Biggest surprise you experienced with guns

[50 Shooter]

The coolest thing, hard to say after being in the Infantry and getting to shoot everything from a full auto M16 to a Dragon Misslle. Yeah, that was back in the 80's and they have even better weapons to shoot but back then those were on the list.

Getting into shooting 50 Cal rifles was an eye opener, actually being able to see the round from the shockwave created by the round is awesome. With a good spotting scope or a good rifle scope its possible to see smaller rounds. Just never noticed until I got into .50's and from there I started paying more attention to other rounds.

I don't think that there's a weapon that I wouldn't try out, if someone offers me a chance to shoot one of their firearms I take it. Doesn't matter what the caliber is, you never know what you'll find out about different guns unless you shoot them. The surprising look on peoples faces after they shoot my .50 is always worth letting them shoot it. Most can't believe the lack of felt recoil or the amount over pressure in the blast from the muzzle brake. I think I can go on and on about what I like, found out, enjoy about firearms and what I still keep learning. The best thing is that most people that are into firearms are usually some of the best people that I've met.

The only person in my family that's anti gun or leans that way is my sister, I have no reason why she is other then believing in what she watches on TV or reads in news papers. Doesn't matter what I say, I think it might take a life threatening experience for her to wake up.

 

[James11A]

Big surprise.

I learned why the gun crew on a M107 175 mm cannon does not crawl around on the weapon during a fire mission. On charge 3, the noise and concussion is impressive.

 

[Apachedriver]

HUH?


.44 Magnum case, and its parent case, the .44 Special, use bullets of approximately 0.429 in (10.9 mm) diameter.

Bullet diameter
.452 in (11.5 mm)

.44 sure measure smaller.

I wasn't clear in my words. I was referring to the felt recoil between .45acp in my issued M1911 and .44mag in my buddy's wheel gun.

 

[Rodentman]

I was surprised at the recoil of the 50AE in the Desert Eagle. I'd had several 44mags (and reload everything centerfire that I shoot) but I figured with the weight of that massive DE the recoil wouldn't be so stout. I still enjoy firing it but it still requires an extra measure of care, and 2 hands.

 

[Greg528iT]

felt recoil

oops.. I meant to come back with.. yeah power levels... but got pulled away

As I started learning, realizing that the Caliber was more a generic rounding.
.38 = .357.. .44 = .429" Really puny ole point four two nine.. just kidding.

 

[Warp]

Perceived recoil and how important weight of the gun and grip size/type are. .38spl +P is the most painful handgun I have shot, no contest, not even the short barrel .44 mag with Buffalo Bore "+P+" 340gr came close to the Buffalo Bore 158gr LSWCHP +P in a stock gripped S&W 642. I can't imagine a 340PD with hot .357 mag, or something like that. Good lord.

 

[twofifty]

Like 50shooter, it was seeing a bullet in terminal flight dropping down into the target.

T'was only 22LR, but through a spotter with sidelight and looking straight down the bullet's path.

 

[WVGunman]

My biggest surprise was finding out that my parents weren't anti-gun like I thought they were. I grew up in a house with no guns, dad was a preacher (just went home to be with the Lord this Christmas) and my mom is a teacher. I breached the fact that I'd bought a shotgun and was getting into shooting and expected pushback and didn't get any.

Bravo, Mom and Pop!

My own contributions:
1 - That someone can be in the military or a cop for years, and still not know WTH they are talking about when it comes to small arms.
2 - That so many people think you couldn't possibly support the 2nd Amendment unless you're a Republican.
3 - The inverse of the above: So many people assume if you support gun rights you must be a right-wing lunatic.

 

[sequins]

My biggest surprise was that bigger numerical caliber wasn't objectively better. I thought ballistics would be a solved science, but no one is sure whether 9mm, .40, or .45 is better and the debate has legitimate merits. It boggles my mind that we aren't sure what's best, or even what "best" means. I like 9mm but I've not got confidence I have a leg up on .40 or .45

 

[caribou]

When I was 8 or so my Grandpa frank set his 03 springfeild against his jeep tire and let me crank off the whole box at some apples from under the tree we were parked under, about 50 yards.

Ka-bleweeee, and the Apples vaporized, and I "Felt the POWER"

That was more than a suprize, it was a lifes calling......


Never looked back, My thirst for knowledge of, by and about firearms is insatiable, I collected a bunch up when I was a teen, and found a way to make a living useing a gun, bought guns, guns and more guns , thousands of rounds of ammo and shot it off, and, of course, accessories, the rest I wasted.

 

[Deus Machina]

My friend's PGO 12-gauge.
I expected a bit, but... eesh.

 

[DeepSouth]

When I was young and really, really dumb I had three barreled "ducks foot" black powder pistol. I cleaned it like it was an AK-47, never. Once I shot it and unknown to me it apparently only fired 2 barrels, at which point I sat it down, walked off and BANG!!!!

That was a big suprise, it did the same thing a few more times then I decided it might need to be cleaned.

 

[J-Bar]

I was surprised how much recoil and smoke the original .45 Colt blackpowder load produces. After watching a lifetime of cowboy movies, it was just further confirmation that what Hollywood shows on the screen is not anything like real life. A .45 Colt with a 250 grain bullet over a case full of blackpowder is a handful. And fun!

