Stupidest thing you've done

Status
Not open for further replies.
I went hunting for the first time with my Grandpa. He let me borrow his old side-by-side, the kind with the exposed hammers and two triggers. I was about 8 or so, and feeling pretty good about myself. You remember the feeling, you're out hunting, you get to carry a gun, you know what I'm talking about. Well, we get out into the woods, a nice walnut grove, lots of squirrels. We see a tree that has 3 or 4 good ones on a low branch, so Gramps tells me to go up on ahead so I can get the first shot. He'd told me to just cock the right barrel, and then if I needed it I could cock the left for a follow up shot. You guessed it, I cocked both of them. I guess the squirrels saw me coming or something, but they started to run around to the back side of the tree. I get the gun up to about 2 inches from my shoulder and pull both triggers. Next thing I know I'm on my butt looking up at Gramps, who is trying very hard to look concerned, but I can tell he was trying not to start rolling around on the ground laughing. I'm surprised I don't still have the bruise.

------------------
"The best we can hope for concerning the people at large is that they be properly armed." -Alexander Hamilton, The Federalist Papers at 184-8.
 
Stupidest thing I have done:

Once my wife asked me how an outfit looked on her and I answered honestly. :(
Dave
 
OK here's my Story...when I was 13 years old I had an old Mossberg 16 ga. Bolt action shotgun that my Grandfather had Left to us(I still have it btw)...I had it laying on the bed working on it because the safety did'nt work...I had just put it all back together when the urge hit me to go to the bathroom.
So I go to the bathroom downstairs...meanwhile my older Brother decides he wants to go hunting so he comes in and loads the shotgun...I know I know....just wait...well all of a sudden HE has to go to the bathroom too so HE goes upstairs to use the bathroom...well, I come out of the downstairs bathroom a little while later and go in the bedroom to continue working on the gun....I fiddle with the safety and *BLAM*...blow about a one inch hole all the way through the house!!!...My dad..(Who was a Marine Corp. Gunny Sgt.)...came running down stairs like something wild to see what had happened...when He knew I was allright....he gave me the worst Butt whippin' I ever had...and then proceeded to drill gun safety into me....

------------------
A MASTER OF HIS ART REVEALS IT IN EVERYTHING HE DOES
 
I was seventeen years old and just bought my first automatic, a used BHP. I was sitting at a bench getting ready to try my cool new toy when...OK lets see...now I can put twelve in this magazine thing...hey I can be real clever and put one in the chamber too!...cool...OKAAA...BANG! one BANG! two............BANG! twelve...OK time to reload...Hey why is the hammer still back? Oh well I'll just pull the trigger to lower...BANG! Thru the bench and into the dirt inches from my right foot. After vainly trying to reinflate my ego and cleaning out my shorts I packed up and went back in the house. That night as I was getting undressed for bed, all the while feeling incredably stupid, I pulled off my jeans when I noticed two elongated holes just above the cuff. I cleaned out my shorts again and went to bed, this time feeling incredably lucky.
 
(1) N/D of a wartime Baretta when I was in my early 20's. The round hit the bottom of a cast-iron frying pan and left a pretty little scar. Bought this pistol from a vet friend for $50

(2) Sold same pistol for $75. We still have the frying pan.
 
Stupidest thing - I was about 15 and watching grandparent's place one weekend while they were away. A fat squirrel was eating birdseed that I had put out in the driveway, and I decided to take him out. Chambered a round in my Ruger Standard, and left off safety. Was planning on opening the top portion of kitchen's massive dutch door, and using bottom as rest. Well, the top didn't want to swing easily, so I jerked on it, and also managed to jerk on the trigger at the same time, putting a .22 JHP through the nice door. Amazing what a little plastic wood will do if properly painted, and I've sworn by it ever since.

Stupidest purchase - A Helwan Brigadier in 9mm. Cheap≠good - glad I've smartened up. :D


------------------
Panzerführer

Die Wahrheit ist eine Perle. Werfen sie nicht vor die Säue.
 
Dave9: been there, done that! LOL When in doubt, lie, lie, lie! LOL

------------------
I raised my hand to eye level, like pointing a finger, and fired. Wild Bill Hickok
If you have to shoot a man, shoot him in the guts... it'll paralyze his brain and arm and the fight is all but over Wild Bill Hickok
45 ACP: Give 'em a new navel! BigG

It is error alone that needs government support; truth can stand by itself. Tom Jefferson
When you attempt to rationalize two inconsistent positions, you risk drowning as your own sewage backs up. BigG
 
I used to use the basement of my parents house as an impromptu range for my 22LR pistol and 22mag rifle. (Yea, I know, not the safest thing to do!) The first time I fired the rifle in the basement, I set up a target in front of a door that leads up to the garage. I had a couple of 2x6 boards as a "backstop" and the target was a pop can full of water.

I take aim at the pop can and pull the trigger. Pop can explodes with a shower of water. I walk up to the target to survey the damage and see if my backstop worked. The can was a crumpled mess. I look at the backstop and notice the bullet went all the way thru! I look at the door looking for the bullet hole I have to somehow cover up. It turns out the bullet went below the door and into the door jamb. The house was pretty new and there was still the white plastic coating on the jamb. It's been years since this happened and the white plastic is still on the door jamb and my folly is undiscovered. :rolleyes: I dread the day they find out!

