automatic wepon question
 

im not near many guns, but i had a question for you guys, with a fully automatic weapon, the last bullets loads the next (cock, etc) if you had a 30 round clip and fired off 29, the last bullet is in the chamber right? and if you were to drop out that clip and load a new clip, could you start firing and not have to cock the gun?

if you need clarification on what i am asking pelase ask

thanks in advance

If you could actually keep track and stop at 29, yes.

Lets clarify some things:

Fully automatic means one squeeze of the trigger and you can fire until the clip is empty. These weapons are illegal for the general public. Military and police are about the only people who have these types of weapons. (not getting into class 3 licenses here)

Semi-automatic means that for each squeeze of the trigger on bullet is fired.

The action to load the next round and recock the weapon is the same, full auto is just much faster.

To answer you question: Yes, you can stop after 29 and replace the clip and keep going. Easy to count on a semi-auto, hard to count on a full auto.

As a side note, most weapons will keep the bold open after the last round has been fired. Drop the old clip, insert a new clip and close the bolt, it's already cocked and ready to go.

Also to clarify,

You can own fully automatic weapons, but you must get a class 3 license from the ATF.

Yeah, guy I know has one. When he was doing the gun safety course for me and his step-daughter, he brought down his MAC-11 for a little rock 'n' roll. Another one to add to my list of weapons fired. :D He's got an RPK in the transfer process right now.

thanks for the help

To clarify, being an owner of several machineguns.... There is no "class 3 license." You simply fill out the paperwork (it's called an ATF form 4) get fingerprinted, submit both with $200 to the ATF and hopefully wait 3 to 6 months. If you aren't a criminal or live in a state which doesn't allow full auto weapons, you can now own the machinegun which your paperwork specifies.


block

And it depends if the weapon is an open-bolt or a closed bolt design.

I believe all semi-autos are closed bolt. and yes, after firing off the second last round, the last round will be chambered and the magazine will be empty.

For most machine guns (ie belt-fed weapons), which are designed for sustained full auto fire, the firing mechanism will be an open-bolt design. When you squeeze the trigger, the bolt will move forward, stripping the round from the magazine/belt, chamber it, fire the round, return to the open bolt position (either by the using the gas generated by the powder, or by blowback, which uses direct recoil force from the casing to the bolt). If trigger is still depressed, repeat the cycle again.

So for closed bolt weapons, it would be as hrdwareguy has described, and for open bolt, it would be as I described.

Hope this helps.

double post