When showing off your new Elephant rifle goes wrong

[318AE]

All of these impulse-momentum calculations, and no one has included the 144-180 ounces of beer in the mass of the shooter. Sloppy guys, just sloppy…

 

[Backyardsniper]

And the shooter has a lot of mass to begin with Ha Ha.

 

[TERMINATOR]

I'm pretty sure I have a great deal of "safe gun handling experience" I get what you are saying, but some of us grew up with the ability to drink a few beers and still have a little sense about us. I mean do you think we had kids out there running figure 8's around the target while we were shooting?

Based on your first attempt at shooting the double rifle drunk .... I think you proved you can't.

And it is about the example you set for the kids not whether you had them down range. They should be taught responsible gun handling not "let's knock back a few and then start F'ing around with guns"

Most gun clubs you are done shooting for the day the minute you have your first drink.

 

[Frederik]

Most gun clubs you are done shooting for the day the minute you have your first drink.

The Above is 100% !!

I must admit though having 1-3 beers/cider at brunch between morning and afternoon hunts does work for me sometimes but by the time we hunt again alcohol is out of my system.

 

[Desperatezulu]

@Desperatezulu, you wrote: I have made a big simplification on the velocity of the powder and bullet combo because technically the bullet may be going at 2000ft/s but the powder charge is going at something like 5000ft/s.

How can this be? The powder charge is behind the bullet, correct?

Yes sir - and when the bullet leaves the muzzle, does the powder continue to chug along at 2000ft/s?

At the risk of alienating Red Leg and Backyardsniper - the system is a bit more complex because we are assuming a bunch of constants when the reality is the velocities are varying all the time. We have acceleration at play (the bullet is only doing 2000ft/s as it exits the muzzle. It started at zero when the trigger(s) were yanked). Pressure created by expanding gas is the force that made the bullet accelerate from zero to 2000ft/s in 1.68 milliseconds (equivalent to zero to 1364 mph in less than 2 thousandths of a second! Who said engineers can't have fun???)

The powder mass, which is mostly turned into gas when the bullets exits the muzzle, still weighs 100gr. And it's sitting at say 50,000 psi in the chamber and barrel and the cork (I mean bullet - sorry for the bad pun) pops out the end. That powder/gas volume accelerates out the muzzle very rapidly at that point because it experiences much less resistance (friction) than the bullet did in passing down the barrel. Hence the higher velocity of the powder mass.

 

[Bonk]

The story isn't funny and I find it incredulous someone would describe it as such. Frankly, the mental disconnect required to laugh it off is disturbing. It was a gargantuan neglect of gun safety.

@Backyardsniper, you got lucky. I can't count all the ways your story could have gone sideways and gotten someone badly hurt or killed. Not good my friend. Not good at all. I recommend you take a good hard look at the guy in the mirror and reconsider your take on this event. Darwin is ruthless. Don't help him.

 

[TERMINATOR]

The story isn't funny and I find it incredulous someone would describe it as such. Frankly, the mental disconnect required to laugh it off is disturbing. It was a gargantuan neglect of gun safety.

@Backyardsniper, you got lucky. I can't count all the ways your story could have gone sideways and gotten someone badly hurt or killed. Not good my friend. Not good at all. I recommend you take a good hard look at the guy in the mirror and reconsider your take on this event. Darwin is ruthless. Don't help him.

It isn't the least bit funny. I find it scary and am just thankful nobody got shot.

Every time the author responds he does more and more to verify that all the stereotypes you read and hear about Kentucky are in fact true....

 

[TERMINATOR]

You doubled an elephant gun, while drinking, and "relaxed" as you put it. And did all this with kids around. If you didn't have enough wits to properly hold the rifle who the heck knows what else you didn't have the wits for.

I've heard plenty of drunks say they could drive just fine after a "few beers." They were wrong and you are too. Your goal shouldn't be to have a "little sense" left. It should be to have ALL your sense !!!

I'm done posting here. Someone like you will never learn.

Every drunk driver ever that killed themselves or somebody else felt they were "Ok to drive"

Or else they wouldn't have.

 

[PARA45]

The second shot was not controlled, and I'm sure no one knows where it landed. Hopefully that bullet landed in an unpopulated field. I don't want to even think of the consequences if that bullet would have landed in a populated area? Consequences.

 

[Randy Bo]

It isn't the least bit funny. I find it scary and am just thankful nobody got shot.

Every time the author responds he does more and more to verify that all the stereotypes you read and hear about Kentucky are in fact true....

Interesting…As a life-long Kentuckian I am familiar with: “dumb”, “inbred”, “redneck”, “hick” and “hillbilly”. What others might you add?

 

[TERMINATOR]

Interesting…As a life-long Kentuckian I am familiar with: “dumb”, “inbred”, “redneck”, “hick” and “hillbilly”. What others might you add?

"Shooting Rifles While Drunk"???

Honestly I don't buy the stereotypes because I know many people from Kentucky...but this dude is trying his best to convince people that they are true.

Wouldn't be surprised to read that he was barefoot while shooting

 

[Backyardsniper]

"Shooting Rifles While Drunk"???

Honestly I don't buy the stereotypes because I know many people from Kentucky...but this dude is trying his best to convince people that they are true.

Wouldn't be surprised to read that he was barefoot while shooting

I like how you came out hard then when randybo responded you immediately started taking backwater.
I also like the way that the longer this thread goes the more acceptable it seems to become to throw out personal insults.

 

[Challer]

Put away your purse. No one has insulted you. If that was gonna happen we talk about muzzle brakes and magaporting.

 

[Backyardsniper]

Put away your purse. No one has insulted you. If that was gonna happen we talk about muzzle brakes and magaporting.

Ha ha. Now that would be insulting to accuse a man of needing a muzzle brake

 

[Backyardsniper]

On the bright side at least I'm not the guy in the welcome and introduction section that suggested the Dark Continent was a derogatory term. He got 12 pages worth of responses.

 

[Bullthrower338]

On the bright side at least I'm not the guy in the welcome and introduction section that suggested the Dark Continent was a derogatory term. He got 12 pages worth of responses.

Now that is some funny shit!

 

[Tom Leoni]

I had a total of one accident at the range = one too many: an old Swiss Martini target rifle fired upon my closing the action. That freaked me out to no end and I thanked God that the 300-yard berm had absorbed my otherwise-stray 7.5x55 FMJ bullet. Once that primer is stricken, I own that bullet and what it does--100%--and I can't take it back.

I hate to sound like That Guy, but as an NRA chief range safety officer and rifle instructor, I must go on record as saying that this is an example of what NOT to do--on so many levels. Had I had as much as a thimbleful of alcohol prior to my mishap, I would have blamed myself even in spite of the obvious mechanical failure of the rifle. Alcohol is for after shooting--period, no exceptions. We must be an example not only for those around us at the moment (especially children), but also for non-shooters who may judge our whole fraternity by our actions.

Not picking on the OP or anyone else, but perhaps this can be a cautionary tale for all of us--to remember that safe and responsible firearm handling should always stay at the forefront of our thoughts, no matter how much familiarity and experience we have with guns.

 

[Mike70560]

On the bright side at least I'm not the guy in the welcome and introduction section that suggested the Dark Continent was a derogatory term. He got 12 pages worth of responses.

We are not finished with you yet!!!

 

[Mike70560]

I had a total of one accident at the range = one too many: an old Swiss Martini target rifle fired upon my closing the action. That freaked me out to no end and I thanked God that the 300-yard berm had absorbed my otherwise-stray 7.5x55 FMJ bullet. Once that primer is stricken, I own that bullet and what it does--100%--and I can't take it back.

I shoot at about 6-8 ranges every year in high power competition. Most now have a level loading rule. When you close the bolt, your muzzle must be pointed lower than the top of the berm. Never know when you may have a slam fire, and many ranges are one round away from being shutdown.

 

[Backyardsniper]

I had a total of one accident at the range = one too many: an old Swiss Martini target rifle fired upon my closing the action. That freaked me out to no end and I thanked God that the 300-yard berm had absorbed my otherwise-stray 7.5x55 FMJ bullet. Once that primer is stricken, I own that bullet and what it does--100%--and I can't take it back.

I hate to sound like That Guy, but as an NRA chief range safety officer and rifle instructor, I must go on record as saying that this is an example of what NOT to do--on so many levels. Had I had as much as a thimbleful of alcohol prior to my mishap, I would have blamed myself even in spite of the obvious mechanical failure of the rifle. Alcohol is for after shooting--period, no exceptions. We must be an example not only for those around us at the moment (especially children), but also for non-shooters who may judge our whole fraternity by our actions.

Not picking on the OP or anyone else, but perhaps this can be a cautionary tale for all of us--to remember that safe and responsible firearm handling should always stay at the forefront of our thoughts, no matter how much familiarity and experience we have with guns.

Interesting side note to that. When I was a kid, probably 10 or 12 I would guess, i was at a dove shoot with my dad. I had an old cheap 20 gauge SXS, some Italian job I think. Anyway my dad was loading it for me and upon closing it BAM one barrel went off. At first my dad though maybe he had made a mistake and had his finger on the trigger. So he removed the spent shell and reloaded it and pointed in in a safe direction obviously and closed it again. Same result. We took it to a gunsmith and it was some malfunction with the sear I believe. We had it fixed but ended up getting rid of it. Never could trust it again even after it had been repaired. It is a good thing it was pointed in a safe direction the first time
It just goes to show, they are mechanical devices and they can malfunction anytime.