I just remembered that the absolute best BS IÂ’ve ever heard was from my hunters safety instructor. By the end of the day I was ready to scream. When it came to firearms this guy had a very limited knowledge.
The first mistake;
Instructor: “ you can’t interchange different ammo in rifles even if they have the same name. For example there are 3 different .303 caliber cartridges, .303 British, .303 Lee-Enfield, and .303 Springfield. They are different and cannot be substituted for each other. The .303 British is an English hunting round. The .303 Lee-Enfield is for the Lee-Enfield military rifle, and the .303 Springfield is for the US Springfield military rifle”
It was driving me nuts but I didnÂ’t say anything. He was probably thinking of .303 British and .303 Savage. I let it go, hey everyone can make a slip up.
The second mistake;
He was explaining cartridge names and headstamps. On the black board he wrote the following;
.300 Win. Mag.
.30-06 Springfield
.30-30 Winchester
He proceeded to ask if anyone knew what these meant. I was the only one who raised their hand. ( The rest of the class was mostly kids, I was one of only 3 students over the age of 18 )
Me; “the first one is a .300 Winchester Magnum”
Instructor; “Correct. What does the .300 mean”
Me; “ it means the diameter between the lands of the rifling is 300 thousandths of an inch, but the bullet diameter is actually .308, which is the diameter of the grooves.”
Instructor; “ umm… Yes, but your getting to technical, you ‘ll confuse the rest of class”
Bullflop, I think youÂ’re the one getting confused
My explanation of the ’06 was correct but it was when we moved on to the “thutty thutty “ that I almost flipped.
Me; “ .30-30 stands for a .30 caliber bullet over 30 grains of blackpowder”
Instructor; “ nope. It means it’s a .30 caliber cartridge introduced in 1830, just like the .30-06 is a .30 caliber introduced in 1906”
:shock: :shock: :shock:
How did you get this job?! I didnÂ’t know whether to laugh or shake my head in disbelief. It probably wonÂ’t matter to most of those kids anyways, but if your going to give this little history lesson at least get you facts straight! In 1830 the percussion cap was new technology. And what about the .45-110 Sharps was it introduced in 18110? He kept insisting he was right so I shut up after a couple of minutes, but it still irritates me to this day