Last night a buddy brought an older and never fired Winchester Model 94 over to show off. It was a beautiful gun with perfect wood and no handling marks. I could tell he was proud of it and he had wanted one for a long time. After I carefully handed it back to him he placed it in a gun in a zippered soft gun case. He failed to zip the bag all the way. We went on to look at a Colt SAA that he also brought over. When he left, he grabbed the soft case and the Winchester fell out of the partially zipped case. The perfect stock hit the ground and split in two. We were both sick, him more than I.

Years ago, myself and a group of friends went to Globe, Arizona to hunt quail in the desert. One of my friends had just bought a brand new Winchester Mod. 23 SxS double 12 ga. shotgun, and hunted with it on this trip.
After a morning of chasing quail, we all met back at the trucks, tired and thirsty, but happy about a successful hunt.
My friend with the Mod. 23 was standing on a pile of rocks, when he suddenly lost his balance and fell, on top of his new shotgun. The sharp rocks did horrible damage to the metalwork and buttstock. We all felt very bad for him, none more so than he.

I keep busting stocks, on the wrist of my 45/70

3rd one on the one I carry most

Guess I'll go laminate as I'm not gonna pay wwg $600 for synthetic that has to be fitted

Traveling with me ain't always easy whether by raft, boat or snow machine and the stout loads I use in it don't do it any favors either

I tease my pard he's hard on gear, but I ain't far behind

If we have gear we reco you can pretty well bet it holds up

All my broken guns are compliments of USPS.

had that happen to a 1947 flat band 94 at a gun show.
m sister started to take it out of a zippered case and i told her i wasn't going to sell it. she forgot to re zip it and the toe slammed the floor bending the butt plate and popping a 2 inch wedge off the stock.
only other gun i have broke was a 788 308 in 1968 with military brass reloads. stuck the case with over pressure and got the bolt lifted. rather then using a rod to drive the case out, i used my boot heel on the handle. broke it off.
Alcohol and youth was involved.

When I fell out of the deer stand, I broke (cracked) the stock on my 30-30. Glued it back together, refinished the stock and forearm, good to go.

I was sneaking out a mountainside deer hunting 35+ years ago on a rocky outcrop. A big plate of limestone I was standing on broke free and it and I started sliding downhill. I went down hard on my backside.
Upon hitting ground I saw something out of the corner of my eye. It was the butt of my Mauser .308 turning flips in the air. The rifle and I hit so hard that it bent the scope down to where I couldn't work the bolt to unload it.
It was my first real deer rifle, came out of Quantico[so the barrel was most likley shot], but still my first real rifle beyond .22.
It hurt, I hurt.

I broke an M16-A2 (broke the lower) in the Gulf war.

I've got stories about being broke and guns, does that count?

Raeford's post made me think of another incident that happened this past fall. I slipped and fell to my hands and knees, one morning before daylight. Rifle flipped off my shoulder and the scope hit the ground. Broke the scope, but the rifle was ok.

As Paul Harvey would say.... now the rest of the story.

Called Vortex, told the lady what happened and the first question she had was, "Are you ok"? When I told her I was fine, she told me where to send the scope. Week later, I had a new one. Good Customer Service!

Shooting 300 grainers in a 629-1 Smith.
Broke the trigger pivot.
Smith fixed the gun for $5.

No issues other than that, hunting.......a few tumbles........nope. So far so good.

While we're crying for each other.... Soon after getting married in 1964 Mrs. Ringman and I were out enjoying being together. We walked into a pawn or gun store. One the wall was a birdseye maple stocked, Mouser in .308 Norma Magnum. The barrel was shinny as a new car. It was only $140. I bought it and a box of 180 grain factory loads.

I installed a nice new Bal-Var 8 in an adjustable mount. Looking good.
While hunting deer I slipped. To keep from falling I stuck the butt of the rifle on the ground at a slight angle. Just enough to snap it off in the pistol grip. When I got back home I had a new walnut stock installed. Good to go.