------------------
"Ray guns don't vaporize Zorbonians, Zorbonians vaporize Zorbonians" The Far Side

[This message has been edited by jcoyoung (edited February 04, 2000).]
 
Seeing where I started and where I am now, I like to look back at how far I've come.

I didn't grow up around guns and when I went to purchase my first handgun (as soon as I was legal able to), I knew absolutely nothing about firearms -- and I really mean nothing. I went to a gunshop with the intention of buying a 2" revolver (after all, that's what Joe Mannix carried on TV). The store owner talked me out of buying the .38 special and sold me a mid-sized, single action .22LR pistol.

He told me that this was a much better deal because it held 10 rounds in the magazine while the revolver held only 5 rounds. I knew nothing about calibers and stopping power back then. The owner never bother to explain to me how to operate the gun since it came with an instruction manual that anyone could read for themselves.

When I got the gun home, I noticed that there was no manual and when I went back asking for one, he told me not to bother him because he was busy with paying customers (after all, he already had my money).

One day I went to the range to fire my new gun for the first time. I loaded the magazine with bullets. Inserted the magazine into the pistol and pulled the trigger and nothing happened -- I didn't know anything about having to rack the slide in order to put a bullet into the chamber.

So I pulled harder on the trigger and harder. Then I began to use my second hand to help in applying pressure on the trigger. I was straining & pulling so hard, that I drew a considerable amount of attention to myself and I quickly had about a dozen shooters looking at me to see what I was doing. You can imagine my embarassment once I was told how to properly operate the pistol.

I now sometimes teach a handgun safety course and the first thing I do is make sure that every student know how their particular gun operates.

------------------
Share what you know, learn what you don't -- FUD.
 
The stupidist thing that I have ever done is forgetting the cardnal rule about old style single action revolvers, and loading all six chambers, resulting in a .22 round going through my nice picture window when I dropped the hammer.

------------------
Just as there is no such thing as too much fun,
there is no such thing as owning just one gun!!!

Now, go do the right thing, and buy that Walther!!
 
my boner was one day i went to clean a 1908 Dryse .32 ACP, i pulled back the slide and sure enough the chamber was empty. i let the slide snap shut and pulled the mag out. what i did not think about (why i don't know) was the round that chambered when the side closed. when i pulled the trigger to relax the stricker it fired. only my lifetime of training averted a serious accident. i had pointed it at the floor before pulling the trigger. the bullet (hardball) went thru the carpet and stopped in the wooden floor. to this day the only one that knows i did it ubtil know is my dog and it shot his nerves all to heck. whenever i get a gun out now he hides under the dresser.
next stupidist thing, every gun i have ever sold. Jeff Cooper once said "I have never been able to figure out a good reason for selling a firearm. After the sale the gun is gone and the money soon after. Then you have no gun or money". Sounds kinda stupid huh?

------------------
Trust neither men nor women nor beasts. In steel you can trust.
What is steel compared to the hand that wields it?
If your not packing a Kahr your just camping out!
 
Years back I was practicing point shooting in my living room, but didn't check to see if a round was chambered. Looked at the head of a ceramic cow figurine across the room, brought the gun up and pulled the trigger. A perfect head shot into one of my wife's collectibles.


Dick
 
I was a a friend's gunshop a few weeks ago and a customer came in. He had a CZ52 pistol that he said he was having problems with. He said that it did not eject correctly everytime. Bruce took it into his work area, laoded the mag and emptied it into the bullet trap with no problems. The customer could not understand it until he was shown the empty brass, he had been sold .380 ammo at another "gunshop". I can only wonder what the bullets looked like after they squeezed their way out the barrel.

------------------
Ne Conjuge Nobiscum
"If there be treachery, let there be jehad!"
 
Went critter hunting 20 years ago ,
When I got back to my Jeep the windshield had 22 cal. hole and the spare was flat , I lived with my brother so I couldn't go
home , had to get my folks credit card and have it fixed. I thought I was going to get away with it until the glass shop called and
my brother answered the phone , The glass guy said the shooting victim was ready to be picked up .
Busted
 
I live in a small rural town of about 400. EVERYONE knows that I am THE gun person in town. Not that I am all that great, it's just that I shoot a lot of competition and words in a small town gets around. So anyway, the manager of the local fertilizer company comes into my office and asks me a few questions about guns. (he was interested in buying a pistol for himself) I just happened to have my 1911 .45 handy. We went into my private office and I was showing him how the grip safety worked, you know, that unless it is depressed, you can't pull the trigger....with my finger already on the trigger (for the demonstration) when I touched the grip saftey, it went off. Fortunately it was pointed in a safe direction and all was well except my pride. The only thing I can figure is that when I pulled the slide back, I saw the empty chamber, but there must have been a round still held by the extractor, and then let back in to the chamber.

Since then, I rack the slide hard enough to eject, and look not only down the chamber, but also make sure I see the breechface also.
 
Sent my daughter with a goldfish in a fishbowl on their 100th day of class celebration when the teacher actually meant Goldfish crackers.

and look at my handle! :eek: :eek: :eek:
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top