Stupid things you’ve done with a gun.

[Kelly Green]

If you've been around guns as long as many of us here then you've probably done something stupid and because of it, learned a valuable lesson. This is not the only stupid thing I've done but it was the earliest.

Back when I was ten years old, my older brother, fourteen, decided it would be a good idea to shoot rats in the barn. While our parents were in town, we took dad's .22 revolver and a box of ammo from the gun cabinet and into the barn we went. We stupidly used hollow points because my brother thought it would be more fun to try and knock critters off the rafters with a bullet instead of rat shot.

Next day, dad goes into the barn and sees little rays of light streaming in through little holes in the metal roof. Needless to say, he was disappointed in us and mad as heck. Not only had we messed up the roof but we'd also used the gun without his ok. That stunt earned us a trip to the woodshed.

I learned three valuable lessons: first, don't use someone else's gun without permission; second, don't shoot up a barn with solid bullets and third, mending a barn roof is no picnic.

 

[venomballistics]

the biggest lesson was learning not to talk about it

 

[CAJUNLAWYER]

Let's see-shot a hole in the floor of my wife's 1 month old Trailblazer with a .45.(grown up) Shot a bird that was on the neighobr's chiminey-it fell down into the fireplace (as a young lad). Well that wasn't really dumb-just a miscalculation
But shooting the wife's new SUV-THAT was DUMB

 

[sipowicz]

Shot a hole in my mom's closet with my new to me 66 PPK. luckily, it was open at the time so no hole in the door...a few days later i heard her yelling about the moth problem in her closet...whew!

 

[Gun Smoke]

Had a old crappy 12 gauge pump shotgun and I racked in a shell for some stupid reason and it jammed the action and I couldn't get it to eject no matter how hard I pulled back on the pump action....Well I was almost late for work on the 4-midnight shift and my wife wasn't home yet and I didn't want to leave the shotgun loaded and ready to fire so I got the bright idea to just fire the round to clear the gun...I rounded up 4-5 phone books and fired it into them from an upstairs bedroom in our apartment.. Well not only did the phone books not stop the 00 buck round but the floor and most of the kitchen cabinet and contents below do very much to slow it down either...It blew a hole in the top and bottom of the cabinet and destroyed all the bosses corning ware along with making several real nice dents in the stainless steel sink...It wasn't a pleasent evening for several months after that little woops...

 

[Out West]

I missed a feral pig this weekend that was as big as a cow. Does that count?

Out
West

 

[Bullseye 2620]

If you've been around guns as long as many of us here then you've probably done something stupid and because of it, learned a valuable lesson.

Yes, I have, and I did: don't sell 5-inch S-series nickel Model 27s.


Bullseye

 

[Joni_Lynn]

I sold off a really nice shotgun once.............does that count?

 

[Smith357]

I tried to super tune the trigger on a 1911 race gun I was building. I went too far and the gun went full auto at the range with about a dozen onlookers checking out the fool with the full auto .45.

 

[Brian41]

I was training a young English Setter on pheasants one time. I got excited at her point and upon my flush shot a blank out of a Detective Special right beside my right ear. That being prior to our CCW law here I was probally carrying that gun illegally too.
I couldn't hear from that ear for a week very well.

 

[NCTexan]

Stepped on a snake while I was dove hunting and shot it... while it was still almost under my foot.

I HATE SNAKES!

 

[DeathGrip]

Bought one with out checking it out.That one cost me more than it was worth.

 

[Viss]

I was so excited when I got my first revolver. It was Ruger Blackwawk in 357 mag. I couldn't wait the 30 min. to get home to shoot it so I rolled down the window in the truck and took aim at fence post and shot it while still in the cab. My ears rang for a week.

 

[nun]

My wife's great uncle told us stories about shooting dimes out of each others hands with 22s when they were kids.

 

[venomballistics]

My wife's great uncle told us stories about shooting dimes out of each others hands with 22s when they were kids.

so the missing fingers weren't a hereditary trait after all

 

[ssgmac]

Skipped school with my older brother, went shooting my M1 Garand, he shot my carbine, I loaded the first end block mag. with tracers, after we realized the fire wasn't going out we tried to stomp it out, too late!! We stopped at the nearest gas station and used the pay phone to report a possible fire in the woods. Days later after driving by the scene, those tracers only burned about 3 acres!!! Whew!!

 

[mod34]

One of the first guns I bought was a Ruger stainless MKII Target. The first time I took it out, I did two stupid things"

1) Got the webbing between my thumb and index finger too close to the bolt! Yes, it bled...and bled...and bled.

2) I wasn't paying too much attention as to how many rounds I had fired and was twirling it on my finger. Luckily, it went "click" instead of "bang"!

Needless to say, it was a very fine first day at "school".

 

[cass]

Late one night my chickens were raising cane, and I knew the coon had returned for another meal. I got my 45 and eased in the door - sure nuff, he was on the perch ready to pounce on a hen. I shot at the same time he moved. I missed, he got away. Next morning I discovered a large hole in my new tractor tire that was parked outside the hen house. $$$$$

 

[OLDFED]

Too stupid to talk about, even if it was over 50 years ago! I still ask myself...."You did what!?"

 

[anoblefox]

when I got my first hangun. (1973) It was a 5 inch model 27, while camping in the wild, I noticed a big jackrabbit just temping me to take a shot. Well, temptation won over good sense and I rested my weak wrist on the front fender of my old Bronco with my open hand along the cylinder of the revolver for support, drew a bead on the rabbit and the blast from the gap where the cylinder meets the frame blasted, you guessed it, MY HAND! I have not needed to repeat that dumb trick ever again. If I ever develop any memory issues when get older, remembering to keep my body parts away from a revolver cylinder gap will not be an issue!