Cabot guns booth at 2018 SHOT Show (courtesy thetruthaboutguns.com)

“The German Rifle Commission, the same one that GAME??? up with the cartridge……,” a TTAG commentator writes. “Just where are your proof readers/editors residing currently??? Did they go to the Clinton school of politically correct writing??? Interesting article spoiled by no ‘spoof readers.'” Harsh! But it is true that . . .

TTAG doesn’t have any proof readers. There are the writers and there’s me and that’s it. As I write most of the content, when it comes to the majority of the articles on TTAG there’s me and there’s . . . me. And I make mistakes.

I go into a trance state when I write. I see words that aren’t there and don’t see words that are. Kinda like when you’re looking for your keys and they’re right in front of you but you don’t see them because you didn’t expect to see them there. Freaky!

There are also times when I get tired and make stupid mistakes. Times when I fail to fact check a fact because I’m virtually certain the info’s true and what are the odds I’m wrong?

If that’s not bad enough — and it is — I have been known to screw up someone else’s material in my zeal to make their article readable (e.g., eliminate passive construction).

I try hard not to make mistakes, and fix sh*t when it’s broken. To that end, I read as many of your comments as I can, and quickly correct typos and incorrect information. Our writers do the same with their posts and, thank you, mine.

I apologize for TTAG’s typos and mistakes. I thank you for your understanding and, uh, feedback. I submit this as my ultimate defense: TTAG may not be the most professional firearms-related website on the ‘net but we work hard every day to tell the truth about guns, no-holds-bard.

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66 COMMENTS

  1. People get way too excited about typos. When you read your own stuff, you start remebering what you want to say, instead of what you’ve actually written. TTAG has, for the most part, damn good content.

    Even grammar Nazis make mistakes. Give me some time looking over their work, and I’ll be happy to find them.

    • Non sequitur

      I was shooting American Eagle .223 thru my AR today. The bolt got stuck and would not come back. I did the buttstroke on the ground and got it to come back and eject the round but the bolt stayed locked about 90 percent to the rear.

      I got one of the range Gunsmiths to look at it and they said a piece of the primer and casing had sheared off and gotten stuck in the bolt cam preventing it from moving. When I forced it back I actually made a sharp scratch on the inside of my upper.

      Shot another 50 rounds as quickly as I could, no issues. Gun is a Ruger SR 556, has approx 2k rounds through it with zero prior malfunctions. Was this an ammunition issue or a gun issue?

      • Ammunition. I work at a gun store. I see this occasionally in ARs and semi auto pistols. In the pistols, the debris likes to work it’s way into striker channel keeping it from resetting. It doesn’t seem to be any specific brand of ammo that is at fault. I asked our gunsmith and he told me it just defective cases that come apart after ignition. Hope that helps.

      • The same thing happened to me a couple years ago with American Eagle .357 in an 1873 lever gun. Cycled the lever and the round jammed half way in the chamber. I took it to a gunsmith because I didn’t want to work on it with a live round stuck in the action. Part of the case from the previous round was still in the chamber. That was one expensive bullet.

      • I had basically the same thing happen with the first mag of ammo I put through a 300 BLK ar that I built. That ammo was Nosler ammo; since I built the rifle I assumed that it was the rifle, not the (premium) ammo. I guess it is obvious where I’m going; it was the ammo; it was blowing the primers out of basically every single shot. Nosler replaced with with a new box of the same stuff for free (shipped both ways); good on them.

        That was quite a challenge to un-stuck.

  2. I can forgive some types but you should be ashamed since this is your day job.

    You should also follow up on the drunken, Waco Interstate photo you posted.

  3. My first rule of writing: You cant proofread your own stuff. You’ll always miss something.

    That said, carry on Robert. I enjoy your content, glaring errors or no. I occasionally comment gently on the most glaring. Mostly I just read past them.

  5. You do OK RF…all is forgiven from my end after you stood up for Illinois. Most other so-called gunblogs/FB groups did NOT.

  6. Just start doing peer reviews before you hit publish. Then again that will probably slow down the flow of articles…. Okay never mind that I’ll deal with a few typos.

  7. As a former English teacher, I’m very sensitive to typos and grammatical and spelling errors. I try to ignore all but the most egregious ones. That said, your writing is better than most firearms related blogs, websites, etc. The only one I think is consistently better is American Rifleman. I’m convinced that most “gun-‘riters” (and most of the people who comment on their articles) never made it past third grade! I’m proud of my command of the English language, both written and spoken. I know of no reason to apologize for that or “dummy down” my comments. Let the hateful comments and death threats commence! My reply will be similar to Charilton Heston’s response to Spike Lee’s comments.

