The Best Shot You Ever Made

David LaPell

David LaPell

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Ok, this should be a good one. What was the best shot you ever made? Either at a match, hunting etc? For me it is a toss up between a ruffed grouse that I shot three years ago at a distance of about 25 yards, with a .257 Roberts Ruger bolt action. The grouse was walking around on a light cover of snow and I pulled up and put the crosshairs on the bird's neck and the bullet cut the throat about halfway through. I ended up giving that bird to my wife's aunt, she loved grouse.
My other shot would have to be more recently when I shot my doe at 100 yards offhand with my 1853 Enfield musketoon. The front sight nearly covered the whole deer, but the aim was true and I hit her in the neck dropping her where she stood.
So what's you best shot?
 
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Well...there is the mosquito I shot on the wing at 150 yards with my AR...he can still fly but will never have children...

Seriously some of the best shooting I have done was with my FN FAL. Shooting at helium filled balloons at 100 yards in competition, bobbing and swaying in the wind I hit 5, shooting offhand in just over 5 seconds. I surprised myself that day.
 
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In the field, a 70-yard shot on a pheasant going up and away with a 26" 12 gauge Beretta 626 Onyx SxS, full choke, 2-1/2 inch shells with 1 oz. No. 6 shot.

On the range. . .see my avatar. . .25 yards, 10 shots, rapid fire.


Bullseye
 
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Many many years ago I helped a friend dial in his new Ruger #1 7mm Mag. We were in big field and about 300 yards away a groundhog popped up, I figured it could be dinner. Without ranging or even thinking I took the shot from a sitting position with no sling or rest. Neither of us saw a hit and figured it was a clean miss. When we walked out to police our targets at 320 yards there was a bloody smear on the ground. The hog had pretty much vaporized with nothing worth while left to throw in the stew pot.
 
3 come to mind, first this summer a "pack of cigaretts" sized steel plate at 500yds. in a match [Savage 10 BA .308], End of summer 09, a used 40 cal bullet in the nose at 200 [Cooper 21 .223], and best handgun, rabbit in my garden, in the head at 40 to 45 yards about 15 years ago [model 28 very hot 180 gr carbine 357- only one round with me. So much joy!
 
Off-hand, standing shot on an egg on a string at 100 yards with an open sighted M1 Garand in a match. With witnesses and caught on video at the time.

I was much younger and still had the eyes for it . . . .:(
 
When I was 12 y.o.- a pheasant w/ afterburners lit, shot at by 3 other guys and missed, already flew past me. I turned hard left at the waist and dropped him at about 50 yards with my 20 gauge 870, 1 oz. #6. Dad & Uncles just stood there with mouths open...
 
~ 50 feet... a 6" rubber fishing worm suspended by a thumbtack on the target... first shot...38 special out of a Ruger GP100 4"...split the worm in two... my sons (young at that time) and shooting partners were amazed.. so was I once my heart started again..
 
I have 3 come to mind. The first one was while shooting at the local gravel pit. Some guys were shooting milk jugs at 125 yard with rifles, I had my 6" 29-2, I said let me try that, they said hit the one on the left Mike, which I proceeded to do standing, offhand with my first shot. I didn't take any more shots.:rolleyes: The second was at the local range, similar circumstances. Guys were shooting clay pigeons at 100 yards with their .22 rifles. I had my 5.5" model 41. Standing, offhand got one first shot, once again I didn't take any more shots! :rolleyes:The last was actually a string of shots. I was shooting at a local action pistol match with my 3" Lew Horton M24 and I hit 12 8" plates at 15 yards in just about 9 seconds flat.:D These 3 incidents are probably my personal best! Unfortunately these were all going back a few years when my eyes were a bit better.
 
oldwiley said:
When I was 12 y.o.- a pheasant w/ afterburners lit, shot at by 3 other guys and missed, already flew past me. I turned hard left at the waist and dropped him at about 50 yards with my 20 gauge 870, 1 oz. #6. Dad & Uncles just stood there with mouths open...
Click to expand...

How sweet it is!


Bullseye
 
This is easy for me; it is unforgettable.

Was with some guys shooting sporting clays on Kent Island, MD. They were using the hand held tosser thingee.

I was toting a 2" Model 60 with .38 hollow points, and they guys inquired if I could hit a clay with it. Never lacking self-confidence (but sometimes dumb) I said "let's see." They tossed one, and I busted it about 8' off the ground (as it was descending) and approximately 25 yards away with a holster draw.

