Help for a translation on hunting and firearms

EmmaFellon

Hello,

I am French and I am currently translating a text dealing partly with huntingfor my memoir. There are some questions for which I still do not have an answerand I was wondering if some of you could help me. I’d be really grateful if youcould!

The text I am translating is entitled Walking Out, I don’t know if you’ve heardabout it, but I thought it deserved to be translated into French.

The only passage in the text with which I’m still a bit perplexed is that one:

“The moose had been shot at least eighteen times with a .22 pistol. One of itseyes had been shot out; it had been shot twice in the jaw; and both quarters onthe side that lay upward were ruined with shots. Standing up to his knees inthe sump, the boy’s father took the trouble of counting the holes, and probingone of the slugs out with his knife. That only made him angrier. He flung thelead away. […] He did not understand why a moose would be slaughtered with a light pistol and left to rot.



My questions:
- Is a .22 pistol a light pistol? (like a revolver for instance?)
- As for the slugs: are “slugs” and “shotgun slugs” the same thing? Or are theslugls simple bullets if we only refer to the text? Because a French shooter tried to help me andtold me that shotgun slugs were only used for shotguns so I found it weird tomention a “slug” and “.22 pistol” in the same passage.

Thanks in advance if you can help me!

pedroeibar1

There are several issues here, the foremost of which is the cruelty to an animal - I will not comment on that other than to say a .22 pistol is a light handgun and totally unsuitable to use on a moose an no true hunter would commit such a crime.

Pour la traduction, a .22 pistol (pistolet) fires a bullet (une balle) and the .22 refers to the calibre (même mot en f.) La citation vient du North American et en argot americain une balle est assez souvent ‘un slug’.

Pour un fusil de chasse il existe également une espèce de ‘slug’ nomé ‘un sabot’ utilisé pas les chasseurs de grand gibier (sanglier, etc) .Ils sont souvent constitués de plomb, mais ils sont plutôt constitués d'un matériau plus dur comme le cuivre. Le projectile a une forme plus aérodynamique, avec une forme cylindroconique similaire à celle d'une balle classique. Le terme « sabot » provient de l'enveloppe de plastique entourant le projectile et s'en détachant à la sortie du canon. Cette enveloppe confère une excellente prise aux rainures du canon et donne un mouvement de rotation stabilisateur au projectile et une precision acceptable jusqu'au +/-100m.

Grizzly 45

Is a .22 pistol a light pistol? (like a revolver for instance?)

Its a bad comparison.
.22lr is a calibre[IE size of the bullet] of the firearm.
Thats something completely different to the type of gun. IE a pistol or revolver
A revolver being the type of gun you see most often in cowboy films.It has a cylinder that has mostly six shots.
A pistol has an internal magazine and can have on average eight plus shots.
.22lr is about the most common ammo on the planet and also the most readily available smallest round out there.
So yes it is a "light" and small calibre, but the gun itself could be any weight,and thats irrevelant to your question.:)

s for the slugs: are “slugs” and “shotgun slugs” the same thing? Or are theslugls simple bullets if we only refer to the text? Because a French shooter tried to help me andtold me that shotgun slugs were only used for shotguns so I found it weird tomention a “slug” and “.22 pistol” in the same passage

.

"Slugs" are a common everyday generic term for bullets used by everyone as generalisation....Same as everyone refers to a 4 wheel drive as a "Jeep".
Your friend is correct in saying "shotgun slugs" are only used in a shotgun.

However in this passage it is definately refering to a .22lr pistol and its expended ammo.
Hope this helps.

Cass

• We do not have Moose in Ireland so the topic is not relevant to Irish shooting.
• We can not use pistols for hunting purposes in Ireland only for target shooting.
• We have animal cruelty laws which prevent this type of carry on.
• We also have misuse of firearms laws which would prevent the use of such firearms for these purposes.

So my questions is why use an Irish forum at all? The excerpt you use is highly inflammatory at best, and insulting towards all good hunting practices no matter where you live.

