When have you come the closest to shooting anyone? This can be both for defense stories, or accidental discharge or whatever. All Condition Red (where you have drawn your gun) stories are welcome.
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When have you come the closest to shooting anyone? This can be both for defense stories, or accidental discharge or whatever. All Condition Red (where you have drawn your gun) stories are welcome.
Multiple times in Iraq, once while working a criminal case. All very sureal experiences. Training is what get's you through them. The act of intentionally pointing a loaded gun at someone will affect you for life. I'm happy to say I have not had to actually pull the trigger.
Thanks for sharing SAFriday. Are you unable to share more specifics though?
Unless people aren't allowed to discuss specifics, this thread will only be cool if you guys are much more specific in your stories. I got this idea from my favorite board (www.silencertalk.com) and on that thread some guy had a story of shooting TWO guys in his front yard with a 20 gauge shotgun. They immediately hit the ground and didn't get up, and he thought he killed them.[Help]
It was my very first day on patrol. First call of the day, before we (my training officer and I) even got the car loaded up.
Suicidal male. After a fight with his girlfriend, decided he wanted to die. Except, apparently he didn't have the stones to do it himself. So, he threatened her and she, naturally, called the cops.
We arrived at his house at about 0720 and were taking cover behind a car parked in front of the place. He was standing in a doorway with only the left half of his body visible. There was about 15 yards between him and us. His right side was hidden behind the wall he was leaning against. While we talked to him he occasionally moved a shotgun into view from where it was hidden on his right side that we couldn't see. Initially he just kept it pointed at the ground. He started getting a little agitated and was getting more agressive in moving the muzzle of the gun in our direction.
My FTO carried a Ruger P90. At one point I wondered why we hadn't shot the guy. I looked at my partner and noticed the hammer on his gun was about half way back, wavering slightly back and forth as he put pressure on the trigger. I had a S&W 645 and and started to pull the trigger as the guy lifted the muzzle towards us. If I'd had something like a Glock or a 1911, I would've shot him. But instead of firing he tossed the gun out the door. He came really close to getting shot...maybe getting killed.
That was only the first time. In 15 years, there were lots of times after that.
That same day...my first day on patrol, I had to perform CPR on a on a 35 year old guy during the 20 min ambulance ride to St Anthony's (volunteer fire department and not enough personnel available to answer the call). He had a heart attack at work. Then had to tell his wife and kids at the hospital he died. After that call, I went to an accident on I-70. Mom & 2 kids in a mini-van got side-swiped by a semi that lost it's brakes coming down hill. The mini-van rolled a couple of times. We were right under the overpass where this happened on our way to get lunch and start some reports. I got to hold mom as she held her 1 and 3 year daughters as they both died in her arms before rescue even got there.
When our 10 hour shift finally ended after almost 15 hours I really wondered if I'd made the right career decision.
Man that's some heavy stuff. I was just going to say that must have been one hell of a first day.Quote:
Originally Posted by Bailey Guns
I was walking with the my lady, cutting through an ally by safeway by the CU football field and a guy came walking up with a 3' piece of pipe and was waving it around and comeing at us and started asking if i know where some dude lived, While I was pushing my Wife away and moving further away I had my holster unsanpped and had on the grip ready to draw. then he asked for the time and I told him I don't have a watch on and to leave me alone. Then he left, Thats the only time I had a hand on my pistol ready to use it, it was a scarry time, but I told myself its me or him
Shooting my AR at the south site about 10 years ago. I was back about 200 yards, and the place was deserted. I had a spotter placed about 50 yards forward and about 45° off to one side.
I had what I thought was a clear view of the entire field up to the target. I had fired about 3 shots and had the slack up on the trigger for number 4. The shot was milliseconds from breaking. My spotter started shouting "CEASE FIRE" in a somewhat panicked tone of voice. I relaxed my trigger finger just as a father and son motored through my line of fire on a small motorcycle. Had my spotter not warned me, I'd have hit one of them almost for certain.
It turns out there is a very shallow depression in that field that is just capable of hiding a rider. We walked through it, but didn't notice it when we were hanging the target. It was completely invisible from the shooting position.
That situation scared me so badly I didn't fire another shot for over a year. I had nightmares about killing one of those people for months after.
Every time I think about that day, I thank God I didn't kill anyone.
As you can imagine, I'm even more careful now, and I was almost paranoid careful before that incident. You just can't be too cautious.
