A few gun stories

This topic is proof positive that you can have a political discussion without it going postal in the wrong direction after 4 pages. Keep up the good work!

Frank Mopar said:

If you cock a revolver the first thing it does is rotate the cylinder so the empty chamber has now moved. Same thing with a double action.

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True. But the original statement was the empty chamber is the first to fire. Wrong. The first to fire is the chamber next to the empty. And when the cylinder comes around to that empty chamber what happens? The gun can't fire an empty chamber.
So the empty is the first to not fire.

Slap Stick said:

True. But the original statement was the empty chamber is the first to fire. Wrong. The first to fire is the chamber next to the empty. And when the cylinder comes around to that empty chamber what happens? The gun can't fire an empty chamber.
So the empty is the first to not fire.

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Thats is correct.

I use to run/manage Target Masters
(upscale indoor pistol range/club, semi private originally)
in Milpitas Ca. & the Hollywood location temporally
until it got on it's feet, running well
I helped to build both of them too,
I stayed over to get them up & running
worked night/manager at the Milpitas location for a couple years
I was also a federally certified Rangemaster & Instructor
Qualified LEO's & Agents
a family member was the org. CFO/CEO
it's under new ownership,
IIRC it's changed hands a few times now

it was in the 80's when I was living in San Jose area

Few years back, an older guy was getting an estimate for concrete from my older brother. When he saw my brothers last name he asked if he was related to Scott. My brother thought oh **** what did he do? The guy told thi he had some things that belonged to Scott, they went into the guys house and he disappeared then came back with a small box the was full of the shooting medals that I had earned but never received. He told my brother that I was the youngest to ever earn expert marksman first class. He had some of my targets that I had turned in but they had been folded and came apart in pieces. I was 13. We shot military.22 bolt action single shot with target barrels.
Every other Monday 6:30-9:00 in the basement of the library. I would love to have one of those rifles.

My handguns exist in one of two places - on my hip, or in my safe. Period. When I go to bed, it comes off my hip and goes in the safe - I refuse to leave an unattended handgun ANYWHERE, for someone to pick up and handle. And yes, they are loaded all the time. Same with Michelle's.

I have a short barrel 12ga pump by the bed if needed. "Cruiser ready" since it's not drop-safe, but it can be racked as its picked up so no critical time loss there (in addition the the deterrent effect the sound of racking a pump shotgun has on an invader).

Not having one in the pipe...might as well not have a gun. If you need a gun - and I mean NEED IT - spending that half second to chamber a round by using your other hand to rack a slide, and THEN acquiring your target, could be the difference between life and death. Most gun exchanges last 2.8 seconds. Total. How much of that time do you want to spend LOADING your gun, when someone is shooting at you? Draw, sight, SHOOT.

Guns - especially modern polymers - are designed to be carried "cocked and locked". I carry either an XD-S or a Hellcat, depending on clothing, activity, etc. Both striker fire with pin / sear blocks, both have safety blade triggers, and the XD-S has a grip safety as well (like a 1911). I can throw either one across a room into a cinderblock wall, and neither will fire. I can then pick it up off the floor, get a sight picture, and shoot my target by simply holding it correctly and pulling the trigger.

If you like to "have" guns, and occasionally target shoot, cool. Keep em empty, locked up most of the time, take them out to plink at targets. Have fun and be safe. (Remember, ADs don't exist - everything is a ND). But if you carry for defense...in public...you better think about what you're doing, and what could happen...and be ready. Split seconds matter.

And know your target. The only "oops" I've had with a gun (and I've been shooting since I was 9) was sighting in my .223 at 100yds. Was out of paper targets so I sighted on my 6", 1/4" steel pistol plate (I have an earthen berm backstop, backfill behind a 2x4 wall).



Sights are dead-on...but that poor plate didn't have what it took for the .223!

Triplegreen500 said:

My handguns exist in one of two places - on my hip, or in my safe. Period. When I go to bed, it comes off my hip and goes in the safe - I refuse to leave an unattended handgun ANYWHERE, for someone to pick up and handle. And yes, they are loaded all the time. Same with Michelle's.

I have a short barrel 12ga pump by the bed if needed. "Cruiser ready" since it's not drop-safe, but it can be racked as its picked up so no critical time loss there (in addition the the deterrent effect the sound of racking a pump shotgun has on an invader).

Not having one in the pipe...might as well not have a gun. If you need a gun - and I mean NEED IT - spending that half second to chamber a round by using your other hand to rack a slide, and THEN acquiring your target, could be the difference between life and death. Most gun exchanges last 2.8 seconds. Total. How much of that time do you want to spend LOADING your gun, when someone is shooting at you? Draw, sight, SHOOT.

