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Comment by defrost | Hacker News Reader

(28th June 2021) .. and I didn't find a Mistakes: Long Gun Edition.

I'm not a deep-in-the-weeds expert, but if I had to put together an "obvious long rifle mistakes in fiction" article, it’d probably be:

* People pumping shotguns after every round, or unnecessarily cycling the bolt after every round

* Wrong action type for the gun

* Wrong shotgun ammo for the context

* Wrong safety type for the gun (most long guns have safeties, but they are operated in a variety of ways)

* Magazine vs clip vs chamber vs tube

* Shotgun impacts launching people across rooms, or unrealistic recoil (both too high and too low) for the weapon type

How about accounting for Coriolis "force" in addition to drop and wind when shooting ULR 5,000 yards?

Have you seen that in a film? Is it actually a thing, can you ignore it?

Surprisingly, Coriolis at extreme ranges (like 5000 feet) can be relevant enough to be corrected for, but how much and in what direction depends which way you're shooting and where on the planet you are. There's a fun calculator here: https://codingace.net/physics/coriolis_effect_shooting.html

It's ignored in practice when firing long guns at 5,000 yards.

The minuscule effect is overwhelmingly dominated by everything else. Heavier, longer range shells from naval guns, yes - rifles, no.

* Opinion of a ULR shooter: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KP7IKshdiiY

* Range Proof: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7owwTz7Z0OE

(And what planet you're on.)

Many long guns are not semi-auto and have to have their action cycled after each round. that's super common.

Generally, all long guns that are not auto/semi-auto must be cycled after every shot in order to chamber another round. This includes pump-action, bolt-action, and lever-action rifles/shotguns. There are exceptions, such as revolver rifles.

There are also instances when semi-auto pistols might need to be cycled after every round.

Buckshot spread is another common mistake in fiction, e.g. when it's close you still need to aim

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