Just Showin' Off

[edwea]

I remember as a wee lad shooting at the family farm with the old man. He was shooting a model 39 marlin and i was shooting a model 60. Sometimes just to show off, he would shoot empty .22 casings off of branch tips at 25-30 yards free hand. When we wanted to have some real fun, we would shoot the corn cob out of the squirrel's hands while they were eating them across the field. If you've never seen a squirrel look confused before, you should try it. What stories of extreme backyard marksmanship you all got?

 

[T.Lex]

My great-grandfather had some of the most hi-pressure shooting you could have, outside of war time, I suppose. In the morning, my great-grandmother would give him 3 .22 rounds for his rifle and (lovingly, I'm sure) tell him, "Go get dinner." This was rural Iowa/Wisconsin. Well, "rural" almost makes it sound semi-developed. It was the boonies.

My dad, when he was a kid, saw my great-grandad use that .22 to shoot a rabbit that was running spooked. One shot, one kill on a motivated moving target.

 

[bonkers1919]

I once shot a squirrel with a .22 air dart. One shot thru the left ear and out the right ear. He dropped immediately, making the cleanest shot I ever made on an animal.

I wonder why companies stopped making darts for air guns.

 

[edwea]

I forgot about the airgun darts. I wonder if those are still around anywhere.

 

[451_Detonics]

I decided to try Herb Parson's trick of shooting handthrown clays, I got up to being able to hit 7 thrown in the air at once with a HK Benelli 121M1

 

[Hornett]

I shot a quail out of the air with a Winchester 22.
It was low and flying in a shootable direction so I took the shot.
Not much left to eat.

We also used to shoot empty 22 casings but not at 35 yards.
Probably 20 yards at the longest.

I don't think I could even approach now, how good I was in high school.
We shot 22's a LOT back then.

Just a couple of years ago, we were bird hunting.
The dogs pointed and my son wen to kick it out.
He had only been hunting a couple of seasons at that time, but is a natural good shot.
He kicked out the bird (chuckar) and shot it right at the end of the barrel.
The other guy hunting said "Whoa wait until it gets out there a little"
Then my son picked up the bird and he had shot it's head clean off and not ruffled a feather

 

[Restroyer]

My 14 year old twin sons practice shooting empty Joan of Arc kidney bean cans at 25 yards open sights (no scopes) with their .22LR (Marlin 795, Savage Mark II, GSG 522). They see who can be the first to shoot Joan of Arc off her horse without hitting the horse. It takes them a few shots of hitting the can too far left or right but they usually succeed in making Joan disappear.

 

[LarryC]

Some 60 years ago, BIL would shoot a tree, then force a un-fired round in the hole the first shot left in the tree. We would back off about 20 ~ 30 foot and try to hit the round, once in a while it would pop! About the hardest part was keeping the target in view while backing up.

 

[edwea]

I once shot a squirrel with a .22 air dart. One shot thru the left ear and out the right ear. He dropped immediately, making the cleanest shot I ever made on an animal.

I wonder why companies stopped making darts for air guns.

A quick web search revealed that the airgun dart industry is alive and well. I'm thinking about getting a package or two.

 

[STEEL CORE]

Once set up a range target in front of my son back in the day and as I set it up, I used some square target hole paster's for eyes, and a mouth.
We then stepped back to the firing line and I chambered one in my Colt Combat Commander .45, and sent one towards the target. Holy smokes, right exactly between the eyes, could not have done it if I would have shot him point blank................the look on my son's face?

Priceless!

 

[IndyGlockMan]

I shot a sparrow through the neck with my Daisy .177 pump air rifle at about 25-50 yards when I was about 12

 

[Fargo]

Many moons ago, I shot a turkey vulture in the rear end with a pellet pistol as he banked into the wind. I was standing on the bluffs way above the river so he wasn't far above me. One of those "no way I can hit that" shots.Fastest I've ever seen one move. Not the most responsible thing to do but there is something a little irresponsible about youth in the boonies.

Saw my dad hit a swimming muskrat's head at 120 yards offhand with a mini14. No splash, just a puff and no more river rat. (There were bank erosion issues and the landowner wanted them gone.)

In my youth, I hit a jackrabbit running full tilt with a .223 hollow point. Among the best running shots I've ever made, looked like a fist punched through him.

 

[17 squirrel]

I once shot a squirrel with a .22 air dart. One shot thru the left ear and out the right ear. He dropped immediately, making the cleanest shot I ever made on an animal.

I wonder why companies stopped making darts for air guns.

Marksman still makes them..

 

[Fullmag]

Man o man we used to shoot all the time back then growing up either 22's or BB guns.

At 50 yard range at Wilbur Wright shooting at a Marvel Mystery Oil can, 25+ years ago. Just loved the way they sounded when hit with 22's, it was one of days I was hitting everything with my Winchester md 61. The can flipped and landed so the red lid about the size of a quarter was facing me, so I aimed and hit it in the center. This old guy watching couldn't believe it.

 

[rhino]

I shot a moth (in flight) with a Ruger 22/45 at about 7 yards once. The explosion of white pieces of moth was impressive.

 

[Gunner72]

We would rabbit hunt with .22 rifles. That was some pretty tuff shooting back in the day