Your Best Shots. Let’s Hear Those Stories.
Okay, hunting or otherwise, let’s hear some of those great shot stories.
I don’t have anything crazy great, but a couple of memorable ones:
- Age 12. Rustburg, VA. Daisy Powerline 880 with BBs. At my friends house by the pond and a couple pigeons flew over. I swung up on one and hit him right in the chest at full speed flight straight above us. He crashed into the yard and we cooked it for lunch. Note: when his mom walked in and found us eating a pigeon, she was none too happy.
- My early 20s. Buckingham County, VA. Squirrel hunting with my Granddaddy’s old Stevens 24. Saw a bushy tail, and he saw me and lit out like he was on fire. Up a branch and big jump to another tree. I was leading him for a shot with the .410. When I pulled the trigger, he folded right up and hit the ground. Boy was I surprised, though, because I hadn’t flipped the selector switch. I expected .410, but got .22. Got to the squirrel, and had got him right through the temple.
Ok, let’s hear some of yours!
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First year deer hunting with my late father's 30.06. Note it was also the first year I had EVER used a scope. I had not shot a single round through it, and trusted that Dad had set it perfectly so no tinkering needed.
I'm sitting on a downed tree looking into an area where three ponts came together. I hear a log truck come through and then brush crashing behind me. I spin around and see deer and lots of them. I see antlers in the lead deer and pull down on him. One shot, he stumbled about 10 yards and crashed into a tree. Fell dead there. All of this happened in less than 10 seconds. Spin, see antlers, sight, pull trigger.
This was the first deer I put in a tree where it died after I shot it but not the last. 😆
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My dad was a helluva good shot. When I was about 10 or 12 we went to a family reunion on a farm in Ohio. A bunch of us kids and a few adults were out back of the barn plinking with 22's. Dad and a couple of his brothers were having a little competition shooting off hand at various things like cans, eggs and other smaller objects. One of my uncles put a cigarette on the rail of the backstop with the end facing the shooters. After 3 or4 folks tried and missed it was my dads turn. He picked up his Winchester 69A with the optional receiver sight, squinted a bit and shot that cigarette. We found the front half of the empty paper tube but the compressed tobacco blew out the back half. He casually took the empty tube and put it in his shirt pocket, cased his rifle and went to get a plate of food. Never said a word about his shot. When someone else asked he would just smile. Dad is long gone but that rifle sits in one of my safes. Bob
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Cold snowy day, I hid out in the barn to maybe catch a crow out in the field scratching on a cow pie. I had Dad's ole trusty single shot 22 Ranger, open sights. I saw one light about 30 yards away, Took good aim and pow, crow fell in his tracks and something jumped up about 20 yards further out. I did not see that crow, 2 birds with one shot. I think I was about 12 years old maybe.
I could tell tales all night and they would be true stories for sure, Spent many years in the woods with hunting buddies. Just lost a neighbor and best friend a month ago. Wasn't a critter both on land or water safe for many years as we were growing up.
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I used to love to hunt groundhogs back in the day. 1st gun I ever bnought myself was a Savage 24 in .22mag over a 20ga. That was a great combo.
Anyway, I was out with some Uncles and my favorite Uncle, (Uncle Boose) we we were at one of our remote properties/farms and were spotting groundhogs quite a ways away. (Sugar Grove on Watauga Lake, if you know it@Butchdog2.) Uncle Boose handed me his semi-auto Remington .243 (742?) with a nice scope on it. Said, " I've seen you shoot, your pretty good. Why dont you take the 1st shot with this."
Had never shot the rifle before. Picked a target out and called it. A good 400 yards away. Groundhog with only his head out the hole. Everybody started in on me. "Your dreaming," etc. Uncle Boose said, "Let him take the shot." Laid the gun across the hood of his really old IH 4X4 Pickup. Took a good aim, good breath control and squeezed. Turned that groundhogs head into a pink mist.
Still have an old B&W polaroid (somewhere) of me holding that groundhog and the rifle. (No head on the groundhog.) I woulda' been about 15.
Location? See my sig line.
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I was working 11-7 the night before doe day one season, so I got in the woods after daylight. The place I hunted was National Forest, and all the pull-outs were full of vehicles. I found a spot and climbed a steep bank only to jump several does who ran like rabbits. However, one stopped and looked back at me, about 100 yards. Out of breath, I rested my .270 against a tree and shot. Hit her right between the eyes.
I took her to my girlfriend's house to process. Her neighbors were out and I stopped.
" This is how you shoot 'em, boys. Saves the meat."
