Moved from old YW site:
gschwertley
Because of the weather, I couldn't get out to the range today. I have been itching to try out a couple of lead bullet loads in 8x50R. So this afternoon, I got the idea that I would set up the chrono in the garage and shoot into two butt cuts of support beam that are 5 1/2 inches thick each. That's 11 inches of backstop for a reduced charge lead bullet rifle load. I have done this before with pistol calibers, like .38 Super, which can drill fairly deep holes. What I mean is, I have done this before without anything having gone wrong.
Then again, that's not to say that there hasn't been a mishap before, either, as there is a .45 bullet hole (puttied over) in my garage door, which is right behind where I put the backstops. The fact is, that bullet didn't even hit the backstop, and that's why it made a hole. Other .45's stuck in the backstop and didn't go too deep. The time the .45 missed and went through the door, my wife's 1962 Lincoln was sitting in the driveway on the other side of the door, and I opened that door with great trepidation, fully expecting to find coolant running out of the radiator. My good luck, the bullet missed and skittered right under the car and off down the driveway somewhere.
So, having this previous mishap in mind, I took care to get the two beam ends, not just one. Also, I figured that a reduced charge rifle bullet made of lead wasn't going to have that much steam behind it anyway. Wrong. I fired the M95 across the chrono (got an error reading, no data), and the bullet hit its mark in the backstop. When I checked the first beam, I could see where the bullet went in, and at first glance, I couldn't see where it went into the second beam. Then I looked at the garage door and saw a small hole that I hadn't ever seen before. Back at the second beam with a flashlight, I could see where the .329 lead bullet had cleanly entered and exited. Oh dear, did I put a bullet hole in my wife's 1997 Pontiac Bonneville?? In checking around outside and trying to follow the bullet's probably path of flight with a flashlight, I could just barely see a little silver glint that was the base of the bullet. Check the picture below to see where the bullet stopped.
I've been doing this kind of stuff since I was a teenager, so all that I can conclude is that I have a fairly steep personal learning curve.
There's something else we can learn here. These reduced charge, lead bullet loads can still do a lot of damage. This could apply to game or otherwise.
During WW2, the US Army had in its inventory of ammo a round called a "Guard Cartridge" which was used for the purpose that the name implies. This was a reduced charge round and was designed for use in close quarters areas where, if used, it wouldn't penetrade too many thicknesses of buildings.
mikmarjon
What was it designed not to penetrate? a tank? I've done some things similar My friend, if you play with these toys of ours long enough boo boo's will happen. I believe next time I would move Mommas car.
ehailstone
Yaaaa, Over the years, Ive put a few holes in walls my self hahahah..... Well, my wife says it my inner child playing with mens toys...
Seriously, lead bullets at fairly low velocity's are still killers...ask my Romainian .22
Never underestimate the power of the rifle.
yockey5
I can just feel your fears as you went to investigate the bullet's path! Be careful Gary, the wife may turn mean on ya!
A square 10
i hesitate to ask ....but , why is it that the 'wifes' car is always the one that is of concern ? your luck is astounding i might add - not only would my tire be flat but the radiator would have been shreaded as well ,
LoLo25643
We'll I've never put a hole through one but I did put some serious dents in a metal exterior door leading out of the car garage with some rubber 45 Colt loads a few years ago. These are made by drilling the primer flash holes out to 1/8" to keep a sixguns cylinder from tying up by the primers backing out. You just prime the cases and push the hollow base rubber bullet into the case and fire, no powder at all is needed. Anyway I got hold of some of these and prepared them and set up two big pieces of corogated cardboard against the garage door and backed away about about 20 feet and proceded to pop the targets. It was a blast. Then I went to retrieve my bullets and found a nice ten shot group dented into the door. From then on my wife always left my 7 year old daughter at home to watch me when she left to go to the store or somewhere. Kind of embarrasing.
yockey5
May as well tell my story. I learned my lesson as a kid. I took the buckshot out of a 12 ga shell, put it in the vice, then applied a hammer to the hull. When she went off the primer proceeded to my collar bone, and I have the scar there yet.