They were amazed and said I could never do that again. They were quite correct! :)

Be safe.
 
golf ball at about 20 yards w/my original 1911 colt and 230 grain hardball. was funny to see the ball accelerate from zero to 300mph(?) that fast.
the bullet was in the ball.
 
From 1982 to 1984 I was stationed at Kirtland AFB, Albuquerque,NM. Me and a friend (Jim) were target shooting in an arroyo south of town. I was shooting my favorite 586 with handloads that were perfect for that gun. Relatively on the warm side. Never did chrono them but they were a perfect match. We were using 2" and 3" self stick orange target dots.
There was an old water heater for a target stand, shooting from 25 yds. A quarter a shot closest to center on the target dots. At the end of the session I was about $5 ahead of Jim and we were walking back to my truck. Jim says "All right smart ass, lets see you hit from here." So I fired one last shot at a 3" orange dot. We walked back up to check, ( 110 paces from my truck) DEAD CENTER. He said, "Do it again". Me, "Why, I proved my point" LOL. I told him he should have bought a S&W instead of the Ruger Redhawk that he had!

I did have and advantage though. Back then I was shooting an average of about 1000 rounds a week through that revolver. Could I do again now? Only with a WHOLE lot of luck. Heck, now I can barely see a 3" dot at 100 yards!!:)
 
Duck hunting I once shot and missed at a flock of mallards, second shot knocked down two drakes. Both hit the water alive and third shot killed both.
Fifteen minutes later while still bragging up my feat my partner shot and killed two mallards with one shot.

I've shot triples on ducks and geese a couple times too. I'm not a great wingshot so those were something to me.
 
I took a freind shooting and it was pretty new to him. I was bouncing a can around as fast as possible at about 25 yards with my Rem. .22 fieldmaster auto. Hitting right underneath it to make it fly.No big deal there. But one time it flew up and went behind a cardboard box. without hessitating I shot through the box where I thought the can might be and lo and behold, it went flying out in the open where I continued to bounce it around. I really lucked out but my friend from there after considered me some great shot. I was more surprised than him but didn't show it.
 
My best shot was at my 22 birthday party. It was later in the afternoon and I think we had just finished the second keg. A rabbit was at the edge of my cleared property about 60 yards away. I had my Ruger MkII and drew a bead on the rabbit. I was swaying back and forth pretty good since my alcohol had a blood level of 99.7%. Everyone was watching and I stoned the rabbit with a head shot.

I put the gun away and acted like it was a simple shot.
 
Decades ago I had acquired my first brand spanking new gun...a Gold Cup 45 acp. Took it out to the woods, put a slow fire bullseye NRA target up, walked about 50 paces back, turned, aimed and fired my first shot ever out of that gun.

Couldn't see a hole, thought I missed it. Walked back to the target, and found the 45 hole fit exactly in the X-ring cutting it perfectly as if I had traced a case and cut it out with an exacto.

Of course, the rest of the day was not quite up to that standard.

I kept that target for years but lost track of it along the way somewhere.

I still see that astounding hole though, in exact alignment, and at the right distance the bullet cut the inside ring perfectly all around the border.
 
Two come to mind.
First was during the bleak years when we had a three bird limit for ducks. Was hunting with my A-5 and a flight of teal came in-I shot once and dropped three. Hunt over!
A few years later I was hunting with my brother in law. He was razzing my about my BSS-said it was dumb to handicap myself with just two shots. A duck flew over us and was on afterburners offering a straight going away shot. I stood up-he said "no f'in way"-I dropped it with one shot at about 40 yards. I looked at him and replied "Go get my duck!" :D
 
This is easy for me as well. My first and so far only Muley Buck. Deer was 50 or 60 yards away in some pucker brush. I stood up on a log and saw him feeding. I hid back down and told my pops we had something big out in front of us. He thought it was an elk only being able to see his antlers above the brush. I took my Remington 30-06 off safety and keep in mind I had only ever shot in once or twice for practice. I balnced up on this fallen ponderosa log and looked where I remembered the buck being. He layed down and had his eyes looking my direction but all I could see was his rack. I estimated where his heart should be and made a blind shot through the pucker brush and he went down after a 20 yard sprint. The bonus was he fell only 50 yards up hill from our pick up.
 
