What the devil was that?

[Brick]

Or that sinking feeling something's wrong.

Ever notice something ain't quite right when a dark object of one sort or another flies through your line sight as you're shooting?

Long ago in the middle of an alibi string for the rapid fire stage of a National Match Course. I noticed something flying and when I tried to fire again realized I had no front sight. Double alibi and no way to repair the gun so that 2700 tournament ended quickly.

Then at a quiet (I was the only one on the line) commercial range firing my favorite bullseye 1911, something big takes off down-range when I fired a shot. A quick inspection and I found that the lower part of the barrel bushing had broken off and the recoil plug and spring were 20 yards downrange!

Saturday, I unlimber my ESR for some practice and as I'm going through a string I notice something black heading toward the deck. It's the damn cylinder latch thumbpiece! Which I'm able to recover, but guess what, the little nut that holds it in place has been grabbed and spirited away by the same mouse that steals my brass! Nuts! and another practice session comes to an unscheduled end!

So the bottom line! Stay awake and be prepared to stop shooting when something unusual happens! Check your equipement before you start your shooting session.

Had something dopey happen to you? If yes latch on and post yours.

[ErSwnn]

I had a cheap (Titan Tiger) .38 (was my Dad's house gun) break apart at the top strap. I guess it was never meant to be shot alot....my bad. No one hurt and the gun became inoperable upon failure.

[t1066]

Back when I was 22, I had an Automag IV in .45 Win. Mag. and was shooting in a local Silhouette match. Second shot, something didn't sound right. Looked at the pistol, and saw the hammer had broken off near the base. The end was pretty heavily crystalized. Given that I'd put less than 200 rounds through it, I was pretty sure it was bad heat treating, not metal fatigue.

No problem getting a replacement hammer right away, but I had to drop out of the match that day.

[bogey1]

I had a nightmare last night that i shot a wolf that was eating a raccoon. The raccoon got away but the wolf came after me so i shot at it 4 more times until the whole lower of my glock fell off
Dont ask how i got to hanging on telephone wires while all of this was going down.....Friggin woke up screaming....

[customloaded]

I was on a crash-hawk one glorious day on a combat insertion to conduct surveillance and the door gunner swung the machine gun around to engage a target and as he fired his first burst, the barrel blew off and away it went!

We couldn't stop laughing at the guy....poor bastard! LOL

CL

[Ten*K]

My Beretta M9 in Marine Security Forces School decided that somehow the bullets needed only to exit the barrel with enough force to land on the deck 15 feet in front of me. Amazingly, the action still cycled, and the ammo ran fine in another gun. Switched ammo, same problem. No visible defect with the pistol. It did have an estimated 50,000 rounds through it. Next pistol could not get in the black. We bench fired it and determined it had a spread of 20+ inches at 15 yards. Of course, it rattled like a sack full of bolts.

[Mirlen]

My first handgun, Colt Series '70 1911, front sight flew off and smacked me in the face...think it hit me on the forehead...BAH!

[Grizz2720]

My father in law gave me some real old 12 ga. slugs. Cardboard casings. I shot the first two everything work ok the third one went bang and kicked. It just did not feel right. I emptied the mag took the barrel off and sure enough the slug was stuck about half way down the barrel. I did not shoot the rest of the shells.