Guns - especially modern polymers - are designed to be carried "cocked and locked". I carry either an XD-S or a Hellcat, depending on clothing, activity, etc. Both striker fire with pin / sear blocks, both have safety blade triggers, and the XD-S has a grip safety as well (like a 1911). I can throw either one across a room into a cinderblock wall, and neither will fire. I can then pick it up off the floor, get a sight picture, and shoot my target by simply holding it correctly and pulling the trigger.

If you like to "have" guns, and occasionally target shoot, cool. Keep em empty, locked up most of the time, take them out to plink at targets. Have fun and be safe. (Remember, ADs don't exist - everything is a ND). But if you carry for defense...in public...you better think about what you're doing, and what could happen...and be ready. Split seconds matter.

And know your target. The only "oops" I've had with a gun (and I've been shooting since I was 9) was sighting in my .223 at 100yds. Was out of paper targets so I sighted on my 6", 1/4" steel pistol plate (I have an earthen berm backstop, backfill behind a 2x4 wall).

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Sights are dead-on...but that poor plate didn't have what it took for the .223!

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An intruder will do one of two things when they hear a shot gun being racked.....run or start spraying. My side arm stays ready but it doesn't go into the safe. There's no one here except for the wife and me and whenever I know company is coming over, I'll either put it on or lock the door to the room. Usually just put it on my side.

Another entertaining thread.

My story was when my brother and I were probably 8 & 9 years old and we were visiting Grandma at her house. The older kid across the street came over to show us the .38 pistol he had swiped from his dad. My brother and I remembered that we had found a box of bullets in the drawer of an old desk in the basement, so we went down and snagged the box of .22 lr rimfire cartridges. We went to the field at the end of the street, built a hay fort from the hay bales, and proceeded to 'fit' the rounds into the centerfire pistol. Well, every once in a while, we'd get one to go off. My parents up the street heard the gunfire and realized they hadn't seen us for a while. All I remember was my dad's big mitts coming around the edge of our fort, lifting both of us in the air, and marching us up the street with our feet dangling in the air. When he got us back to Grandma's, he took us down into the basement room where we found the bullets, which was a dark, dingy room with an old oil furnace and a deer head mounted over the fireplace that creeped us out. He told us to wait there for our spanking because he was so upset that if he spanked us now, he would kill us. We sat there for an agonizing 45 minutes before he came back down and administered what was probably the most mild spanking I ever got, but the impact of the wait and fear of his wrath has stayed with us both for a lifetime.

I also believe there are no accidents, only negligence, but I have had one UD (unintentional discharge). I have a habit of occasionally testing my safeties on my hunting rifles and carry pistols if I am alone. I engage the safety, point the weapon at the ground and squeeze the trigger. If I am going to rely on that safety for safety, I want to know it's working properly. One morning before light, I rode my quad to my intended hunting spot in a major snowstorm and freezing temps. I pulled my .300 Win Mag from the scabbard, loaded it, thought I engaged the safety, pointed it at the ground, pulled the trigger and it discharged. The safety had frozen and would not move. I unloaded the rifle, put back in the scabbard, and made the long ride back to camp to thaw it out.

Regarding loaded weapons in the safe, I have 4 carry weapons that I keep loaded at all times, and available at various locations in the house when not on my person. When I leave overnight or have company over, I gather them up and place them in the safe fully loaded. My other 'range' weapons and all long guns are never loaded in the safe. Only I know which is which, and only I get into the safe. No kids here, and my wife knows where they are kept, and that they are at ready status. In 38 years, she has not handled any of them.

Was squirrel hunting with my cousin I was 11 he was 15. There's a squirrel running on a branch and I'm ready to pull the trigger and a big fat head appears in my sites. The dumb azz stepped in front of me. I can still remember how close I was to shooting him in the back of his head.

Fran Blacker said:

Was squirrel hunting with my cousin I was 11 he was 15. There's a squirrel running on a branch and I'm ready to pull the trigger and a big fat head appears in my sites. The dumb azz stepped in front of me. I can still remember how close I was to shooting him in the back of his head.

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A buddy at work got a shot gun blast to the back of his head for something very similar. 3 guys in a duck blind (2 adults and a young son in the middle), and once the duck made it into his zone, he stood up to take a shot. His son was still leading the duck and took the shot just as his dad stood up. Closed casket service.....

Cranky said:

A buddy at work got a shot gun blast to the back of his head for something very similar. 3 guys in a duck blind (2 adults and a young son in the middle), and once the duck made it into his zone, he stood up to take a shot. His son was still leading the duck and took the shot just as his dad stood up. Closed casket service.....

