Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters Long range whoppers and other shooting BS

One day at the range, right before deer season, a goober came screeching into the parking lot in a cloud of gravel and dust. He hopped out , opened the trunk of the 70's vintage Caddy, and grabbed a M94 Winchester and a huge hunk of cardboard. We all stopped shooting, and he ran down to the 25 yard pistol target butts, unfolded the hunk of cardboard (which turned out to be a refrigerator carton), and retired to to the firing line. By now the rest of us had racked our guns and were watching with great intent. The fella quickly ripped a magazine-full at his "target" (and mind you he didn't load the gun there at the firing line - it was already loaded when he fished it out of his trunk), walked down and examined his target, and declared to one and all "that's good enough for me, see y'all in the woods next week". We watched as he waddled back to the Caddy (he was, er, rather stout), threw the rifle in the trunk, literally- and with no case, slammed the lid shut, hopped in the car and tore out of there much like he had when he arrived. The whole show took maybe 20 minutes total. We looked at each other, shook our heads, and walked over to dispose of the refrigerator carton he left behind. There was exactly two bullet holes in it out of the half dozen or so shots he fired, maybe a foot apart and a foot away from the penciled aiming point. At that point we stashed our guns in our cars, opened a cooler and popped a couple beers open. It took a while (patiently skirting the subject) before my buddy said, "Jesus, we forgot to ask him where he was gonna be hunting."

As a kid, Maybe 15 yrs old, I bought a satirical plastic card at the five n dime store that i kept in my wallet... It had a grinning long horned cartoon Bull on it, Squatting to take a dump... It read "I am somewhat of a Bullschitter myself"... "But sometimes i like to listen to a Real Pro"... "Please Carry On"... Used to flash it behind the back of a particularly annoying BS'r that worked counter sales at my brothers salvage yard... He couldn't figure out why everyone would suddenly burst out laughing during one of his tall tales... Like his magically accurate ( at 500 yds with buckhorn sights) "Thurdy Thurdy"... Or his Wheelstanding "318 Charger".. When his outrageous lies started to affect his sales... After several warnings, He got his ass canned...

Like on Bugs Bunney.

I applaud all of you guys that put the embellishers in their place. I have dealt with too many people for too many years, and simply give the scowl that says "you are totally full of yourself" and walk away. Have a zero tolerance policy anymore I guess.

One of the reasons I can not stand the 7 rem mag, is because of one person that claimed it to be the end all, be all. Proceeded to wound a couple of great whitetails buck circa 1982.

Our hunting group comprised of:
Neighbor that shot a 6.5-06 and for the National Guard shooting team.
Dad shot a Rem 760 pump in 270 Win and had to pull a few shots while qualifying in the National Guard so as not to get selected for sniper training and on to Vietnam in the early 60's.
Me, a simple rem 700 BDL in 270. At 14 year old, was not even close to as qualified as Dad and neighbor. Had good training and had been shooting airguns and 22 rimfires, and smallbore competition for as long as I could remember.

We all filled our tags with no muss, no fuss.

Ended up running into the same guy 10 years later. He showed me a picture of the two bucks he wounded that season. Both shot/finished on the neighboring ranch. But his 7 mag was better.

I know it is the nut squeezing the trigger. But I certainly get suspect when all the marketing claims of the latest greatest come out...

As far as amazing shot stories, I take them all with a healthy dose of skepticism. I have made some pretty nice shots over the years, but tend to attribute it to the "better lucky than good" or "the sun shines on a dog's a$$ somedays".

I spent a little over 16 years gunsmithing in a busy retail setting and I heard a lot of tall yales. Knowing that I couldn't fix stupid, I usually just listened. We had one salesman in the store who was a worse liar than any customer. I recall one time, when he was telling of being treed by a herd of grizzlies, an old timer on the other side of the counter looked at him and said, "Young man, you're full of sh-t."
Generally speaking, I just looked on the tall tales as entertainment and left it at that. GD

I shot this buck at 346 yards with a lever action rifle. In the head. While he was walking.





In fairness, I shoot a 284 and use a rangefinder so....

I worked in a gun shop for just under 5yrs during and a bit after I graduated college. The Bushnell 400yd shoebox-sized LRF launched while I was there and the 800yd Leica "brick" towards the end. The 1st Gen 1K Geovid LRF/Binoc combo (bigger than a shoe box and about 3#) was available then too but I only knew 1 guy who actually bought one.

Some folks embraced the technology for what it was and used it to improve their skills. A whole bunch of others just added several hundred yards to their "stories".

I don't think I'd have the patience for the BS anymore. I've run out of a lot of my "nod your head and smile".

I can believe that. Were you aiming for the head?

Mostly just the mountainside. i thought there might be a deer over there somewhere.

Not the distance on this one, just the stupidity

Many years ago some family members and I were coming out of the woods
and looking across the pasture we saw a couple of a neighbors boys dragging
a small buck toward the road. My uncle spoke up and said we would help them
get it home in our truck. during the conversation my cousin asked " how far was
the shot Eugene?" Reply "gawd twas a long ways, probably a hunnert yards"
His brother spoke up "schidt Gene, he was a lot furthurn'that, at least 300 feet.

Lotta guys do this or that or just talk about doing this or that.. Thing is anything you want to do requires the right equipment and skills to do it, then practice at it till you can. Pretty simple really. Every Father's day week and weekend I shoot a 45-70 at a 800yd target and hit it about 1/3 to 1/2 the time, might even do better if I used a scope. There are guys who are a lot better at it, I just need more practice....mb

I was at the Issaquah range. I asked the little old man next to me with a lightweight R700 223 what he did for a living.

He said he was retired, but he had trained snipers.

I thought "BS!"

But then I saw his groups when we walked 100 yards to the targets.

He must have been doping for the changing wind with every shot.

I've been shooting my 30-06 deer rifle, which is accurate, but not bragging accurate, and other guys act like I'm a wizard because I'm shooting 1" groups at 100 yards. After seeing their targets, I find out why they are impressed. I go away thankful I'm not hunting anywhere near them.

I was talking to a customer recently who owns a very nice bar, and he told me that he has never met so many snipers, Seals, Recon, etc than in the last few years. He said most of them are over weight and in their early 20s if that.......

Then there was the guy I worked with over 25 years ago who had one of the early 1970's Mod. 700 Remingtons in .17 Rem. . Claimed he used to target shoot at 1000 yds. with it. He could do that because the M.V. was over 4000 fps so the bullet hardly dropped at all.

Many moons ago I heard a customer tell the guys behind the counter at the LGS that his 7mm Remington Mag shot so fast the bullet was rising on the way to the deer. Counter guys nodded in agreement.

I can't count how many people think a bullet rises. I always ask if they use magic bullets that defy the force of gravity. Most still don't get it and insist that bullets rise.

You aren’t kidding. Amazing how big those units must’ve been with all those vets. You’d have thought there were million of SOF guys on the battlefield

Most likely playing "Call Of Duty" arm chair warriors that want to impress the ladies.....

Chances are they don’t have ladies…. At least none that are desirable