Top this one for 'unusual'

[Victor3]

 Or maybe just 'unlikely' 

 One night when I was a kid (I think I was about 8 - 10 years old) my Dad and I were sitting on the tailgate of the pickup about getting ready for bed on a weekend camping trip way out in the sticks.

 It was dead still. I had my trusty Daisy BB gun and was shooting out into the dark at bushes some ways away, listening for the BB's to hit. My Dad decided to do an experiment; shoot up and count the seconds until we heard the BB hit the ground.

 As Dad held a flashlight on his watch and said "fire", we sat quietly and watched the second hand until impact. We did this for several shots until I got a little careless with the angle I was holding the gun at. We were looking at Dad's watch when the BB came down and cracked the crystal on it.

 Pops was usually one to get pissed when I did something dumb, but this time he just laughed and said "I bet you can't do THAT again!"

[JPSaxMan]

That's a funny story. My old man prolly woulda been stewin' too if I had done something like that.

[Land_Owner]

"Rabbit hunting" (basically scaring them into running away as we never hit any) as a kid of 11 or 12 with a long bow, one of my neighbors shot an arrow up that landed 20 +/- yards away sticking up out of the dirt.  I announced for everyone to stand back and watch as I was going to attempt to split that arrow with mine and proceeded to do it.  I unstrung my bow and went home.  I wasn't repeating that attempt for anyone at any time.

I have had this "one shot" anomaly in me at other times too when two business Associates and I stopped by a local waterway.  A large alligator was swimming down a canal approximately 80 yards away.  I picked up a smooth river rock, looked at my Associates who were pulling out dollar bills as bets that I could not hit the gator, and chucked one long, straight and true hitting the gator squarely in the back.  With a mighty rush of swirling water that gator exploded in mid stream.  When the laughter subsided, they were pressing their dollar bills in my hand and I was refusing since it was a one in a million shot and I could not pull that off again in a lifetime of trying.

[Ray Ford]

Reminds me of something that I pulled yesterday:  As I was leaving the gun range of the club to which I belong, two guys pulled up to the gate.  I positioned my truck next to their vehicle and, through the window, asked them if they had heard about the new range rule.  They said no.  I replied, to cut down on replacements, "you're only allowed to put one hole in a back board per trip to the range: all your other shots have to go through the same hole as the first shot."  For some reason, both almost "split a gut" laughing.

[Land_Owner]

Some days all you need is a "straight guy" and Divine inspiration to say just the right thing at the just right time.  Good one.

[Glanceblamm]

Ray Ford,

That is funny but sobering as well. At my private range I am always glad to get a load dialed in for the plates or spinning targets as the .44 & .45's are incredibly destructive on most other target media and in
Short order also.

[Trav]

I am not sure what you are talking about with the range story...you mean to tell me that you guys don't always just shoot all of your shots through the same hole

Last fall I was shooting my bow out back.  My son had one of his friends over, and had been bragging to him how great of a shot his dad was.  They walked over to watch me shoot.  I pulled back and sent an arrow dead center in the  bullseye.  My son's friend said "that was cool...can you do it again?"  I pulled back and released my second arrow and split the arrow in the bullseye.  My son did a great job of acting like this happens all the time (he was 10).  I just made a comment about hating it when I ruin a perfectly good arrow like that.  The friend still brings that up all the time.

[hillbill]

cant top the arrow splitting thing but i did kill a coyote at 300 yrds with a model 7 in 243 rested on a fence post, my dad said "oh BS" we walked over and he was dead as a doornail laying in the tall weeds.i just put the gun up and acted like i did it all the time lol. always quit while yu ahead

[GRIMJIM]

I had a guy at work that bought one of those soft air pistols. I'm the resident gun nut so he asked me to show him how to load it. I played with this thing for half an hour. I set up a water bottle cap about 15 feet away and after I figured out how to load it I shot at the cap. I could actually see the plastic bb's curving in all different directions. He came out of his office and I showed him how to load it and I aimed at the cap and popped it right off the perch where I had it set. He was totally impressed with my shooting prowess and I wasn't going to let him know any different.

[Echo4Lima]

When I was a kid we made bows out of Alder branches and shot my Grandpa's old Cedar arrows out of them.  One day I layed on the back walkway, held the bow on my feet and drew it. Let an arrow go straight up, had to roll over as it came down right where I was laying...DUMB!!

[huntswithdogs]

We were having a slow day in the shop one day, and decided to break out the wrist rocket. We sat a few cans on top of the wall, at about 10yds, and proceeded to trade off taking shots with gravels from the lot. Those gravels would fly every which way but straight! We'd been flinging rocks for about 30 minutes,with out touching a can, all the while picking at each other, when a rabbit came hopping from the weed line above the wall. The feller that was wielding the mighty rocket said, "Hey, ya''ll watch this!".... Honest, no beer was involved!!! Never in this world would any of the 5 of us standing there ever have thought that he'd come anywhere near that rabbit. He pulled back and let fly, whacking that rabbit right in the punkin! As I was the only one who knew much about rabbits and how to fix em, I had BBQd rabbit and taters that night.