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Closed casket indeed!
Nearly forty years ago my wife was very early in her career. Like weeks into it. She is on call and gets called out in the middle of the night. In those pre digital phone days they wouldn’t give much info over a phone in case someone with a scanner was listening in, and this is a small town where everyone knows each other.
She shows up at the hospital, gets her kit together, and goes to take blood. She looks up to find that the guy has no face. He had placed a 12 gauge under his chin and pulled the trigger. It blew his entire face off; both eyes, nose, much of his mouth. But he survived and they “saved him”. Forty years later I now work in the assisted living facility that he lives in. He is still missing most of his face and a handler has to escort him everywhere. I would be willing to bet that he regrets his decision, and he probably isn’t too happy that they saved him, either.
Another friend had to remove shotgun pellets from a deceased’s skull and count or weigh them to determine if it was one shot, (suicide) or two shots.(murder)
Another of wife’s cases involved a male teen who just got dumped by his girlfriend. He places a shotgun against his belly and fires, intending to “show her”, but not kill himself. It doesn’t work that way when you wipe your liver and other important organs out. She was with him as he died, regretting his decision. You don’t shake those memories easily, and I am in awe of the strength that she and now my daughter possess. I’m not that strong.

A buddy of mine e and myself were returning from the local shooting range. I was diving, it was my 2010 dodge challenger with all of the weapons in the trunk because it's big enough to hold them.
Wouldn't you know it. A big *** buck runs right out in front of me. I'm on the brakes and steering away from him but he still caught the left front corner. Now he is on the road stunned and probably hurt. I'm pissed because he damaged my car. My next move was to open the trunk,I grabbed my 45-70 and proceeded to load two rounds with a 405gr bullet. I racked my lever and the deer must have realized this is it. He got up and ran like crazy.
I'm not shooting now as he is moving and I might miss.
Over 2k damage and no venison

SlingLow said:

sat there for an agonizing 45 minutes before he came back down and administered what was probably the most mild spanking I ever got

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My dad was always calm and cool, wasn’t a hitter, except there were the rare discovered limits. There was one occasion when he did smack my elder brother, sounded like the sound effects on a TV show. Took a lot to get him riled. One time he came within an inch of smacking me, but luckily, I backed down in time. On the other hand, our mother could have a short fuse; she took the wooden spoon to my *** or the slap across the face. A comical note. My dad lectured our mom not to hit us in anger. Her reply was “What am I going to do, hit ‘em when I’m happy”? Her force never was heavy, just enough to make her point memorable for about an hour, lol.

There were a few occasions when we preferred to just take the smack and get it over with because our dad would insist on a full explanation of ‘what we were thinking’. He didn’t accept “I don’t know” as an answer. His gist was if being old enough to do something stupid, also knowing enough not to do it.

1964 my father’s friend won a Winchester model 100 308 with a scope. He had a new 1964 Impala. A few of them would go North to a jointly owned hunting cabin. Henry the 100 owner had to go back for a couple of days to pay taxes. Took an extra day to get back. Never said too much. Couple of weeks after the season was over, someone mentioned to one of the hunting buddies, that they had seen Henry’s Impala at a nearby town’s body shop.
Story finally came out that on his way to pay taxes, he saw a nice buck in a field on the passenger side. Stopped, got down hill shot. Rested on the roof and promptly took out the rear side window and back window. None of these old timers had scoped rifles, in the woodlands were hardly a shot over 250 yards was taken.
My 358 model 88 is an excellent bush rifle. Given to me whe I was 16. Antelope and Mule deer will be the 88 243 or.308.

440 4 speed said:

1-64 my father’s friend won a Winchester model 100 308 with a scope. He had a new 1964 Impala. A few of them would go North to a jointly owned hunting cabin. Henry the 100 owner had to go back for a couple of days to pay taxes. Was an. Extra day to get back. Never said too much. Couple of weeks after the season was over, someone mentioned to one of the hunting buddies, that they had seen Henry’s Impala at a nearby town’s body shop.
Story finally came out that on his way to pay taxes, he saw a nice buck in a field on the passenger side. Stopped, got down hill shot. Rested on the roof and promptly took out the rear side window and back window. None of these old timers had scoped rifles, why in the woodlands were hardly a shot over 250 yards was taken.
My 358 model 88 is an excellent bush rifle. Given to me whe I was 16. Antelope and Mule deer will be the 88 243 or.308.

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Agreed! The .358 is a non-magnum necked up .308 that shoots a bullet up to 250 grains. At that weight, and usually not scoped, 250 yds is a crapshoot at best, but under 100 yds it'll bust through a lot of stuff.

I also like the .243 as an effective, flat shooting deer rifle based on a necked-down .308 that can be loaded to over 3,000 fps.