What have you shot for entertainment?

[Alexx1401]

Many decades ago used to shoot at an abandoned rock quarry. People used to often dump junk there. One day old hot water tank was standing there. A few guys punching holes in it. Nothing was able to go through. One shooter got a .44 Mag out. The rounds would go in and leave a bubble on the other side but still not through. I had a 12 GA in the trunk that had some old Foster Slugs on the saddle. Put 2 into it and when we went to look it had made nice jagged exit holes on the other side. Not bad for a chunk of lead going that slow.

 

[ron]

I grew up on an apple orchard. In the winter time after all the leaves
fell off the trees. A few frozen apples left. Great fun with my 22
making them explode.

 

[OutlawHoss]

I was in a friendly argument about follow-up shots with a bolt-action versus a semi-auto. I held that theoretically and mechanically the auto would be faster, but the bolt action would be more reliable, and even yet skill would trump all. My friend vehemently disagreed, said the auto would beat the bolt all day long. I had a bolt action .22LR with a 17 round tube mag (Marlin XT-22) and he had his Ruger 10/22, both accurate and both scoped.
I set up a can at approximately 80 yards, near the top of a 5' berm with a 45 degree uneven slope forward. I said "I challenge you to empty your mag (a 10 round), hitting the can with every shot, not letting it come to a rest or stop, and not miss once." He said okay,and after he set up prone he started shooting: hit-hit-jam-(pause)hit-hit-miss-miss-jam again, and he gives up.
I put a fresh can out at the same spot, loaded my 17 rounds in my bolt-action. I got set prone off a bag, and fired all 17 rounds at a nice cadence, all hits while the can never stopped dancing. Not only was he pissed, and blamed his gun, he said I just got lucky.
Well some time later, after I fixed his 10/22 f.t.f. problem (mostly) and he got a better mag, we did the same thing. I still won. He's still butt hurt about it. That was entertaining!

 

[wired]

Shot a crow off the top of a 200 ft high doug fir with a snub nose Taurus .357. One shot. If you paid me 2 years wages I couldnt do that again.

 

[Alexx1401]

I was in a friendly argument about follow-up shots with a bolt-action versus a semi-auto. I held that theoretically and mechanically the auto would be faster, but the bolt action would be more reliable, and even yet skill would trump all. My friend vehemently disagreed, said the auto would beat the bolt all day long. I had a bolt action .22LR with a 17 round tube mag (Marlin XT-22) and he had his Ruger 10/22, both accurate and both scoped.
I set up a can at approximately 80 yards, near the top of a 5' berm with a 45 degree uneven slope forward. I said "I challenge you to empty your mag (a 10 round), hitting the can with every shot, not letting it come to a rest or stop, and not miss once." He said okay,and after he set up prone he started shooting: hit-hit-jam-(pause)hit-hit-miss-miss-jam again, and he gives up.
I put a fresh can out at the same spot, loaded my 17 rounds in my bolt-action. I got set prone off a bag, and fired all 17 rounds at a nice cadence, all hits while the can never stopped dancing. Not only was he pissed, and blamed his gun, he said I just got lucky.
Well some time later, after I fixed his 10/22 f.t.f. problem (mostly) and he got a better mag, we did the same thing. I still won. He's still butt hurt about it. That was entertaining!

That sounds a lot like a operator error problem. I have lost track of the shooters who have told me how good they are only to never be able to show me. Point shooting was always a great example. I have always needed sights. LOTS of people told me they didn't at defense range. Until you went shooting with them and all of a sudden they can't. I have seen a few and known a couple who really were VERY good at this. I'm not but I know. A hell of a lot seem to think they are but can't even when it's paper that can't shoot back.

 

[Sgt Nambu]

Many decades ago used to shoot at an abandoned rock quarry. People used to often dump junk there. One day old hot water tank was standing there. A few guys punching holes in it. Nothing was able to go through. One shooter got a .44 Mag out. The rounds would go in and leave a bubble on the other side but still not through. I had a 12 GA in the trunk that had some old Foster Slugs on the saddle. Put 2 into it and when we went to look it had made nice jagged exit holes on the other side. Not bad for a chunk of lead going that slow.

Theys got momentum!

