Video game gun experts...among other "experts"

Oh I've seen those types too, my favorite ones are the ones that try to use their handguns all "gangster" like and can't hit anything (They shortly there after get their rear ends chewed out by the range master)
 
And that, IMO, is one of the bigger problems - some of these guys actually think they know what they are doing, all based on games, TV, and movies - but mostly on games.

I've seen a few... in some cases, I may try to help them out a bit; in at least one, I opted to leave rather quickly, as they seemed likely to be both extremely unsafe and extremely unlikely to accept any inputs. (Bunch of 20-something guys showed up at a state owned range in the woods, and started rapid firing, badly, with various "tactical" rifles, all while acting like... well, you get the idea.)
 
And they've purchased thier own guns, and not all of them are "tactical" either.
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You're right. The video games/television might get them in the door, but sometimes we can have a positive influence from there out.

The day I convinced a kid to get an Enfield and a bunch of ammo instead of an AK-47 for his first gun was the day I won at life.
 
I've met more of these than Id care to admit, it's always amusing when I tell them I owned an ACR and sold it to buy a pistol (Colt 1911) because I got bored with it. Their eyes usually almost pop out of their head :D

None of them grasp the concept of a weapon system's reliability, every time they pull their Xbox trigger it goes bang, but "damage" is something they're experts on.

Some of them listen, some don't, the ones I can set straight I do the others don't take me long to figure out and walk away from them.
 
This is reminding me a lot of the Guitar Hero craze from a few years ago. I remember knowing lots of people into that game, even my little brother, who had no real world knowledge of playing a guitar. You see, I've played in bands my entire life and have a generally professional knowledge of the instrument. The entire concept of Guitar Hero is lost on people like me. It is not in any way like playing a real guitar. I did try and play it. Boy, did I suck at it!

That's what a lot of the older generation are going through right now. They've grown up shooting real guns, and the first person shooter is their Guitar Hero.

Those of you that are able should try and take the kids out shooting. I know it's a little hard right now with the price of ammunition, but it will get better soon. I didn't get to shoot that much as a kid and my parents were against guns so I didn't have the opportunity that many of the very lucky children and teenagers around you do. I would have accepted any and all offers for range time then, and I would now!
 
Tom Servo said:
The day I convinced a kid to get an Enfield and a bunch of ammo instead of an AK-47 for his first gun was the day I won at life.
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The day a friend of mine called asking my opinion of Marlin lever rifles versuses Winchester lever rifles, after previously wanting to know where he could find an AUG, made me dance about with glee.

I feel that Gun Culture 2.0, with thier innate famialiarity with social media, a somewhat skeptical look at the main stream media and the Government, and a somewhat libertarian bent will be the force that wages the most effective fight in the war for gun rights.
 
I remember being a wee little lad and watching Kurt Russell in Tombstone, and couldn't wait until I was old enough to buy a Colt Single Action Army. I've settled for a Uberti, but hey it was still a boyhood dream come true. :cool:

We all got our interest from somewhere...
 
I knew a guy who would continually spout his knowledge of firearms, and just weapons in general, all of which information he learnt from video games.
One day he confessed to me that he had never shot a real gun in his whole life, but he continued to enlighten me with his great knowledge, which I would set him straight on each time he brought it up.

I also new another younger guy a fair few years back who said he would like to get shot to know what it felt like.
On games like Call of Duty you are capable of being shot with a 308 and continue to act as normal.
Upon explanation of what it would really be like to be shot with even a 22lr, when it came time to administer this shooting he wasn't too keen.

Another guy didn't believe me when I informed him the a 3006 could shoot through the interior walls of a house with ease.
And I've heard that the Barrett M107/M82 is the most accurate sniper rifle in the world.

Although all this being said I met a soldier who had been to Afghanistan twice who though the AK47 fire the same round as their 7.62 light machine gun.
 
And to add I really dislike the Call of Duty games, they are just to fast paced and to inaccurate for me to like.
Some other FPS games are ok though like Rainbow Six Vegas2.

But I much prefer real time strategy games though, always played them as a kid and have actually gotten into them a bit again now I'm older.
 
I've heard all sorts of outrageous "facts" from CoD and Battlefield (the game) experts. Had one who swore to the moon and back that the FN FAL was a sniper rifle of some sort, and that the Cheytac 200 was the most powerful sniper rifle in the world.

Had another claim that the US was the only ones who had a .50 caliber weapons, I believe the 12.7x108mm round used in the Russian DShK and Kord HMG's is comparable to our .50 BMG rounds and serve in a similar capacity.

I've never heard of anyone wanting to be shot though to know what it feels like, that's a first, also I'm a bit surprised that an infantryman would think that the AK47 fired the same round as their M240's. Guess it goes to show that you don't necessarily need to know the technical aspects of your tools in order to effectively operate it.

A little off topic here, but if you like RTS games trg42, if you have not tried Company of Heroes, I highly recommend it. A great, if not the best, WWII RTS game out there IMHO.

