your noob story

[10-Ring]

4th grade, my dad said "no guns in the house" So, I went to another house My best friend in grade school had guns all over the house. My fave was his dad's Thompson SMG...that is one I wish I could have...but was ALOT of fun anyway

 

[jwerlc]

I still wince...

I learned to shoot handguns when I was 10-11 with a High Standard H-D Military, sweet gun. When I was 18 I got my first handgun, a Ruger Blackhawk .357 6.5 barrel. This is where the story goes redneck. My dad and I were installing a new water heater in the 4'x10' utility room and had to cut a new hole for the vent. To make sure we had a straight line for the flue from ceiling to roof, dad suggested (I now remember a distinct grin on his face) shooting a hole with my Ruger. He made sure I was lined up by using a level, then said he had to step out for a cigarrette. Yup, couldn't hear a damn thing for hours...

 

[GigaBuist]

My first introduction to guns was back when I was 7 or 8 years old with Grandpa. He'd let me shoot his muzzleloaders, a .22 rifle, and actually had a .410 shotgun that would fit my 50 pound frame.

I was a small kid.

One day I went out "hunting" with grandpa. I put that in quotes because we never saw a deer -- I think he was just letting me tag along while he got away from grandma for a while.

He had a long gun, I had a pistol. Upon returning home he put up a coffee can as a target for us to unload the weapons onto. When it was my turn to shoot, well, I was bundled up with more insulation than a sea lion. And I wore glasses -- thick glasses. And it was fairly cold out.

Fogging of the glasses ensued.

Grandpa's looking at the coffee can. I'm looking at my sights, or at least attempting to. The fogging gets in the way. I pull the pistol closer and closer until I can finally see them.

BANG!

GigaBuist has a bloody nose and is in full sprint back to the house.

Still got the scar from that one.
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At 21 I got re-introduced shooting. I thought that if I dropped a round of ammo it might go off.

I bought #1 shot for an 870 w/ a rifled barrel because I knew it should only be used for slugs and thought #1 meant it had one big slug pellet.

I'm not too bright some days.
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Still, even in the early stages of learning I had a leg up on my father. His dad, grandad, and all his brothers hunted. I figured he knew how to work a weapon or at least knew the safety rules.

So, while out one day at a pig-roast/shooting event I set him up with my Glock 21.

I grew up being taught by folks that when the safety is on the gun is magically safe, but I knew better than that. So, I explained the Glock to my Dad: "Okay, this is the trigger, and -this- right there, that's the safety. You press it and the trigger will move." I even showed him how easy the "safety" moved.

Dad has the pistol with the slide back, mag out and in hand. Slaps the mag in, I tell him to rack the slide and he's ready to go. So, he does that.

With the weapon pointed at my gut.

With his finger on the trigger.

Dad: "So, I just push this button and the safety is off?" His finger wiggles around in the trigger guard.

I stepped off the line of fire and told him to point it down range. He looked confused: "Why didn't he tell me how to take the safety off?"

Me: "Just pull the trigger, Dad."

Yeah, he understood then.

Theres a "noob" mistake for you -- almost shooting your kid in the gut because he thought you were smarter than him.
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In the same vein, after doing some trap shooting with my old man after he brought out his 20 gauge pump gun, at the time his only gun, that my mother bought him as a birthday gift back in 1982. This was 2005.

Dad scored kinda low... like 4 of 25.

Dad: "I think it shoots a little off."
Me: "Well, every gun patterns different. Might want to try it on cardboad and see how it patterns."
Dad: "Well... I used it as a pry-bar a few times. The barrel might be a bit bent."

Sigh.

 

[dmftoy1]

I was 18 and had never shot a handgun in my life. (lots of 22 rifle as a kid) I was in my first year of college and had decided that I wanted to be an FBI agent. I sent away for the qualifications (with S&W .357's at the time) and it said something about being able to pull the trigger on a revolver 60 times in 40 seconds or something along that line. I decided I needed to start practicing!! Not knowing any better my brother and I went down to the local gun store and bought a Super Blackhawk in .44 magnum. (didn't know double action from single action either. ) We bought a box of 300 gr JHP's (Corbon I think) and headed off to the local indoor range.

