Guns: What's the best shot you ever made?

[MossRoad]

Since we were talking about .22s in the other thread, and shooting wires at 50', it got me thinking about a few shots I've taken over the years and the ones that stuck with me as the most memorable.

When I was a kid I lived by a lake. All the neighborhood kids would go fishing, swimming, stalk wildlife, etc... as often as possible. I was about 14 or so and a bunch of us guys were down by the lake. One of the kids had a new BB gun and was shooting cans, bottles and whatever else we could find and toss out in the lake to sink. I was fishing as usual and was catching bluegills. The kid with the BB gun would not let any of us shoot it. However, he was my best friend and I would let him use my fishing pole. He made a horrible cast and snagged an overhanging branch about 25-30 feet out from shore. The hook caught the branch about 2' over the water. Try as we might, we could not get it off. It was my last bobber and those days, bobbers were a big deal. I noticed that hanging on the line about 8" down from the branch was my sinker. A BB sized sinker. Hmmmm. I told my friend to shoot the sinker to snap the line off the hook. He looked at me like I was nuts. The other guys started razzing him to take the shot. Not wanting to put him on the spot, I asked him to let me try. No one ever got to shoot his BB gun, but in order to save face, he handed me the gun. I'd never shot it before, but had spent some time on the .22 range at Boy Scout camp that summer. So I got down on a log, took a long time sighting it in, squeezed off a shot and BAM hit that BB sinker with a BB at 25'! It jolted the hook off the log and I got all my tackle back. We reeled it in and there was a round dent in the sinker! I was the king of the block that day and will remember that shot forever! :thumbsup:

So, how about some memorable shots from you folks? Anything stick out in your mind? Anything from BB guns to trophy big game? Let's hear them.

 

[magicheater]

Two pigeons with one shot on top of a silo when I was a kid.

 

[firefighter9208]

I was about 10 when my dad bought me a Ruger 10/22 for Christmas. Made me follow notes all over the house to find it. I finally wound up under the foyer in the closet. It was hanging on the gun rack.

Soon after I added a Tasco 4x12 scope to the rifle. Man I loved to squirrel hunt with that thing.

My grandad took me squirrel hunting in the hollar below his pond. I was sitting up against a tree and a squirrel started playing on a limb in a big white oak. I steadied myself and squeezed off a round. The squirrel dropped and I got up to go get it.

My grandad was leaned up against a tree behind me and to my right. He said that I just kept walking and he thought I had forgotten where the squirrel fell or had missed it.

Finally I came to the squirrel and picked it up and put it in my hunting vest. I walked back to where I had been seated and sat back down.

After our hunt my grandad stepped off how far it was from where I was sitting to the White Oak. It was 100 yards. I had shot the squirrel in the head, as to not mess up the meat. Grandad still tells the story today of me shooting a squirrel in the head at 100 yards.

I always shot CCI mimi mags in the gun. I still have it and will pass it on to one of my kids or grandkids one day.


Chris

 

[rgood]

My brother and I were shooting BB guns at sparrows - I was out of BBs - So, I picked up a dirtclod and hit one in mid-air

 

[RobertN]

Two ducks. One shot. They were the first two of the day. A couple Mallards.

 

[Mike Costello]

A group of us would gather each year to hunt Pheasants. We were line abreast spaced about 75' apart walking a pasture with cover 1'-2' high. The guy on the far right jumped a nice rooster that took off in a diagonal flight across the field. The bird flew right to left and got further away as it passed in front of each man. I was the last guy on the left, so by the time the bird got to me it was way out there. Now, all these guys were good shots, so I was really surprised no one had dropped the bird yet. Anyway, I took the shot, not expecting much because that pheasant was waaay out there by now and hauling feathers like mad. The bird folded up and dropped like a stone! It turned out that one BB had hit him in the head, killing him instantly! No one was more surprised than me at this good fortune. Everyone agreed it was a true "Hail Mary" shot. Good memories of hunting and great friends. Mike.

 

[dodge man]

I once hit a running rabbit at about 50 yards with a 9mm handgun. It was pure luck, but I still hurt my shoulder patting my self on the back.

 

[CurlyDave]

I used to shoot black powder and had a .50 cal muzzleloader replica, cobbled together from a bunch of parts.

