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.