Notable shooting experiences

[azmntman]

:rotf: :rotf: :rotf:

Had similar experience once. Went out to impress a bud with the awesome power and accuracy of my 12" .45 revolver. Had loaded it the year before and sealed the bores with bore butter. Cock sssppppsssttsssspht pop ball went 35 feet or so and the guy shook his head and walked off. All the other chambers also did the same thing. Lesson learned.....dont seal the bores with bore butter for long term storage!

I did how ever impress him with the reloaded cylinder. Was smacking a 5 gallon bucket a 100yds each shot :grin:

 

[Phil Coffins]

Dove hunting on a river dike with my 12 gauge double I cocked the right hammer as a bird was coming in. I could feel that it didn't catch on full cock so lowered it and it stopped on half cock. Thumbing back the left barrel I drew a bead on the dove and fired. Two mistakes became apparent. I was setting on the side of the bank and had twisted around tracking the bird, (poor form) and both barrels fired as one! The steel butt plate didn't hurt near as bad as my split lip from my thumb hitting me. On inspecting the lock I found a #8 pellet had worked its way down the ram rod channel and lodged in the half cock notch.

 

[Tinker2]

“My most memorable shooting experience left a mark.”
“The gun came back and hit me right in the groin”
:hmm:

A battle scar you can’t show :rotf: :rotf: :rotf:


It's been a long day


:blah:

 

[Tinker2]

back in the late 70s or early 80s Dupont had blown up again and BP was in short supply. Someone came out with Golden Powder which, if I remember right, was made from carrot juice.

I don’t know what it was made from but did blow up some fermented carrot juice in Viet Nam 1968 &69



:wink:
William Alexander

 

[fleener]

I had a double 10 ga. that I cocked both hammers to shoot some trap with. Man did it kick. Both barrels fired.

fleener

 

[rushlake1]

Ever hear a fox squirrel Laugh....

During the last hour of a 3 day snowshoe squirrel hunt...My hunting partner and I were in a fire fight with and old cagy Fox squirrel..
He was shooting a 20 ga, smooth rifle and had angered the beast and sent it up a big oak tree...every time he shifted on the ground for a better shot the squirrel would climb higher and lay flatter on the concealing limbs.
After his 2 nd or third shot he realized he had lost part of a gifted pancharger in the fray..snow 12" deep..at that moment he lost all interest in the fox squirrel...
He called me in as a backup with my 32 cal. squirrel rifle.
Now "Sir laugh alot" was up as far in the big tall oak as he could go..I did a 360 wide on the ground to get a shot..take a steady bead on said squirrel......
Great sight picture...
flash in the pan??????wipe wipe reprime
flash in the pan????? wipe wipe reprime
flash in the pan?????? This is not good.
I know I reloaded during my 75 yard dash to aid my fellow hunter...
He's doing 360's and starting to mumble sentence enhancers..on the ground looking for part of his very nice gifted pan charger that unscrewed..in the deep snow..
I pull out my ball puller and screw in the t-handle and find the perfect crotch of a tree to extract the dry ball.after 15 minutes of yanking and pulling mumbling sentence enhancers...out comes the ball only to find powder underneath..Oh S--- Im in trouble now..
My squirrel partner has giving up his search for said lost part around the big Oak tree and started to back track 75 yards to the previous fire fight location on the ridge..
I proceed to get the ball puller into the dryball under the powder on the dryball double load.
All the while the Big cagy fox squirrel is taking this all in from his perfect vantage point.
The dry ball would not come out..the puller stripped a hole..when I finally gave up the squirrel had settled on a big limb perched in the open sunning himself watching and laughing..
I leaned the rifle against a tree and back tracked to previous fire fight 75 yards down the ridge..
Carefully scanning the fluffy white snow for the very small screw tip of a pan charger..
My partner had been looking and mumbling for a half hour his snowshoe tracks back were easy to follow..about 50 yards into my search I see a black object 1/8 th inch dia. sticking out of the snow..
Sure enough found said screw tip...Joy relief..

We had a great 3 day hunt walked out of the woods past the big Oak tree and wished the big fox squirrel well..
Fox squirrels do in fact laugh....Heard him snicker twice...

end up pulling the breach plug to get the dryball out.

]

 

[Larry (Omaha)]

:hmm:
Hey 22fowl,
Good story, I would bet that squirrel will be telling that one to the grandsquirrels. Hey, just a question: since I am lazy and would not want to pull the barrel, then the plug. Why didn't you just use compressed air?
I assume you did the removal at home or in a shop with a vice.
Flintlocklar

 

[Loyalist Dave]

I also read about three fellows who went to buy a fuzee for one of them. This was in an old, period journal. One of the two who had gone along on the trip loaded the fuzee with a powder charge, then a wad of "punk", then another charge and another wad of punk and so on, say maybe four times. So, when they departed from the seller's farm, just before they stepped-off, the prankster dropped a hot ember down the barrel.