One day at the club another guy gave me one of those life size targets with the guy aiming at you. With my 686 at 25 yards I placed the first 5 shots where they should go, in the chest. With one shot remaining I decided to play, so I aimed straight between the eyes. And that is exactly where I hit. I kept the target as a souvenir.
 
Glad TXSWFAN 'broke the ice' re: ah, chemically enhanced marksmanship. Visiting a friend in CA years ago, he decided we should go camping in the desert in NV. He had a client who paid part of his bill with a really sorry looking K22. He complained that he could never hit anything with it.
We had built a charcoal fire to cook steaks, and I took a charcoal briquite, threw it in the air and popped it good. Told Tom there was nothing wrong with the gun.
 
Ive committed several great shots due to never being informed of the limitations of arms.
50 yards, 30-06 browning bolt action with Leupold optics hard crossing clays for 3 in a row.
Same rifle, 700 yards thinning crows out of a recently cut hay field. thing performed like it was radar guided and would take more skill to miss.
629 smith in its first day with me, limb rat at 150 yards for a perfect head shot.
Strange ones .... 22LR is a "charmed" caliber and leads the category of freak unrepeatable incidents.
the strangest of all was the drain plug shot.
Im not sure it was mine or one of my friends shots that did this...
we were having a good range session with the line of fire a good solid 700 yards away from a gravel road and parallel with it with some error to the away side as well as about 75 yards worth of thick brush between the field and the road for a little extra buffer.
targets were at the 100 mark.
we had run out of ammo and opted to walk the road back home when we saw a line of splattered motor oil. on a hunch I back tracked the trail and did find the cause ... a drain plug with a lead streak on a wrench flat that could have only gotten there with a course change of greater than 90 degrees and a dead minimum of 800 yards.
this does not account at all for the high probability that it played pingpong through the brush prior to entering the auto mechanics field.
 
Handgun: Mule deer, about 80 yards uphill in a stand of aspen trees, S&W 586 .357 6", 2-handed hold resting against a tree, entry wound on left side behind and below the shoulder, through the left lung and heart. Deer slid downhill on the snow and stopped about 20 feet from me, which saved some dragging.

Shotgun: Duck hunting over decoys, three birds flared out to land at about 20 yards, one shot with 12-gauge #4 shot, three birds down. Impressed the heck out of my buddies, surprised the heck out of me.

Rifle: Vietnam, 1970, about 250 yards at night with starlight scope (first generation night vision) and M14 rifle on sandbag rest, NVA sapper with a satchel charge crawling through the outer wire in the direction of our helicopter refueling bunker. Entry above the right collar bone, exit through the lower left ribcage. Not pretty, but a pretty good shot under the circumstances.
 
While dove hunting back in my teens, I fired at one on a crossing shot and killed it stone dead. It was not too high and was pretty much going at 90 degrees. I paced to it and it was something in excess of 60 paces; I was about 6'2" then, so a pace was right at a yard. This was with a 3 3/4 - 1/1/4 - 9 Winchester factory load.

In my mid-twenties, I had my old 6" Model 28 with me at a state public fishing area where I worked. I noticed a beaver on the shoreline nibbling on something at about 35 yards, so let fly at him with a Sierra 150 grain JHC on top of some amount of Unique powder, don't remember how much. He jumped in the lake, submerged and came up at about 60 yards out. He was obviously in distress since he was swimming and gasping for breath. Anyone who has ever seen one swimming knows how little target they present, just the upper half of their head. Anyway, I fired a shot that went slightly over, another that was slightly under. The third one hit with a SWACK and he stopped moving. After he floated to the shore where I could get to him, I found his head had a flimsy/crunchy sort of feeling which was not so good since I wanted to make another skull mount with him. That was out.

A few years later I shot a doe with my Ruger 77 .30-06 from a wooden ladder stand from 193 yards, which I measured with a surveying tape. When I fired, I thought it was a small deer that was much closer. After walking out to it I found it to be a big doe; turned around and looked back at the stand and it was quite small. I 'uz pleased with that one.


All of these were in my younger days when my vision was MUCH more acute than now. I had my eyes checked once along about the time I made the last shot; one eye was 20/13, the other 20/15. I miss having that sharp vision :(. I'm thinking about getting something done about it beyond the glasses routine.
 