[SharonAnne]

I was shooting my Aimpoint sighted 1911/45acp at bowling pins at 200yds. A man wandered over from the 100 yd range and asked what I was doing. I replied 'shooting bowling pins'. He gave me a scornful reply. I told him to put on his ear muffs and let fly with my 45. The pin promptly fell over. He went back to the 100 yd range, muttering to himself. When he got to the 100 yd line I could see him talking to other guys and gesturing towards me.  He had not noticed the 4 empty magazines at my feet. It took me that many rounds to get the range on the pins.

Another time,again on the 200 yd range, a buddy was shooting his .30-06 BAR at a 6" steel plate, off the bench. Another guy had a Spanish mauser converted to .308. He had a home made muzzle brake on it and asked me to try it. It had a military peep sight, actually 2 holes one over the other. I asked which one to use, took a good offhand stance, aimed at the plate and fired. I was rewarded with a resounding 'clank'. I opened the bolt, handed the rifle back, said 'it works' and walked off, leaving them open mouthed.

[1911crazy]

My dad was begging me to take him shooting.  I set up soda cans at 25yds on a large sand pile at the pits.  I took out my colt python w/6" barrel in 357mag.  I hit a can and it went up the hill while it was rollin back down i hit it again and sent it back up the hill. I then repeated it 4 more times.  My dad turned and said holly crap you can shoot.  I said now teach me what?  I never did that adain in my life nor did i plan on doing it, it just happened that day.

I'm not a great shot nor am i that good, my older brother was the shooter of the family.

At the range one day while shooting there was some kids next to us with an AR15.  he was trying to hit a napkin at 100yds on the berm.  I took out my CZ85DB in 9mm luger and nailed it for the full mag evertime.(17rds)  The kid just looked at me.  I knew the 9mm pistol was 3' low at 100yds so i just aimed 3' higher its no biggie.

ShannonAnne;  We were riding dirtbikes the three of us me, my son and his tomboy girlfriend. We hammered her all summer so she was really as good as any of the boys/men were.  She blew by everyone in the trail that day and beat us all back to the trailer.  When she took off her helmet and they seen she was "girl" they were shocked and imbarrassed that theywere beaten by a girl.  This happened many times and i would go just to watch her beat everyone.  One day there were harley guys/gals there watching us.  She did a wheelie past them and stopped and took off her helmet and the gals went nuts that she was a she....  My point is that women get labeled and they can be an equal too and just as good as the men are. You should of seen her on a yamaha 600 fzr bike too.  This girl could hunt, fish, run chainsaws and shoot as good as any man could too.

[jedman]

This is my first time posting here but after reading Victor3's story it reminded me of a like happening on New Years Eve some 30 plus years ago. About 3 months prior to the said evening I sold my best friend a 303 British Enfeild rifle for a really low price, The thing I remember most about the rifle was when you pulled the bolt out and looked down the bore there were only 2 lands and grooves ? Well I was a young guy always playin with guns, but the 2 groove rifling really seemed odd to me.
Anyway on New Years Eve of that year I was at my mothers mobile home ( trailer ) with my girl friend, it was midnight, fireworks, gunshots,..... all of a sudden I heard a noise in the hallway and I turned on a light and there on the floor was a jacketed bullet !!
I picked it up and saw it had only 2 rifling marks on it and the bullet looked like a 303 Round Nose?
Right then I called the guy I sold the rifle to and asked , did you just shoot your 303 up in the air ?
He said ..Yea !! I said you stupid SOB you just put a bullet thru the roof of my mom's trailer !
He said,  No Way !!  So a couple days later I took the bullet over to his house and from the muzzle end of the barrel I was able to  fit the bullet to the bore of that rifle.  I know ther are probably a lot of other 2 groove 303's around  , maybe a few shot right at midnight in a few mile radius, but from my friends home to my moms trailer ..... it was 3 plus miles , the way the crow flys !!

[SharonAnne]

he did it. NO ONE should EVER shoot a gun in the air. You are responsible for what your bullet hits.

[Victor3]

 jedman,

 That's a cool story. Never know where they might come down (unless they fall into your living room, of course ).

 Fortunately, shooting straight up doesn't create a huge hazzard. Contrary to many an urban legend, a bullet going straight up and down from a rifle is no more dangerous than one dropped from an airplane. Wouldn't want to get hit by one, but it will only retain a small fraction of the energy it left the gun with...

[243dave]

Usually when someone fires into the air it is at a angle, not perfectly straight up and down. A bullet fired at a arc will remain stabile until it impacts the ground. It could very well have enough energy left(especially if its heavy and big bore) to be fatal. It will be much more dangerous than dropping a bullet from a airplane.  Dave

[kitchawan kid]

As kids I remember seting up an old saw horse on end,puting an inner tube on the leg and letting an arrow lose stright up in the air and standing there looking to see where it was going to land,if you ran you were chicken.Did I say we were not to smart at that age.

