Here is a mystery.......

MColeman

MColeman

Club Coordinator
First, I want to swear on a stack of Bibles I ain't putting y'all on. Wilbur was at this match and probably many more of you.

We were having a registered match at Rachel's Glen. The shooters were on the line and only the target crew had been down range. I was measuring the targets when a target was to be measured I noticed something odd.

Here is the front and back of the target
mysterytarget.jpg

mysterytarget2.jpg


This target was fired during a match.
Nobody touched this target from the time it was hung on the firing line until it was handed to me by the target crew chief.

It appears that one shot entered the back of the target but nobody could have shot it from that position. A shooter from North Carolina shot the target (Joel shot it, Charles) and he may well still have the target.

I can't explain it because there's no way it could have happened............but it did.
 
MColeman said:
. . . A shooter from North Carolina shot the target (Joel shot it, Charles) and he may well still have the target.
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Doesn't really matter, but it must have been Steve Shelp. Joel has never shot a point-blank group match, just score. Steve and I came on down a couple years ago...

And that's the kind of thing that happens to Steve... I'd say it's caused by fortune cookies.
 
Charles E said:
Doesn't really matter, but it must have been Steve Shelp. Joel has never shot a point-blank group match, just score. Steve and I came on down a couple years ago...

And that's the kind of thing that happens to Steve... I'd say it's caused by fortune cookies.
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No, it was Joel. He's only been here that one time but it was Joel.

(For the life of me I cannot recall Joel's last name)
 
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Ahhhhh, a Long Ranger, that explains it. Tight Twist......The bullet was overstabilized so bad that that one went thru backwards!

Or he just loaded it backwards, just thought a' that....

al
 
alinwa said:
Ahhhhh, a Long Ranger, that explains it. Tight Twist......The bullet was overstabilized so bad that that one went thru backwards!

Or he just loaded it backwards, just thought a' that....

al
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Al, I've never even remotely thought I knew how this happened. If it were a practice target I could never be convinced that it wasn't turned around for one shot but Brady Knight was calling the match, his son, Scott, was in charge of the target crew and I was measuring. Nobody left the line during the match and nobody but the target crew handled the target. It defies any explanation.......but it happened.
 
Mickey

I can back you up on this because it also happened to me. Most experienced shooters would find it hard to believe that bullet went through the target in the same direction as the others but that's exactly what happened and you and I know it is a fact! But how? :confused: I think I know.

About a year after your experience I was at the Midland Shooters Range one morning. I was the only one there and had just gone down to the 100 yard frame to hang a new target. After setting up at the bench, I fired one shot at the sighter to check POI and went to the record and shot my group. Ordinarily, I'm not the brightest bulb in the string and lots of things go right over my head but for some reason, when I pulled that target, I noticed the one shot on the sighter looked like it came through the target from BEHIND. :eek: :confused: What the hey? :confused:

I remembered your experience and thought, "I've now seen it with my own eyes; YES, it does happen!" What stands out in my mind was the fact that the target board of black Celotex was new and flat. The targets were stapled with care and each corner was brushed down with the hand before driving the staple resulting in a fairly taut installation. I think this, plus the fact that the target board was new with no holes resulted in the fuzzy edges being blown backward instead of carried forward through the board. I believe the black edges around the bullet hole on the back of the target which look like they came from the bullet are actually from the fresh Celotex.

I wonder how many times this happens and no one notices? Try taking a fresh target board and staple a target very taut to it and see if you can duplicate it. Very interesting stuff; huh?

Best regards

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year

Gene Beggs
 
FBecigneul said:
I was there for that match, Mickey, and I swear I didn't do it.
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We cleared you right away, Francis. Brady said that he knew you didn't do it because you never got two shots that close together all weekend. I defended your honor as best I could but you know Brady. ;)

Do you remember the talk about that target at the time? You know there was no trickery involved.
 
Mickey -- still a bit off topic -- you mean Joel Pendergaft, I believe. You did some work for him (and me as well) back in the mid-1990s, before we bought a mill & lathe. If your memory is right, he must have snuck down & then fibbed about it. Joel fibbing would be even rarer than that target.
 
Charles E said:
Mickey -- still a bit off topic -- you mean Joel Pendergaft, I believe. You did some work for him (and me as well) back in the mid-1990s, before we bought a mill & lathe. If your memory is right, he must have snuck down & then fibbed about it. Joel fibbing would be even rarer than that target.
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That's him! Have you axed him specifically about that target? He's only been here once but he was here.
 
I figure the target was shot off of bench one. The shot in question actually came from the rifle fired off of bench 20.

It is possible......

The shooter in question had indexed his barrel for the best tune. Not at 12 or 6 O'clock but with the curve towards 9 O'clock. It ended up being that it had a slight curve to the left, and with the appropriate Ogive bullet, the bullet was able to make a 180 in flight and pass thru the target as the evidence shows.

That is my story and I am sticking to it........

LMAO

Merry Christmas from EHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH Land.

Calvin
 
CYanchycki said:
I figure the target was shot off of bench one. The shot in question actually came from the rifle fired off of bench 20.

It is possible......

The shooter in question had indexed his barrel for the best tune. Not at 12 or 6 O'clock but with the curve towards 9 O'clock. It ended up being that it had a slight curve to the left, and with the appropriate Ogive bullet, the bullet was able to make a 180 in flight and pass thru the target as the evidence shows.

That is my story and I am sticking to it........

LMAO

Merry Christmas from EHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH Land.

Calvin
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You've been into the egg nog quite deeply haven't you, Calvin? Merry Christmas. :)
 
Mickey,

I think I can safely say I have never been to Rachel's Glen. Someone must have stole my identity. Charles has tried to get me to try group but thus far I have resisted. I'll go with Gene Begg's explanation of the probable cause.

Merry Christmas,
Joel Pendergraft
 
Mickey. Must be your advanced age.

(Of course, Joel Kendrick does shoot point blank from time to time.)

I still think it was Steve Shelp. That's exactly the kind of thing that happens to Steve. The only reason why it wouldn't be Steve is he usually shoots quite small, and that target has one out there. Maybe it was mine?
 
CYanchycki said:
I figure the target was shot off of bench one. The shot in question actually came from the rifle fired off of bench 20.
Click to expand...
I recall reading years back about a guy plinking with his .357 in a dump who nearly shot himself. Seems he fired at an o-l-d TV (the ones with a robust metal shield behind the CRT tube) & a round or maybe two followed the parabola of the shield & returned towards him. I think it was written up in an old Outdoor & Fishing.

last time I mentioned it on line, my veracity & parentage were brought into question.
 
I have seen this. Indoor range.
Actually, What I saw were ricochets. Punk kid next to me was shooting at the ground. 5' in front of him.
I noticed an extra hole. Put out a new target. Went to shoot. There was already a hole.
Tried to tell the kid he was shooting at the ground. He told me to shut up. And he left.
I have heard Gang Bangers like to practice at that range.
 
I have only shot two stop signs when I was much younger.

One was at dusk with a Ruger 10-22 loaded with ten rounds of Gevelot .22 L.R. tracer.

That sign was at about ninety yards and at right angle to me.

I had fired about six rounds very quickly when I noticed that the last one had come back quite close to me !!!!!

And ceased fire immediately.


It does make one THINK.

PC014818.jpg



Glenn
 
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