Stuff happens. Bad proofreaders who don't know guns, anyway, etc.
Very few authors really know firearms well. Jack Higgins often coasts by just naming a brand or relying on arms that he knows have been issued by the UK security forces, and the Colt .25 auto, with which he errs on the stopping power with HP bullets.
Donald Hamilton knew what he meant, but few others have. Robert Parker was pretty good in his later books. And Peter O'Donnell scored 100% in his Modesty Blaise stories, as well as being a superior writer with a droll sense of humor, outstanding characters, and a keen sense of place and a good imagination. I'm speaking of his novels, but the comic strip about her (which he wrote, with several artists) was also good, although printed in only one US newspaper, as it was too racy for most. But bound editions of the comics are available. Search, "Modesty Blaise" for many entries.
Even where swords are the weapons, some goof. Bernard Cornwell writes of Vikings and Saxons circa 900AD and never mentions the scramasax all purpose knives. Most of his characters would carry them. I may well write to him about that. But his data otherwise seems authentic. I haven't read his books about Sharpe in the Napoleonic Wars.
T-Star
