Gun stories (tall tales) from strangers

fellow ccame into the LGS, and asked for a box of "thuttie-thutties" for his Springfield rifle.

Dealer told him the Springfield was A .30-06.

Guy got all puffed up and said 'I was an army infantryman for 32 years. I think I know what ammunition a Springfield shoots."

Both the dealer and I were polite and waited for him to leave before ROFLMAO!

My Uncle, a veteran of the inter-war years, thought the same.

I like the guys that always say a rifle is junk if it won't put 5 shots through one ragged hole at 100 yards. Then go to the shooting range and watch them shoot 6 inch groups through their favorite rifle. Then they start carrying on about how they got a batch of junk ammo from the store. And his Savage Axis with the $30 scope is just as accurate as the rifles that the military snipers use.

SamT1 said:

Would you have to buy a round of guns if they all throw one down?

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Well, in this case, the shop was just across the street from a place full of beer []

Shop proprietor would occasionally drag we hangers-out over across the street for libations and snacks--they had some outstanding onion rings.

I work part-time as a RSO at a local state owned range. A shooter comes up to me and asks if he can hang a 4' x 6' sheet of cardboard at the hundred yard range to help him sight his rifle in. I suggested that he start off at 25 yards to get on paper then move to 50 and then 100 yards for fine tuning. He says to me "I bore sighted it and I'm really good at it. I usually get it within 4 inches or better." I looked at him and replied "Then you shouldn't have an issue hitting our 24" x 24" targets and don't need to hang that huge sheet of cardboard down there. Am I right?" At this point he knew that I knew he was trying to b.s. me and he changed his story to something else.

When they hang a big sheet of cardboard they end up hanging targets over the wooden target support frames too. So they end up chewing up the target supports and damaging our equipment more than the usual wear and tear. This guy knew we didn't allow it but tries to pull a fast one every time he comes to the range. He just doesn't want to walk down to change targets as often as everyone else.

I can't count the number of times I've heard someone say that bullets rise the first 50 yards when they leave the barrel because they are shaped like an airplane wing.

I also like the hand gun shooters that keep shooting 6 to 12 inches low and shooting out the bottom wooden support for the target all while blaming the gun or the ammo.

I hear so many old wives tales and incorrect facts that I just say "Oh I see, that's an interesting point of view."

1911 guy said:

Just a bump on the forehead. I was more shocked that it had happened than I was hurt.
The bullet came to a complete stop on the target and what came back was simply rebound energy. No harder than if someone had thrown it.

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I have seen some 180 degree ricochets with 45acp ball ammo from my brothers Thompson. They were coming back about 30 yards from the steel target. We were shooting from about 50 yards.

ih772 said:

I can't count the number of times I've heard someone say that bullets rise the first 50 yards when they leave the barrel because they are shaped like an airplane wing.

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I could swear there used to be a chart in the -10 for an M16A2 that showed the 5.56 round traveling in a parabola. It showed the round rising from 25 meters. Then coming back down and crossing the plane again at 250 meters. I'm not saying that I believe it, I'm merely saying it was in the dash 10

Trunk Monkey said:

I could swear there used to be a chart in the -10 for an M16A2 that showed the 5.56 round traveling in a parabola. It showed the round rising from 25 meters. Then coming back down and crossing the plane again at 250 meters. I'm not saying that I believe it, I'm merely saying it was in the dash 10

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After reading about the many dim bulbs out there, I think a lot of people described who seem to think a bullet "rises" for part of its flight are a little confused about this graphic.

1911 guy said:

One of my shots (.45ACP) struck the steel at the perfect angle, rebounded straight back and smacked me in the center of the forehead. . .

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I've seen .451 softball sling straight back off of a cordwood target several times. I've been hit, and seen them wizz past my head, slow enough to see and way too fast to move.

silicosys4 said:

View attachment 804922

After reading about the many dim bulbs out there, I think a lot of people described who seem to think a bullet "rises" for part of its flight are a little confused about this graphic.

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Agreed, the complete sentence is, "the bullet rises, relative to the line of sight." I remember having that particular discussion with my wife's grandfather. "The bullet never rises," was so firmly drilled into him that he was unable to explain how a rifle could be sighted in.

I think the wildest story I heard was from a "special deputy" telling me of how he and fired his handgun at someone with one hand while loading an empty magazine with the other keeping the guy's head down until his friends could get into position and arrest the guy.

Keep in mind this person had absolutely no dexterity in his left hand at all and oftentimes on the range actually had to shift his weapon to his left hand to push in the magazine with his right. I just stared at him with my very best imitation of starry eyed wonder and said "wow" a lot. One of the things a girl learns early in life is that a guy will tell her just about anything if he thinks she's dumb enough to believe it.

silicosys4 said:

View attachment 804922

After reading about the many dim bulbs out there, I think a lot of people described who seem to think a bullet "rises" for part of its flight are a little confused about this graphic.