[jedman]

Here's another story that my wife and I bring up from time to time, and it's still funny.
Back again many years ago, me my wife now and her daughter went camping on a Island in Lake Erie, it's called South Bass Island also known as Put-in-Bay in Ohio.  We came across the lake in my 21' boat loaded with all our gear plus 3 bycycles to the campground that is also a state park.
After many trips from the boat to our campsite, about 1/4 mile away uphill I finally had our camp set up, all we needed now was some firewood. The 3 of us walked thru the campground looking for any kind of firewood , small sticks, anything ! Well there was nothing to be had, all of a sudden I see a big dead limb on a large tree about 20' up..... and I get this brilliant idea how to get it down.
So I run back down to the boat and get a coil of rope, tie something on the end and throw it over the dead limb and get it in my hand so I can tie a slip knot.  All the while there were other campers watching me do this , so I get 'er all snugged up and start pullin on it. This limb is about 5 to 6 inches in diameter  near the trunk of the tree and about 15 to 20 feet long, so I'm getting it to make some cracking noises but it ain't breaking off. Brilliant idea #2, so I look up at this limb and think if I can use my full weight I can snap that limb off and I got enough firewood for the night.
So I tie a foot loop in the rope about a foot off the ground and put my right foot in the loop and jump as high as I can and hold on to that rope then... SNAP !! Did you ever get one of those slow motion ( dumb ass ) feelings that you just did one of the stupidest things and you just watch it happen in slow motion ? Well I knew it was going to hit me so I guess I had enough time to turn my face away and,  SMACK that giant limb hits me right in the middle of my back and also the back of my neck and head.  It knocked me flatter than a pancake andFor a moment I was on cloud 9, Then the feeling of embarrasment and stupidity hit me and I got up, Two guys sitting on a picnic table about 30 yards away were rolling in laughter, my girlfriend was stunned thinking I was seriously hurt
I just grabbed that big ole limb and drug it back to our campsite as quickly as I could feeling the whole way like a complete idiot. I was bleeding from several places on the back and neck where it hit me but just could'nt admit that it hurt that bad.  Anyway the rest of the weekend went OK and I lived another day to laugh at myself.      Jedman

[bilmac]

When we were on a firebase in Viet Nam, the guys on guard duty were allowed to shoot 40mm blooper grenades intermitantly out into the bushes as harassment fire. Makes it unlikely that bad guys will attack when they never know when or where one of those babys is gonna go off.  So boys being boys they started shooting them at high angles up in the air, and soon it was, who could land one closest to the berm. Well you guessed it, someone landed one inside the berm right between a couple of guys. The closest was about 5 yards away. Nobody had a scratch. The bomb going off woke me up and when I went to see what was going on the guys were still standing around with real big eyes and oohing and aaahing.

I always knew the M79 was way overrated. There were 1/2 inch plywood shelters set up outside the wire that withstood this harassing fire for weeks at a time. You could see places where they had taken direct hits and were little damaged. It's just an American male thing to equate barrels with big holes with power.

[Victor3]

Here's another story that my wife and I bring up from time to time, and it's still funny.

 Sometimes they don't need help coming down.

 Last Spring my Wife, Son and I were camping at Lake Cachuma in CA. We got our favorite spot, canopied by huge oak trees next to a stream. We were setting up our tent just after dark and heard a BOOM like rifle shot, followed by a crash. I thought someone had driven through the guardrail and off the little bridge over the stream near our campsite. We found a ~30' long, 10" diameter limb had snapped off about 30 yards from us.

 We spent much of that weekend looking up at the trees over us...

[bilmac]

Responsible wilderness campground managers, certainly government campground managers, remove hazards like dead trees and limbs that campers never think about. That doesn't mean they couldn't miss something, and if you choose to camp somewhere besides an established campground you're on your own.

[Graybeard]

There is a reason why those old dead limbs high in trees are called "widow makers" ya know.

[Travis Morgan]

Responsible wilderness campground managers, certainly government campground managers, remove hazards like dead trees and limbs that campers never think about. That doesn't mean they couldn't miss something, and if you choose to camp somewhere besides an established campground you're on your own.

Folks, remember that when you're bitching about a $15 camping permit.

[a4beltfed2000]

We I was a kid and lived out in the middle of nowhere, a crow was circling our house cawing to the others, I threw my high standard .22 pistol up and fired a shot to scare him and he fell out of the sky! another time, I was shooting gophers out of the garden and a rabbit took off running probably 40 yards in front of me,while at a dead run, I pointed in his direction and fired and the damn thing fell over!

although once while shooting pop cans off a fence post with a .22 short in a small derringer, I shot at the can and felt a sharp pain in my chest, looked down and the .22 bullet hit the post and then not only bounced back at me but landed in my shirt pocket.  Needless to say I sold the .22 derringer.....