Stupid things you’ve done with a gun.

[Engineer1911]

Loaded a 50 caliber ammo can with 357 mag reloads. One MTM loading block (I had 5 of them) of 50 cases didn't get powder, but did get 158 gr SWC bullets. The 50 no-pwder rounds were in the middle of the ammo can. Carried a wooden dowel and small ball peen hammer in the ammo can.

In a field emergency, a truck radio antenna will knock a stuck bullet out of a barrel. It was a short day at the range.

 

[Babalooie]

In the 1970's I was at RAF Mildenhall, England TDY with the Air Force. It was the Fourth of July and I was feeling a bit froggy. I made an Un-Gun / Polish Cannon (it's OK I'm Polish) out of pop cans taped together. Using lighter fluid for propellant, I was shooting tennis balls across the barracks parking lot, when a member of the local constabulary made me aware of several things. 1. The barracks and parking lot were not part of the base and, therefore subject to English law. 2. An Un-Gun (remember, 7-Up, the UN-Cola?) is considered a firearm under English law. 3. They don't celebrate the Fourth of July in England.

 

[crsides]

#1 was the worst. It was 40 yrs ago and I still won't talk about it.

#2. My buddy calls me @ 10pm and says we're going groundhog hunting in the morning with our pistols. Which one will get the nod? Wanted to take my mod 19, but I had been modifying the hammer spring and ignition wasn't 100%. Didn't want the guys laughing when it went click. Couldn't take the K22 with that puny little round, so decided to switch hammer springs. Took the sideplate off both, pull the hammer tension springs, switch them and replaced the side plates. By this time it was around 1:00 am, and of course I had to try the trigger pull on the 357 - right thru the sliding glass door. I just sit there with blue smoke hanging over the kitchen table. Wife called out from the bedroom, and since I couldn't possibly talk, called out again , and the third time came running down the hall.

Just a little 3/8 " hole with a litte spider webbing ... but everytime the wind blowed, the glass cracked a little more. It two weeks for the whole mess to come down.

My brother's father-in-law told me about shooting the leg off his ex-friends coffee table - right there in the living room.

And my cousin's husband told me about his daddy and uncle ... found a whole wagon load of dynamite sitting in a field on the back forty. you guessed it.


Charlie

 

[rburg]

Boy, are you guys ever stupid!

No, not for doing all that stuff, but for talking about it.

In my youth, I was a little angel. Better still, the witness list won't talk, either. At least they can still talk, they just won't. Smart guys.

 

[cjw3]

Once as a pre-teen, I thought it would be fun to try to set off a shotgun primer with a BB gun. I cut a shell open and removed the shot and powder (the powder was POOFED with a match...I learned much later that the shot was useful when taken to school and thrown at people). I propped the shell (base towards me) on the edge of something and backed off about 15 feet. The first shot hit it, but a little off center. The next one hit the primer with a nice bang, which was all well and good except the primer cup flew back and hit me just below the eye.
(Ralphie )

Uh....didn't try that again.

A strange thing is that some years back, my now 30 year old son admitted that he had done the exact same thing when he was about the same age. I guess the apple doesn't fall too far from the tree after all........somehow, we grew up and MAYBE are a little smarter.

 

[JoeR]

10-12ish skinny kid. Shooting snakes around Grandpa's pond in Southern Mississippi. I somehow thought it would be cool to extended one hand that old Iver Johnson 12 guage like I had done with my little 410. That ole 12 almost broke my jaw.

JR

 

[RdrBill]

All.
Stepped forward with my M14 and said, "Sure, I'll go".
Bill@Yuma

 

[jhs]

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

Out
West

Only if it was a cow.

 

[smith revolver cop]

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


Bullseye

That's similar to my first thought when I read the title of the thread... don't trade your like-new K-22 on a bunch of reloading stuff that you never ended up using!

 

[fas111]

This still makes me cringe when I think about it. Went to the range - this is about 30 years ago, I was using my Ruger Mk1 bull bbl which by the way I still have. Had a cold but went anyhow. Next morning took a sick day and was just laying in bed, for some reason I had my gun case in the bedroom. Our dog Pumpkin jumped up on the bed while I was fooling around with the Ruger. I pointed it at Pumpkins head and had my hand on the trigger, actually was pressing it. For some reason before it broke I stopped, pulled the bolt back and it was loaded. I am so careful-(everybody says that), it was such an eye opener and a real good lesson. Pumpkin was the best dog and I would have never been able to live with myself if I hurt her. She is long gone but I still miss her.