I don't have anything....just good memories of 2 bulls taken with a .50 cal muzzleloader, hundreds, if not thousands of p-dogs taken with anything from a .22 to a .243.
Hopefully I won't have a story, but i will be ready just in case.
I don't really have a story either. Although Daniel's story reminded me of something that happened just the other day. I had just brought home that .22 rifle my grandpa gave me, and got it out of my trunk to take it inside. So here I am walking through my parking lot with a bare rifle in my hand and these two shady dudes are standing by one of my neighbor's doors, leaning against the rail smoking. He looks at me and yells to me, "Hey man, do you know an Art around here?" Usually I'm a pretty talkative guy, but I just looked at him and said "Nope." I thought it was funny that I was open carrying a rifle at the time, but I guess I must not have looked very threatening with it.
Also, the other night I thought I heard an unusual noise shortly after I went to bed. I had forgotten that I had started my washer a few minutes before. I got my gun out of the safe, and was walking down the hall toward my daughter's room, with the gun pointed at the floor. The washer was right between cycles (you know when it completely stops and sits for a minute?) and right as I walked next to it, it kicked on and scared the crap out of me. I immediately thought how I was glad I was holding the gun with my finger down the slide like I was supposed to be, or else I might have shot my own foot off!
bottom line is a second car pulled up and a voice said "i saw everything, would you like me to call the cops for you?"
No no no Jim. Your post is not acceptable. It is the same as going into a joke thread and only posting,
You've got to tell the whole story or else it isn't any fun.Quote:
So then the priest yells, "Are you sure we have time?!"
My only time was when my kid was in his sneaky, stealing any snacks he could find stage. We always told them if they come downstairs after we go to sleep to turn the lights on. He didn't. He snuck down with a flashlight searching for goodies.
Wifey wakes me and says someone is in the living room, I see the light from a flashlight. I grabbed my pistol and ended up pointing it right at him. Of course my finger wasn't on the trigger at that time because I wasn't ready to shoot.
Scared the hell out of him, and he and his brothers never come downstairs without turning on the lights.
Damned B-Guns. One hell of a first day man. I often wonder that myself.
First time I ever almost dropped the hammer on anybody I was walking around an apartment complex at about 2AM seeing what was going down in the area. You know, just getting a feel for the drunks and gang bangers you often see around that time there.
A car pulled up and parked just off the property, blacked out for a moment, then turned its lights back on and parked in the first available spot in the parking lot across the street from me. A male gets out of the front passenger side, and another gets out of the rear drivers side. The front passenger was yelling at another passenger in the back passenger side how he would take him around the corner behind an apartment building, and cut his neck where nobody could see it(HUGE RED FLAG!!). The driver side rear was doing the usual "I’m big and wanna be involved, but not get my hands dirty" and taunting the back passenger to come out and fight his buddy to the death. Female driver was just sitting there in shock…
I called over the radio for backup, and crossed the street, but remained out of sight and behind cover only 15-20 yards from the group of morons. When the back passenger continued to refuse to fight his buddy, the aggressor opens the back door to the car screams "I'm gonna kill you!" and all I see his fist swinging on the helpless passenger through the window and I hear screams.
My first reaction is, "oh shit, this guy is getting stabbed! I gotta help!" I move out to a position in the lot where I was still covered but now visible to the aggressor and the "taunter". I gave them both loud verbal commands to stop what they were doing and let me see their hands(of course there were a few choice words at that time.)
Upon review, I don’t remember my sidearm clearing leather(Beretta 92FS INOX at the time), just that I now had a faint sight picture in the lower part of my vision. Muscle memory was taking over. I knew my finger was off the trigger and I was at a ready position aimed just below their feet.
Both the aggressor and the "taunter" came into the open, but Mr. aggressor was still not showing me his hands, and my comfort level was falling. "Taunter" obeyed my commands and proned out on the ground for me, eyes facing away, arms spread, and palms up, but aggressor was still not listening to me. He began to get more angry, screaming and yelling about how its always the police's fault, and how he would take me out too. I still could not see his hands, and felt threatened by the fact he was moving towards me and I was now his 100% focus.
I remember acquiring a perfect sight picture on his center mass as i was yelling for him to show me his hands. At that exact moment I saw the oh so familiar red/blue glow on surrounding buildings, and heard the wail of sirens. He gave up, right then. Hands straight up, turned around, and proned out. As soon as I saw empty hands going up, I returned to a ready position, and covered my backup as they detained the two morons and covered the car.
