It wouldn't die

[robinghewitt]

Just finished our muzzle loader clayshoot this afternoon and we decided to execute a pumpkin head left over from all All Hallows' Eve'.

We started with volley fire, but what with everyone being loaded for clays #8's didn't impress it much. Lots of holes, a few scuffs but it was still grinning at us, we felt mocked.

The honour of the club was at stake so closing in to about 8 feet we took turns down the line. I was second from the end and it was still smirking. Tough things these pumpkin heads.

Determined to give it my best shot I put my shoulder well forwards, a finger on each trigger and pulled them as one :shocked2:

It went down fighting. You know the feeling, like your fingers have been dislocated but you can't remember doing it, teeth slightly loose, even got a minor cut from the trigger guard. But when the smoke cleared Mr Pumkin had finally agreed enough was enough and exploded gracefully.

Now I have been initiated in to the sport of vegetable hunting I am driven to search out larger prey to pit myself against. But where do you go after you have faced the pumpkin head and survived to tell the tale?

 

[J.D.]

Love that video, Robin. I have seen it several times and never tire of it, however, I was hoping to see a video of the pumpkin meeting it's demise as well.

Pumpkins do splatter rather spectacularly, don't they. :grin:

 

[PGTMG]

What is that thing/rifle or musket /cannon / dental plan activator????? :shocked2:

 

[trent/OH]

On this side of the pond, beloved actor and former US Marine Gunnery Sergeant R. Lee Ermy routinely does battle with what we call watermelons. You might call them a different name. Big green fruits, usually red inside.
So far he has emerged victorious in every encounter.

 

[robinghewitt]

Most recent American import is the cranberry. Introduced on TV all us oldies were saying, "What the heck is a cranberry?" Perhaps the young-un's it was aimed at didn't care and assumed it was yummy :hmm:

However the humble cranberry looks more like ammunition than target to fledgling herbicidal maniacs like yours truly :hatsoff:

 

[Russ T Frizzen]

The early English settlers in New England actually called them craneberries. They were the first to cultivate them in what were called craneberry swamps and today are called cranberry bogs. To add some muzzleloading content, the berries make fine targets at 25 yards for small bore rifles. :thumbsup:

 

[Musketeer]

However the humble cranberry looks more like ammunition than target to fledgling herbicidal maniacs like yours truly :hatsoff:

I bet a patched cranberry out of your wall gun would do quite a number on a pumpkin... :hmm: :haha:

 

[PaulN/KS]

In the latter part of the gardening season here the zuchinni is a plentiful target... Tomatos can be fun too.

 

[spudnut]

We had what we later refered to a fruit salad shoot,Lemons,limes oranges and grapefruit(All old produce headed for the dumpster)They would vaporize with a direct hit and the fragrence was wonderful all up and down the range.

 

[Britsmoothy]

How about doing battle with your old Christmass tree this january?
:thumbsup:

Brit.

 

[pmwest]

A heavy load of #2's from a smoothbore can be used to harvest the top 6' of a 20' cedar tree. The trophy can then be hauled home and mounted for display in the family room. Also a good place to hang lights and other trinkets.

 

[Stumpkiller]

I have done in any number of zucchini with various firearms. THE ADMIRAL won't eat them once they get past 12", and that leaves six a day it seems in the 15" to 18" category that weren't there in the garden the day before.

A .54 ball hitting a zucchini at 25 yards is a wonderful thing. Even after the smoke clears there are still bits raining down.

I recall the old demonstration at our shooting club for the hunter safety group was a quart can of sauerkraut and a .30-30 vs. a .223 FMJ to demonstrate hydroshock.

And finally, a co-worker invited myself and another worker to bow-hunt on his land. Before the season we got together to scout and do some practice. I had a long bow at the time and they both had compounds (bows with training wheels). Stepping outside his back door there was a bale target at 30 yards . . . and also an apple tree to one side of it. He said - "Hey Robin Hood, can you hit the target from here?"

I said: "Gimmie a tough one, pick an apple on that tree."

He did and I hit it with a blunt first try at about 20 yards.


Should have been smart enough to have unstrung the bow at that point and not have attempted any more targets that day, but the initial impression and facial expressions from the other two was priceless.

 

[paulvallandigham]

Try shooting grapefruit that has been allowed to warm to air temperature. The Soft fruit has the consistence of the flesh and muscle of a forearm, sans hair, but it shatters beautifully, when hit in the center with a .50 caliber Round Ball. I did this for a demonstration at a Boy Scout Camp many years ago, using my flintlock. We used an orange to demonstrate how powerful a lowly .22 LR cartridge and bullet can be, but that didn't come close to doing the kind of damage that RB did.

 

[slowpokebr549]

May I nominate the king of all target fruit, the humble Missouri Hedge ball. Or osage orange if you will.They explode in a most satisfying manner upon impact. My boys and I remove them from the yard with eveything from .22s to .690s. I came home last week to witness my ten year old riding his bicycle toward a hedge ball on a post, whilst swinging at it with a hatchet. I gave him a stern warning......after I got through laughing.

 

[TxRambler]

I always wanted to shoot a watermellon. Not sure why.

 

[J.D.]

Hmmmm, I was just wondering what a half frozen wienie would do to a watermelon? I know a half frozen wienie will put one hellacious dent in the side of a pick-up truck, so it would be interesting to see what would become of a watermelon? And no it wasn't me.