As they walked the ember burned through the punk and BOOM off when the smoothbore. Scared the heck out of the new owner. BUT now it was "unloaded" so they set off again and BOOOM it went of a second time. Moments later, BOOM for a third time, and a few moments after that, BOOOM for a final time...,

The pair of pranksters could not contain their laughter, and the new owner was convinced that the fuzee had a "haint" [haunted by a spirit] in it and wouldn't touch it further, having tossed it away a short distance on the fourth discharge. Even after the two pranking friends explained how they had gotten the smooth bore to fire four time without the owner seeing it loaded..., the owner would not touch the firearm, and one of the pranksters bought it off of him.

Funny bunch of arse holes I'd say..... :rotf:

LD

 

[MSW]

Many years ago, after getting some practice with my CVA Hawken model rifle. I went shooting with a friend.
He was interested in my CVA but really not in muzzle loaders. He brought a AR-15 and I had my ML.

He put up a clay bird and it was a contest to see who could hit it at 50 yards. He took a few shots and hit close to the bird. I took my first shot and busted it. He just stood there looking at me.

I showed him that MLs are very accurate. To this day he still doesn't want to have that brought up in conversations. :haha:

brings to mind one of the few times i ever visited or used a public range ... there was a collection of twenty somethings who were trying to impress each other with their super black AR-15 platform rifle, each with more hairy chested accessories than the one before... at the end of the firing line was an old guy shooting an old flinter ... nothing special - a completely unremarkable fellow just shooting his gun and minding his own business ... when the line went cold, i took the point next to his and made sure that i was shooting at the right targets, and we were just launching lead, but the AR-15 crowd was unhappy spraying a zillion rounds downrange, so they started in with side comments about how old guys couldn't shoot 'real man's' guns and so forth...

finally the old fellow fired his shot and stepped back from the line and put his rifle in the rack. he went over to them and i'm thinking this isn't going to end well, and i might just want to pack up before they get into it. the line went cold again and everyone on the range went to pull their targets, but the old guy and the AR-15 guy just went to the twenty yard berm and put a soda can on the post.

Old guy says, OK - open iron sights, no scope. No sling. One shot, take as much time as you want. The first one to knock the soda can off the post gets the other guy's gun. You up for that, or are you all talk and no trigger?

Well now mach0- man knows that all his buddies are watching, and he'll never hear the end of it if he backs down, so the macho- man says OK, let's go. Old guys says that he'll make it sporting and let macho- man shoot first, which he does.

BANG!


nothing


"that's OK, why don't you try again?"

BANG!

nothing

"One more time."

BANG!

nothing

"OK, kid, let's see what the geezer can do." loads the flinter, brings it up, everything is quiet for a second or so and

KaBoom ... ping ...

soda can is just about sub- orbital...

old guy never looked at the kid, just quietly said, "leave it in the rack. i'll pick it up on my way out."



note to self ... don't mess with old guys - they'll give you more than enough rope ...

 

[Artificer]

OH, boy, don't bet against the old guys with a flintlock even if it is the slowest flintlock in the world and the guy's buckskins are so dirty/filthy they are almost black.

First time at the Nationals at Friendship on the primintive range. I had to borrow a rifle because my TC Hawken wasn't approved there. I was at a line of targets in an area allowed for practice and I was getting the feel of the rifle. Well, after a few shots I had it zero'd and that's when the guy mentioned above asked if I wanted to shoot for a Quarter a shot.

He actually pulled the trigger when the rifle was at sort of a high "Port Arms" and the gun went off shortly after he shouldered it. I think I plaid out $ 1.75 in Quarters before I realized no matter how close to the center of the bullseye I hit, he always shot just a wee bit better.

OK, bad example. 1974 Deer Hunting Season aboard the Quantico Marine Corps Base. Though I had hunted all kinds of game years prior, this was my first deer hunt. Can't remember why I could not use my TC Hawken, so I borrowed an Original Amoskeag WBTS Rifle my best friend had. I knew it shot center, so no problem there.

We walked into the area quietly as early as possible while it was dark and made no noise while still hunting. However, there were guys around us far enough away to be safe, but were "sound shooting" the whole morning.

Well, if that wasn't enough to scare the deer off, a little bit after noon, a squirrel about 20 yards above me in a tree started barking at me to get out of his area. I swear he barely shut up to breathe for almost and hour. Finally my buddy came up and said it was time to go, as we had to do something later on that afternoon.

OK, no deer, so I decided to take that squirrel. Since I was shooting a .58 Minie' Ball, I wanted to "bark" him so as not to blow him to smithereens and have some meat for the pot. I aimed and squeezed careful, but the shot hit a bit low on the branch. Then there was a huge cracking sound and the 4 inch diameter "dead" branch was coming down onto me. I jumped out of the way as it and other leaves and branches it hit on the way down came down all around me. Fortunately nothing too big hit me.

Then I heard a sort of a "floop" sound and the squirrel hit the ground and lay still as death. I looked up to see nothing else was on the way down from the tree above and began walking towards him. I only got a couple of steps and he shook furiously and jumped up and I swear I heard the most foul mouth squirrel cussing I ever heard against me while he stood up and was shaking his paws at me. I could not help but laugh and he finally bounced off unharmed.