A couple years later I was having a garage sale. My brother happened by so I asked if he would mind the store while I went to town for something. What a mistake! When I got back my .308 Norma that was hanging on the wall was gone and my 427 Ford engine I was going to install in a car was gone. Practically crying I asked, "Where's my rifle and the 427?" "I did really good while you were gone," he said as he handed me $190. "I sold them for eighty-five bucks each. I threw in your fire extinguisher to the four guys who picked up the engine. They seemed like they were in a really big hurry."

Too bad you couldn't just glue yerself back together aye?

Back when I was a yute, my Jeep J10 tossed a rod through the side of the 360ci V8. I went full redneck and used the birch tree in my backyard and a chain hoist to pull the motor. That motor is no lightweight so it sat in the yard for a couple days as I formulated a plan to get rid of it. Someone stole it.

Aint that the truth!

Besides the ones that have been lost, I think I probably feel worst about the basically new Ruger #1-A my 10-year-old had just killed his first moose with. Shorty after we got home, and before we had a chance to unload the sled-load of frozen meat, a part of which had 'trapped' the rifle, we got a big snow storm which blew drifts across the entire 'backyard', burying everything there...completely. I wasn't too worried about the meat being encased in the drifts and forgot about the rifle also included, so, while the meat was in nice shape when things warmed a bit, the rifle, in a canvas case, didn't fare so well and got a nice 'camouflage patina'. The exterior was so sorry after I cleaned in up that I didn't even care to shoot it, so it sat for a couple of years. However, having shot it considerable since that time, it's a rifle I very much enjoy since it is a very reliable MOA hunting rifle with a variety of loads.

I imagine a lot of those, and the M-4's were broken there.

Understandable though.

Picked up a beat to h3ll Winchester mod. 24 side by side for duck hunting and over tightened the stock bolt and cracked it like tinder. Took a beating on it, cost me $100 1979 dollars.

Not exactly broken but scarred.

I just took delivery of a 16 gauge LC Smith Featherweight from my engraver that I had upgraded to something close to a crown grade. While in my kitchen snapping on the forend something happenned that to this day I can't explain. the forend flew off and bounced off my tile floor twice putting gouges in two places.

A war story, about a damaged rifle.

My cousin was a draftee/grunt in Viet Nam. One day on patrol a firefight ensued. My cousin woke up in a hospital a few days later with no memory of what happened, and lots of bandages.

He was told that a rocket grenade had made a direct hit on his M-16 that he was holding in front of his chest. He had been med-evacced out by helicopter. He had no memory of the helo ride, or anything else.

As he was recuperating in the hospital, some rear-echelon clerk-type interviewed him in the hospital, and informed him that his war was over, he would get a Purple Heart, and that when he recovered some more he would be headed home.

Then the clerk inquired about some of his government gear, in particular, about what happened to his rifle, since it had not accompanied him on the helicopter.

My cousin had no information about his rifle other than what he had been told. Later, about the same time he was being awarded his Purple Heart he got an official letter telling him that he was being charged for the cost of the M-16 that he had "lost". Really?!

He gaffed them off and later they dropped the idea. My cousin came out of the war a physical and mental wreck. He had PTSD and became an alcoholic and a drug addict. He has been on partial or total disability for the rest of his life. Except for one messed up hand his body recovered fairly well, but mentally he never fully recovered.

He has been through many programs, claims sobriety, and then eventually falls off the wagon again.

I imagine the many pieces of his M-16 are still scattered in a jungle in Viet Nam.

1) First decent shotgun - Ruger Red Label when they first came out - ordered from the factory with a request for nice wood. They put a REAL nice piece of wood on it. Heading down the road @ dark thirty to meet a buddy for fist day of pheasant season, thought about my new gun, realized I had left it on the roof of the truck. When I found it along side the road - stock destroyed beyond repair and barrels bent.
2) Had a tree stand for deer with a permanent rope for pulling gun and gear up. Dark thirty one morning was pulling my gear and hawken muzzle loader up, everything made it 30 feet + up, suddenly no weight. A mouse had chewed the rope most of the way through, broke the stock and had to send a 4x Leupold in for repairs.
Could recall a few more, but choose not to.