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Probably my luckiest shot ever. Was 15 and hunting in Pennsylvania for the first time with a rifle. My father's Winchester model 88 in 308. I was watching four deer on another ridge, running back and forth. The Third time they came across the ridge, there was now five of them. The deer at the end of the pack, had antlers. I couldn't see how big he was, But he was definitely legal. Just as I aimed, I heard my father voice behind me say, You will never hit him, he is too far away and running. I put the scope on a spot between two trees and started counting the deer. 1,2,3,4,POW. After the shot, I didn't see any deer. All I heard was my father say, Damn son, you nailed him. Hit the deer right in the neck, in his spine, and he dropped like a brick, behind a fallen tree. 180 yards on a flat out run!!!. Pure luck!!!
Duck hunting about ten years ago. Got all set up and started calling. Not one duck all day. I started out at 5am, and now it was getting near dusk. Just as I was ready to pack up the decoys and dog, I saw a duck coming into my set up. The Wood duck was about 150 yard when I saw him. At 80 yards, he turned and started flying parallel with the shore line. Just for the hell of it, I let off a shot. To my surprise, that duck folded up and went right into the drink. I don't know if I shot it or if it had a heart attack mid flight!!! LOL. Either way, I made my dogs day and mine too.
My best shots no, my luckiest shots, yes.
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Back in the late '70's we were going out to feed the cows in two pickups. My buddy was in the lead truck and his grandpa and I were following. As we left the first stackyard with both pickups wallowing under all the bales we'd thrown on 'em a coyote ran across the road left to right in front of us. Delly got out with his 22-250 and popped off a shot... Dang! Hit him low in the right rear leg. He worked the bolt, aimed, and click! Out of bullets! He laid his gun in the seat and grabbed his cousin's gun which was identical to his, racked the bolt, aimed.... BOOM! Clean miss. Rack the bolt, aim, click. Poop. His grandpa and I are starting to laugh a bit now and Mr. Wiley is doin' his best to reach Mach 3 on three legs. He's probably pushin' 300 yards now and not slowing down. Delly grabbed the last gun in the rack, his dad's pump 270 and lets it rip. Boom! Another miss. Furiously racks the slide, aims.... CLICK! I swear I have never heard a dry fire that loud! Now Del's fumin' and sputterin' pretty good and his grandpa and I are in full-on belly laugh mode. He looked at me and said something implying my questionable ancestry and that perhaps I should just go ahead and shoot the damn thing if it's so easy. Well, I grabbed my Model 70 out of the rack, worked the bolt (making sure that I saw a shell go into the chamber!), took aim a bit over the head of this coyote that's now gotta be 400 yards away and still haulin' the mail trying to get across the pasture. Breath in, let it out, caress the trigger... Splat! Right in the back of Wiley's head. Dropped like a sack of rocks. I looked over at Del and his mouth was working but no words were coming out. I unloaded my rifle and put it back in the rack, easy peasy. Delly was not pleased.
Probably couldn't repeat that shot if my life depended on it!!
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These are some fantastic stories!
And for the record…..
GREAT shots = when you do it.
LUCKY shots = when somebody else does. Haha!! 😂
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Thought there was only a couple of blowhards here, but I was wrong!
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I had a T/C Contender in 30 Herrett with a Leupold 3X scope. I took it to my cousin's farm to do some plinking. We went out to one of his fields and got out of the truck. Just then, a coyote popped up and ran directly away from us. My cousin whistled and the yote spun around and turned sideways. I took the shot off the hood of my truck and the darn thing dropped like a sack of potatoes. We stepped it off, and the shot was almost 300 yards! Pure luck! My cousin went to his grave talking about that shot. 😀
I shot several whitetails with that gun, but none at over 100 yards.
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Back about '82 I shot the penis off a mule deer. The second shot mercifully dropped him. He almost thanked me when I walked up to him! A few of my friends still remind me and laugh about that incident. If I'm lyin' I'm dyin' Eddie
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no real great shots, lucky as all get out yes . but noting worth bragging about 😕
if only I had bought a wrld clazz polished under sized bored chamber with the optional milled bolt face bolt perfect zero tolerance ruger 10-22 when I had the chance I would have a better story 😪
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Ditch-Runner: 30378940846363/comments/
no real great shots, lucky as all get out yes . but noting worth bragging about 😕
if only I had bought a wrld clazz polished under sized bored chamber with the optional milled bolt face bolt perfect zero tolerance ruger 10-22 when I had the chance I would have a better story 😪
Yep, we missed our chance. Word on the street is that the CIA sucked up all those “worls clas” 10/22s. It is all a big secret, of course, but I heard Chris Kyle’s rifle was actually one of those. Believe it or not, he wasn’t even IN the Middle East. He just took his shots from the SEAL base in San Diego with a “worls class” 10/22.
