Confidence goes a long way. Provided it was true, the appropriate response to, "Did you get him?" at our old deer camp was always, "You heard me shoot, didn't you?"

Confucius say, a shooting legend you will be if one-time-crack-shot excitement is contained and not exploited.
Confucius also say, if cowboy can't shoot straight, cowboy better shoot a lot.

When you have one remarkable shot your buddies call it luck. Make a couple more and then they call you "one shot or dead eye". I remember one such shot my dad told about at deer camp, he was standing next to a buddy when he shot at a crow sitting in the top of a tree at approx. a 1/2 mile with a .270. He said the gun went off and about 2 seconds later the crow just went POOF!

Just act like you have been there before....as a great one once said.

Walt, that is when you say, "good enough" then walk away and start cutting fire wood!

Team Hornady® delivers a solid performance at the Missouri State 1000 yard IBS Championship

About time!

WAM

Depending on ammunition, I show -137.2 with a hold over of 16.4 MOA

Kinda like throwing a baseball or archery, do it enough and you will get a feel on what to do and be good at it

I was going with a 200 yard zero 140gr at 3090 fps.

Always said, if your going to do something, do it with style! It covers up the "didn't believe that happened"!!

Clay-
You know it! Funny how military jargon sounds like fortune cookie lingo :D

Clay, YOU WATCH B5?!?!?!?! my hero (high fives) my dad got me hooked on the old and new Battlestars and b5 a year ago now. Wishing they'd make a new series.

Clay is that Babble On 5...?

I am more likely to answer the question, "Did you get him?" with "I think so, but I could not find blood ,so I came back to give him some time and find some help." Now that I bow hunt with rage 1.5's I say "I heard her fall down. Want to come load her?" Guns don't kill beast, it's the projectiles, killaz.

But interrogate we of course could not interrogate the poor schmuck.

Sorry Clay, you've been rather "active" latey and I couldn't resist. A little gun store humor...

Moishe

Know the feeling!

Were did I put my 45 ***********!

contnued form above
Everyone one was so suprised it was just silent ,.
The old guy reached int his coat ,. pulled out a pint bottle of somethng( that wsnt milk) took a couple big swallows,. lite a smoke and said.

Well I its about time .. just missed him last year same place same time ,. held just a little higher this year .

I remember back in 94 in Phoenix Arizona, one of the Civilians at a match had a Mini 14 and always placed #1 from the bottom. That day, one of the other competitors scoffed at him and mumbled something with profanity about him.

That Match was just a local match and didn't amount to anything and the rest of the Air Force Team didn't bother to show up. As the Fella walked by, I said to myself, I remember that day when somebody gave me a leg up, so what the hick! I yelled at the Young Man and motioned him over and asked how would he like to use my equipment? He was puzzled and didn't know what to say. Put your equipment up, you are shooting here today and I'm going to set this one out and help on the line. After I gave him some quick pointers and got him setup, something unusual came over him? I let him dry fire about 5-7 times and we went hot. Got him dialed in and turned him lose!

He place fist place, not from the bottom this time, but first place!

He was 20 just out of High School and a couple of months later, He was at Ben Avery Arizona Shooting Range shooting with the BIG BOYS! "THE MARINE TEAM" and did very well taking several first place individual matches!

Bottom line,

It's not being a Legend

It's about making Legends <><

WAM you're aging yourself again! LOL!!

We sat in the afternoon heat, swatting mosquitos in the 90 degree heat. I had eventually turned my facemask backwards in hopes the buffalo gnats would quit chewing on my sweating brow. No dice. They slipped in the backdoor and the face mask held them in place as they chewed away.
My old buddy, sweating profusly, turned to me and stated a desire to be elsewhere as the enjoyment of this turkey hunt was eluding him.
I returned to the truck as he gathered the dekes.
The tom that had been teasing us with distant gobbles was still at it as the diesel rumbled through the mesquites to retrieve the Old Man.
I turned us around, headed home, letting the diesel idle along the rough pasture road.
The road popped out into a fence line with an open pasture across the fence.
Suddenly, the Old Man states excitedly, "THERE HE IS!".
I kicked the truck into neutral, still idling, rolled the window down, stuck the .22 Hornet out the window and rested it atop the vibrating outside rearview mirror.
The turkey was in a long run, but suddenly stopped to consider a hog wire fence 150 yards across the open pasture. I slipped the crosshairs of the antique 4x Weaver to the base of his neck, caressed the trigger and 9.5 grains of Herco 2400 sent the 45 gr Sierra SP down range to collapse the gobbler into a pile of feathers.
The Old Man stuttered, "You... you... you got him!"
I kicked the empty out of the little Hornet, placed the rifle smartly into the back seat, wiped the S... eating grin off my face and said, "Of course! I was shooting at him wasn't I?!"
My first double beard. 9" and 5" broomed off 1 in spurs and 23 pounds.
He's gone now, but the Old Man was so excited, you would have thought HE shot him. There's a picture on the mantle holding the bird.

Bubba

Yeah every time I shoot the people I hunt with know something is dead. I like it like that.

Of course the first time I showed up at deer camp I had a shotgun and they all laughed and said we don't hunt with shotguns in Tennessee. Then I shot a coke can at 50 yards off hand. Lucky shot but I have pretty much shot every day for 40 years or more... it was no big deal to me. They all had to change their drawers. Ithaca Deerslayer. Once I got a hold of a Remington 700 if it was brown it was down.

Sweet. I shot a pigeon with a pellet gun on the wing once. All my friends were there that time too. They just shook their heads because I already was a legend in their minds..... I just kind of laughed, that one did surprise me it was one in a thousand.

Alright Clay you dredged up another memory. A bad one. My father in law has a barn with a hay loft and has a couch and coffeemaker, heater, etc. that he hunts out of. Biggest buck he ever killed he took the rifle out of my sons hand who was supposed to be hunting and shot it in front of him.

OUCH! DOC!! That was bad!!

Sorry, Clay. I thought you were referring to my post. LOL

Ralph, you ain't got a hair on it if you don't whoop his a$$ for that one!

WA Mtnhunter it is inappropriate behavior to hit your wife's father no matter what unless he hits you or your wife or one of your children first.

not commenting on comments read most of them kind of funny! I recently had this idea while fishing as much as i would like to throw payback in my friends face. He seems to to think fishing is first a race and then who catches the most fish then who caught the biggest basically its a pissing contest when ever i go fish with him. So the other day i took him trout fishing a fish he has never fished. I caught 6 fish a very nice brown 18inch was pretty happy well i got so into walking the stream i didn't give him a piece of his own medicine. I left my friend alone as he struggled catching chubs. It occurred to me he was probably more mad that i was catching fish and not saying anything.

Dr Ralph who is not a doctor nor named Ralph,

Laptop trigger malfunction...

LOL! That would be a figurative a$$whoppin', not literal there son. What did you do? Nothing? Let the boy be embarassed by his grandad some more? Inquiring minds want to know...

WAMTN. I have grown accustomed to his ways. In laws and outlaws are one in the same to me. Mother in laws are worse...

Best not to start a war. My wife has nine uncles and and three aunts. Can't count the cousins. I have no relatives closer than 350 miles. Blood is thicker than water.

Once again ,..( and tell the boys and girls not to try this at home ) a very long time ago ,..

A few of us poor broke neighborhood kids had gathered at a dump , to shoot .. one kid had his ole mans clay pidgeon launcher.
( we had scrounged enough money to get some clay birds collectivley)
So as far as our young and underprivivlagd minds were concered. This was one step below Curt Gowdy and the American Sportsman show
Previewing a little practice before a 500 round dove hunt in Argentina . YUK YUK

Myself and my brother had the only shotgun in the house
taking turns . One kid had a 22 revolver in additon to a shotgun.
So intermitantly he was pop pop poping with that.

It was my turn to shoot ,. standing as correctly as I could,. I siad "pull".
Having heard that on TV or somewhere.

The kid on the trap said what?? ,.so I said "OK",. which he understood ,..and pulled the lanyard.
The clay bird ( which was yellow ) was away .

My brother ( who was always d!ckin around) was standing behind me on s slight grade so higher than me , had perloined the other kids 22 opistol ,.
About 1/4 of heart beat before I pulled the trigger ,. the clay bird blew up and I heard the flat crack of a 22.

Yup ,. you guessed it ,. ,my "d!ick around" brother standing 50 ft behind me,. hit it with a 22 pistol ,.

I tuned around,. 1/2 pi$$d and 1/2 amazed ,.he was standing there with a big sh!t eating grin on his face
Then calmly stated ,.
I told ya ,. didnt tell ya ?
I' am quix draw Mcgraw !!

Not one guy was able to stand upright for fully 10
minuets ,. as the laughter reached what i would concervativly call Homeric proportions.

Of coure for many years after he was know locally as
Quix Draw,.
I later earned the title machine gun kelly
but thats another story.

Dang it looks like I am in the company of a bunch of deadeye's, reg'ler Natty Bumppos they are. Heck I couldn't hit myself in the a$$ with both hands and a banjo. Maybe I should back out of that elk hunt with the gang 'fore I embarrass myself.......nope I'll be there wouldn't miss that hunt come hell or high water.

At the tender (and largely ignorant)age of 18, I tried a 400 yard plus shot("he's a long ***damn ways,said my hunting partner) at a Wyoming pronghorn hitting him squarely between the eye and ear. My partner, who owned a small gunshop and shooting range in our Texas hometown,would never fail to relate that story to anyone who came in the shop, or was at the range if I was present. I never said a word about aiming for his shoulder and forgetting about the Wyoming prairie wind.
That was just an unlucky antelope.

Del in KS

The trick is to hold your fire and never take a shot that you can possibly miss. Saves a lot of shirt tails and harassment! I went trap shooting Saturday and took my new (to me) O/U. I would have been better off using a slingshot and cateye marbles. Geez Louise, I could not have hit a bull in the butt with a bass fiddle. It was too hot to go last night (good excuse).

I will avoid names, though I suspect this gentleman has crossed the river by now, but we were kids with our .22s, popping shots at a dump outside of a small midwestern town, and the sheriff stopped as he drove by to see that we were conducting ourselves safely and were properly supervised by the adults, who were no safer than we were.
The sheriff was an experienced LEO and WWII veteran, and was respected in the county, but his chosen sidearm was a single action revolver. At the time (1960), S&W and Colt double-action revolvers dominated the law enforcement field. One of the adults commented, "John, the bad guys are using autoloaders and UZIs. That wheelgun's outdated. And, you've got to admit, you ain't getting any younger yourself. You've got to keep up with the times!"
We were plinking at light bulbs and bottles with our .22 rifles, and one amber-colored bottle remained, propped on top of a wooden box. In response to the comment, that SA revolver seemed to leap from the holster and he fired from the hip to shatter that bottle! It was a challenging shot with our .22 rifles, and our jaws dropped in amazement. It was something out of a Lone Ranger or Hopalong Cassidy episode. John reholstered his revolver with the remark, "Yep, I must be getting old. I used to be a lot faster than that." And he strode back to his car.
That single shot become local legend within a week, but I can assure you, it left a lasting impression on a 13 yr-old boy.

LEGENDARY STATUS FOR ABOUT THREE MINUTES...

I was out with my cousins a few years ago. We hadn't grown up together but were getting acquainted around the shooting range having discovered this similar interest of guns and shooting.

I was given the chance to shoot a percussion cap muzzleloader with double set triggers. The target was placed at 50 yards and off hand I sent a ball through the paper, exact center 3 inches high. "My cousin said, "That's pretty much dead on as it's sighted in for 100 yards!"

I should have said, "Thanks!" and walked away.

My next shot was in the circle, but something less than "dead on"...

Ed J: Great story regarding the obviously admirable Sheriff John. Conversely when I was much younger a local FBI agent decided to go shooting with us one morning. The fellow was one of the most horrific handgun shots I have known given his supposed level of training. After repeatedly failing to hit a Coco-Cola bottle with his S & W, he holstered it and walked to his Ford sedan. He opened the trunk pulled out a pumpgun, I think a Mossberg 500 as I try to remember, walked toward the bottle and shot it. Replacing the 12 gauge Joe uttered "That's why I always have the pump handy".

I dropped into a wood shop in Sixes Oregon last fall and the first thing I see is several photo's of Elmer Keith with the owners kids and also a much younger (obviously)owner.

I struck up a conversation about old Elmer and found out they had formerly been neighbors in Idaho. In one of photos Elmer was holding a catfish and had that famous S&W with the Ivory grips on his hip amd equally famous Stetson on his head. The shop owner volunteered that that was Elmer's last fishing trip with them and that something interesting happened on the way out.

It seems Elmer was riding in the middle in the truck and as they passed a neighbor's farm Elmer spied a cat in barn yard. It seems he snatched the Smith from his holster leaned across the shopowner who was riding shotgun and dumped the cat. The truck was doing about 30 MPH so the shopkeeper said. The driver who was likely day dreaming slammed on brakes at the report and about the same time the farmer ran out of his farm shop mad as... well you get the picture. As he ran up to the truck Elmer leaned over and said, "I busted that wild
$%&#! $%&* @#Q%$% game thieving cat for ya!" All the farmer could muster was, "Gee, thanks Elmer." He then went on to bury his house cat...

Very good post, petzal.
Gives every body room to strech out.
i enjoy your humor yohan.

Wam, There is a method to my madness. Now if I hit anything regardless of range or level of difficulty the guys will (hopefully) be impressed.

To WaMtn Hunter: Because I was in a Reserve Unit, they stretched what I think was a three-month course over a year.I was at the DS School at Ft. Knox in June, 1967, then at Ft. Dix, NJ from July 67 to May 68, then back to Ft. Knox in June 1968 when I graduated. I still have my hat, although the original black leather strap rotted away and the only thing I could find to replace it was a brown one.

My two most distinct memories: A staff sergeant candidate having an epileptic fit in one of the classrooms at Tedford Hall at Ft. Knox (glad he didn't have it on the rifle range) and a very sharp-looking first lieutenant who taught one of our first classes on instructional techniques.

He was speaking from behind a chest-high lectern. He opened the class by saying, "Men, the first thing you have to do is get your classes' undivided attention." He then stepped from behind the lectern revealing the fact that he had no trousers on.

He had our undivided attention.

Now both WAM and David are aging themselves, LOL!

Who would of ever guessed that ol' Dave wore the round brown Stetson.

I had a hard time with a DS once then 6 years later I was 3 Ranks higher than he was and he worked for me. Seems the C.O. the unit found him beating up trainees.

Coming soon to the Outdoor Channel,

Crusty Ol,Gun Nutz!

I'll tell you what I did WAM... I took the rack off his wall and said it was my boy's and it is still hanging over my fireplace. He didn't say a thing.

I tried to become a gun cleaning legend last year. 48 hours after returning from a week of muzzleloading...I gave up, having run an entire ripped shirt, forty patches, 30 bucks worth of cleaning solvents, and also wore down a new brass brush through the almost new barrel. The goal was a virgin snow white patch, but all I could produce was a half day hike tighty whitey hue. Finally, I slid it back in the shelf and couldn't wait until modern gun, and then I began my sharpest knife in camp campaign that ended in public embarrassment and a year's worth of comments. Good luck on your quest for greatness. This is YOUR year.Cheers.

Dave,

Have you ever got into a discussion with Mr. Wooters over the merits of the 7mm Rem Mag?

OK, just kidding.