 

[AKElroy]

I was surprised at how accurate my early 70's Marlin 336 .30-30 turned out to be, regularly holding a full magazine to under an inch at 100 yards with Remmy cor-lokd 170's. I have a few bolt-guns that cannot match it for accuracy, and it stays consistent even when shot hot. It thinks it is a heavy-barreled bench-rest rifle.

I was also surprised at the amount of drop a .40 S&W Glock has at longer range. I was shooting at a yote' trotting a fence-line next to a very rural paved county road at what I guestimated was 100 or so yards, only to see those rounds bouncing off the roadway a good 5 or more feet shy of the animal. Even holding the front sight all the way above the rear ears had me falling short, so I guess I was surprised at both the pistol's ineffectiveness at distance, as well as my inability to accurately judge distance. (it was probably closer to 200 yards)

 

[Coyote3855]

First time I used a hammer drop on a S&W 39. Bought the gun without a manual and expected the drop to put the gun on safe. This was about 1962.

First time spotting for a guy shooting a .45-70 and watching the rainbow trajectory.

 

[Bobson]

Great thread.

I had a couple, and they're sorta the same but they occurred to me in different ways at different times.

The first is that theres no such thing as an infinitely flat trajectory. When I first started shooting, I think I believed (though I never actually made it a conscious thought) that when you shoot, the bullet keeps going forever until it hits something that stops it. Now, to be fair, I was about 8 years old when I started shooting lol. This one took me a couple years to consciously realize the truth, and I remember it blew my mind.

The second was that guns aren't laser blasters, and bullets aren't lasers. In other words, no gun delivers a projectile to the exact same place every time. When I grew up shooting airguns, my brother and I would have competitions of who would be the first to shoot a given object at a given range. For years, it didn't occur to me that a miss might be the gun's fault.

 

[gandog56]

The first time I fired a gun using a reload I made. I swear I half expected the pistol to blow up!

 

[Warp]

The first time I fired a gun using a reload I made. I swear I half expected the pistol to blow up!

And you were very surprised when it didn't?

 

[tarosean]

Pistol Grip Pump = most worthless thing ever invented...

 

[230RN]

Blackbeard

The recoil from a Mosin-Nagant. OW!

Me, too, forgot about that. Only non-steel ammo (range requirement) I could get from BigR was 180 gr. Even with a coat on, it pushed me back a half-step.

Finally found some 147 gr .311 bullets, which was what most Russian ammo is, plan on loading those into my empties to see if they're more friendly.

Also was surprised that I couldn't single load a cartridge directly into the chamber; had to be from the magazine. There's a fix for that, polishing off an edge of the extractor, but I don't want to do that.

Terry, 230RN

 

[Nwflycaster]

I would have to go way back to when I was a young kid and fired a shotgun for the first time. I was still a tag along and brush beater with my dad and grandfather while they were the hunters. My grandpa set a can on top of a fence post and asked me if I wanted to try shooting a shotgun.

Well sure, I'm up for anything shooting related. I shoot my pellet rifle and a rimfire all the time. I take careful aim and fire, the can goes flying, and unfortunately so does me grandpa's shotgun. I wasn't holding it quite tightly enough. It bounces off my shoulder, into my cheek and then into the dirt. I felt bad that I had put his shotgun in the dirt but they both got a kick out of it and I guess I did to, but in a different way.

So I guess the recoil of a shotgun being fired for the first time was my biggest surprise.

 

[bannockburn]

1) That an Astra 600, a straight blowback 9mm., is not the best of guns to shoot as your first semi-auto pistol.

 

[sawdeanz]

Guns are loud!
ARs/AKs with brakes are really loud!
.50bmg is just ridiculous.
.308 doesn't have that much recoil.
Shooting from a bench is less comfortable than offhand.
.22lr drops a lot at 100 yds.

 

[GBExpat]

On a visit to the farm my grandfather told me of a large possum that was "stealing" his mussels from the pond before sunup.

0 dark 30 found me peeking around the grainery looking for that little bugger.

I finally saw him and used a small scrub cedar to carefully get ridiculously close before squeezing off a reloaded round (7.92x57 150gr SP spitzer running close to 3000fps) with the BringBack K98k that my grandfather had given me.

BOOM ... and the possum just ... disappeared ...

... and after a few seconds, things started landing in the lake.

I had completely exPLODed that poor ol'possum. WHOA!

[EDIT] I am thinking that the correct technical terminology for that may be "traumatically disassembled".

 

[illinoisburt]

How many people have no idea how long a gun and ammo actually last/service life. Have met lots of hunters/occassional shooters that are seriously worried about wearing out their guns with one or two boxes of shells. I mean jeepers dude, I've got at least 70K rounds through a Marlin 60 and over 50K has gone down range from a Nornico SKS with both still working just fine and dandy. Neither has changed in accuracy that I can tell.

Learned all of these in direct contradiction of everything that was preached to me over the years (ie need super accurate, super powerful guns):

Accuracy: 3 MOA guns will kill anything over 50 pounds just as good as 0.001 MOA guns in the hands of the average hunter.

Same holds true for power: "standard calibers" and generic shotgun shells/slugs not only kill just as good as magnum caliber and super premium shells in the hands of the average hunter, often times in fact much better.

Most folks at the rifle range cannot hit a darned thing past 50 yards while standing.

Most folks at the pistol range cannot hit a darned thing at 25 yards while in any position.

Never buy a new magnum rifle or handgun. The used ones that people trade in tend to be very, very underused