Gus

 

[Spikebuck]

:hmm:
Hey 22fowl, Why didn't you just use compressed air?

I am the said hunting partner in the story and have a CO2 discharger. That stuck dryball was so stubborn it would not come out even with a full load from a new cartridge in the discharger. I have NEVER had an issue blowing out a dryball (other people's, of course, because I would never dryball) until that one, even if they were seated all the way down on the breech face.

For anyone interested in the whole hunting story, as told with a memory coming right after the hunt, here's the post (and there's LOTS of pictures):

Dan and Mike's Excellent Adventure

 

[Larry (Omaha)]

MSW
Loved your story, what a hoot. I have one similar not quite as good, with me being the old geezer. My son in law who I love dearly is a newbie of about two years now. He is an avid modern gun deer hunter and very competitive. I got him hooked on traditional ML and he now has a Lyman Great Plains. We were at the range about two months ago, me shooting my 45 flinter and he, his 50 cal Plains. Close to the end of day, he feels a little feisty and says "hey let's (while he's putting up two targets at 25yrds) have a match, the looser buys the beer at the local bar (bar has a special food nite).
He shot a 40 and I shot a 45. He had that dumbfounded look and his face and said he couldn't believe it. Every once in a while I get lucky
Made my day and got free beer too :grin:
Flintlocklar

 

[Larry (Omaha)]

Spikebuck,
Thanks for setting me straight. Usually CA or CO2 does the trick.
Flintloclar

 

[Wes/Tex]

Excellent adventure indeed! I've hesitated telling my "Yodels" story again...scorching the hair off my face seemed a bit more educational! :rotf:

 

[azmntman]

OH, boy, don't bet against the old guys with a flintlock even if it is the slowest flintlock in the world and the guy's buckskins are so dirty/filthy they are almost black.

First time at the Nationals at Friendship on the primintive range. I had to borrow a rifle because my TC Hawken wasn't approved there. I was at a line of targets in an area allowed for practice and I was getting the feel of the rifle. Well, after a few shots I had it zero'd and that's when the guy mentioned above asked if I wanted to shoot for a Quarter a shot.

He actually pulled the trigger when the rifle was at sort of a high "Port Arms" and the gun went off shortly after he shouldered it. I think I plaid out $ 1.75 in Quarters before I realized no matter how close to the center of the bullseye I hit, he always shot just a wee bit better.

OK, bad example. 1974 Deer Hunting Season aboard the Quantico Marine Corps Base. Though I had hunted all kinds of game years prior, this was my first deer hunt. Can't remember why I could not use my TC Hawken, so I borrowed an Original Amoskeag WBTS Rifle my best friend had. I knew it shot center, so no problem there.

We walked into the area quietly as early as possible while it was dark and made no noise while still hunting. However, there were guys around us far enough away to be safe, but were "sound shooting" the whole morning.

Well, if that wasn't enough to scare the deer off, a little bit after noon, a squirrel about 20 yards above me in a tree started barking at me to get out of his area. I swear he barely shut up to breathe for almost and hour. Finally my buddy came up and said it was time to go, as we had to do something later on that afternoon.

OK, no deer, so I decided to take that squirrel. Since I was shooting a .58 Minie' Ball, I wanted to "bark" him so as not to blow him to smithereens and have some meat for the pot. I aimed and squeezed careful, but the shot hit a bit low on the branch. Then there was a huge cracking sound and the 4 inch diameter "dead" branch was coming down onto me. I jumped out of the way as it and other leaves and branches it hit on the way down came down all around me. Fortunately nothing too big hit me.

Then I heard a sort of a "floop" sound and the squirrel hit the ground and lay still as death. I looked up to see nothing else was on the way down from the tree above and began walking towards him. I only got a couple of steps and he shook furiously and jumped up and I swear I heard the most foul mouth squirrel cussing I ever heard against me while he stood up and was shaking his paws at me. I could not help but laugh and he finally bounced off unharmed.

Gus

:rotf: BEST YET imho :thumbsup:

 

[Wes/Tex]

Hey did a similar thing with my .72 Potsdam musket. Old bushy was on the back side of 6 inch pine trunk so I aimed where he was and let fly. Ball didn't go through but he did a double back flip and lay still. I was laughing so hard it took a while to reload and got about 6 feet from him and he did the same..jumped up, cussed me out in 'limb chicken' and took off like a rocket! :rotf:

 

[nkbj]

Thanks fellas. Yall reminded me of hearing gobbles and creeping up a drawl in northwest Texas, drawing bead over the edge and squeezing off on a turkey tom that launched like a sky rocket when then the cap pop happened with no boom.
Memories don't get much better. :rotf:

 

[pwbsmokey]

Wish I was there to see that!

 

[coloradoclyde]

Excellent adventure indeed! I've hesitated telling my "Yodels" story again...scorching the hair off my face seemed a bit more educational! :rotf:

Did someone say "Yodels"?

 

[Wes/Tex]

That was him! :rotf: