Fun Gun Stories

[Sailor Steve]

In the "Define an Assault Weapon" thread the subject of differing designations for different types of guns came up, including pistols. I mentioned that I had shot a single-action carbine, and could tell stories. August asked for some, so I decided to start a separate thread.

Among his many other guns, my late friend Rocky owned an Umberti bolt-for-bolt replica of an 1873 Remington revolving carbine.



This was one of my favorites to shoot, along with the civil war .58 caliber rifled musket. The first time I held this gun, in Rocky's living room, I held it as one would hold any rifle, with my left hand on the barrel. Rocky immediately and forcefully said "NO! Never hold one of these that way! Black powder revolvers occasionally chain-fire, and Remingtons were notorious for it. Since this is an exact replica, it has the same problem. Do that when you shoot it, and we'll have to call you 'Three-Fingered Pierre." When I asked him how I should hold it, Rocky said "See the hook under the trigger guard? You put your left hand on top of your right hand, and your left index finger grabs that little hook."

When we took it to the range I had a blast. Literally. The gun never chain-fired on me, but holding it that way, with the stock cradled against my shoulder, I quickly discovered that the blow-back from the black powder stung my face every single time. I wondered how they shot them from horseback, which is what carbines are for. I tried facing sideways to the target, with the gun held in one hand, extended as one would with a pistol of the era. I found that it was not only easy to hold that way, but fairly accurate as well. After that it was a hoot to shoot.

Side Note 1: I saw the first spaghetti western, A Fistful Of Dollars, back in 1968, and didn't see it again for many years. In the 1990s I was watching it with Rocky, and there is a scene in which one of the bad guys shoots one from a window, holding it rifle-style. When I said "NO! Not like that!" Rocky just laughed.

Side Note 2- Regarding chain-fire: One day Rocky and I were at the range with a younger friend, and he was trying out one of Rocky's replica black-powder .44 pistols. He fired all six shots, one at a time, and waited for the gun to cool. He then reloaded it as Rocky instructed, and aimed at the target again. When he pulled the trigger there was a very loud bang and his arm made a funny wobbly motion, waving the gun around in the air very quickly. Then he dropped the pistol in the dirt and grabbed his wrist, not exactly moaning in pain, but saying "OW!" a few times.

It turned out that the cylinder under the hammer had fired, but so had two others. One of the balls had hit the pin that holds the gun together, and Rocky had to soak the gun in water and dig the other three bullets out with a corkscrew designed for that purpose, then use a hammer and chisel to remove the pin. Then he had to make a trip to the gun store to order a new pin before the gun was again serviceable.




Please feel free to share your own stories, but please no "I heard about a guy who..." or "I killed thirteen guys in xxx war." Just good personal tales about adventures (and misadventures) with guns. Gun stories, not war stories. If they happen to have happened in military service, fine. Just make them interesting.

[nikimcbee]

Hanomag's gun collection at the subsim meet.

[soopaman2]

I will share my embarrasing first experience with firearms.

I went to Alabama (note my location) to visit my uncle.

Upon trying to get me a valid hunting liscense I was one year under in age.

My uncle took me out anyways.

First thing I did was try to shoot a bird off a power line, which made my uncle crap bricks.

We stalked across this land, that had these white things that popped when you stepped on them, I did end up bagging a squirrel, which my uncle made me eat, against all protests. He helped me, it tasted pretty good honestly.

Then we went to his property, where we shot beer bottles with a shotgun.

I was maybe 11-12, and kinda small. I could not hit jack with this thing. It tossed me around honestly.

So I channel my movie experience, and put this thing near my face. Not knowing the guys in movies, have strength and experience, two things I was lacking, being a skinny yankee.

I fire, the bottle splatters, and my right eye lights up in pain.

Great shot! My uncle howls. I howl in pain, as I was given the biggest shiner ever.

At least I hit the bottle! I was simply wounded and embarrassed, the bottle met its end on top of a burned out shell of a Volkswagen Bug.

Soop 1, bottle 0

OK so make fun of me now

[Sailor Steve]

Originally Posted by nikimcbee

Hanomag's gun collection at the subsim meet.

Tell the story!

[Sailor Steve]

Originally Posted by soopaman2

I will share my embarrasing first experience with firearms.
.
.
.
OK so make fun of me now

Why would I do that? That's a great story!

Reminds me of when my dad and I went back to Dallas when I was ten. We went rabbit hunting with a couple of my uncles. We did a little target shooting with a pistol. My dad put it in my hands and cocked it. I immediately pulled the trigger while he was still holding it, and according to him I nearly shot his thumb off! I have a picture somewhere of dad helping me hold that pistol.

My uncles did bag some rabbits with a shotgun, but one rabbit jumped out of a bush nearby and startled uncle Richard (the only one younger than dad). Richard shot from the hip, and the poor rabbit was so shredded that there was nothing left to cook!

[nikimcbee]

Originally Posted by Sailor Steve

Tell the story!

I'll save my self the 3k word post:




Chad, Undersealancecpl, Hanomag, Neal?



OMG, they killed Dowly.

[Oberon]

Just looking at that picture and I can hear in the back of my mind the chimes of 'La resa dei conti', but of course that was a Van Cleefs weapon of choice was a Buntline with rifle stock fitted.

Not much in the way of stories I can relate, except for one passed down to me from my mother. Her and my father used to belong to a gun club back in the day, she'd fire Colt .45s just fine but one day for a laugh they gave her a Magnum, a particularly heavy one, and naturally (to their amusement) the first couple of shots made a nice furrow in the floor. So then she adjusted her stance and nailed the bullseye. Their mouths hit the floor.
Moral of the story, don't mess with my mother, she is pretty handy with throwing knives too!

[Cybermat47]

Originally Posted by Sailor Steve

.

Wow, that's a strange gun! Looks like it's awkward to shoot!

[CCIP]

I don't really have a lot of stories, mostly because my gun experience is really limited - and it is one of those things that really needs experience. I can only safely say that I got pretty good with one weapon so far - a Ruger .22 revolver that my friend owns. I've probably fed a couple thousand rounds through that one by now, and it's the only weapon with which I can actually hit small things pretty decently. I shot a few .22 weapons, including some really fast semi-automatics, but that revolver one is by far my favourite. Unlike some people, I also very quickly developed a healthy respect for that caliber. You do not mess around with it, however small the rounds look.

All of my experiences at ranges in the US have been very good. Always met good folks, and I really had a good start on guns with serious, safety-minded people.

The most fun I've had is probably with the Mosin-Nagant rifle. That thing kicks! When you get the hang of it though, it's a very, very serious, accurate, and mean weapon. If I lived in the US, that would probably be the 2nd weapon I'd own (after a good .22 pistol for regular practice). Visiting gun stores with my friends, I'd always drift into their Mosin selections and look for pre-war manufacture rifles, though I'm frankly really impressed with how even wartime production Mosins are really solidly built. I once found this really, really nice one that was built in '28, had the hex barrel and a nice finish and everything. Really wished that I was legally allowed to buy a gun that day

When I have my own place (i.e. not renting in a city), I'll probably get myself licensed and get a rifle here. It's really not that difficult and I would not mind the practice one bit - I'd really consider it a useful skill for hunting more than anything. Something that, you never know, might come in handy one day.

Here's me shooting my friend's Mosin (somewhat awkwardly) up in the hills in TN

(and yes, those shots did mostly hit my target, and I got a haircut shortly afterwards).

[Sailor Steve]

Originally Posted by nikimcbee

Chad, Undersealancecpl, Hanomag, Neal?

And Renee, Rebel's wife, and Kyle, Chad's dad.

[Sailor Steve]

@ Oberon: That's a great story. My mom was something like that too.

Originally Posted by Cybermat47

Wow, that's a strange gun! Looks like it's awkward to shoot!

Not at all. If you hold it as I was told to it is, plus the black powder blowback problem, but if you hold it extended as I described, the stock fits comfortably right at the crook of your elbow, and it's really quite fun.

@ CCIP: Nice video! I once got off five shots in five seconds with my Springfield, much to the annoyance of several others at the range, who were sighting in their scopes for hunting, and mostly firing one shot every minute or so.

Oh, and my Springfield is useless these days. I lived for awhile in a part of town where things get stolen fairly easily. I hid the bolt where no one would ever find it, and it worked. I haven't seen it since.