For the next few moments I was trying to figure out why I couldn’t get my damn holster to snap shut(basic Safariland Top-Gun). I finally realized when I looked down what was wrong. The hammer on my sidearm was at half cock. That dumb SOB had come withing about 1/16th of an inch worth of trigger pull from becoming hamburger.
Guy in the back seat hadn’t gotten stabbed, just punched in the face a whole hell of a lot, messing him up pretty bad. Female driver was a little stunned, but this obviously wasn’t her first rodeo either, she went to detox on a DUI. 2 idiots went to jail for assault, and the victim went to the hospital then detox.
This had some minor effects on me. Some messed up nights of sleep, odd dreams, and even a few where I did actually take the guy out. But I was OK with that. I knew that I hadn't dont it, and if I had, I would have been justified.
This is why I always say, train when you can, then make some extra time to train, then lose a little sleep to train a little more. Prepare for it as much as possible, train your ass off, and read some books so you know what how your body will react. And ALWAYS make sure you come home at the end of the day. This whole thing came down to muscle memory, and I probably could have gotten away with shooting the SOB… But that’s not what I am out there for.
[Beer]
it involved a car with 4 teen males thinking it was funny to wait until i was approx 15-20' from them on my MC, they pulled out in front of me laughing and pointing. wasn't so funny 63' of tire mark i finally stopped and was able to turn around. traffic stopped in 4 directions who witnessed the incident. had a lot of witnesses to vehicular assault (their part) according to LEs. thats all i can write about. sorry.........Quote:
Originally Posted by Sturtle
uh....you mean without actually shooting them?
Bravo! That's a really tough spot to be in... you never know what their intentions are, especially when you're dealing with people who have no regard for the law. I'm glad you had the presence of mind and training to prepare yourself for the worse, without having to shoot anyone. Keep up the good work. [Beer]Quote:
Originally Posted by bjl913
Thanks for clearing that up. I suspected that you might not be able to discuss this if it is still pending.Quote:
Originally Posted by jim
Was he armed?Quote:
Originally Posted by bjl913
It sounds like you have pulled the trigger before on other times. I won't ask you to share those stories.
Well, I guess If yourself counts,, Chalk my body count at 1...
Down at the shooting range south of Springfield, I was shooting at the spinning pistol target they had. Due to the outside nature of the range and the fact they had been hit once or twice, They really didn't spin that good..
Had the .44 mag with some loads that were on the, shall we say, potent side.. Well, they started swinging with those hitting them..
Now, I will say there was a bar on the ground, to represent the shooting line. It was about 20 yrds back from the targets and I was back about another 15 yrds beyond that.. So I was about 35 yrds away from the targets..
Things are going good, I have the target moving. Then I guess I had one that wasn't quite up to par with the previous ones,, And it bounced.
I saw that it was heading back My way, the whole thing was kind of surreal.. It happened so fast, about all I had time to do was kind of a half turtle, I had on a fairly heavy jacket, so I figured I was semi safe.
It caught me about mid thigh on my right leg, felt like I got hit with a rock. I calmly gathered up my ammo and headed back to the Blazer about 120 yrds away. By the time I got there, it had started to bleed.. And bleed it did. I was wearing the old syle desert camo BDU's.
Needless to say it was a long ride home.. Funniest part, after I got the BDU's cleaned up, the only thing wrong with them was a broken thread of material..
Do I win?
Well, thank God I've never been in a posistion to shoot/be shot by another person with a firearm. So, does a BB gun count? Many years ago when I was a young, drunk idiot, my buddy thought it would be amusing to shoot me in the ass with a BB gun. Yep, the guys observed my reaction and named a dance after it. Its called the "shot-in-the-ass-shuffle". Only dance I've ever been able to do...
My revenge took the form of a wrist rocket and a well aimed marble. Like I said, young and stupid. Wouldn't dream of doing it today, but still funny as hell. "Shot-in-the-ass-shuffle" version 2.0. I win...
never been close.
the closest I've gotten was a few years back, some urban utes pulled up in front of the house and fired 7 rounds from a car. Thinking they were shooting at the house I grabbed the glock and went out the front door, expecting to come under fire and ready to return. They took off immediately after shooting. I stood in the street and watched them as they sped off up the street and turned at the end of the block. They had been shooting at the drug dealers that lived down the street.