Back on topic, I just hope that even with all the ridiculousness that comes from these games and the typical "gun experts" that sprout from them, we'll see more and more getting into the shooting sport and from there, becoming more educated on the topic. Of course we'll have the bad apples here and there, but so long as we have folks willing to correct these wayward sheep, we'll slowly add more ammunition (pun intended) to our side of the fight to keep our rights.
 
I met a soldier who had been to Afghanistan twice who though the AK47 fire the same round as their 7.62 light machine gun.
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I guess the operative word here is the understanding of who "their" refers to.

If "their" refers to the US Forces and the M60 and M240 series they both fire NATO Standard 7.62 x 51.

If "their" refers to old Warsaw Pack weaponry like the RPK and RPD, they both do fire 7.62 x 39 ammo the same as the Ak47. The PKM fired 7.62 x 54 which is the same as the old Mosin-Nagant rifle. But the PKM is considered a General Purpose Machinegun where the RP series are considered Light Machineguns.

So yes, it depends on who "their" is referring too.
 
Also, just because someone deploys twice doesn't mean they are a light weapons expert.

A good friend of mine works in the Bde PAO shop. Smart girl, good at her job, and easy on the eyes to boot. Bunch of medals and a CAB.

And she would be hard pressed to explain the difference between a machine gun and a carbine.
 
Kimio, i have to admit my early appreciation of firearms was driven by computer and video games. rainbow six, rogue spear, and the ghost recons all "taught" me about different weapons used in special operations. the metal gear series introduced me to the likes of a FAMAS, H&K USP .45, PSG1, n others.

later i joined the army. later still there were all these lil 12 yr old shmucks playing COD......then i got out n years later discovered the Battlefield series, which has things like accurate ballistic drop,terminal energy, recoil, etc, modeled supposedly from real world data, and destructible environments. COD is an arcade game. Battlefield can be PTSD inducing. i'm not even gonna mention ARMA.

ok...i've said my fanboy stuff. i'll admit that video games have done more of a disservice to accurate weapons info than hollywood even. proficiency with ingame weapons may lead to unfounded real-world affinity. por ejemplo, after the first Resident Evil (1997) and until like the 3rd one(where you get i forget what kinda .45), i was wholly enamored with the Beretta 92 n thought it was the best gun ever. that was many years ago.

i am not ashamed to admit some of the best weapon selection advice i've ever gotten came from this guy:

that http://www.imfdb.org/images/thumb/3/38/MGS3M1911Custom.jpg/500px-MGS3M1911Custom.jpg

that's a Springfield Armory custom .45 ! i suppose it comes down to the individual. dumb people play dumb games. smart, capable, people play smart games, or no games at all.

just for fun, you can see the scope of weapons developers included in the Resident Evil series: http://residentevilnews.com/community/threads/resident-evil-weapons.1566/
 
The soldier was British in the Parachute Regiment.
The machine gun they use is the FN GPMG which I believe is the same as the US M240. Also was told by the same fellow the M2 50cal could kill a man if the bullet missed but the force of the air moving pass was enough to kill.

Kimio,
That's the game that I've started playing. Didn't like it at first but it's grown on me and I quite enjoy it now.
 
Well....

I like Star Craft. Pretty decent at it in fact. However, if we are ever invaded by real aliens and I am the one in charge...

White flags... Lots of white flags. That is my advice.:p;)
 
At least in some ways we can attribute video games for making boys (and some girls) interested in firearms.

There are many inaccurate sources out there, so it just depends who you talk to and what experience they have. Not every soldier is going to be a gun nut or expert, and not every video game guru is actually a gun expert--far from it actually.
 
I don't think any of us are saying that video games are inherently bad, or that we should not want new shooters to have been drawn into our hobby by games.

Some of us are saying that some gamers actually think the games taught them all there is to know about guns, and that is worrisome.

You can get the same thing from people who read magazines, watch TV, etc.

You get some of the same with martial arts. Nobody has attempted to impress me yet with their Judy chop or Ninja chop, and for that at least I am grateful...
 
That's exactly it Mleake, thank you. Please don't misunderstand me folks, I don't have anything against video games, heck, I'm a pretty avid gamer myself. A lot of my inspiration to learn about a number of military firearms stemmed from playing military games in the first place (My mother was strongly against me and my brother owning firearms when I was young, fortunately that changed when she remarried).

As Mleake stated, what concerns me is that there are some (a lot?) of young folks (can I even say that being in my 20's?) that believe they know about firearms just because they play these games. That's extremely disconcerting IMO, such views could wind up getting themselves, someone else or both seriously injured or killed IMO.
 
I recently took my younger brother and some of his friends out to a 3 gun competition just to see what "quick shooting" was about outside of video games. Each of my brother's friends were under the impression that they could fire an AR at a rate of fire of 800 RPM without having the gun recoil so afterwards I got the range manager to let them shoot part of a stage where they had to shoot 4 [paper] rifle targets. I demonstrated first, and then after they shot it they had a better understanding of what they didn't actually understand ;) We then let them shoot the same 4 targets with a pistol (from a closer distance) and after that I think they had a fair enough grasp that video games were fun, but they are not wholly realistic..... I also was asked to teach them how to actually "shoot fast" :)
 
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