Fantastic Firearms Fables and Tall Tales from Townies.

[Marcruger]

I went to my friend's house north of Detroit. His kids were having a BBQ, and there were a ton of loud younger guys there bragging. One said I have a "Nine M M." I asked what kind of 9 millimeter it was. He replied "It is not 9 millimeter, it is a Nine M M." Another guy popped up and said, "Well I have a 44 Magnum." I said that was cool, and asked who made it. He looked frustrated and said, "It's a FORTY FOUR MAGNUM." I let it drop. Big second topic was snowmobiles and who could jump the furthest. One of them was later paralyzed doing just that.

A story the reverse way - My dad served as marksmanship instructor for his Special Forces unit in the early '60s, after serving in the 82nd. The SF unit would use the USMC range at Camp LeJeune fairly often as it was convenient to get range time. The unit was training with 1911s. Dad was observing, along with a grizzled old USMC Colonel in charge of the range. One soldier came back to the armorer, and complained "This old worn-out 1911 is junk. It won't shoot. I want a 1911A1." The pistol was exchanged and off he went. A few minutes later dad saw the Marine colonel go over quietly and pick up the old 1911. He ran a target out to 25 yards, and proceeded to blow the center out of the bull. The colonel did not say a word, and returned the pistol to the armorer's rack. Dad has often told me, "Those Marines can shoot." I have considered myself very fortunate to have been taught by my dad, and instructed in nice firearms.

 

[Fishinfool]

I do believe Magnum Research and Dan Wesson both offered their revolvers, D&T for optics, in .45 Winchester Magnum...

Did have a Vietnam Vet once tell me they used to pull the bullets on their 5.56 ammo and put a pinch of C-4 explosive in each case, then re-set the bullet. He said it was hard on the guns, but made them hit like a 7.62.

Or a buddy of mine the future ex wife didn't like. My friend, his girl friend, my fiance at the time, and I were sitting at a diner having breakfast, My friend mentioned he liked his eggs hot, and often used a little OC spray to "heat them up". My fiance, bless her heart, pulls a small pepper spray can out of her purse, and sprays his eggs, smiles, and tells him to enjoy them. Pretty much went down hill from there....

Sometimes, you just gotta roll your eyes and smile.

Larry

 

[Inusuit]

When casual acquaintances would brag to my dad about the 400 yard shot they made with their .30-30s, he would take them out to the range on the ranch. Many could not hit a 55 gallon barrel from 100 yards.

 

[Echo40]

Maybe the guy with the Winchester Scoped Magnum .45 Revolver was actually ribbing you? Maybe he knew you were a gun guy, and he thought it would be funny to jerk your chain and observe your discomfiture?

I honestly wish that were the case, but I believe that he was just an extremely insecure kid who habitually told tall tales to gain the approval of others.

He was always telling stories, that one simply stood out as false because it was a subject that I was genuinely interested in.

On other occasions he had claimed to have done all sorts of stuff that only an extremely insecure young man would think sounded cool or impressive.
Usually I'd just keep quiet and nod, but some of the more morally reprehensible or dangerous things he claimed to do got me to speak up, then he would backpedal and never mention such activities again.

The only reason why I never called him out on his "Winchester Scoped Magnum .45 Revolver" was because I spent the longest time operating under the assumption that he actually owned a Ruger Super Redhawk or Blackhawk chambered in .45 Long Colt and was just ignorant of the name so he just used the brand of ammo he was shooting or something. He typically came over and started talking when I was preoccupied with something else, so I usually just let him talk and tuned out. Only during the last few times that I saw him before he moved upstate did I ever bother to actually question him on it, and that's when he really ramped it up with the wild range reports.

 

[BE Mike]

Great stories! Looks like these story tellers missed their calling. They would be at home working for a major "news" outlet!

 

[Krogen]

My former step-brother was an otherwise good guy, but he often had some gun story to tell. I suspect didn't know which end the lead came out, but that didn't stop him. Incredibly long shots, some goofy chambering made up of assorted buzz words - like .487 Rimfire Magnum or whatever. A "friend" with some spectacular accomplishment.

