I’m writing a story and involves a small child (a boy age six) firing a handgun. Now I now nothing about guns.
I was wondering if some people could help me get a realistic picture of what would happen.
If a child found a handgun in a drawer and picked it up pointed it AWAY from him and fired it, what exactly would happen.
I’m assuming there would be a kick from the handgun and throw him. Would he fall backward? Forward? What would be most likely? Since most kids have handled things like squirt guns, let’s assume the kid picks the gun the same way as a kid with no knowledge of guns would pick up a squirt gun, points it away from him and fires it.
Would there be powder burns, other kinds of injuries?
I am looking for any injuries, a child might get, from the gun. Or might NOT get. Is it possible that a kid would, aside from being frightened a bit, not get any injuries?
I know the two common type of handguns are a .38 and a .45 but I’m not sure what other kind are out there.
He’d probably be surprised and shocked, as well as deafened. The recoil would force his hands up, and he’ll probably drop the gun. He might scream and cry.
I’ve heard of people taking small children to a range and letting them shoot a handgun, in order to scare the crap out of them so that they won’t touch it again.
Depends on the gun. A heavy caliber (.45ACP, .357/.44 Magnum, .45 Colt, maybe a .38 Special)would probably recoil into his forehead, maybe tweak his wrist. It would depend on how he holds it and the way the gun recoils. No powder burns unless he holds a hand near the muzzle or covers the cylinder gap(revolvers). He could probably handle a .22LR pistol without to much trouble and then you have a bunch of in the middle like .25 and .32, these I’m not sure about.
ETA:With automatics, he could pinch his hand when the slide operates upon firing or injure a thumb if he holds it where the slide could strike it.
Guns vary quite a lot in size as well as in recoil (and the bigger ones don’t necessarily have more recoil). Many pistol grips are too big for even a small-handed adult, much less a child, to grip properly, making it likely he would hurt his wrist and drop the gun.
I think the following sequence is reasonable for most handguns:
It would take quite a bit of finger strength to pull the hammer back to fire. He would probably need to use both hands (and forefingers) to do this. This assumes he does not know how to pull the hammer back with his thumb, or his thumb is too small to reach effectively.
In pulling the trigger, he would likely change the angle of the gun so that it’s no longer pointing at what he started out pointing at. He’d be so consumed by pulling the trigger, he would lose track of what he’s pointing at.
When the gun finally fires, it would be extremely loud (much louder than expected), and the recoil would probably force the gun from his hands - even two hands. Never having felt a recoil before, he would not know to “tighten” up his grip and arms. There would also be a lot of smoke, and the smell of burnt gunpowder everywhere.
The report would be so loud, once the gun leapt from his hands, he’d probably use them to try to grab his ears to stop the ringing. A child’s hearing hasn’t been deafened by too many loud noises at that age, so this would be painfully loud to him.
All in all it would be a pretty frightening experience. And he probably even wouldn’t care what he hit or where the bullet went !
Thanks so far for the info, I have been reading about .38 and .45 I haven’t seen much about other type of handguns.
What kind of handgun would give the kid the biggest recoil? Basically I want the kid to not be badly injured but to be thrown back and scared as much as possible. What kind of handgun do you think would do that?
Hahaha, in that case have him find a Czech Vz-52 pistol, in the old Soviet 7.62x25 “TOK” round. An old military and police pistol, and it’s not inconceivable that someone might have one lying around, because they’re cheap and common on the surplus market. That thing is one mother of a pistol, and the recoil and report would be enough to scare the kid into the 5th dimension.
If it’s a handgun, the kid’s not going to be thrown back no matter what type of gun it is. The gun however can easily come back and smack him really hard in the face, and he might be so scared that he trips over backwards trying to get away from it.
Watch the way the gun moves in this video.
It looks to me like the gun actually comes back and hits her in the forehead (or maybe the face). The force of the gun itself doesn’t knock her back, but her head snapping back does make her take a couple of steps backwards.
Here’s another video that shows how an oversized handgun moves when fired. It’s definitely not a kid shooting it. The point is just to watch how the handgun moves (up and back).
This part might depend more on the character who owns the gun—I mean, if it’s his grandma’s or something, it’s probably not going to be an exotic, large-caliber monstrosity. And other kinds of characters would be more likely to have some big, flashy new gun rather than an old service weapon or an antique.
Of guns that are common, and easy to describe and work into a story, I’d say a .45 automatic, like the typical “Colt .45” that was until recently used by many soldiers and police, and variations of which are quite popular among civilians to this day.
Speaking as a very small woman who fired a couple different guns, my first impression is that it would be difficult for a 6-year-old to pick up a gun and hold it straight without some kind of training. They’re pretty heavy. Also, the kick is significant. Less so on a .22, but for a little kid it would probably throw him off balance if it didn’t knock him over. They’re also much louder than I imagined. The shock of the noise might physically throw the kid off balance.
If it was my story, I don’t think I’d put anything larger than a .22 in the kid’s hand.
As far as actual injuries, aside from fright, I think the most plausible would be the scenario mentioned by Runner Pat-The kid grips the gun with his(her?) hands stacked too far up on the grip, shoots, the slide pinches/rakes the webbing between his thumb and forefinger.
As others have said, the noise would be the thing the kid took away from the ordeal.
I’m assuming that following this incident, a responsible adult takes the boy aside, gives him a very firm lecture about handgun safety, tells him that he will be instructed on how to use it correctly when he is older, and then secures the weapon properly so the kid can’t get it again.
