Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles Outrageous (but funny) shooting exploits

I used to laugh at people who said stuff like that. I thought they probably were 15-20 feet up and just were yaking.

Then I went to work for the US Forest Service marking trees and cruising timber in the summer during college. When I would go to measure the height of a tree I was amazed at how many treestands I saw in trees 40'+ up there.

Talking to loggers they say the same thing, amazed at how many stands they rip out of downed trees that are 3/4 the way up.

Back to the topic on hand.

In college some friends had a 1,000 acre lease and asked me to come out and shoot before season. They said "We got a new cutover so we can shoot a long ways".

Great. I take the only rifle I had at college a Ruger .30-06. My friends and his family all shoot woundamatics as I call them (Remington semis) and his dad has a new bolt action .270 he won in a raffle.

So we get there and there's a road winding down a hill and a cutover. You could have safely shot 500 yards or more.

The take out an empty sack of corn out of the truck (it has a target on the back) and prop it up about 30 feet away. Two of them shoot and they make about a 6" group. They say "Good enough for deer season" and are done. He later told me on average he went thru 2-3 20 round boxes a year in a 1 buck county.

They ask if I want to shoot and I'm "I'd be afraid I'd blow the bag over". I move it out to 100 yards and shoot a few times and call it quits.

I wanted to see their dad shoot his new bolt action .270 but he said no way he would ever shoot that far.

As we left I noticed in that massive cutover a few left trees that were 250+ yards from the nearest cover/treeline had stands in them.

Couple quick bird hunting stories....my former father-in-law took up shooting late in life (after retirement) and begged me to take him dove hunting. He had been shooting a lot at a very expensive gun club he joined near Tulsa. He came up to Colorado and I took him dove hunting out near Brush, CO. I set him up along a field edge and I went down the field another couple hundred yards. Even before first light, he started banging away. I went up to check on him to let him know that it wasn't even legal shooting light yet and he told me he'd already killed 3 birds. I looked down to see his "bag" and it was 3 barn swallows! Even though I laughed, it must have been pretty good shooting to shoot a barn swallow!

Another time quail hunting in SE Kansas, we invited the land owner and his hand to come join us. We had walked a draw and flushed a couple of covey's of quail and shot a few. When we got back to the truck, the farm hand said his d*mn gun kept jamming. He was wrestling with it trying to open the action and eject an empty (Rem 870) and I asked if I could assist him. When I got the empty out, I realized why it was jamming with every shot. He was shooting 16ga shells out of a 12ga gun!

Chris

It's a miracle more of these Einsteins don't get blown up when they shoot the wrong caliber/gauge ammo in their gun's.......................547.

I totally agree. I will be laughing at that for a while.

I was at the Bass Pro Shop in Columbia, MO, this past summer looking at scopes for one of my .308's. I had a 1.75-6x32 scope in my hand and the genius behind the counter asked what I was going to be using the scope for. I told him that I do a lot of hunting in thick timber with the rifle that the scope will be on... But before I could continue, he pulled out a 4.5-14x50 and handed to me. "THIS is what you need for timber huntin'", he said. "This 50mm lens will give you a LOT wider field of view than that 32mm lens! And you'll be able to see the deer a LOT better!"

"Oh, really?" I answered, raising an eyebrow and trying to keep from busting out laughing.

Personal Observation-2 days in to Deer season, 2004.

Nimrod sighting in a 30-06 pump with green box 150 grain boolits.

After much frustration, he gets to where he can hit COM at 50 yards.

Then he proudly states he is ready.

Pulls out a box of Federal Premium 180 grain partitions, fills the "Clip" in his 7600 and heads out to hunt.

BMT

Was at the range one day with my Marlin 336 .30-30 and Marilin 1895 .45-70. with the exception of the muzzle, both look very much alike, right down to the scopes.

After setting up the .30-30, the first round misfired - all I heard was the 'clack' of the hammer falling. I cracked the bolt and saw the cartridge was indeeed in the chamber, then tried again with the same results.

This time when I opened the bolt the cartridge was still in the chamber but I realized it shouldn't be - it should have extracted but for the second time I was looking at the case head with a dimpled primer. That's when the alrms went off. (Should have done so the first time, I know.)