The fun was when a CSPD cruiser rolled up and stopped right in front of me. Lit me with the spotlight, standing there in the street with a gun in my hand. I didn't move a muscle. The car sat for a second, then drove around me and sped off. I went back inside.
Hmmm. Might have been a good thing for me to include! He was armed but that was not a threat. He had a knife in his pocket. My actions were based off his words, motions, and fact he was keeping his hands hidden. ALWAYS watch the hands. Hands are the usually the thing that will kill you!!!Quote:
Originally Posted by Sturtle
I have had a few other shoot/no-shoot situations outside the military that ended up as no-shoot, but this is the one that sticks out the most since it was my first. Never had to pull the trigger on another American.
Some good stories here guys, keep it up.
Ha! I took a good one to my left hand, split it wide open but didnt bleed much at all. From that I got a nice mark on my TRP from being dropped (and partially hit), and a nasty scar on my hand. I may have took it to the throat had my pistol not been pointed in the right direction. [Tooth]Quote:
Originally Posted by Marlin
I took my wife to see Spamalot back in May, show let out around 10:30-11:00 (cant remember exactly). We parked in a complex a few blocks east of the Buell, and on our way back we walked by a pool hall. We cross over to the opposite side of the street from the hall as I didn't feel like running into anybody stumbling out of that place and the other side of the street seemed to be clear. On the other side of the street is a large office building and from around the corner I see the silhouette of a hooded individual stick his head out and look our way (I think the heels my wife had on got his attention) with the situation being somewhat cliche I immediately I go to condition orange and grab my wife's hand and we cross back over to the pool hall side of the street, about half way across he shouts to us "HEY!! WHACHYA'LL SCURD OF?" While trying to glance around at my surroundings and keep this guy in my sight I notice that there are three other guys with him and they walk out towards us to the curb, that's when I slowly reach under my jacket to verify - "Yep its the J Frame" and then...."SHIT!! Its the J Frame" (with the 5 rds I loaded it with - that's it). At that point one of them got a phone call and they all decided to up and head back in the direction from which we came. By the time my wife and I made it passed the Walgreens they were out of sight and we made our way to the complex where we parked. As we approached I noticed a squad car sitting at the entrance and the Officer was having a chat with the guy in the booth there, I then started to calm down and we quickly made our way to the car and got the hell outta dodge. That seemed to be the longest four blocks I ever walked and I never thought Id ever feel under gunned with my 340 but I sure did that night. Even though I didnt have to pull my weapon, this situation put a lot of things into perspective and I hope to God that I never find myself in a position where I have to point a loaded gun at somebody.
...didn't have to pull a gun, but made me change my ways... last monday (10/5/09) night... passed a fellow with my car walking fairly fast in the rain with a backpack on about a block from the house, didn't think much of it. Got home, pulled into the driveway and headed across the street to get the mail. Just happened to meet this guy nearly dead center of the street. He stops and points - "You live there?", No. He points at another house, "You live there?" No, what can I help you with. Keeping my distance, I'm unarmed, but planning things with my "limited" martial arts skills... "I need some food and just got off the highway from hitch hiking..." Go stand under the tree and I'll see if I can find something for you. He's wet, cold, really shakey, just nutty really, doesn't seem all "there". I get the mail and make my way back to my car, grab a pack of tuna I had in the car for possible lunch and ask him if he likes tuna, "just kinda mumbles and indicates with a nod he might..." So while standing at my car, I reach in and put my LCR in my waistband (damn I should have done this on the way home...) I go around the car and give him the tuna, he starts working on eating it like he hasn't had food in weeks. I tell him to wait a minute and I'll see if I can get him some other items... I go in the house and dig through the hunting crap and dig out some pre-packaged items he can have. Give them to him, he sets them on the ground while still eating the tuna. "I need a thrift store..." Why? Where are you headed... "going West... and I need a blanket..." I just happened to have an old blanket outside that wasn't wet and I offered it to him, and he set it down with the food on the ground. "you act weird..." why? "you a cop?" Nope. But you can't stay here, you need to move on. I go back inside the house and he wanders off to the school across the street, digs through their re-cycle dumpster, puts some cardboard over his head and heads down the street... a few minutes later I look and see that he never did take the food or blanket with him... strange... Called the wife and told her to call me when she's approaching the house, as I'm not really sure this guy went very far and I want to escort her in the house...
lesson learned, since I can't carry at work or even take anything in the building, be sure and put on whatever firearm I have with me when leaving for home, I just might need it when I step out... I might have had the executive letter opener in my pocket, but don't remember... (plastic cold steel knife)
I've got one other story, didn't involve shooting, but is another "doh" moment... ya just never know when you need something.
kc.