30 years ago i bought a really nice stevens 311 jc higgins 20 sxs off a guy for 75 bucks. nice walnut stocks, case coloring, bluing, etc. looked almost new and it was 35 years old. for some stupid reason i decided to take the butt stock off. as i turned the stock bolt a huge crack popped out the side. the wood must have swelled around it or something. i was sick. i ended up sending it to bishop and they fitted a nice stock to it and i finished it nicely but it really didn't match the forearm. only problem was it cost $125. i still have that gun and over the past 30 years the wood has kind of darkened but is still obviously not original.

Thank you. That was more beneficial than a few Hail Marys on behalf of my various firearm screw-ups.

I've blown up 2 revolvers from over powered loads. Both times the cylinder blew a couple chamber walls out.

I broke a Marlin 22 stock in half one time when my horse lost his footing in the middle of Chamberlain Basin, central Idaho in the middle of the night. The horse and I tumbled over each other for 10 or so yards downhill...I do suspect the stock saved my leg from getting broke though. That would have SUCKED anywhere, but would have been especially bad there...if you know where Chamberlain Basin is.

I've broke extractors and cracked a few other stocks while tumbling off of rocks, had wood pieces chip off, etc. but those are the only 3 I have actually broke.

I've fixed guns. Never busted one. Must not be doing it right....

Did knock the RU 77 .338 30 feet out of a tree stand once. Tore the Tasco World Class Plus right off. It was knocked out of zero, so I went home and swapped it for the RU .30-06 for the rest of the weekend.

On night during the week after work, I tweaked the mounts a bit, resighted the rifle, and by next weekend was good to go, Tasco and all. That was a good 20 years ago, and the outfit is still hanging in there.

Hunting elk in Sunlight Basin many years ago, I was walking down not to steep of a hill in about six inches of new snow. I didn't see the big flat top of a slick boulder. My feet went straight in the air, and so did my 721 Rem 30-06. I landed flat on my back and saw the 06 land right on a nice big fairly new Redfield scope. I saw the glass shards fly out of both ends of the scope. The rifle had some significant dings, but wasn't broke. The rear sight had been removed for the scope, so it was unaimable and it was a long walk back to my truck.

When I was within a quarter mile of the truck, I came across two very nice bull elk and I had no sights. I snuck on by and let them be. I had a Model 99 250-3000 Savage in my truck, I also had deer tags, but hadn't ever considered the 250 an elk gun, until that day. I got it out, snuck back where I had spotted the bulls, and dropped the best bull elk of my hunting career in his tracks with 100gr of .257 lead.

I'd still prefer to take an 06 or something bigger like that for elk or moose, but if you have good placement, and a good bullet, I guarantee a quarter bore will get the job done.

About a nanosecond after this picture a gust of wind blew my perfect parker from its perch......onto the rocks below. I just completed a nice backcountry grouse hunt.

I took my boss shooting one day. He had never fired a powerful revolver before. After taking a death grip on my .41 Ruger Blackhawk, he sent a round downrange and it appeared he had dropped the gun. Then he turned around with the grip frame still in hand. The grip frame had broken off. It came with aluminum, now it has a nice steel frame courtesy of Ruger.

LMAO!

I had to borrow a duty weapon because mine was being worked on. It was a S&W 686 that had an exquisite trigger job done on it by one of the other deputies. His wife had just become a university PD officer and he wanted to give her the best revolver anyone on the force had. I had borrowed it once before, and it was the smoothest double action I have ever felt, period. The second time I borrowed it he had sold it another guy in the department, also a friend of mine. I was in a hurry to get to an off-duty job and when I got there I noticed my empty holster. I knew exactly what I had done; I left it on the roof of my patrol car...and forgot it. I ran code back to my residence, but someone already had picked it up. Luckily, all the law enforcement officers in our county and surrounding counties were on the lookout for my buddy's revolver. A city detective recovered it about 2 weeks later. It was scratched up pretty good on one side of the barrel and the cylinder. I took it to the gunsmith and when he was finished you couldn't tell anything had happened. My buddy swore it never shot right after that.