 

[OutlawHoss]

That sounds a lot like a operator error problem. I have lost track of the shooters who have told me how good they are only to never be able to show me. Point shooting was always a great example. I have always needed sights. LOTS of people told me they didn't at defense range. Until you went shooting with them and all of a sudden they can't. I have seen a few and known a couple who really were VERY good at this. I'm not but I know. A hell of a lot seem to think they are but can't even when it's paper that can't shoot back.

Like I say, skill can trump all. I tended to out shoot this guy quite a bit, but I tended to practice more than he did. I'm sure someone more practiced than I could do just as well or better with a reliable auto. Those Ruger 10 round rotary mags for the 10/22 seemed to be regularly problematic, but I also think he bubba-smithed his gun into being unreliable.

 

[RVTECH]

Another one I remember but not so dramatic was while elk hunting we were walking back to camp and nearly back when we saw a coyote break into the open of an old farmers field about 80+ yards away. My friends started taking shots at it and while all missing terribly I calmly raised my Remington Classic 7mm mag, and like a shotgun 'led' the coyote, touched off and rolled it. I attribute that shot to a lot of off season shooting with a variety of rifles as opposed to they're shooting very little.

 

[Alexx1401]

Like I say, skill can trump all. I tended to out shoot this guy quite a bit, but I tended to practice more than he did. I'm sure someone more practiced than I could do just as well or better with a reliable auto. Those Ruger 10 round rotary mags for the 10/22 seemed to be regularly problematic, but I also think he bubba-smithed his gun into being unreliable.

LOL he may well have "tuned" the gun to run reliable. I have had a lot of 10/22s and lost track of how many I've been around. the factory mag's are one of the best feed systems I've ever seen for Rimfire round's. Now often the aftermarket are very hit and miss. All them ive ever had were great until they got dirty as long as using decent ammo. Only problems I ever see is super cheap ammo and or the rifle getting very dirty after a lot of shooting.

 

[BDA.45]

I wasn't the shooter but one of the witnesses along with about 7 other people and 1 animal. I was the one sayn "there's no f-ing way your gonna hit that" when my buddy hit a keg, not once but twice, at roughly 600 yds with a P22.... Couldn't f-ing believe it. If I wasn't there to see it I would call some SERIOUS bullscat......

I apologize, I made a mistake and stand corrected......Apparently the distance was closer to 800 than 6......just sayn....this correction was made through conversation with most of the people involved (so I don't end up with a fish story)....

 

[OutlawHoss]

LOL he may well have "tuned" the gun to run reliable. I have had a lot of 10/22s and lost track of how many I've been around. the factory mag's are one of the best feed systems I've ever seen for Rimfire round's. Now often the aftermarket are very hit and miss. All them ive ever had were great until they got dirty as long as using decent ammo. Only problems I ever see is super cheap ammo and or the rifle getting very dirty after a lot of shooting.

He had never detail stripped or taken the bolt out before I showed him. He wasn't the sharpest tool in the shed, but has a good heart.

 

[Southpaw]

A number of years ago we had a howling vacuum (bad bearing) all the pets would run like hell the minute they saw it come out of the closet including me. Finally got a new one, so my son, his friend and I took it out on one of our shoots for post howling vacuum therapy. His friend had a .45, my son and I shottys with buckshot in them. We set it up on a berm with some logs and branches for support and on the count of 3 three obliterated it. Good times, not so good times was picking up all the pieces to bag it and pack it out.

My boys and I used to do what we called wiffle skeet. One of us would drive cheapo wiffle balls out in front of the shooter with a wedge and the shooter would try and hit it with a .22 (20 guage if we got tired of missing ;-). Used softball sized wiffs, then baseball, then golf ball size. It took a while but eventually they could hit golf ball size once and a while as long as the golfer was consistent with placement.
Cheap entertainment.

 

[Sgt Nambu]

Ahhh, got another one! Ya know, I'm old, I can do this all day.