LoLo25643
Don, when I was growing up the folk's in the emergency room was on a first name basis with my folk's and me and we was from another town.
yockey5
Oh the stories that I hid from Mom and Dad!
mikmarjon
LOLO I could just see that happening, both the dents in the door and momma giving you a baby sitter Wives a universal everywhere. Don, when your young you don't think about primers backing out like that. I put a ramset blank in a handgun one time messing with My Mom and proceeded to punch a hole in the wall with the wadding. I didn't have any idea that would happen.
stripperclip
yeah the wife does like to leave me by myself either and I am on a first name basis with the people at the ER there very understanding folks.
txpete
you know your bad when the ER has a coffee cup with your name on it
tetsau
Yeah I know the feeling. Let's see, Underground electric line shot in half with A K31. They really need to put them things deeper. And what's the chances of that anyway. Wide open spaces and I find 3 inch's of troulble. You know if you shoot A windshield from the inside of A Volkswagen it wont shatter, Just makes A perfect 22 caliber hole, 10 degrees outside? No problem roll up A piece of paper and stick in the hole. Don't shoot A can of spray paint close to the wifes picnic table either, That stuff really comes out fast. Better shutup, Won't nobody come around me.
yockey5
Tim, we can always count on you to throw in some good ole homespun humor!!!!! Thanks for that post!
A square 10
well i never did anything stupid in my whole life. hahahahahaha snort ha
MasterCork
Another great plan that just needed a small adjustment. Main thing is no people including you were hurt and nothing happened to involve the neighbors. I appreciate your honestly and sharing maybe one of us will learn from it.
Cork
millwright39
Ahhh my kind of fella!
TNGunsmoke
Now that we are older, my brothers and I have started letting my mother in on some of the little "accidents" from when we was kids. I think she worries about us more now....
OPossum TX
I never shot a garage door but I took out a sliding glass patio door with the help of my youngest brother.
I had been shooting a Colt Det. spec using soft wax bullets at a target taped to the door for some time when my youngest brother came in and asked to try it. I had been shooting the target from about 15 feet and then peeling the wax pellets off the glass and saving them to remelt for use later. I taped the target to the outside of the door so it wouldn't get messed up by the wax pellets.
I had done this many many times before when no one else was home and had never had any trouble. I just took the target down and scraped the glass with a razor blade then wiped it clean with the can of Windex I kept in the gun cabinet for cleaning up.
This particular day, I was interrupted by my partner in crime when he came home from school. He tried a few shots at the 15 foot range and missed rather badly. I suggested that he move up closer and try again. He moved up to about 6 feet and shot twice and hit the target but not centered. Finally he moved up to about 2 feet and shot again. The whole door glass shattered into litte pieces and then started falling out of the frame. Needless to say, we were both shocked!
Before the glass stopped falling I had located a local glass company with a sheet of acrylic the size I needed and had agreed on a price.
I detailed my youngest brother to clean up the glass with the shop vac and I loaded the door frame into my truck for the emergency trip to the glazier's place. An hour and a half later, I was putting the sliding door with it's new shatter resistant widow back on it's track. It was installed and sliding just fine before mom got home from work.
The funny thing was that mom didn't notice the new window for about a year. One day, she noticed that the sliding door was plastic and the stationary section was glass. She just asked me in passing why they would make them different. I told her what happened and she was surprised that no one had ever mentioned it. So was I! If I had tried to keep it a secret, she would have known before the day was out.
yockey5
I can see it all now!
M14man
2 good stories.......both of them!
HerrMesser
I never shot the garage door but I did put a hole through the gate house wall once. Back when I was stationed in Cheyenne I worked the swing shift and at night when I pulled the back gate for duty it would be very boring and I would practice fast drawing with my 45. I always took the magazine out and one night I forgot to remove it. I drew the 45, racked the slide and pulled the trigger. You know what happens when you drop the hammer on a live round. This was about 6 am and I was to get relieved at 7 am. I tear the gun down to try to clean it the best I could and one of the patrols came by. I just stuck the reciever back in my holster and thought he was never going to leave. We were issued 5 rounds so I ended up putting the spent case in the middle of the mag where it could not be seen. About a month later they had us unload our mags when we got off duty and put them in a board. I never could figure that one out. Oh yea there was a major's quarters not over 50 yds from the gate.
yockey5
This is a good thread!
wolfdog454
When I was younger I shot out two car window's with a bb gun.
Boy was my dad upset. Another time I shot out one of the window's on the house. Dad took my bb gun away for quite a while. I haven't had any accident's with a real firearm yet and I hope I never will. ***knock on wood***. But you never know, could happen any time.
brianWE
I have a friend who is a pistol collector. At the time, he was a range officer at an indoor range. Anyway, one night he was playing with a P08.
Went to answer the phone. When he came back, our Prime Minister was on TV. Mate picked up the Luger and snapped off a shot....a live one.
Direct hit. Found the deformed, jacketed projectile at the back of the room, later. Smudge on the TV screen polished off and left no trace.
He is not allowed to play with guns in the house while drinking, now.
Login
Register
FAQ