I tipped the gun up and the case fell back and I was able to dump it out the ejection port. Here's what it looked like:



Needless to say, the Marlin in the rest was not the .30-30.

Two I have told before, but "special":
Wal-Mart counter gun guru to a guy looking for a leftie 338WM, "You should really look for a 340Weatherby because it might not sound like much, but those two extra thousandths make a huge difference!"

Guy at the next bench one day was beating his bolt closed on a 700. I asked what he was doing and he started swearing at his ammo. "The guy at Wal-Mart said the only way to get 200grain bullets for my 270 was to buy 30-06 ammo and it works because it is exactly the same case with a bigger bullet."

Same Wal-Mart guru...

A guy on my boat once insisted on putting his binocs in the frig every night to keep them from fogging...

Between the end of September and the beginning of deer season the only reason I go to the rifle range is for entertainment.

Went to an indoor pistol range, when i was about 22 In walks two young brothers, (aka gang bangers) so they sent out a full size silhoutte target, i think about 20-25'. I stood back out of the line of fire and watched this bozo pull 6 times with his new .357. brings the target back and not a single hole in the target. guy starts cussing his new gun and ammo. So i ask him to let me take a look and faked like i loaded the gun and told him to try it again. This guy jerked and shook and flinched so bad it is amazing he did not shoot 4 bays over. All he got was a loud CLICK, told him there was his problem and packed up my stuff and left.

Back in the early 90s, my college buddy, Alan decided to buy a flint lock muzzleloader because he said this was the only legal gun to use for muzzleloading in his home state, PA. Alan got a kit from Bass Pro Shop and he brought it with him back to school in Kentucky. He spent a few days and many beers on the project. His grandmother lived in Cumberland County and one weekend he headed off. He came back two days later. His little Dodge/Plymouth 4dr had a nice hole going through the top of the trunk and out of the rear quarter panel. The trunk lid had a large bare metal spot showing from the blast. He said he was with his Uncle Frog who was helping him get the thing to shoot. Alan had a hangfire and he lifted the gun off the sandbag that was on the trunk as it fired. He never got it fixed and the trunk was a rusty mess by the end of college. I wish I would have been there to have seen this.

I was at the Bass Pro in Las Vegas while on holidays. While at the counter purchasing a scope another local fella was buying a scope for his muzzle loader and wanted it mounted on his muzzle loader backwards. He had been told by an expert that this was the way to do it and could not be convinced otherwise. The guy behind the counter mounted it, did his best to bore sight it and sent the guy on his way. We all had a good laugh.

I bet his field of view was incredible. Not too long ago someone was selling a rifle on gunbroker or some such sight with the scope on backwards. Funny chit.

Bass Pro must put their employees through some very extensive training programs to have all these most knowledgeable associates...Grin...............547.

here's a funny one

http://www.thefiringline.com/forums/showthread.php?t=333742

While at Pre-season sight in this fall, I was at the local range checking my zeros, about 15 guys firing, and a fellow walked downrange, while the range was hot and people were firing. He didn't make it far before someone noticed and hollered "cease fire". The fellow couldn't figure out why we were all excited. As long as we were aiming at our targets, we weren't gonna hit him.

Bass Pro must put their employees through some very extensive training programs to have all these most knowledgeable associates...Grin...............547.

It was the Bass Pro guys and myself that were trying to convince him not to put it on backward, he had gotten the idea somewhere else.

This years deer season, my son was to get in the 2nd evening. He couldn't make it, so I asked my wife to go. She helps me scout before season. I was watching the feeder and she saw a nice 8 point on the other side of the blind (ranged 313yds after the shots). I shot over that deer 2 times with my scoped Mod 99 Sav in .308, because I thought that it was a longer shot. The buck just stood there and I dropped it on the third shot. My wife mentioned that I missed twice. I told her that I was just firing for position with the first two shots.

While quail hunting years and years ago, my buddy and I became separated, but within eyesight. My dog flushed two birds ahead of me that got up high in the wind and flew by my buddy about 60 mph. He made an outstanding shot on the second bird. When we got back together, I remarked about the good shot. He said that he had shot at the first bird. Life is good.

"One over,one under and fire for effect".

You have to get the kinks out of your spotter-shooter teamwork. After spotting the target she should have ranged it and called the dope for you. Then the first shot hits home and you have a great story to tell.