I still remember being blinded by the flash after that first round and having everyone in the range walk over and ask "What in the H___" we were doing shooting that kind of crap in the indoor range.

 

[RCouch]

Was about 9 or 10 and visiting my Uncle on a farm in central Texas. After lunch, Uncle Wilburn said he was going out in the pasture to shoot some birds. I ask if I could tag along and he said yes. I then asked if I could hold the shotgun and he let me. My next statement was, can I shoot it? He thought I meant when we got to the pasture but I meant now. It was a double barrel and the first shot nocked me against a concrete pump support and the next shot put some holes in his water tank. They had to take 4 stitches in the back of my head and my dad made me pay for the repairs out of my saved up money. Uncle Wilburn never let me live that down.

 

[Monkeybear]

I think I may have mentioned this one before.

I am 21 years old; now old enough to own a handgun. Things are getting pretty rough in my neighborhood and I decide to get one for HD. At this point my knowledge of firearms is extremely limited and I actually think Glock is a caliber. My friend mentions that he has a Glock, which I have heard of before. I go home a google Glock so I can see who makes the best one.


I have learned alot since then.

 

[evan price]

I had just picked up a .357 Magnum revolver on trade from a guy, it is a Colt with a 6" barrel, old, blued, wood grips. I was out with some friends in their farm field and we were plinking and I brought out that old Colt. Loaded it up with some lead wadcutters and took aim at the antifreeze jug out in the field. For some reason I decided to stick my left arm out and grab my right elbow with my left hand and rest the barrel across my left elbow to steady it; I dunno, I guess I saw it in some movie somewhere. I was wearing a nice green long sleeved work shirt.
The shirt now has a nice black burn across the left bicep and left forearm from the powder spray and lead coming from around the forcing cone of that old revolver. D'oh.

 

[merkaba]

a freakin BB gun

well, if a BB gun qualifies ...

I was very very young, parents owned a construction co. in town and I decided to shoot my new BB gun out in the back lot where all the equip is kept.
set up a plastic gallon milk jug
I cocked the Daisy one-cock spring loaded BB gun and hit the milk jug right in the middle
the BB came back and hit me square in the throat. It was more of a shock than anything but made me well aware this was not the right thing to do.
Fortunately a good lesson learned without any damage.
I don't think I've shot a BB gun since.

 

[YoPedro]

Two Stories:

I was 14 years old (long time ago). I have a dirt bike and a scabbard to hold my .22 Remington Apache Rifle for when Dad and I go riding and shooting. I decide to go out on my own, I put the rifle in the scabbard which is attached to the front fork of my motorcycle, and of course it’s loaded! Since I knew everything about everything back then including all there was to know about guns, why shouldn’t it be loaded? Naturally, several miles out into the back country, one of the endless bumps causes the gun to fire and flatten my front tire. Not to be dissuaded by such a silly mistake, I figure I’ll just shoot for awhile and then ride back on a flat. I walk about four steps away from the dirt-bike, a rabbit bolts right in front of me, I track it and put a nice clean shot into the gas tank. I hit the dirt waiting for the Hollywood explosion, but nothing happened. The gas leaked out all over the engine and smoked a lot. I waited for the thing to blow up, and I’m still a little disappointed to this day that it didn’t, it would have made a better story.

I’m about ten years old. My dad is a newly promoted police detective. His service revolver is kept in a closet lock up in its shoulder holster. He and my mother are out to dinner, the babysitter is on the phone. I have a buddy staying for a sleepover, (he had a baby sister nine months later, weird huh?) and I’m showing him the forbidden lock up. I know where the key is, and of course while showing off I drop my dad’s revolver on the concrete floor. It breaks the frame down around the grips. I panic and use this stuff called “Super Glue” that the commercials say can fix anything.

Two days later, during a bank robbery response and capture, my father pulls his service revolver to join the fray, and yep, he’s only holding the butt and grips of the revolver. I don’t recall everything he said that night when he got home, but when my son was born recently I think he was crying because he still felt the pain of the spanking that I got all those years ago! To this day, my dad’s old service buddies still call him “Shortie”.