I think in his case a little knowledge and attempting to fill in the gaps was his problem. He knew little bits and pieces, and mashed it all together into a tall tale. I really think he was so anxious to "male bond" that he had no idea how idiotic he appeared. I said little to challenge him and just tried to carry on a conversation of sorts. That just encouraged him, I suppose.

It's common in the shooters' world to cross paths with soft-spoken folks with real history - military, gunsmiths, competitors. If one were to boast about phony accomplishments they'd be thought the fool and be none the wiser. Usually just silently tolerated. Egregious lies, like stolen valor, could put the jerk face down in the dirt.

 

[BB57]

….

Did have a Vietnam Vet once tell me they used to pull the bullets on their 5.56 ammo and put a pinch of C-4 explosive in each case, then re-set the bullet. He said it was hard on the guns, but made them hit like a 7.62.

Or a buddy of mine the future ex wife didn't like. My friend, his girl friend, my fiance at the time, and I were sitting at a diner having breakfast, My friend mentioned he liked his eggs hot, and often used a little OC spray to "heat them up". My fiance, bless her heart, pulls a small pepper spray can out of her purse, and sprays his eggs, smiles, and tells him to enjoy them. Pretty much went down hill from there....

Sometimes, you just gotta roll your eyes and smile.

Larry

I doubt anyone ever intentionally fired a round with C4 in it. But it was a practice to pull bullets from 5.56 or 7.62x39 rounds, remove most of the powder, and pack them with C4 before replacing the bullet. They'd then salt them in magazines that were left for VC or NVA troops to capture or recover. When fired the C4 loaded round would rapidly disassemble the rifle along with important parts of the shooter.

Even with a low probability that captured or recovered ammo had been tampered with, it did not inspire a great deal of confidence for the shooter.


—-

Your fiancé, she sounds like a keeper if you have the personality to hang with a force of nature like that.

 

[Mike SC Hunter]

Well, Mike, I'm skeptical. I don't have access to my library at this time, but which Colt books are you referring to?

Here's an in-depth discussion on the topic from the Colt Forum ten years ago: Python--tapered bore | Colt Forum A professional barrel maker makes several informative comments.

I think the vents on a Python rib are designed to look like, or replicate, a rib like a King modification. There's a pic in the Wilson Book of Colt Firearms showing an early prototype of the Python with no underlug and a King rib attached. The idea with the King rib modification was to add barrel weight for target shooting. Same purpose as a heavy barrel. I think with the Python the purpose of the rib and and the underlug is to look sexy — which it does.

Great looking gun. And it has certainly inspired a lot of devotion and mystique.

I gave all Of my Colt books to my son. An avid Colt collector.One or his his older Python has a hollow underlug. Will get references from him.
BTW I've owned a 6 ijn blue from the custom shop since 1980. In the early years I shot heck out of it. Hand to replace the V main spring twice to keep it from snapping........Hand to peen the hand twice to get it back into
time.......The S&W 19/586 is a more durable handgun. So for many years mine has slept locked away. Unused.
The new ones with the new action maybe great. But until they replace that cheap cheezy rear sight I've never own one.

 

[BB57]

When casual acquaintances would brag to my dad about the 400 yard shot they made with their .30-30s, he would take them out to the range on the ranch. Many could not hit a 55 gallon barrel from 100 yards.

To be fair, many of the seasonal hunter types just are not very good at estimating range in real world conditions. For example, I used to have a plot of land with a 200 yard range shooting across an irregular shaped field and into an area of shade up against tall trees. During the deer season I'd often have hunters running dogs in the area drop by when I was shooting to let me know they were running dogs in the area. They'd hang out awhile watch me shoot and more often than not say something like "that's what? 350, 400 yards?". Maybe 1 in 5 would get the range estimate right, most were 150-200% long. There are a number of visual illusions that can make range estimation difficult for a shooter who isn't well trained in range estimation.