As I mentioned in the above post, my late friend's dad owned a wheat ranch, just south of Duffer OR. Grey Digger shooting was the primary entertaining shooting sport that we engaged in for many years, but we always needed to find new twists!
One of the best that we came up with was to drive to a known Digger hot spot! Drive close, quietly, park and get ready! The designated, rodent killing, hooligan would get into the bed behind the cab with his short barreled 12ga and hold on as best he could!
The driver would gun the PU into the midst of the Digger houses (brush piles) and the gunner would go to town! Popping three would be a red letter day, but if we only got one it still was huge fun! Kept the ammo makers in business too.
We favored my buddy's dad's PU because it had a roll bar to hang onto!
Rules,
1) Empty chamber until the truck stopped! Actually, kinda, sorta, mostly stopped. A grey area, but carefully.
2) Taking turns!

Oh yeah! Just wanted to mention that this silliness was all on private property! No laws broken!

 

[Ura-Ki]

The same gang of us relatives would often get "Hired" by a few ranchers over out of Redmond to snipe off the Jackrabbits! Whata way to kill several hundred dollars worth of hot ammo at long range up hill! We had One spot over on Powell Bute where a shot to the top was over 900 yards up hill, we would sit there all day taking turns reloading spent shells and shootin or fixin snacks and sweet tea. Most shots were 400 to 700 yards, perfect for the .243's and my 6.5X55 Swede running 124 gr Bullets! Once in a while a Jack would pop up near the top and out came the Garand! Took some time walkin rounds up that hill to figure the range, but once dialed in, Splat one bunny after another! One good day of shootin could keep the Jack's off the ranches for half a year! Then it was off to the other side of the valley for splattin Sage Rats! Man, I sure do miss those old days!

 

[The Courier]

Cantaloupe at 50 feet with a .270 is fun. The base was still on the stump as though to say "That happened too fast for me".

 

[Sgt Nambu]

I miss them too, Ura-Ki.

It really surprising how great it makes you feel to smear some deserving rodent/rabbit! Especially the 'wascally ones!

 

[rdb241]

Well about 20+ years ago when I was a Navy Reservist. I was hooked up with some guys from the Washington Army National Guard. Every year back in the 90's, British troops would come to Ft. Lewis for training. While they were here one year. I was lucky enough to be there when the "Brits" did some target shooting. After lunch I was able to shoot The British Enfield .223 Bullpup rifle. Not too many westerners would even have a chance to shoot that rifle.

 

[Sgt Nambu]

Well about 20+ years ago when I was a Navy Reservist. I was hooked up with some guys from the Washington Army National Guard. Every year back in the 90's, British troops would come to Ft. Lewis for training. While they were here one year. I was lucky enough to be there when the "Brits" did some target shooting. After lunch I was able to shoot The British Enfield .223 Bullpup rifle. Not too many westerners would even have a chance to shoot that rifle.

How did you like it/do with it?

 

[rdb241]

It was pretty fun. They use standard AR mags. With the scope attached to the carry handle. It was a bit high but not uncomfortable. Recoils were like an AR or what I compared it to the Steyr AUG. I had one back then. The ergonomics of the Enfield was a bit odd but functionable. Honestly, it was fun and I jumped at the chance. If I remember right, Tac does not have a very high opinion about the rifle but it's just another opinion. I shot maybe a half dozen mags in both semi and full auto. It was actually fairly controlable in full auto.

 

[mkwerx]

Seriously, no one has said "A man in Reno" yet? Slackers.

The first time I took my two younger cousins (who are now in their mid 20s) shooting, I setup a crappy boot knife a friend had given to me out at 15 or 20 yards from us, wedged between some rocks, with the edge facing me. One shot from my Bushmaster and I hit the blade perfectly on edge, but the force shattered the knife at the pommel - the blade flew off one way at the berm, the handle flew another direction toward some bushes. Recovering the blade we noted the lead on the blade. I don't think I could make that shot again, at least not on the first attempt.

Then there was a time I was shooting at a buddy's place who used to live out south of Sandy, and he had a small range setup out back. We were happily blasting away, and I was popping rounds from my Federal Arms HK91 clone (miss that damn beast! I loved shooting that thing) and had a mag I forgot was loaded with tracer rounds in it. One of the tracer rounds deflected off a rock and we watched it sail over the berm and into the dry grass - lucky we didn't start a fire. Was pretty cool to watch though.

Aside from that for "fun" targets, we usually pull a Hickock45 and try to rid the world of evil soda pop bottles and cans. They're fun to watch spray all over when hit.