .38 Special. Once upon a time, Colt made Cobras in .32 Colt, and even .22 LR, but they have all been out of production for a long time. 


Maybe he meant the Colt King Cobra, which was around until the late 1990's as a production gun, not as neat as the Python, but a fine sidearm.


But–no. The CKC is chambered for .357 Magnum (and will thus shoot .38 Specials, as well.)


That was also the chambering of the Python. No .45's here.


There are revolvers that shoot .45 caliber ammunition, usually what they call Long Colt, and mostly not .45 ACP, which requires specially made cylinders that will handle .45 ACP, usually with half- or full moon-clips. And there is one tricked-out cylinder like the ones in Medusas for those revolvers with .45 barrels, but there isn't any such thing as a Cobra/King Cobra DA revolver in .45 caliber. Never has been. Won't ever be.


Good writer. Bad research. Five Hail Marys, Seven Our Fathers, go and sin no more.

3 comments:

Jburdine1956 said...

I've come to expect such inaccuracies in writers of fiction. One such illustrious writer speaks of a Colt Woodsman that was a revolver. The only Woodsman colts that I know of are rather good semi auto .22 handguns.

Joe said...

Maybe it's a parallel Universe?

A.C. Parry said...

I see inaccuracies like this a lot when it comes to physical reactions, too. In one particular book, a character was kicked in the shin during a fight, and his head snapped back in response...
Inaccuracies like can kill an otherwise good story for me- once the immursion is gone, it's all downhill from there.