What's the Best Shot You've Ever Witnessed?

[ACP230]

I am persistent, if not a great shot, so good things have sometimes happened.

I was celebrating the Fourth early in the day once. There was a four-foot berm in the local
sandpit (now offlimits to shooting, sadly). I stood an "experienced" bowling pin at the
bottom of the berm, backed off 15 yards, and shot it with an M1 Carbine. (Practicing for the
Second Chance Bowling Pin Shoot I had already shot that pin a lot with .45 reloads.)

At the shot the pin split right in half. Half of it fell down next to the berm. The other half
flew over the berm and dropped on the other side. Have not even tried to duplicate that one.

Also put two prone sighter shots touching at 200 yards from a target prepped M1A.
Unfortunately, they were on my neighbor's target. From the sublime to the embarrassing
in 60 seconds...

[psalms144.1]

One I witnessed personally, the other I worked the death scene:

1. In the early 90s, posted in AZ, a buddy and I were out hunting coyotes. He was (and IS) a MUCH better hunter than I could ever hope to be. We were perched up in a rancher's windmill looking for coyotes, when one came loping in towards the call on my side of the tower. Before he came into range that I would consider do-able (I was shooting a 12 gauge, so, pretty close up stuff), he caught wind of us and headed for Mexico, at .98 times the speed of light. I cussed, and my buddy looked over his shoulder to see the backside of a rapidly dwindling coyote. He jumped up, perched on one foot on a cross bar, leaned out with his support elbow hooked around the upright threw the rifle to his shoulder and fired before I could have even found a scope on top of a rifle. Bang - .243 away, and the coyote goes tumbling, butt over teakettle. We were both convinced the coyote had just hit a pothole and tumbled, but he stayed down. We paced that shot at 215 yards, by my calibrated pace count. It was sunny, late afternoon, moderate wind, and the coyote was running through typical SE AZ scrub.

2. Best pistol shot I've ever been a witness to came as a result of two "urban youth" who wore opposing colors getting into a dispute over the charms of a given young lady. UY1 threatened UY2 with a pistol, and UY2 beat feet back to his car (a borrowed brand new Yukon). UY2 throws the truck into gear, and attempted to flatten UY1 as he left the area. UY1, not to be outdone, jumped into his Honda Civic and gave chase. Several miles down the road, on a long curve, UY1 overtook UY2, pulls abreast in the left lane, throws his Norinco 1911 up while maintaining speed and distance, and fires a single round. The .45 ACP FMJ hit UY2 smack dab on the temple, traversed his head, existed above his right eye, and was eventually recovered (by me) buried in the headliner underneath the passenger's side sun visor. I've thought about that shot a lot, and can conclusively say that, in 1,000,000 years, I could never replicate it.

[alohadoug]

Mine was Basic Combat Training at Ft. Jackson, SC in 1996. I was stuck on ammo detail for the "crew served & other weapons" day. That meant we were hauling crates of linked 7.62 for the M60s, 40mm for the M203 and 9mm for the AT4 simulators. That also meant I missed all the instructions. Shot the M60...it was ok. Then I got the M203. Fired the paint round at the BTR at 250 yards. Dropped it right on the roof. DS starts yelling at me about the "sight" (it was still folded away). After trying to figure it out and missing two closer targets, I said screw it and tucked it back in and dropped two more at 250. DS Mercardo looked at me and shook his head and yelled at me to get off his range. But he still said it with a smile.

[lwt16]

These were all witnessed. I have made other decent shots but there was nobody around to see them so they don't count.

Smith 442 .38 special 4/5 hits on a four inch spinner steel target at 50 yards (witness department SWAT commander)

Remington 700 varmit in .223 crows at around the 400 yard mark very little wind with a Nikon 3-9x40 scope

Glock 42 .380 5/6 rounds on a q target...very tight group witnessed by the guy that said I couldn't hit anything at that range. It was his fresh target so I was pleased when he walked downrange and came back potty mouthed to get a new target.

Bumble bees in flight/hovering with my little sister's Marlin 15y .22 to the delight of her and my stepfather. She was scared of the bees and they loved our back deck where we liked to hang out so he could smoke (mom wouldn't let him smoke in the house) and she liked to play. I'd take a box of .22 shorts and once those bees would stop and hover, I'd hit them 9 times out of 10.

Beretta 92FS. I was shooting at my grandfather's "dump" on his farm. My uncle (who was always a good shot in his own right) threw a soup can up in the air and I hit it. He then picked up a sardine can and threw that up.....I hit that too. He just shook his head and said he wasn't throwing anything else in the air.

Smith 686 six inch tube with .357 jhp.....rabbit on the run......50 yards. Step father cussed about the noise and his left ear rang for a week.

Been shooting for 40 years. Really have no excuse if I do miss and I do when I am not doing my part. Now that I approach 47, my eyes (after having 20/15 vision my whole life) are starting to fail at close reading distance. I'm finding pistol sights are starting to fuzz up. It's ticking me off too. lol

Teenage years and early adult years were spent on the farm shooting all sorts of pests (coyotes, squirrels, snakes, crows, etc) and several farmers in the area would invite me over to thin out the pests at their places too. I was known for it and kept heavy barreled sticks in the truck at all times. Kept all the old folks freezers full of venison so that their food budget would stretch out.

And I really miss those days. Didn't even realize I had it made.

[FNFAN]

Dallas PD range, 1978 an old range officer crunching clays thrown from a mechanical trap with an extended rib 1911 bullseye gun. Straightaway's and hard right/ left. Co-worker said, "Oh, he can do that all day."

[P.E. Kelley]

A few years ago I assembled a series of "Trick Shot" videos for the NRA.

This shot was the toughest. I will only produce videos where I can repeat the shot
with 60% success (my Dad scorned luck shots)

I had 20 minutes to get this shot (I only have access to a pubic range) and I was able to connect on each of 3 attempts
The other two took 3 and 4 respectively.

[Tom Givens]

April 1980, API 499 class at Gunsite, 1911, .45 match GI ball

Jeff Cooper has us at 75 yards, and directs us to go to kneeling, apply maximum effort, and shoot a clover-leaf-- three rounds touching in the chest ring.

I fire 2 rounds that feel really good, but on the third round I felt my elbow move on my knee. We went downrange to check the targets, and sure enough I have two rounds touching in the chest, but the third is exactly between the target's eyes. Jeff looked at the target and said, "A little showy, isn't it?". I never let on that that was an accident.

[Paul Sharp]

Pretty much every shot Kauber takes is impressive. Being on the range with Kauber, watching him nail the mover repeatedly at 600 yards even when it was cranked up to full speed and the weather was terrible. I asked him later about making those shots, he said try being strapped to the outside of a helicopter over the ocean, trying to hit a partially obscured target on a moving ship... Everything else is easy.

(Pic is of Kauber, strapped to the side of a helicopter, getting ready to hunt Iranian gun boats in the Gulf.)


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[Luke]

More info on that^^? Tried to google the last name and came up empty handed. Seems like it would make a good read.

[Paul Sharp]

More info on that^^? Tried to google the last name and came up empty handed. Seems like it would make a good read.

I've got a few pics and stories about Kauber but if he catches me posting them?! I gotta work for him, on a huge training facility out in the middle of BFE... [emoji51] In all seriousness he's very serious about the quiet professional directive, and I respect that about him.



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