While we like to hear from hunters around the world i fail to see how any of this bears any relevance to Irish sports/hunting.


I'm closing this thread for the moment, and invite the OP to contact me via PM to discuss the matter if they wish the thread to be re-opened.

Cass

After discussing this with the OP the decision has been made to re-open the thread.

EmmaFellon

It may be important to say that this excerpt is taken from a novel (entitled Walking Out, by David Quammen), and indeed, no hunter would ever treat an animal like this. The story was totally made up.

Thank you for your answers, they will help me a lot. I was not sure what the .22 pistol was and the French shooter I talked to was not sure either.
As for the "slug", my question is due to the fact that "balle slug" (in French) is the translation of "shotgun slug" and I thought "slug" might be an abbreviation or something like that. If it had been the case, it would have made no sense to talk about a .22 pistol and a shotgun slug and I didn't want to make a mistake in my translation since it is for my memoirs and teachers will certainly look for any mistake.

meathstevie

EmmaFellon wrote: »

It may be important to say that this excerpt is taken from a novel (entitled Walking Out, by David Quammen), and indeed, no hunter would ever treat an animal like this. The story was totally made up.

Thank you for your answers, they will help me a lot. I was not sure what the .22 pistol was and the French shooter I talked to was not sure either.
As for the "slug", my question is due to the fact that "balle slug" (in French) is the translation of "shotgun slug" and I thought "slug" might be an abbreviation or something like that. If it had been the case, it would have made no sense to talk about a .22 pistol and a shotgun slug and I didn't want to make a mistake in my translation since it is for my memoirs and teachers will certainly look for any mistake.

Emma, also a bit of a slang word I've often heard used by French speaking Belgians for a shotgun slug is "un Bren" after the Brenneke slug which is a type of shotgun slug ammunition.

EmmaFellon

Thank you MeathStevie, I had never heard that word, I'll mention it in my commentary !

Slyderx1

not wishing to muddy the waters but the Moose could have been shot with air pistol hence the slugs. I presume that this was just an isolated incident in the Book and that there is no context to deduce any further information..

Grizzly 45

Airguns use pelletts first off not slugs.:pac:
Second it would want to be one very powerful air gun to knock down a moose!!
Forget those silly old 45.70s or .30.06 lads.A .177 airgun will do it nowadays!!:eek::rolleyes:

Slyderx1

Grizzly 45 wrote: »

Airguns use pelletts first off not slugs.:pac:
Second it would want to be one very powerful air gun to knock down a moose!!
Forget those silly old 45.70s or .30.06 lads.A .177 airgun will do it nowadays!!:eek::rolleyes:

Ah now I havnt read the book and I'd say you havent either lol but a slug gun or bb gun is often slanged for what we call call pellets and no one has said the poor moose died of the .22 slugs simply that they were removed. Moose can be a nuisance apparently and it wouldnt surprise me if some fecker plinked at one with an air gun...no no im not buying the book....

EmmaFellon

Actually the moose did die and even lost one of its eyes The father gets completely mad when he sees that. The story's from 1980, I don't know if it can help.

Do you think it could be an airgun ? The moose received 18 shots.

Slyderx1

EmmaFellon wrote: »

Actually the moose did die and even lost one of its eyes The father gets completely mad when he sees that. The story's from 1980, I don't know if it can help.

Do you think it could be an airgun ? The moose received 18 shots.

as a matter of curiosity how did the father know a pistol was used????

EmmaFellon

That's a very good question ... to which I can't answer. Can we guess what firearm is used thanks to the bullet ? There are no other détails in the text, that's just a short passage

Grizzly 45

EmmaFellon wrote: »

Do you think it could be an airgun ? The moose received 18 shots.

Absolutely NOT!!!:rolleyes:
This is utter stupidity!! A moose weighs on average 3/4 of a TON up to 1.5 metric tonnes for a mature bull moose..I and my family have hunted themboth in Alaska and Sweden so I think I might be a tad qualified to opine on this....:rolleyes:
To drop cleanly a moose you need something in the region of a 30.06 calibre and upwards.This is a calibre at least ten times the size,weight and power of the .22. An airgun fires a .177 pellet that is even smaller than a .22 and all that will do is literally BOUNCE off a mooses hide.

