shotgun mechanics by est120

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shotgun mechanics

POSTED BY: EST120
UPDATED: Sunday, March 20, 2005 12:20
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Saturday, March 19, 2005 9:45 AM

okay, i have a question that may seen quite silly to a lot of people, but i honestly do not know. when you have a shotgun with the pump thing, do you have to pump the gun before you can fire a shot? does this alter the appearance of the gun (ie, does it "look" ready to fire)? quite often in movies and shows, you see a guy pointing a shotgun at someone and they engage in some kind of insults or banter or whatever and then, for dramatic effect i assume, the guy with the gun pumps it to indicate that he/she really means business. but, does that mean the gun was not "loaded" before? obviously, there must be shells in the gun, but without pumping it, then the shells cannot be fired, right? thus, initially pointing the weapon at someone without doing this would be rather pointless. of course, if there is no outward change in the appearance of the weapon, then the other peson would have no idea that the gun could not fire, right? anyone have any experience with these kinds of shotguns? i am just curious.

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Saturday, March 19, 2005 10:38 AM

INEVITABLEBETRAYAL

Est--

I'd like to take a crack at answering your questions. I own a pump-action shotgun, and have been trained to use them by the military, so I know whereof I speak.

Quote:
Originally posted by est120:
okay, i have a question that may seen quite silly to a lot of people, but i honestly do not know. when you have a shotgun with the pump thing, do you have to pump the gun before you can fire a shot?

Yes, you have to pump the shotgun to fire it.

There are two tubes on a pump-action (when viewed from the side). The upper tube is the barrel, where the slug or pellets will come out. The lower tube is called the "fore-end tube". The extra shells in a shotgun are carried in the fore-end tube. The pumping action occurs when the fore-end assembly (the "pump") is brought all the way to the rear and then returned forward. In the military, this is called "recycling the weapon." Recycling the weapon accomplishes 3 things: 1)it ejects a spent shell casing (if the weapon has just been fired); 2) it resets the hammer spring (so that the hammer will strike the firing pin when the trigger is pulled); 3)it releases another shell from the fore-end tube and feeds it into the firing chamber.

Quote:
does this alter the appearance of the gun (ie, does it "look" ready to fire)?

No, this will not change the appearance of the gun. It is impossible to tell if the gun is ready to fire without picking it up and inspecting 1) the fore-end tube (to see if it loaded); 2) the chamber (to see if a shell is in place and ready to be fired; 3) the safety (to see if it is engaged or not).

Quote:
quite often in movies and shows, you see a guy pointing a shotgun at someone and they engage in some kind of insults or banter or whatever and then, for dramatic effect i assume, the guy with the gun pumps it to indicate that he/she really means business. but, does that mean the gun was not "loaded" before?

"Loaded" simply means that there are shells in the fore-end tube. Whether or not there is one in the chamber is another matter. So in your example, the gun was loaded the whole time. But it wasn't ready to be fired, because it handn't been recycled. Without recycling the weapon, there's a spend shell casing in the chamber (not a live one), and the hammer is forward (not ready to be released).

Quote:
obviously, there must be shells in the gun, but without pumping it, then the shells cannot be fired, right?

Absolutely right.

Quote:
thus, initially pointing the weapon at someone without doing this would be rather pointless.

Exactly right. In the military, we are taught that as soon as one round is fired, the weapon is immediately recycled. That way, if it has to be fired again, one need only pull the trigger. It may not seem like it, but in a life-or-death situation, the time consumed in recycling a shotgun could well mean the difference between life and death.

Thus, the Hollywood thing of recycling the weapon to let the other person know you mean business is total baloney. Pointing a weapon at someone is enough to let them know that I mean business.

Quote:
of course, if there is no outward change in the appearance of the weapon, then the other peson would have no idea that the gun could not fire, right?

In the military (and in other environments) I've been taught that if someone has a weapon pointed at me, the best thing that I can do is to act as though it were loaded. That way, you can be sure that your actions are appropriate to the situation. Like I said above--I don't need them to recycle the weapon to know they mean business. If they've got one trained on me, that's proof enough for me.

Hope that helped.

_______________________________________________
I wish I had a magical wish-granting plank.

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Saturday, March 19, 2005 1:35 PM

BYTETHEBULLET

I would only reiterate that the excessive racking and cocking of guns in the movies and TV is rather silly and misleading. Good for you for asking the question! Not silly at all.

Oh and the front-end tube is also called a tubular magazine.

Good answer InevitableBetrayal.

ByteTheBullet (-:

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Saturday, March 19, 2005 1:47 PM

HARDWARE

Inevitablebetrayal covered about all of it. I'd only like to add one little thing. There are some models of firearms that have a loaded chamber indicator. All of the ones I have seen are a small machined slot on the receiver where if a shell is chambered a piece of metal will rise within the slot to make a flush surface. Thus, in a dark environment you can run a finger over the receiver and know if your weapons is locked with a live round. Typically this is used on an automatic pistol but there are a few custom shotguns where it is used.

Just another piece of near-useless trivia.

Hollywood does all types of bad firearm handling. I can't tell you how many times I've seen people exchange handguns in movies and T.V. without clearing the chamber and locking the slide or swinging out the cylinder. Try doing this with serious gun people and the least you will get is a dirty look.

The more I get to know people the more I like my dogs.

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Sunday, March 20, 2005 12:20 PM

EST120

how interesting! thanks so much for all the information guys! i guess i will just take the pumping of shotguns and whatnotas "artistic license" or "dramatic effect" in the movies.

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