Oh about fifteen years ago I decieded to take out and shoot a Remington 03A1, that was the short lived model in between the 03 and 03A3.It still had the 03 style sights out on the barrel, well I loaded up five rounds of some off shore surplus ammo and had at a target at one hundred yards. Went out to the target and it was less than one half inch and almost perfectly centered. Well that was the first and last time I ever fired that rifle, I wasent about to spoil that lucky group! It along with a few other 03's were later sold to help fund my first Harley.
 
Best shot I ever saw--We had hunted all morning and the geese wouldn't ever come down into shotgun range. A friend fired his .25 auto BUG at the lead goose in a V formation at 1K feet in pure desperation. Dropped him cold. BTW we were way, way out in the boonies.

Best shot I ever made was a bowling pin hung from a string at 20 yards. Couple of guys were shooting their compact Glockentickers at it and only hitting every once in a while. They invited me to try and with my Gold Cup I hit 7 of 7 without waiting for it to stop swinging. Being young and dumb, I couldn't help rubbing it in a little. I told them for a 6 pack of beer, I'd cut the string for them. First shot. That beer sure tasted good. I was underage at the time, too!:D
 
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I was 14 years old, hunting with my brother in law. A small whitetail buck was behind a tree about 100 yards away and my brother in law shot it with his 6mm Remington 600. As we approached the deer, it was laying down with its head up, looking around. We both pulled our hand guns out (he was carrying a Ruger 22 revolver, I had my Colt Woodsman). I asked him to let me shoot, and he told me I would never "hit it from here" (about 20 yards). I told him I wanted to try. I leveled my sites and slowly squeezed the trigger - click, no bang. I had forgotten to chamber a round! I racked the slide, aimed, and squeezed the trigger and the deer dropped instantly. We inspected the body and could find no trace of either shot for quite a while. I finally noticed drop of blood on the lower eyelid and a slit in the eye where my bullet had entered. When we processed the deer, we found that his 6mm had completely shattered the neck just above the shoulder. We couldn't figure out how he was holding his head up with the damage that was done.
 
Rugskipper said:
Best shot I ever saw--We had hunted all morning and the geese wouldn't ever come down into shotgun range. A friend fired his .25 auto BUG at the lead goose in a V formation at 1K feet in pure desperation. Dropped him cold. BTW we were way, way out in the boonies.
Click to expand...

I would have liked to have been there to see that happen. That would have dropped my jaw.

Not sure if throws count. It was 2 am when our neighbors dane bramaged Dobie was just a howlerin. It was a new moon so I couldn't see it, so I focused on it with my hearing. I picked up a piece of paving stone that was a good 8 ozs. and determined that I had about a 60 yard throw. I let it fly and heard it hit nothing but meat. The dog screamed with that hurt dog squell and took off to the far side of his property.

Playing golf one day with some buddies and we were waiting to tee off. There was a 6' gator sunning himself on the far side of a lateral hazzard about 65-70 yards away. I told my buddies that I bet them that I could throw a golfball and come within 5' of the gator. They took the bet. Lunch and two beers at the 19th hole. I wound up and hit the gator on the fly right between his running lights. He jumped up about a foot in the air, landed and just stayed there, I'm sure wondering what the heck just happened.
 
When I first became a handgun owner, my brother-in-law and I decided to join the Syracuse Pistol Club. We sent in our applications and received notification that we would need to be checked out by the range officer on safety, gun handling, range rules, etc. before being allowed to use club facilities unsupervised.

We made an appointment to meet with the gentleman at the club. At the time, I owned two handguns...a 4" Ruger GP-100 and a Jennings J-22 semi-auto.

I planned on using the Ruger for "qualifying", but only had magnum ammo for that gun with me. Range rules disallowed all magnum ammo. Therefore, I had to demonstrate my competency using the Jennings, which the range officer promptly discounted as a "piece of junk"...saying that I'd be lucky to even get any shots on paper.

Well, not only did all six rounds in the magazine from the Jennings "get on paper" at 25 yards...one was a dead-on bullseye and one was just outside the black!

I realize there was some luck involved there, but I was pretty damn proud....turns out most of the club activity centered around bullseye shooting with .22 rimfires. As I said, no magnum cartridges were allowed...for me, this was a drawback...I liked shooting .357's in my GP-100. I let my membership lapse after the first year and never went back. The club I belong to now lets you shoot any type of ammo...handgun or rifle.
 
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