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I miss that guy. He was Hysterical. 🤔😉😂🤣
You just can't beat the classic, "I drilled it smaller." That's a Worls Klass statement right there.
"Ruger has me on Speed Dial." Etc.
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We need Earl back
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I used to hunt a hickory woods that was full of rabbits and squirrels. My step son and I were walking across the pasture towards the woods when we see a squirrel coming down a tree. There was a fallen tree handy to rest on and I dropped that squirrel at about 110 yards with .22 mag from Grandpa's Savage 24 .22 mag/410.
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This is a dime shot at 50 yds with an old Springfield model 120 I think , with a lyman 422 scope . No luck here my sonhas about 10 of them I shot 40 years ago
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Opened this and shared with a few on the day my first grandson was born.
Best “shot” ever
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I always heard the old-timers talk about striking matches by shooting the match sticks
never tried it but always wondered if it could be done and how many shots lit the match and how many missed or just broke the match
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An extremely lucky offhand ~250 yard shot on a rockchuck, with a 4 5/8" Ruger Standard .22. Pure, unfiltered luck, and I claim nothing beyond that. The best that I witnessed, period, was Grandpa wingshooting two ruffed grouse, with a Wingmaster .410. 30+ years later, and the speed he shouldered, swung, and fired still amazes me. They were within probably 25 yards, but damn, the execution of it all was just perfect.
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About 15 years ago, my brother and I were pat hunting, ( ruffed grouse ) with a couple of friends and weren't having any luck. Saw a bunch but the leaves weren't all down and they never presented a shot. Walking back to the car I was on the far right of the group when someone jumped a cottontail. It ran by me and I swung around and with one shot from my trusty 20ga SxS piled it up. Picked it up and put it in my pouch and we continued back to the vehicle. When we got there one of the guys wanted to see how bad my bird load had tore it up. I pulled it out and none of the four of us could find where it had been hit. Took it home and skinned it and still no evidence of it being hit. To this day they refer to it as the bunny that I gave a heart attack!😀 Bob
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If you do a ton of shooting and take a lot of crazy shots you score one once in a great while. We have a farm in the middle of nowhere, Iowa, and a great friend and I were shooting on the river bridge which borders the property. The river channel is about 30 feet bank to bank, and there is a curve about 200 yards each direction from the bridge. We would watch for sticks, leaves and what have you to come floating down and when we could see a target we commenced fire. I was shooting my Taurus Model 96 .22 revolver at a large floating stick about 125 yards away when after one shot my buddy said he thought he saw a bird drop in the river. Sure enough, a blackbird had flown into my line of fire at over 100 yards and been struck in the head; we examined the corpse when it finally made it to the bridge. So I can claim to have shot a bird through the brain, out of the air (in front of an unimpeachable witness), at 100 yards with a handgun! Just like I called it!*
*I added this part because the witness died about 10 years ago so who's to say I didn't call it first?
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Yup, some shots are so great you earn the privilege to ascribe intent after the fact! 😉
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brier-49: 30378940846363/comments/
https://us.v-cdn.net/6031683/uploads/9BX6PD8VUZ7A/22caldime.jpg
This is a dime shot at 50 yds with an old Springfield model 120 I think , with a lyman 422 scope . No luck here my sonhas about 10 of them I shot 40 years ago
Who would have thought that a ..22 cal. lead bullet would penetrate a dime at 50 yards! How in the world did you ever find them after they were hit? I'm gonna have to try this but I'm gonna use pennies, they are larger, cheaper and softer!
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A few years ago I had just finished building a fair copy of an original halfstock Hawkin rifle. It was a 54 caliber percussion gun with a 34" tapered barrel made by the late great Bill Large. (who made fine muzzle loading barrels)
After completion I took the rifle out to my club range that was an hour drive one way to test fire it before shipping it off to a buyer. Got my target set at 50 yards and took the first shot off hand with a load of 80 grains 2F Goex black powder and a spit pillow ticking patched .53 round ball of lead. That shot was a dead on Bulls Eye!
Next, I set up a string of clay pigeons that were made with hangers by our club and placed them out to the same 50 yard line. IMMIC there were 5 targets and with each and every shot I took, one of those pigeons disintegrated!
As I left the range that day, all I could think of was that I sure wish that rifle hadn't been already SOLD!
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elubsme: 30378940846363/comments/
https://forums.gunbroker.com/discussion/comment/11375295#Comment_11375295
Who would have thought that a ..22 cal. lead bullet would penetrate a dime at 50 yards! How in the world did you ever find them after they were hit? I'm gonna have to try this but I'm gonna use pennies, they are larger, cheaper and softer!
most were stuck right in the log backstop, some flew who knows where and years later my son found a few with a metal detector he bought
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Killed a Barn swallow from about 30 yards with a Pump pellet gun when I was aroid 7 or so. Felt horrible.