I went to informal competitions for several years, and they always had one or two shots set up which pretty difficult. At various times I made 3 out of the 4 typical ones. The ranges were close, but all the shots had to be offhand . Typical range is 50-60 feet.

1. split a ball on an axe head mounted with the edge toward the shooter, breaking two clays mounted on each side of the axe head.

2. broke a horizontally mounted feather about 8" long, by hitting the central quill. Harder than you think, the quill is off-center on the feather.

3. cut a playing card in half, card mounted edge-on to the shooter.

4. The one I could never get was to hit a thumbtack mounted on a board, driving it through the board. Just hitting it and leaving it on the board doesn't count, it has to be driven through. (This shot is where we get the expressions about calling a very accurate rifle a "tackdriver".)

 

[jinman]

Moss, this thread brings a smile to face, remembering that old Springfield model 15 single-shot 22 we owned while I was growing up. I don't remember for sure, but my dad bought the gun for around $8. A similar gun is in the attachment. It had a bolt you opened and loaded the cartridge. After you closed the bolt, you pulled on the button at the rear to cock the firing pin.

Anyhow, when I was about 13, I was out hunting on our property one day and saw a dove on the ground in a bare alkali spot about 100+ yards away. It was so far away that I couldn't be sure it was a dove. I put the gun up against a cross-tie fence post to steady the shot and carefully aimed at the bird, allowing for distance and wind the best I could with those open sights on the lightweight gun. CRACK! I squeezed off a round and saw the dust kick up where the shell hit the sand. What I thought was a bird didn't move. It just lay there on the ground so still that suddenly I thought it must have been a stick. I felt really silly and started to walk away, but something made me change my mind and go investigate. I walked toward the alkali spot and was shocked to find that indeed it was a dove. I had shot it right through the head.:thumbsup:

 

[horsebroke]

Back quite a number of years ago, I had a small patch of land in northern Virginia. From the front end of the property - to the back end was 900 feet. We had horses - and one day, my wife pointed out to the back fence line, where she saw a ground hog. Ground hogs and horses don't mix. If a horse steps in a ground hog burrow, it can break a leg. So, she tells me to take care of it.

I have a Browning 22 with a scope on it - and I had recently been to the range, sighting it in up to 100 yards. This critter was almost 300 yards!! Anyway, I steadied myself on a fence cross-tie, and plinked one at the ground hog. Saw the dust kick up right in front of him. So I raised just a bit, and plinked another shot - and got him!! almost 300 yards! Went to check him out, and bury the carcass - and found that I had hit him right in the mouth, and the .22 went out thru the back of his head!! CCI MiniMags are GREAT!

Another time, same property, one of my sons came running to me telling me he'd seen a water moccasin in the creek that ran thru the property. I went down to the creek looking for it - with this Browning - and was using the scope to scan the water and bank thru all the underbrush and overhanging tree limbs. Anyway - a movement caught my eye, and I squeezed off a shot. Took the head off a little sparrow! Never did find that darn moccasin.

 

[BungeeII]

I missed a doe on the run ...
twice.

In frustration, I pulled up my 20-guage and took aim at a survey flag on a tree about 75 yards out.

If I can ever get a doe to wear a pink ribbon, I might actually become a deer hunter.:laughing::laughing:

 

[/pine]

I've probably made more one of a kind shots with slingshots than with firearms...not counting trick shooting ..

With a 22 (shorts) I used to toss grasshoppers or crickets up stream and keep a bead on them as the current would cary them across a deeper pool that held trout and other fish...I would try and shoot just as a rainbow etc was coming up for the bait...was usually good for about 50%..I shot a lot of crickets in half...


Best shot with a deer rifle...the cold and dripping fog coaxed me from my tree stand...it was really foggy and I was slowly moving down a incline towards a swampy area...walking into the wind I had only moved 15-20 yards when about half again that distance away I am staring at good sized 6 pt...being used to making lateral shoulder shots I did not have time to think I just raised the gun and shot where I thought was the right place....

In the split seconds of the shot I could not believe I was seeing a gusher of blood shooting directly at me on a arc as the deer was turning to run...it fell a few yards beyond...the shot had exploded the heart...it was a perfect placement...the only damage to the usable meat was a hole in the brisket...there was very little blood left in the animal...I will never forget seeing that gusher...!

