Shotguns and other questions.

So, I want some air of realism in my upcoming grrraphic novel project, ergo, I have a few questions for people who know shit from guns...and medical professionals, I guess.

1. Shotguns. Can they jam, and if so, what causes it? (I'd presume smacking somebody upside the head with it while it's loaded would...)

2. How does one go about cleaning a shotgun before/after use? (Double-barrel, pump-action - think Remington 1740)

3. Non-gun question. Suppose somebody gets a knife to the windpipe. How precisely does the blood come out? ("Through the wound, duh!") Does it come pouring, is there a short high-pressure burst a-la Watchmen, or what?

edited 18th Feb '11 3:01:24 AM by MisterAlways

To answer your first question, yes shotguns can jam. Or at least pump action and other semi or fully automatic shotguns. They're most likely to do this when the user cycles the action. Spent shells can become stuck in the ejection port and will have to be manually removed.

I don't think a breech loaded shotgun will jam, but there have been tales of misfires. A person puts in wrong guage ammunition in the gun without thinking about it. Then, when it doesn't fire they assume it's a dud. Because it is the wrong size it doesn't pop out like normal, then they simply ram another one in without looking. When they fire again the entire thing goes boom.

Disclaimer: I only have a theoretical knowledge of guns (they're sort of hard to come by in my country), so take this information with a grain of salt.

And how does one remove the shell from the barrel? With a steek? Just sort of slide something long into the barrel through the chamber and push that sucker out?

I think Sidewinder is talking about a stovepipe jam, where the shell gets caught in the ejection mechanism. To fix it I'd suppose you work the pump action again with the shotgun canted so that the spent shell falls out, or if you can just pull the shell out.

Here's an example of a stovepipe jam with a pistol. Not sure if the method for a shotgun is the same, but it's the same kind of problem so the solution should in theory be similar. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0-0uF7QlySQ&feature=related

edited 18th Feb '11 5:54:40 AM by Gault

That seems appropiate. Thank you very much.

Yer very welcome.

Gas action (semi and full automatic) shotguns can be finicky if you are using non-standard loads. There are a few that incorporate a pump action in case the gas action fails to cycle. They are mostly for police who might load them with rubber bullets, gas rounds or what have you.

You won't find a gas-action anything in the time period the work is set in (it's alternate history, but think Wild West).

Anyway, about that third question...

"Non-gun question. Suppose somebody gets a knife to the windpipe. How precisely does the blood come out? ("Through the wound, duh!") Does it come pouring, is there a short high-pressure burst a-la Watchmen, or what?"

If it hits the windpipe but misses major blood vessels, there may not be much bleeding (though obviously some). If it hits a vein (eg jugular) then it'll come pouring out, if it hits an artery (eg cerebral artery) it'll spurt. If it hit both the windpipe and a vein/artery, the blood is likely to be frothy. Also, blood in the windpipe will result in the person coughing up blood if they live long enough to cough (ie, at least one breath more).

Incidentally, I read of a kid who actually survived having a severed windpipe, because her head fell the right way to hold it intact and she didn't have major bleeding. (Her father had gone nuts and decided to kill most of his family.)

The windpipe itself would not bleed much but there are so many major blood vessels to each side of it that it would take a miracle to miss them if you took a knife to the throat. If the jugular is hit you would get a large, steady flow of blood all down the front of your shirt. If the carotoid artery is hit, the blood will come in spurts because it is being pumped almost directly from the heart (hence the term "arterial spray")

Well, I'm thinking of the knife being pulled across the throat (from behind), so I think it'll be both.

Thanks, everyone!