ricardo

Anyone picked up anything, er, a little out of the ordinary from Sainsbury's on Saturday ?
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/b...ts/4347990.stm

ben44

Bollox, do I have to give it back?

Puff The Magic Wagon!

iTrader: (2)

Someone going to get a sacking...

Steve1968

13 rounds of 'blank' ammunition - why ?

StickyMicky

because 13 rounds of live amunition sounds much worse

Luminous

iTrader: (3)

Probably just saying that it is blank to save a PR disaster <sigh>

chris's scooby

"Blank" lol!!!

They would have been better to say it was unloaded!

InvisibleMan

because you can fire off blanks with the same fear factor

OllyK

Assuming the sig works on the same priciples as a rifle, in that some of the propellant gases re-**** the weapon, then unless it has a BFR on the front of it, you'll only get one "bang" before you have to fumble about re-cocking the thing by hand. If you have a BFR, I'm not sure how many people would be convinced anyway.

Blanks can still kill at close range, but personally I don't see the point, if we were on guard we either had live or no rounds in the mag. If we had no rounds we had a pick axe handle handy

Luminous

iTrader: (3)

Could you explain what a BFR is please?

Cos I do not see the difference between a blank and a real round in terms of re-cocking a gun

ajm

What an idiot!

Well its a good job legitimate shooters like me are banned from having handguns... you wouldn't want us all leaving guns in public toilets now would you! That privilege should be for government employees only!

Brendan Hughes

You go to public toilets often then Alex?
















Sorry, couldn't resist

InvisibleMan

a guns a gun, its going to make people think twice as youve no idea whats in it. If you should need to fire off a warning shot surely you need something in the chamber thats going to bang rather than an empty click?

so are all you laboratory boffins packing under your white coats

SJ_Skyline

The Zohan

What the BFA does is to baffle the gasses from the round detonating passing some/most out of the barrel and using the rest to recock the semi auto.

When you fire a live round the gasses follow the round out of the barrel under pressure (or the round would not move) as the round travels down the barrel some of the back pressure reloads the weapon. With a blank there would be no back pressure to reload the weapon unless a BFR is used to baffle the gasses.

A semi auto and indeed fully auto usually rely on the gasses to reload the weapon - the moving parts such as the topslide in the case of a pistol. recocking the topslide removes the spent round on the way back and loads a new round from the mag into the chamber on the way back.

With a revolver the pulling back of the trigger moves the chamber around to the next round so no need for back pressure.

That's basically it

ajm

It mimics the pressure buildup of gas in the barrel that you would normally get behind the bullet with live rounds by effectively constricting the muzzle of the weapon so the reloading mechanism can cycle. With no bullet the gas can escape with very little pressure so the case will not push back on the slide and the weapon will not reload.

ajm

LOL!

Well put it this way... I went shooting on the weekend and, as usual, this involved a trip to the local pub afterwards. During this time I managed to visit the gents in order to answer the call of nature and, amazingly, I managed to do so without leaving a firearm in there!

I must be the responsible minority!

SJ_Skyline

Why would an MoD worker have it loaded with blanks? I guess more importantly why the hell would an MoD worker leave their gun lying around in a bog

MoD - Ministry of Density

The Zohan

Could have been on a training excersise or such however it is odd he was out and about with it still loaded with blanks, perhaps he just got caught short whilst on a training excersise and Sainburysd was closest.

Stupid thing to do and i am sure that he will loose if permit for this.

I hope the weapon is not used for some dastardly deed.

Do not tar everyone with the same brush, i doubt this happens every day.

Frosty The Snowman

Well according to the local news this morning "he" was a "she" and an "Intelligence Officer" at that

She had just come off exercise so that explains the blanks, what I can't get my head around is why she was using the disabled toilet and why she felt the need to take the gun out of the holster while in the dunny

The Zohan

Depends on the holster if a 'shoulder mount' then not sure if a 'clip on' or attched to a belt then the weight will pull the belt off and it could end up on the floor or in the ****ter.

Leslie

The standard service revolver is a 9mm Browning and is self cocking.

She'll be on a charge for that !

Les

OllyK

Normally you would have to do a weapon inspection before leaving the training ground to ensure you have no rounds, live or blank on your person. And certainly in the army you have to make a declartion to that effect.

The BBC Article said it was a "Sig Sauer 9mm". Not familiar with pistols in general and only every fired the Browning, but I expect the Sig is an Auto <rifles for Janes>

OllyK

Wouldn't want one of those in my face

SJ_Skyline

With all the mirrors in the toilet....

"You talkin' to me?"

Wurzel

iTrader: (1)

Not sure what a BFR is but we called them BFA Blank Firing Attachment.

It is a thing that you screw onto teh end of the barrel to prevent the gas escaping out the muzzle but forcing the gas into the gas chamber which recocks the weapon.

The difference between a blank and a live round is that a live round is a plug in the barrel until it leaves the muzzle so the gas can enter the gas chamber and recock the weapon before the bullet has left the muzzle.

With a blank there is no blockage so all the gas escapes out the muzzle so the weapon does not recock.

However saying that I was not aware that semi automatic pistols required a BFA considering how short they were, but I stand to be corrected. I have fired the Sig Sauer but only with live ammunition. We used blanks in our 9mm Brownings and I never saw anyone fit a BFA to them. They don't fit in the holster with a BFA attached anyway.

HTH

The Zohan

SERVICE REVOLVER! - It's a semi auto pistol sir!
It only reloads and ***** itself if the slide is pushed back.
I have shot the browning hi power with live rounds never blanks samew with a Beretta 92F. I am not asure exacxtly how they would peerform with blanks but i would not thought they would recock themsleves.

I am pretty sure the ones used in films have restrictions in the barrels, you can see them on M16's and .50 cal brownings easily.

The Zohan

<flameproof suit on>
Perhaps she 'had the painters in' and they did not want to risk her carrying live ammo just in case
<runs and hides>

JUST KIDDIING!

ajm

LOL!

and she probably took it off because the holster didn't match her shoes!

Brendan Hughes

@ Paul