Fast forward, the first round out of a new Henry with 357 was an apple at 40-50 yards. Apple became white mist.
Was sighting in a Barrett M95. Had bore sighted it at home. First shot from rifle was about 1” high and right at 100 yards. Adjusted sight to center and 2nd shot was 1/4” off dead center. Good enough to go again. 3rd shot missed paper (100 yards). Stopped and when range went cold, checked target and turns out 3rd shot was about 1/8” higher than second.
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Mr. Perfect: 30378940846363/comments/
quote:Originally posted by Dads3040
quote:Originally posted by Mr. Perfect
The last time I even attempted it was with my Crosman 760. I'd just gotten done flame polishing the lands on the rifling inside the barrel, and was anxious to test it out.
Target was 756 yards with a 30 mph crosswind and I was shooting off hand under an open shelter. I yelled Hey 35 Whelen, hold my beer!. He took it and took a swill. Damn buzzard always backwashes.
Anyway, I put the first .177 pellet right on the bull, off center by less than 0.001".
"Damn! I missed it a bit," I said
"Looks like a good hit to me -burp- see if you can correct a bit with the next shot!" 35 Whelen yelled back.
It had started hailing by that point and the target was getting fuzzy.
I leveled the ol' iron sights at the target and donned my spectacles.
It was just starting to get a bit hazy.
I adjusted my aim for the wind and elevation drop, when I remembered I needed to pump the air chamber.
"Damnit!"
10 and exactly 1 half pumps later, I was back on target. Thankfully, by now I had the occasional lightning bolt to illuminate the target as it was gettin' on towards twilight.
"Hurry up!" 35 Whelen yelled, "We're outta beer in the cooler!"
I squeezed that trigger ever so slightly, cursing the damn creep of it, when it touched off the air sear and I watched the round sail off toward the x-ring.
"You missed it!" 35 yells out.
"The hell I did!" I said.
We then proceeded to make the trek to retrieve the target.
As we idled up to it, we both stood cockeyed there for a moment and soaking wet.
There it was: just the one hole, oblonged a bit -ever so slightly- to the left.
"Gonna have to correct the ol' sights, I guess" 35 Whelen said.
"I suppose so." I said.
Damn the luck of it.
Well, that was with a Crosman 760. Pretty high tech. Now if you had used a Daisy Red Ryder, that would be sumthin.
[;)][:D]
I'd try it but it's 35Whelen's turn to bring the beer, and we both know that ain't gonna happen.[:I]3 -
Mr. Perfect: 30378940846363/comments/
https://forums.gunbroker.com/discussion/comment/10598761#Comment_10598761
Oh man, there's a classic!🤣
The old rifle range south of town was right along the highway, and I drove past it at least twice each day. One day I'm coming home from work, and noticed a familiar pickup parked there, so I swung in to BS with a friend. He was at the bench, testing some new loads he had worked up. A Remington 788 in 7mm-08, with a new bull barrel, and an old Weaver target scope. I walk up to the bench, he sees me coming, and starts shaking his head. I ask him if something was wrong.
"You damn right there is! I don't know what happened, and it's awful! I try and I try, and I can't figure it out!" He looks up with a sheepish grin, and finishes with "I swear this old rifle is so accurate, every time I pull the trigger, the hole in that damn target gets smaller!"
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I live in Iowa, we can't use centerfire rifles to hunt deer, with some odd exceptions. For the most part, We use shotguns with slugs and open sights. Yes , I know there are exceptions. On the first morning of deer season I'm armed with my Browning A5 with a rifle sighted smooth bore slug barrel. I was posting and walked in to my position in the dark. As dawn slowly made its way into the loess hills , I heard the deer approach. I didn't see him until he was about 30 feet in front of me. At 15 feet he stopped to look at me, trying to figure out what I was. I carefully aimed at his chest and fired. He jumped straight into the air, took a few steps, whirled around and stopped in the same place, 15 feet away, but facing the opposite direction, completely unscathed. The next shot, at 15 feet, mind you, struck home. He ran about 75 yards and fell over dead. There was only 1 hole in him. To this day, I don't know how I missed him. Now, to the best shot I've made. Same place, one day later, the sun is up, it's about 8:30 am, and its a beautiful day. I see 2 deer about 200 yards away, grazing near a pond. I watched them for 15 or 20 minutes and thought "I'll give it a try." I had a decent rest to take the shot and the deer didn't know I was there. I finally squeezed off the shot, at 200 yards, and the deer took 2 steps and fell over dead. That's my story of the worst and best shots I've ever made.
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