  8. It isn’t an academic journal. People are just to anal about it. Typos happen and are most often easily deciphered. Don’t worry about it.

    • “People are just to anal about it.”

      Since we are on the topic and on a roll: it should be “too anal”. Ha ha.

      Don’t sweat it. We all (that includes me!) occasionally misspell something or use the wrong homonym.

      (I only pointed the error above because I hoped it would give people a laugh given the topic of this post.)

  9. Reading what is and is not there is common. When I read my work, my mind reads back what I wrote, not what I typed. Sometimes the two are not the same. It makes catching typos difficult.

  10. “I see words that aren’t there and don’t see words that are.”
    Happens to the best. I just finished a Tom Clancy book. In it, the hero takes off in a BMW and arrives in a Mercedes. Then took off again and it was back to being a BMW. I laughed.

    • I must have missed that one!

      But, I do seem to recall that Clancy misnamed Ding Chavez as ‘Sanchez’ in a scene in a later novel. And, Stephen Hunter forgot the name of Bob Lee Swagger’s wife in a book, and called her something else in one scene.

      I guess it happens!

  11. I’m fine with typos. Shiz happens. But what the heck with the Waco interstate picture? It’s still bugging me.

  13. your gun thing appears to be plodding along nicely.
    garner some satisfaction from the fact that your readers do pay close attention to details.
    i thrive on some of the more disjointed sentence structures and participles left dangling (the vast majority of which are in the comments).
    there are a few here that complain loudly; i doubt if they would be enjoyable company.

  16. Type O’s happen. (Just imagine that written in blood).

    My only question, what’s with everyone’s use of “[sic]” in their own work? Does it mean “I made a mistake, but don’t know how to use the backspace key?” Maybe it means “I made a mistake/unusual usage on purpose and want the reader to notice it.” I honestly don’t get it.

  17. Please forgive me for acting like a member of the “grammar Nazi” group. Now that the internet has become (not unlike the printing press) a major player in our lives, I suppose I expect a bit too much. However, I applaud you for not stooping (slithering on the ground) to the level of text messaging (I hate it when writers??? send messages looking like it is encrypted – u gon 2 the parte 2nite???”. Should that ever happen, I will unsubscribe. Meanwhile, I enjoy this post tremendously. Should you ever need a proof reader, kindly contact me.

  18. Sometimes these mistakes remind me of the person advertising a shotgun for sale. An interesting gun, thus described as “carried a lot, SHIT very little”. And the guns that are “complete with a muzzle BREAK”. Strange folks, those that wish to have a broken muzzle.

  21. Typos happen. What drives me nuts is piss poor grammar. Fortunately TTAG doesn’t have a heck of a lot of serious, basic grammar issues.

  23. A brief Google search before my post revealed three ways of spelling Mr. Heston’s first name, including the one I chose. My movie-addicted wife promptly told me my choice is WRONG! According to her, the correct spelling is “Charlton”. As usual, wives rule! I prefer to call him Ben or Moses.

  24. Always thought Dan Z was the resident proof reader/copy paste editor. Is he no longer in the TTAG think tank?

  25. “TTAG doesn’t have any proof readers. There are the writers and there’s me and that’s it”

    Well that explains some things.

  26. The best way I’ve found to self edit my writing is to read it aloud. Even better, have someone else read it aloud. They don’t have to be an expert. Just reading something aloud, paying attention, will uncover both typos and awkward construction.

    We often complain that our adversaries do not check their facts. Due diligence in research is imperative to remain credible.

    • Hey MamaLiberty. I work for a large publisher of reference material where typos could be devastating. We have a room the size of an auditorium with sound-dampened cubicles where pairs of people quietly read every word to each other before publishing.

      • That sounds like a terrible job to me. I get that some people wouldn’t mind it; I’m just not one of them.

  27. Long long ago and far far away it was very very rare to see typos in places such as newspapers or magazines. That was before computerized spellcheckers were even a pipe dream.

    Today’s writers are lazy and suffering from creeping illiteracy.

  28. In a world where cursive isn’t even being taught anymore, Robert and Co’s few typos are not a concern of mine. I’m also 64 and have seen the changes. The word there, their and they’re along with the total disregard for the word too as in also are so common.

    My point is that I come here to be informed and even humored sometimes. I appreciate the facts presented in a fair and just manner. I “get it” when there is an error, it takes nothing away from the meat of the article. More Israeli supermodels, less proofreading works for me! Carry on Robert

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