This is also why I carry even when on longer roadtrips. I'm always worried that I'll have a blowout or there's a road side emergency of some sort and I'll hop out to take care of it and be w/o my gun and something goes down. It's funny because I joke that I have CPR certification as well as a CCW so I can handle most any emergency. 'Hello, I'm here to help! Do you need someone saved or shot?!?' [Tooth]
Quote:
Originally Posted by Jer
It never hurts to be prepared! [Tooth]
Who else has experiences that the rest of us can learn from?
I once got into a big fight with my girlfriend, and left the house during a blizzard at like 2:45 am. We were both pretty upset and I didn't want to have a gun on me if I encountered any law enforcement and try and have to explain why I'm driving around in the middle of the night, in the middle of a blizzard, all pissed off, and with a gun. So I left it at home in the safe.
As I'm driving down the road, I see this car parked on the side of the street with flashers on and three people standing outside waving a gas can around. I was driving down Federal, so I figured there had to be a near by gas station. I pull over and it is a girl and two guys. The girl is arguing with them because they just want to walk and she wants a ride to the gas station. I told her that is fine, but since I had a car full of stuff, I only had room for one. They continue to argue and then I see her throw her hands up in the air, and start storming back toward my car. She opens the door, throws her gas can in and says, "Those dumb assholes don't want to come, can you please just take me?" I said, no problem, we'll be back in a jiffy. She closes the door, I do a U-turn, and one of the guys runs in front of my car, arms waving. I stop, he comes to her side, opens the door, tells her to get the fuck out of the car and that he'll go. So he hops in, looks around and says, "How many people you got in here? Oh...just you? I thought you had a car full of dudes or something and were going to drive off with my girlfriend." I told him I'm just trying to help some people who look like they are freezing their asses off in the snow. He says, "Alright, thanks man."
So I'm driving back the other way on Federal, and he's talking to me and I just get more and more uncomfortable by the second. He opens the conversation with, "You smoke man?" (He means weed). I told him no. He goes on and the conversation is pretty one sided with a bunch of stuff that went pretty much like this:
"Man, I love getting high. Tonight we were drinking. I love getting drunk and fighting and shit man."
ME: Oh yeah, where were you drinking at?
"The greenbelt. We're homeless. We just hit the liquor stores and then drink outside by the creek man."
"Hey man, that was my girlfriend and my friend back there. I didn't want you to take off with her you know man? I wasn't gonna let you take off with her. I would have thrown my knife at your car...or something man." short pause "She knows how to handle herself though man. I got her this knife....I got my own knife man (pats his jacket) but I got her, her own knife and I taught her how to use it you know? I mean she will put up a fight if anyone tries to mess with her you know? But I love her and didn't want her going with you."
ME: Yeah, I understand what you mean buddy.
Then just various other stuff about how much he loved his girl, getting high, getting drunk, and how they were homeless and living out of their car (Dodge Stratus). I made some comments about how I used to work with a couple that was homeless and had some pets in the car with them, etc etc.
So after an eternity (about a mile) I finally find a gas station that was open and pull in. He seems wary about getting out. Originally the girl said she only wanted a ride one way, and would walk back, but I told him that I was going back that way anyway, and there was no reason for him to freeze. He tried to give me like five bucks, but I told him that I was pretty sure that he needed it more than I did. So after awhile, when he seemed sure enough that I wasn't going to take his gas can and leave him there, he finally got out to get the gas. I drove him back to their car and dropped him off.
I didn't have anything with me except for an extra magazine (full) that I was holding in my hand in case I needed to use it as a fist pack. I haven't ever really had to defend myself, and am generally not real comfortable in the face of a potential physical encounter, so this trip was pretty nerve wracking for me. I already wasn't having the best night, since just an hour before I got locked out of my place during the fight without a jacket.
Like Graves said, it was about the longest driven mile in my life; and like gnihcraes said, never again do I want to be caught unprepared like that.
Also, don't pick up hitch hikers, even when it's snowing.