 

[michael thornton]

never check the double action on a 2 1/2 mod 19 loaded with 357 magnum in the cab of your truck going down the road, it was new to me and had a realy slick trigger, too slick!

 

[jrm53]

Back when we were young and stupid a friend and I were squirrel hunting and the land owner had one of those E-Z flow fertilizer spreaders and this kid says I'm going to shoot the tire and I didnt say anything, he shot it and it was a short and it bounced back and could have killed one of us. Jeff

 

[OLDFED]

Here's a true story: A serviceman was home and decided to clean his UZI (semi-auto, long barrel). He had it stashed in a nylon case...reached in and pulled it out. The muzzle was facing him and you guessed it...the chamber had a round in it...the UZI fires from an open bolt...the trigger was tripped and the round caught him heart center.

Same model...an LEO was putting his in an overhead compartment of an non-commercial airplane, tripped the open bolt and sent a round down the compartments.

No wonder many law enforcement agencies gave up the UZI!

 

[NKJ nut]

When I was a kid I shot at a Starling on the telephone line and shot the phone line into.

A few years later I shot the fender on my cousins truck when we were doing some illicit nighttime rabbit shooting. We killed over a hundred rabbits and one rooster. It was all so crazy stupid. And my old man made us clean all of those rabbits and that danged old rooster. I could about puke every time I thought of a rabbit for several years after that.

 

[29aholic]

Not that I doubt you

Here's a true story: A serviceman was home and decided to clean his UZI (semi-auto, long barrel). He had it stashed in a nylon case...reached in and pulled it out. The muzzle was facing him and you guessed it...the chamber had a round in it...the UZI fires from an open bolt...the trigger was tripped and the round caught him heart center.

Same model...an LEO was putting his in an overhead compartment of an non-commercial airplane, tripped the open bolt and sent a round down the compartments.

No wonder many law enforcement agencies gave up the UZI!

But no SA Uzi has ever fired from an open bolt. You may be thinking of something else.

 

[wbraswell]

We all know to never point a loaded gun at something unless we intend to shoot it. What we forget is to never point an unloaded gun at something we would never shoot. If anyone of us has ever accidently shot your pet, we don't want to read about it. Now, if you've ever shot your TV, we really want to know.

 

[rburg]

Every time the one cat starts puking on the floor, bed or anywhere else convenient for her, I consider shooting. Instead I've found a swift kick or a thrown shoe works. My wife says to stop it, she can't help it, and she might choke. Good. I hate cat puke.

Of course we have another (my favorite) that if anyone even attempted anything bad, we'd go to war. Critters have personalities, good ones are why we keep them around. I have no idea why my wife likes the puker.

 

[brucev]

This still makes me cringe when I think about it. Went to the range - this is about 30 years ago, I was using my Ruger Mk1 bull bbl which by the way I still have. Had a cold but went anyhow. Next morning took a sick day and was just laying in bed, for some reason I had my gun case in the bedroom. Our dog Pumpkin jumped up on the bed while I was fooling around with the Ruger. I pointed it at Pumpkins head and had my hand on the trigger, actually was pressing it. For some reason before it broke I stopped, pulled the bolt back and it was loaded. I am so careful-(everybody says that), it was such an eye opener and a real good lesson. Pumpkin was the best dog and I would have never been able to live with myself if I hurt her. She is long gone but I still miss her.

VERY glad you did not pull that trigger.

 

[crsides]

+1 on the puker cat.

and mine lived to be 21, although she never voted.



Charlie

 

[TXSWFAN]

Man, some of you guys have had some close calls.

I was sitting in line at a carwash waiting my turn. My girlfriend was sitting next to me and ZZTop was cranked up on the radio. I ejected the mag and round out of my 1911, checked it over, inserted the mag and instinctively pointed the gun towards the floorboard and hit the slide release. The hammer followed the slide home and BOOM. Shot a hole thru the floorboard. A .45 in a car is still louder than ZZTop.

About five years ago, I was leaning out the passenger side window trying to shoot a skunk and got my shooting hand thumb knuckle behind the slide on a G20 10mm. That took a nice chunk of meat out.