 

[FieroCDSP]

YoPedro, I don't think there's any way I can top that.

My worst moment came just a month ago. I've never been well indoctrinated to firearms, but I've learned a lot in the past six months. I have a few things to learn about remembering, though.

My friends and I are out at Luke's land and all three of them have Remy 870 HD's. One of them has the folding stock on it, because he's the tacticool type. This is the kind that has the big, sharp, metal parts sticking out everywhere when it's folded. I ask to use it, and I bring it up to sight, and pull, forgetting the lack of stock in the shoulder and the recoil of a shotgun without said stock.
Well, I ended up jamming that pivot joint right into my upper lip when the thing went off. I could taste blood. I swore I lost a tooth. At least I had the presence of mind to hand off the gun before I swept any of them (I hadn't had the time to chamber a new shell before swearing a storm at my own stupidity).
After doing three checks to make sure my tooth was still there (it was, but definitely pushed back a tad) and licking the split lip, I was reluctant to shoot the folding stock anymore. I haven't lived it down yet. Fortunately, I can shoot better than them

 

[drummerwookie]

im still a noob, and so more mistakes to come probably, but i cant think of to many right off the bat...ive been shotting guns with my buddys for a couple years, but finally got my first gun a year ago, a ruger 10/22. then, 3 weeks ago, i got a mosin nagant, and went out last weekend to shoot it for the first time.

well, my left eye is better then my right, so i can shoot left handed better then right handed, even tho i am right handed, and i didnt think about where i had my thumb in relation to the bolt, and i shot off a round, and real fast opened the bold to let out the empty, and scraped the bolt right over my thumb...damn that hurt...lol..cut it open a little bit. i made sure i knew where my thumb was at all times after that...lol

 

[Deuce1911]

Yesterday, not me but my neighbor.

Went to the range for his first handgun experience. He's a country boy and has shot rifles and shotguns but never a handgun. I gave him a good briefing on the operation and controls of my Kimber 1911. He was a little nervous and stepped to the line. First shot goes off, gun cycles normally just like it does every time, he casually lowers the gun and racks the next cartridge out to reload the gun. When he realized what he did, he made the gun safe and looked at me with the "I hope you didn't just see that" look. I got a good laugh out of that one.

 

[orionengnr]

Many years ago, my first centerfire rifle. I bought an older Remington 700 BDL in .30'06 at an estate sale. I think it cost me $100.

Naturally I wanted a scope, so I bought a top of the line Bushnell . Next, rings. Someone showed me the raised "see-through" rings. Sounded like a great idea--if the scope fogs or is otherwise rendered unuseable, switch to the iron sights. Ten bucks at K-Mart.

I set it on my kitchen table, pointed down the street at a tree about 100 yards away. Adjusted the scope until it was pointed pretty much where the iron sights were aimed. Zeroed for 100 yards, without firing a shot! Pretty clever, I was, and very pleased with myself.

Bought some ammo and went to the outdoor range the next weekend. Set up at 100 yards, and using the scope, started putting rounds on paper. Excellent! The recoil was noteworthy, but manageable.

Within 15 rounds or so, though, I noted that the reticle was rotating counterclockwise. What the @#$%? I quickly determined that "someone" had not tightened the rings down adequately, and the scope was rotating in the rings. Of course I was without tools, but this provided an opportunity to validate my wisdom and foresight in purchasing the raised rings!

I settled in below the scope, lined up the iron sights on target, and squeezed the trigger...

BAM! I saw stars, immediately followed by a blinding headache. Blood was dripping into my right eye.

Apparently, "someone" had neglected to take the recoil into account...and I now had a crescent shaped cut on my eyebow/forehead from the scope.

I don't use those raised rings anymore...

 

[briansp82593]

my friend has a big scar from doing that with a 375 h&h

 

[ApexinM3]

I had a bad dream once where I got popped in the forehead by the recoil spring from my first 1911 upon disassembly for cleaning. Never made that mistake again...in my dreams. Nobody was around so technically it didn't happen. But if I ever did have a n00b incident, that would have been it.