I always take something with me when traveling before I had my ccw permit, just for those reasons stated above about having to fix a flat tire or something in the middle of nowhere land.
Ok... I got a few minutes... here is another one... (you'll like this)
Fine summer day, in the garage, cleaning the guns... all of the guns. Hear a loud screeech and a quick acceleration then screeech again as this old Jeep Grand Cherokee goes sliding by my driveway. I hear loud yelling... so I wander out of the garage and to the street. As I step to into the street this big thug of a guy gets out of the jeep (which is sideways in the street) "mind your own f*cking business!" uh? so I keep my distance as I try to figure out what is going on? He yells some more at me and gets back in his truck and drives off like a mad man... I finally figure out that there is a girl at the neighbors door beating on it asking for help. I go over and talk to the old couple and her, asking the old couple to go get me the phone and I call 911. The girl is pretty beat up and apparently he's been chasing her through the neighborhood with his truck. She's been doing pretty well keeping him at bay. Police show up and we go through the normal reporting routines. The officers were laughing at me because all my guns were at my disposal, but in pieces. I never had to go to court, he pled guilty to domestic abuse or something and got locked up for a bit.
Note: Always keep one gun assembled and functioning at all times. Doh!
Not sure that I would have done anything with a gun, other than keep myself safe, which is hard to do when they are not together...
I've got one more "wish I had a gun" story I'll post in a little bit...
kc.
Crazy that you posted that! Whenever I clean my guns, I like to always keep at least ONE fully operational and ready to be loaded. Lately I've been feeling stupid doing that though, since nothing ever happens. Great story!
+1Quote:
Originally Posted by Sturtle
Just like whenever I clean guns or go to the range or a competition or whatever I ALWAYS have at least one gun loaded with carry ammo on my person. I've heard WAY too many stories to think I'm safe at a gun range or at a 'designated shooting place' out in the sticks. I rotate what guns I shoot/clean and always have another one loaded with carry ammo ready to go just in case. Some days I train with my target handgun (G17) and keep my carry gun (G26) on me. Other times I will practice with the carry gun and at those times I load my target gun with carry ammo to keep on me. Call it paranoid but it makes sense that if you carry in places you think are safe you also carry in places where there's lots of guns and things might not be as safe.
true... a friend that I take with me to shooting areas and ranges, always has a loaded weapon other than the one he is practicing with for those same reasons. He's more than once had some stranger walk up while they were shooting and not feel comfortable with that person being there...(non shooters, just strangers) (usually happens at the outdoor shooting places on public lands)...
The Doh! Moments remind me of a story. Speaking of going shooting and no keeping a gun handy
About a year ago I was out in the desert outside of Tucson and doing some moving and shooting practice on a few targets with a friend of mine. It’s about 11pm and we think we are totally alone, as we are way out of town. We wrap up shooting for a while and the two of us are down range picking up brass, all hunched over with flash lights, just talking about form, and women, and so on. As we are doing this a car pulls up next to our campsite, where ALL of our guns were, and aims its headlights right at us. We are sitting there, fully blind to what this guy is doing and he spends a few long seconds in his car just looking at us.
The guy is in a really old beat up car so we put police out of the equation right away, which just makes us more nervous. He starts shouting out of his car, asking about what we are doing and what we are up to and so on, and you can tell the guy just isn’t right in the head. Words are slurred and he isn’t always making sense. He starts asking questions we don’t like to answer, about where we live, if we have women at home alone, what/how many guns we have. My friend is an Army sniper(shame on him) starts moving off to one side and I start going the other direction as best we can, making our way towards our guns, real slow, as he is going on with his questions. I did my best to keep my strong side away from him, didn’t have anything on me, but I figured it would be best if only I knew that.
After about the 2 longest minutes I had in a long time, I am standing behind my truck’s engine, trying to get to my rifle, and my friend is behind my truck, in the dark with his rifle. The guy eventually took off, no idea who he was or what he was up to, but we sure got the wrong vibe and got caught completely unprepared.
We felt un-believably stupid that night. The deserts out there are generally not a safe place, at night especially, and some fool weirdo is the least of one’s worries, but he caught us, just lucky it wasn’t a drug runner or something of that ilk. I switched form a one-point sling to a two point sling, so as I could pick up ammo with my rifle on after that night.
I have a few storys from the desert come to think of it
That was a pretty bizarre situation!