 

[BLACKHAWKNJ]

In Vietnam Operation Eldest Son was a covert operation in which "salted" ammunition was infiltrated into enemy munitions. US troops were told not to use captured weapons and munitions for that reason. I read an acoount by some Special Forces soldiers, found dead NVA/VC besides 82MM mortars
that were peeled back like bananas after firing sabotaged rounds.
In the message thread on Store Brands there was they are 'seconds", "didn't pass the quality control tests", etc.

 

[BB57]

two stand out to me. At a gun show the dealer had a sign on a Ruger. It said Security Six, but the gun had fixed sights. I told him it was actually a Service Six. He got indignant and snapped at me. I turned the gun over and showed him the marking. He got madder and told me it WAS a Security Six. I didn't bother looking further at his table.
Then there was the OLD-timer at a gun show, and he was a cowboy when a bit younger. He showed me his very well worn Colt SAA in his holster (unloaded). Then he showed me how the action was set up special for shooting Rattle Snakes with a fast draw from his holster. I could not get it to work like he did. He told me he loaded the 45LC ammo with a very slow load. He said when he shot at a snake, it would always take the head off, as the snake could actually see the bullet coming and would bite at it, thus losing their heads. Now most times I would not believe this, but this did NOT seem to be the type to tell a tall tale and waste his breath. How about one of you in snake country try to prove him wrong or right, and let the rest of us know.

I've heard that one since I was a sprout, growing up on a ranch in western SD. My dad was clear it was bunk, but did tell me he used to kill rattlers with a lariat, snapping the end of the rope at it like a whip. (He was raised in the Great Depression and didn't believe in wasting ammo killing a snake.) However, he ascribed to the same theory that the snake would strike at the hondo on the end of the rope thus hitting itself in the head.

I was skeptical and the next time we came across a snake he decided to prove it. Sure enough the snake did I strike at the hondo - and got pulled right back at dad when he quickly snapped the rope back to make another strike. Scared the bejeezus out of him, and it's the last time he did anything other than shoot them.

Did he really kill snakes that way during the depression, and did this snake just get lucky? Maybe, maybe not. But at least I give him credit for trying to walk the talk, and the good sense not to try it again.

 

[mdf9183]

When I first joined the P.D. we had a guy who was always telling tales about where he had been and the stuff he had done. We all figured if he had been every place and done all the things he said he would be 155 years old. He did not last long at the P.D.

 

[BrovoEchoSierra]

I always heard that an empty wagon rattled the loudest. I try and keep that in mind when these nit wits start running their mouths.

We have all made some incredible shots during the years that we have been shooting.
I once won a 6 pack of beer off of a fellow shooter, when I hit a cement block with a snub nosed 38 detective special at 100 yards.
It was some skill, as I had shot other guns at that distance, and had a decent idea where to aim, but in reality it was 50 / 50 luck and skill.

I saw my Dad kill two crows with one shot, at around 200 yards with a 243. The first Crow was as good as dead, when Dad put the X on him, but the second was just unlucky, and got hit with fragments, and parts from the first crow. We estimated that they were maybe 2 feet apart when the first one was hit.

Dad really never shared that story, except for with the family, as he figured no one would believe him, and he did not want to be "that guy".

 

[BB57]

My former step-brother was an otherwise good guy, but he often had some gun story to tell. I suspect didn't know which end the lead came out, but that didn't stop him. Incredibly long shots, some goofy chambering made up of assorted buzz words - like .487 Rimfire Magnum or whatever. A "friend" with some spectacular accomplishment.

I think in his case a little knowledge and attempting to fill in the gaps was his problem. He knew little bits and pieces, and mashed it all together into a tall tale. I really think he was so anxious to "male bond" that he had no idea how idiotic he appeared. I said little to challenge him and just tried to carry on a conversation of sorts. That just encouraged him, I suppose.

It's common in the shooters' world to cross paths with soft-spoken folks with real history - military, gunsmiths, competitors. If one were to boast about phony accomplishments they'd be thought the fool and be none the wiser. Usually just silently tolerated. Egregious lies, like stolen valor, could put the jerk face down in the dirt.

There's a lot of that in the current long range shooting bunch. Some of it is out and out exaggerating and some of it is just leaving out important context.