Anyone who belives or states otherwise is either an idiot to think that an airgun will kill a moose, doesnt know jack about firearms or moose [c] proably hasnt ever seen either.[d] should go out and try it,and see the reaction.[Recommend getting your affairs and last will& testament in order before.]

Also the passage doesn't state what this moose was .Was it a mature bull,a cow, a calf??That could also have had an influence on who might have shot at it in this story.

Grizzly 45

EmmaFellon wrote: »

That's a very good question ... to which I can't answer. Can we guess what firearm is used thanks to the bullet ? There are no other détails in the text, that's just a short passage

NO you cant!! You know the calibre is .22 [/U]There are both rifles and pistols and revolvers in .22

Slyderx1

Grizzly 45 wrote: »

Absolutely NOT!!!:rolleyes:
This is utter stupidity!! A moose weighs on average 3/4 of a TON up to 1.5 metric tonnes for a mature bull moose..I and my family have hunted themboth in Alaska and Sweden so I think I might be a tad qualified to opine on this....:rolleyes:
To drop cleanly a moose you need something in the region of a 30.06 calibre and upwards.This is a calibre at least ten times the size,weight and power of the .22. An airgun fires a .177 pellet that is even smaller than a .22 and all that will do is literally BOUNCE off a mooses hide.

Anyone who belives or states otherwise is either an idiot to think that an airgun will kill a moose, doesnt know jack about firearms or moose [c] proably hasnt ever seen either.[d] should go out and try it,and see the reaction.[Recommend getting your affairs and last will& testament in order before.]

Also the passage doesn't state what this moose was .Was it a mature bull,a cow, a calf??That could also have had an influence on who might have shot at it in this story.

ahhhh true ...moose have been trapped and snared by poachers and the quoted passage does not categorically say that the ugly beasty was shot to death either only that slugs were dug out of its carcase. You can shoot at any live animal with any calibre after all......I happen to know Jack by the way.....

Grizzly 45

Slyderx1 wrote: »

ahhhh true ...moose have been trapped and snared by poachers and the quoted passage does not categorically say that the ugly beasty was shot to death either only that slugs were dug out of its carcase. You can shoot at any live animal with any calibre after all......I happen to know Jack by the way.....

Then ask Jack something about appropriate calibres for moose,and the general effectiveness of trying to shoot them with air rifles.Or the difference between an airgun pellet and a generic term "slug".

Slyderx1

Grizzly 45 wrote: »

Then ask Jack something about appropriate calibres for moose,and the general effectiveness of trying to shoot them with air rifles.Or the difference between an airgun pellet and a generic term "slug".

Jack says read the ops passage that she has a query on . Nobody is hunting anything. Its not about effectiveness as regards appropriate firearms or ammunition. Its a layman's description of what was dug out out of a moose's head. Jack has a slug gun ( shotgun ) and a slug gun (bb) thanks anyway lol

Grizzly 45

Jack needs to go back to basic English 101.
Nor does he own a slug gun.He owns a smooth bore or shotgun that can shoot rifled slugs or brennecke,and if he doesnt know the difference between a slug gun and a pellet or airgun,a remidal course in firearms 101 might be in order too.

I

ts a layman's description of what was dug out out of a moose's head.

Nope body and one out of the eye.And the OP was enquiring on various topics,like can a .22 or airgun shoot moose?And some wiseguy claimed that it could be done and that an airgun is capable of shooting moose.Shooting At moose certainly,shooting and killing them a big difference to the point of impossibility.
Jack aint the brightest bulb in the house thats for sure.ROTFLMAO.

Slyderx1

wake Jack when you've read the memoirs....and remedial is spelt..oh well....explains all.... psmsl etc.

Grizzly 45

If you are down to that level of arguement you have lost any creditibility in the debate.An advenced version of Godwins law.[All spelt like this to annoy as well!]:P