A few weeks ago we discussed the importance of choosing a weapon you can handle in the Hit Me With Your Best Shot blog. As the videos in that blog attested, unless you have some reason for your hero to end up on her ass after firing, the right weapon is essential.
Choosing the right weapon is also necessary to add some level of authenticity and/or help reinforce your character’s personality or history. For example, in MORE THAN A MISSION, the hero is ex-military and has participated in a number of clandestine missions. Because of that, his weapon had to be one which might have been favored by military men and which might allow for use of a silencer/suppresor.
After doing some research, I decided on a Sig Sauer pistol in order to reinforce the hero’s military past and secret agent kind of work. In particular, the Sig Sauer P226 would make a perfect weapon in such a situation.
The pistol was specifically designed for Army small weapons trials in 1984. It was only one of two guns to meet the challenges of the trials. Originally designed by Sig, a Swiss company, it was later manufactured in connection with Sauer, a German company, due to Swiss export regulations on hand guns.
The P226 chamber can use certain 9mm, .40 caliber S&W or .357 Sig ammunition. When fired, the slide and barrel lock together until the bullet leaves the chamber and after, the slide recoils back, expelling the spent cartidrige. In the next step, a spring moves the slide forward which chambers another round from the magazine in the handle. During the last part of the slide motion, the barrel moves back into place and the slide and barrel lock together once again.
You can use guns which use a slide in your novels since those unfamiliar with their operation, or involved in a struggle when the weapon discharges, will sometimes suffer what is known as “slide bite”. This happens when your thumb or any flesh nearby is too high up on the back of the weapon. When the trigger is pulled, the action of the slide causes injury to that part of the hand, usually some kind of cut. Slide bite will leave DNA on the weapon and also, visible injuries on whoever handled the gun when it was fired.
In the 1980s, Navy Seals began using a P226 which had been adapted to their use. Eventually special commemorative versions of these weapons were available for sale to the public to raise money for the Special Operations Warrior Fund, an organization which provides full scholarship grants and educational and family counseling to the surviving children of special operations personnel who die in operational or training missions and immediate financial assistance to severely wounded special operations personnel and their families.
The P226 Tactical weapon has an extended barrel and threads which allow it to be fitted with a silencer.
Today’s photo shows a stainless steel P226 which never went into production although a different stainless steel model is now available.
Hope you enjoyed today’s Kiss Me, Kill Me Tuesday. Thanks to Wikipedia for some of the information and also to Sig-Sauer.
Photo Credit: Michael [email protected]
While doing my weekly shopping, I’ve noticed that the commercial juggernauts of Halloween and Christmas are seemingly displacing one of my favorite holidays – Thanksgiving.