[edited]

I forgot to mention about fishing well offshore...we would always shoot baracudas with handguns after teasing them up with hooked fish...not as easy as it sounds...

also when we would be moving from one area to another we would sit up on the flying bridge and shoot flying fish with shotguns as they flew out of the forward wake we would push...it was a riot...!

 

[mjarrels]

Never missed anything when I was a kid... running groundhogs, flying barn swallows, flying pigons... Just never missed anything. Guess I had the right hand/eye cordination. Once shot a soda cracker out of the mouth of a neighbor. Now that I'm getting old, probably couldn't hit the barn door with a shotgun. Yep, first two medals earned in the Navy were expert rifle and expert pistol. Getting old sucks.

mark

 

[bigtiller]

The first time I ever shot a 22 revolver I was 9 years old. Dad threw an empty can into the air and I hit it.

I have never been able to do it since then.

 

[Flatheadyoungin]

The eye out of a gnat at a 100yds........

 

[arrow]

A chicadee at 125 yds. Open sites. 22 Remington single shot rifle. Bird was on top of a tree
I think I was 12 at the time, Wait ...I'll check the papyrus birth certificate.

 

[RippySkippy]

I too am smiling recalling the events of a couple of shots...one I made the other I witnessed.

Growing up on the farm in southern Iowa, Dad's farmstead had cedar shingle roofs. When a squirrel presented itself on the farm...it was all out war. One fall day said squirrel must of had a death wish as it was the first day of phesant season and there were guns all around...12 gauge, 410's 10 gauge and my favorite a remmington pump .22, with standard sites.

The squirrel was jumping and running in the big old silver maple just west of the house while my uncle then dad were trying to shoot the squirrel, and he seemed determined to make them look like fools. As they were dispensing MANY rounds at the squirrel, I swear his grin was growing larger at each miss. To complicate the shot, the squirrel would bob left then right as he was precariously balanced on branches the size of twigs. They had given up...and as a boy of 15 I seized the opportunity to "show my stuff". I leaned up against the house...sighted the squirrel, timed the swaying of the branches...POP......thud. One shot through his eye. I swear I thought I could have walked on water that day.

The other was when I was about 16, a classmate and I were messing around with the .22. It was early fall and the cat-tails were ready to go to seed, and we spent many hours shooting them watching their fluffy seeds fill the small ditches. We then would shoot the centers out of the hedge balls hanging in the tree, leaving the ball in tact but a hole in its center. While we were walking back to the truck, we flushed a rooster pheasant...my buddy turned with his .22 on his hip, shot and dropped the pheasant in flight. It wasn't until we saw the bird, that he was hit in the head! We laughed and high fived until we realized hunting season was not open...scared as we were...we put the bird in the truck, went home dressed, and ate him for supper.

Each story has a large element of luck I know...but the memories awesome. Thanks for the trip down memory lane....

 

[Egon]

Mine was igniting the pilot light on a 150 foot flare stack on the first shot with a rather anemic flare gun using 12 guage flare shells.:thumbsup:

Usually another fellow had to open a valve to let some raw gas out to make an bigger plume that was easier to hit!

 

[Bird]

While I was still in recruit school as a rookie cop and had just been issued my .38 revolver, I went out to visit my parents and my younger brothers wanted to shoot the gun. So we went out to an old stock pond with a number of soda or beer cans to use for targets, and a meadowlark landed on the far side of the pond, probably 75 yards from us. My brothers wanted to know if I could hit it (we used to eat them, but of course, I figured if I hit it a .38 would tear it up too much), so I shot just its head off. My brothers thought I was really some kind of pistolero, and of course I did a little more target shooting on the way home that evening and there was no way I could hit a beer can at that distance.

 

[DanD78]

Mine took place in side my barn drive. A strange cat showed up one day and one of my good barn cats was getting ready to face off with the new cat. They were howeling and hissing and ready to fight. I keep my tractor and truck in the drive and there is not a lot of room down the sides. I did have a kind of tight shot at the new cat right in front of my truck so I took aim with my old 1898 Winchester hit the cat. Just as the bullet hit the cat my barn cat jumped on the new cat and proceded to give it the wipping of it's life. There was dirt and straw flying every where. After a short time my cat backed off and the new cat did not move. Just as I was about to walk over and check things out my cat jumped back on the new cat and tore it up again. After the second beating my cat backed off, walked over and sniffed the dead cat then pranced off with A "I kicked his butt" attitude. A split second later and I might have had two cats with one shot.

Dan