Well at least you got a fine picture first.

First thing I thought of:

https://www.24hourcampfire.com/ubbth.../1/Air_Marshall_Leaves_Her_Loaded#UNREAD



P

That sucks

Sad to hear. Essentially the same happened with my cousin except for the injury. He died an alcoholic 20 or so years ago.

they're tools, if you use them they will get marred or broke at some point.

Dayom but this is a depressing thread.

Wrist cracked on my Midas class Browning American Mallard 1/500 shooting squirrels.

Sent it to Browning. Got it back and glanced at it and put it up. 8 mo later showed it to a friend. It had some deep gouges in the bottom tang and on one side through the gold inlays.

Wtf. Gun shop friend knew a wheel with their custom shop. Also, the burl wood had a couple small holes filled.

I sent a nasty letter. Sent gun back. It came back fixed but buttstock dibnt have the same burl exhibition class wood. Wished i had kept the other.

SOB.

My worst one was when I had a .243 Win Remington 700. I bought it to change it. I rebarreled it to a 26" Sisque Barrel chambered for a Short Fat Seven. It was a .378 Weatherby case necked to 7mm and shortened to 2 1/4". (Has the same capacity as a .300 Weatherby.) Once I had a load worked up I needed something changed. Maybe a better trigger but I don't remember.

Anyway I took my old friend gunsmith to the range to see how accurate it is. I fired two shots at 300 yards and retrieved the target. They were 1/2" apart. He said, "You only fired two shots." "It only holds two rounds. One in the chamber and one in the magazine," I told him. "You have to shoot three shots." So I put up another target and fired three shots. This time the three shots made a nice little triangle measuring 1". He took the rifle to his shop.

A few days later I went by to check on his progress. He took off the stock and sawed the bolt and action in two right in front of the trigger. I was appalled! I was flabbergasted! Finally I got enough composure to ask him why he did that. "That huge case puts too much stress on the action. I did you a favor before you blow yourself up," he defended. Emotionally I responded, "You owe me! I don't know what, but you owe me. Money doesn't cut it! I don't know what, but you owe me!"

Dayom.

The story about your EX-brother was sickening in itself.

On a muzzleloader hunt had a doe run straight at me and I shot her dead center int the chest. She tipped over then tried to get up and was heading toward a deep creek ina swamp we were driving. It was January and it was cold and I had no desire to swim that creek so I tackled her. She put up more fight than I had to give and bucked me, I grabbed my gun and smashed her right between the ears. The outcome was my stock breaking into 6fragments and she got loose. I tackled her again on the bank and performed a coup de grad with the barrel, this time her skull fragmented. Never did like flintlock hunting, damn things only go off about half the time they are supposed to, never replaced the stock and that was my last flint lock hunt.

MM

Back in the 70's my Dad worked up some loads for his 788 22-250 during the winter and we went out and shot it in the summer. After he shot it the bolt wouldn't open so we took it home and he tapped on the handle with a rubber mallet which broke the bolt handle off. He sent it in the Remington who fixed it and sent it back along with the case which had a cratered primer. He firmly believes in "extreme" powders now.

My sister shot several rounds of Skeet with my Citori. She unknowingly gouged the heck out of the stock with the zipper from the coat she was wearing every time she opened the action.

It was the last time I saw her before she passed away.

Guns don't mean schit fellas.....

you lucked out with Remington. i sent my 788 back to them and they said they wouldn't/couldn't fix it.

Back in the 70's I built a custom rifle. Mauser MK10, trued & lapped. Douglas premium '06 ack imp barrel. Fajen fancy claro walnut stock. Sanded & finished the stock myself, taking several months to do it. In elk season of '11, I slipped on a snow covered, downed log while walking down hill. Fell on the stock and snapped it in half at the receiver and bent the barrel enough that it never shot right even after a new stock.

My buddy Rick had a little fall on a very steep mountain once upon a time in Colorado.

Saw off rubber butpad and then it's into the stove.