I've never had anything quite like that happen, but probably 10 years ago or so I just started keeping a gun on me while checking targets, etc. In addition to that, I also keep any other arms that are left on the table unloaded. It just occurred to me that instead of someone checking out your guns while you are downrange (which really irritates me, but fortunately is rare), they could easily use them against you or steal them.
Probably a good thing for all members to consider. Imagine how it would feel for any of us, as responsible gun owners, to have one of our guns used to harm someone or commit a crime.
Sorry we're getting off on a bit of a tangent but since we're on this little side topic I will post the story I heard quite a while ago. It takes place at Pawnee and it goes like this:
Three College age kids are out shooting and arrived in two trucks. While shooting another car pulls up somewhat close to the others but nothing to make them think too much. One of the kids heads back to town leaving the other two who continue shooting. Since the witness left the rest is just hearsay but it doesn't take a forensic expert to figure this one out. Both were found shot to death and no firearms or ammo or anything of value was found. The kid who left to go back into town had a vague description of the car/guy but said that they had half a dozen or so firearms that they brought with that were nowhere to be found. Sounds to me like the guy got there and was planning his timing for when they had unloaded their guns and were either checking targets, reloading or both to make his move.
Now, as I already stated I have NO idea if this story is accurate or not but even if it's 100% fabricated it could easily happen if you're not careful and teaches a very good lesson.
I'll not let you get back to your regularly scheduled thread of confirmed stories.
Ok...the wife and I are camping up near Reudi reservoir, about a mile and a half up a 4WD road, and well off the main path. It started raining about 4:30, and we went to bed at about 10. I'm sleeping in boxer shorts and a tshirt, as it is a bit brisk in early September in those parts. About 3 am, I'm awakened by the sound of a barely muffled small block Chevy, and a whole BUNCH of light coming through the side of the tent. Some jackass in a rusted out mid seventies Blazer with about 6 sets of off road lights pulls right into the campsite, and says "I'm hunting bears, seen any? I have my 1911 in my hand, partially hidden behind my right hip, cocked and locked. I am standing in the pouring rain, in a t-shirt and boxers, and this jackhole wants to have a conversation about hunting conditions in the middle of the night? Something didn't feel right about the situation, but said idjit must have seen something that made him want to move on to an easier target. Needless to say, I didn't get much sleep the rest of that night, and now I have a lever action 45-70 in the tent when we're camping(I figure it makes better bear medicine than the .45acp, anyhow).
This was a great thread, and since we have so many new members recently, I thought I'd bump it up.
Good call - I killed a man in Reno, just to watch him die.
How about, "When have you come the closest to NEVER shooting someone?"
My two partners and I had just finished the judgmental training part of a CO concealed handgun class a month or so ago. When we're "shooting" on the simulator our guns are locked in the safe - safety reasons and all that.
Here we are, the 3 of us, certified, professional firearms instructors teaching people how to be prepared, avoid conflict, always be ready, blah, blah, blah...
We come out of the classroom after the last student left, it's dark, and there's some shifty looking transient-type hanging out in the shadows in front of our class. Guy was "out there", too. He starts quickly walking right towards the 3 of us without saying a word...like he's on a mission.
My partner quietly asks, "You got your gun?".
"Uh, no. It's in the safe. Do you have yours?", I asked.
"No. It's in the safe."
In about a 1/4 second I'd already visualized the headlines in the paper the next day:
3 Concealed Firearm Instructors Robbed in Front of Shooting School - None Armed!
Luckily the kid was just curious what we were doing and wandered away after a few innocent questions.
I felt stupid.
Well, my one story already has a thread. But I do have another one that's kind of simple and funny.
My brother is a hardcore liberal... he wasn't until he got married (go figure). Anyways, grandpa (rest in peace), dad, and I always go (went) shooting and talked about guns, etc. So they are no stranger to my family. One day John (my brother) is spending the night at my place. It was a long day for me and I was tired, so I "forgot" John was spending the night traveling through to go back home. Middle of the night I wake up and hear some noises in the kitchen. Get out of bed, go to the closet and pull out the 12 ga. I walk into the kitchen and yell, "What the @$#^ you doing mother @#$^?!" at the top of my lungs while racking the slide and leveling the barrel.... John screams like the woman he is and sprays milk everywhere. I realize it's him and apologize profusely... "Not used to having others in the house" I say. This was before I was married.
To this day he rarely talks to me and hates guns.....