For example, someone might post a video of a nice half MOA 3 shot group at 800 yards, but what they won't disclose is that they edited out the six shots they took *before* they finally walked the first round on to the plate to begin with. When it's shot number 1 that counts it doesn't matter what shots 7, 8 and 9 are like, so it's more impressive if you leave out those first six shots.

 

[LVSteve]

When casual acquaintances would brag to my dad about the 400 yard shot they made with their .30-30s, he would take them out to the range on the ranch. Many could not hit a 55 gallon barrel from 100 yards.

The son of one of those guys was telling me that he made a 400 yard shot on a coyote from the back of a pickup that was being driven on a dirt road at night near Kingman, AZ. Uh-huh.

 

[Onomea]

I gave all Of my Colt books to my son. An avid Colt collector.One or his his older Python has a hollow underlug. Will get references from him.
BTW I've owned a 6 ijn blue from the custom shop since 1980. In the early years I shot heck out of it. Hand to replace the V main spring twice to keep it from snapping........Hand to peen the hand twice to get it back into
time.......The S&W 19/586 is a more durable handgun. So for many years mine has slept locked away. Unused.
The new ones with the new action maybe great. But until they replace that cheap cheezy rear sight I've never own one.

Mike, I agree about the early hollow underlug. I question the silver ball story. I do like Colts, especially the prewar ones.

 

[Marshal Tom]

A former cop and chief of police I know well worked at a local gun shop and was actually the manager for a time. He is a gun guy of sorts and claimed to know much about S&W's. I walked in there one day and spotted a 4" pre 27 in the case. It had been mismarked as a 3.5" on the tag. I could see from several feet away that this was not a 3.5" barrel. I looked it over, and told him that it had a 4" barrel. He stated that it was a 3.5" because they didn't make a 4".
I had them put it aside for me, went home and got on the forum to ask some questions. I found that it was one of the special order 4" guns that went to H H Harris Co. I went back and purchased it and still have it. I guess no-one in that shop owned a measuring device.

 

[old bear]

Fantastic Firearms Fables and Tall Tales from Townies.

I think at one time or another all of us have run across some Know it all, Gas Bag. My pat answer to those people is to use the old Southern response of " inst that nice, well bless your heart."

For those of you who do Southern speak, that means, you are full of Bravo Serra, and bugger off.

 

[Smoke]

I worked as a security guard for 15 years. One of the reasons I so enjoyed working alone was that if I wasn't working alone I was SURROUNDED by people whose eyes are brown (As in they were full of something that made their eyes brown).

I had one guy that told me he was pulling gate guard on some secret Navy base in the jungles of Puerto Rico when a Puerto Rican "National" jumped the fence and came after him. He stated that he emptied three magazines into the guy before the guy dropped. The problem is he didn't State what weapon he was carrying. So if he was carrying a 1911 he shot the guy 21 times. If he was carrying an M9 he shot the guy 45 times and if he was carrying an M16 he shot the guy NINETY times. Of course I would also get to work and have this guy tell me that he had to suspend foot patrols of the fense line because there was too much snow (1/4 inch) on the ground.

I ran into another guy on the same site who told me that he had 22 years in Special Operations Command I don't think he was older than 35. He informed me that there was a defect with the Glock design that would cause the gun to repeatedly and predictably start shooting full auto. I'm not an expert but if I understand it right if you can repeatedly get your gun to shoot full automatic the ATF calls that a machine gun.

The guy then informed me that the only suitable round for a real man to carry was a .45 ACP. He then told me that he open carried his .45 everywhere he went and that police cars pulled over to thank him for his service to the community routinely.

Then there was a guy that worked as a PMC for Halliburton. He invaded both Kosovo and Iraq as a security guard. He also had millions of dollars stashed in numbered by bank accounts in Switzerland and he was just killing time as a gate guard at the Olympic Training Center until it was time for him and his wife to retire and leave the country forever.

 

[Xfuzz]

Heard lots of tall tales when folks talk
guns.

The one thing that cracks me up is when
a gun show passerby mentions his military service.
Regardless of service branch they were always some....

Ranger
Green Beret
Special Forces
Seal......etc....

No one ever states they were just a grunt
or drove a truck.