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Yea it’s the m16 A2 sight in procedure that perpetuates the rumor. Sight it in at 25 with the little peep and it’s 3” or so high at 100 and zeroed at 300 and 25. So the easy reasoning is that it rises out of the barrel and then falls. When in reality its the geometry of the sites.

1911 guy said:

My own tall tale, completely true. Sounds outrageous unless you think through the physics.
I was taking a class and we were shooting steel targets. One of my shots (.45ACP) struck the steel at the perfect angle, rebounded straight back and smacked me in the center of the forehead above my safety glasses. It was coming slow enough for me to see it but too fast to dodge it.

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I can believe that. A true BS artist would claim to have caught the slug in his teeth.

Obviously a bullet rises whenever it is fired with an upward trajectory. Since sights are generally above the bore, almost all barrels are tilted upward when the sights are level.

It would be accurate to say that a bullet generates no net lift, and its rate of rise (if it is given any from the start) declines immediately upon exit from the barrel, and, at some point, becomes negative... almost entirely as a function of gravity.

I kid you not, I actually read this today on another site:

Remember, the .380 isn’t an effective round by stretch of the imagination., I have seen gang bangers walk away after taking headshots from a .380.that never penetrated the skull.

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from here

You know the phrase . . . "You just can't make this stuff up."

Ok, possible if said "gang bangers" are wearing military protective helmets. Frankly, I haven't see that style of headgear catching on with people in the street.

There are instance of bullets of almost any caliber catching a skull at a sufficiently shallow angle to simply "graze" along the surface of the skull, cutting the scalp but not penetrating. Undoubtedly, these instances include a "gang banger" shot with a .380. So the second half of that statement may technically be true. It would also be technically true for most rounds - it has even happened with rifle rounds.

The really questionable part is the the first sentence and the inferential reasoning it uses.

ATLDave said:

Obviously a bullet rises whenever it is fired with an upward trajectory. Since sights are generally above the bore, almost all barrels are tilted upward when the sights are level.

It would be accurate to say that a bullet generates no net lift, and its rate of rise (if it is given any from the start) declines immediately upon exit from the barrel, and, at some point, becomes negative... almost entirely as a function of gravity.

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Right, at a certain point it becomes more of an argument about semantics than ballistics. Otherwise, the "Bullets don't rise," adherents would be left supporting the position that a rifleman can never shoot uphill.

Somewhere the word, "relative," needs to enter the discussion, as in, "relative to the angle of the barrel," or, "relative to the line of sight." That being said, some people have been reading gun experts for so long that they simply hold fast to, "a bullet can never rise after leaving the barrel," and insisting that the statement must stand without any qualifiers, such as the word, "relative."

I hear so many old wives tales and incorrect facts that I just say "Oh I see, that's an interesting point of view."

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Down here in the South we prefer a more subtle "Well Bless his heart"..............

The most entertaining source of wisdom is always the video game dorks that have never actually fired a gun.

At Range 15 (Ft. Lewis, now JBLM) not long ago; young soldier at shooting station next to me on the rifle side notes one of my M4s with an EOTTech, exclaims, "You're still using a them? Everyone knows they're garbage." I just nodded and said, "Well, yeah, guess that's why the SEALs are still using 'em," following up with, "By the way, you ever been deployed?" "Ah, no ... " "Thought so."

Young man I previously mentioned in my first thread in this post told me that he'd shot a cougar out near where we were (Central Washington) at 500 yards with his iron-sighted .30-30 (which he conveniently didn't bring on the trip where the rest of us all brought lots of our favorite guns).

George P said:

Down here in the South we prefer a more subtle "Well Bless his heart"..............

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That's funny! My niece, who lives down Atlanta way, said the same saying goes for people who make dumb comments. Her's sounded more like a pity tone.

kcofohio said:

That's funny! My niece, who lives down Atlanta way, said the same saying goes for people who make dumb comments. Her's sounded more like a pity tone.

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It is a very polite backhanded slam about the other person and in the right tone of voice can almost sound like you're taking pity on them or being really nasty!

George P said:

It is a very polite backhanded slam bout the other person and in the right tome of voice can almost sound like you're taking pity on them or being really nasty!

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Yes, it is a slam, but is definitely not in pity!

George P said:

Down here in the South we prefer a more subtle "Well Bless his heart"..............

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One of my dorm-mates at the little Bible School I attended (he was NOT from the deep south by the way, Iowa, if I remember correctly) told me that saying was absolutely synonymous with "What an idiot!" So... it isn't just the deep south!

ATLDave said:

There are instance of bullets of almost any caliber catching a skull at a sufficiently shallow angle to simply "graze" along the surface of the skull, cutting the scalp but not penetrating. Undoubtedly, these instances include a "gang banger" shot with a .380. So the second half of that statement may technically be true. It would also be technically true for most rounds - it has even happened with rifle rounds.

The really questionable part is the the first sentence and the inferential reasoning it uses.

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I was aware of a case years ago. A person was shot in the head whilst sitting in a car through the open car window. The bullet (I don't know what caliber) entered the scalp on one side and came to rest under the scalp on the opposite side of the head.