[CaptainMattJ.]

The first experience i remember (i went shooting before this but i don't remember much at all) was with my dad and my two uncles. My uncle owned a private airfield that he rented to the air force for drone flights, but since they stopped he ended up taking us out onto it for some shooting.

I first fired a good old .22, then a mini-m14, then a semi-auto AK-47, lastly a .44.

The .22 was very easy and accurate to shoot, loved it.

The AK, even with ear protection made my ears ring. very loud. Had my uncle not told me to back my face up off the stock a bit (he had a red dot attached to the railing) the recoil might've given me a black eye.

The Mini-m14 was my favorite. took out some suspicious Dr pepper cans with ease

But then i had the .44. I had watched my Dad fire, then my uncles, and then it came to me. I held it rather loosely and took a shot. practically hit me in the face the recoil was so intense, The next time i fired i tensed up so much that i ended up firing into the dirt. Firing 3 very powerful weapons pretty much the first time you go shooting is a helluva beginners lesson.

[Stealhead]

Many people have a too loose of grip story with a higher powered handgun.

The best one for me would the first time I ever fired a .45 M1911(it was a WWI Remington that had been refirbed at some point) I was around 10 at the time and I fired .22 cal rifles and .20 gauge shotguns before but never something with real power so I was a little concerned about the recoil.My dad told to do the same thing as with a .22 pistol and just make sure that I let my hands relax.

So I did only a little to much and the 1911 kept coming back and finally stopped when the gun was nearly at a 90 degree angle to my forehead the hammer actually hit my forehead.For a second I thought that it knocked the crap out of me until I realized that it had just stopped its motion when the hammer touched my fore head.MY dad just laughed at me and said "I did not mean that relaxed of grip".After that I kept shooting just a with a less supple grip.

Another somewhat funny experience I had was on a military range.We where doing our qualifying and they made us fire from a standing then a propped standing(like resting your hand a the barrel on an object like a vehicle) knelling and then prone.Anyway prone was last and as I start firing I feel a wasp or something sting me but i keep shooting because I will run out of time if I stop.Few seconds later I feel another sting and then a another.I'm thinking what are the odds of a bunch of wasps stinging a person shooting a rifle in the prone position?

Finally I see a 5.56mm casing land near my face and realize that the next shooter to left their casings where landing right in the same spot I am laying and some several of them are going right down my shirt and the wasps where actually the hot brass burning my skin.

They collect the brass at the end of your range time and have you check your clothes for any that winds up there.I had at least a dozen 5.56mm cases in the bottom of my shirt.Even with all that distraction I scored marksman 1 miss out or 40 and it was the 500m away target I hit it 9 times and missed it once.The shooter next to me just did well enough to qualify.

@ CCCIP your friend had a pretty good Mosin and good ammo with lousy ammo the Mosins will heat up and the bolt will get very sticky the same thing can happen if it a lousy Mosin only 10 fold.You can buy Mosins for a little over a $100.00 in the US and if you know what to look for find a good one most gun shops have crates full of them M44s and 91/30s and M38s are a bit more rare.That one you had their looks like a standard 91/30 you must be fairly tall then.

I only have a couple that meet the requirements stated.


I was hit twice with a .22 bullet in my life.


The first time it happened a friend and I were building Zip Guns in the garage.
We were only building them for something to do and mostly to prove to ourselves we could.


As I was doing some messing about with my Loaded version?
It went off fireing a round through my left palm near the thumb!


It only caused a small entrance and exit wound roughly an inch apart and hit nothing important.
Still have the scars.

The second time was again in the garage.
My Uncle had bought a .22 pistol. Maybe a Ruger?
My Dad fired it at a wooden block.
Now behind that block was an old shovel. The kind from the days when metal shovels were intended to last forever and a day.

That round took a new flight path that happened to align exactly with my mid section just above the belt line!
Thankfully the velocity was greatly reduced and bounced off of me!
(Ya, I'm bullet proof! )
It made it to the storage platforms above our heads and I carried that round for years as a good luck piece.

[Stealhead]

I hope you learned to check that a firearm is clear before doing anything with it unless of course the planned action is to fire said firearm.