crashlanding
Well-Known Member
I guess I'm not alone, can't remember what I did 2 days ago but can remember every detail of that one great moment
My mom's cousin was the family "gun nut", and got me into shooting before I can remember.
Anyway, whenever I'd visit him, I'd root through his basement full of guns, and demand to shoot just about anything and everything. One day, when I was about 10 years old, I was pestering him incessantly about his 458 Win Mag "elephant gun".
Me: Let me shoot it
Him: Too big for you.
Me: No it's not
Him: Yes it is.
Me: No it's not. Let me shoot it.
Him: I don't have any ammo
Me: I just found some in this coffee can.
Him: Fine you little peckerwood, I'm sick of listening to you. You can shoot it, and then you'll understand why I said no.
Now normally, this would be akin to child abuse, but I wasn't like other little kids.
We go out on his porch, and with a knowing smirk on his face, he hands me a round and says "shoot that turtle on the far bank of the pond" (perhaps 80-100 yards away).
I lined up on that sucker and let her rip. Nothing left of the turtle but a smoking crater in the mud.
I turn to him and he's got a stunned look on his face. I'm not sure which was more shocking to him. That I hit the turtle offhand, or that I was grinning ear to ear and reaching for another round of 458...
His plan to "teach me a lesson" completely backfired. For the rest of my life, I've pestered him to shoot whatever the biggest, baddest, most expensive thing he's got...
I still feel a little bad about the turtle murder though...