Disassembling and reassembling firearms.

Submitted by bjdunfor on Wed, 02/25/2009 - 19:47

My new project will be detailed instructions on how to disassemble and reassemble two different types of firearms. I am using two different guns to display instructions for a beginner type and an expert type person who needs to know how to take apart a gun for cleaning. For my novice instructions, I will be demonstrating how to take apart a Remington 870 Express 12 gauge shotgun. I chose to use the shotgun for the beginners because it is a little easier and has fewer parts, which makes it better for novice users. For the more advanced user I will demonstrate how to take apart a Taurus model PT1911 .45 caliber pistol. I chose to use the pistol for the advanced set of instructions because it has more parts and was a challenge for me to take apart for the first time. I think this is a good topic to cover because there are people out there who may be new to owning a gun and may need help taking it apart and putting it back together. I also chose to do this because many people are uneducated about firearms and thus become frightened around them. I feel that I am qualified and credible in this field because I have been around guns my whole life. I got my first shotgun at the age of 6 and have been shooting various firearms ever since. I will most likely use PowerPoint slides with pictures I take throughout the steps, and written instructions to properly explain the processes.

Instructor Feedback: bjdunfor

Nathaniel's picture
Submitted by Nathaniel on Thu, 02/26/2009 - 21:33.

While software such as DVDShrink is clearly popular and, thus, instructions for its use are probably necessary, I do have several concerns about this particular instructional process as a project for this course. Primarily, I am worried that this project will be neither robust nor challenging enough. Briefly reviewing the software, it appears that much of the download process is automatic. Additionally, the simplicity of the software (which is its selling point) makes it harder to distinguish between audiences. Indeed, the two audiences for your project do not look all that distinct. I think this is less a problem with your proposal than it is with the simplicity of the software itself. It may not be complicated enough to warrant two sets of instructions (I could be mistaken here, but on this point your proposal is not detailed enough).

It is important that you produce two clearly distinct instruction sets. The worry here is that the difference between the two will be one of degree (that is, the expert set is simply a smaller version of the novice set); we are expecting a difference in kind (the expert set is qualitatively different from the novice set). Be sure you are able to differentiate the two sets in this way.