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Why I gave up Archery

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    Posted: October/08/2012 at 06:38
Life as a child growing up in Kentucky....
          
          Around age 10 my dad got me one of those little badass compound bow beginner kits. Of course, the first month I went around our land sticking arrows in anything that could get stuck by an arrow. Did you know that a 1955 40-horse Farmall tractor tire will take 6 rounds before it goes down?
         Tough sumbich.
       
          That got boring, so being the 10 yr. old Dukes of Hazard fan that I was, I quickly advanced to taking strips of cut up T-shirt doused in chainsaw gas tied around the end and was sending flaming arrows all over the place.
       
          One summer afternoon, I was shooting flaming arrows into a large rotten oak stump in our backyard.  I looked over under the carport and see a shiny brand new can of starting fluid (Ether).  The light bulb went off in my head.
       
          I grabbed the can and set it on the stump.  I thought that it would probably just spray out in a disappointing manner.  Lets face it, to a 10 yr old mouth-breather like myself, (Ether), really doesn't "sound" flammable.
       
          So, I went back into the house and got a 1 pound can of pyrodex (black powder for muzzle loader rifles).
        
          At this point, I set the can of ether on the stump and opened up the can of black powder. My intentions were to sprinkle a little bit around the (Ether) can but it all sorta dumped out on me. No biggie, a 1 lb. pyrodex and 16 oz (Ether) should make a loud pop, kinda like a firecracker you know?
        
          You know what? Screw that I'm going back in the house for the other can.
        
          Yes, I got a second can of pyrodex and dumped it too.  Now we're cookin'.
        
          I stepped back about 15 ft and lit the 2 stroke arrow. I drew the nock to my cheek and took aim. As I released I heard a clunk as the arrow launched from my bow. In a slow motion time frame, I turned to see my dad getting out of the truck... OH SHOOT! He just got home from work. So help me God it took 10 minutes for that arrow to go from my bow to the can. My dad was walking towards me in slow motion with a WTF look in his eyes. I turned back towards my target just in time to see the arrow pierce the starting fluid can right at the bottom. Right through the main pile of pyrodex and into the can. Oh shoot.
        
          When the shock wave hit, it knocked me off my feet. I don't know if it was the actual compression wave that threw me back or just reflex jerk back from 235 fricking decibels of sound. I caught a half a millisecond glimpse of the violence during the initial explosion and I will tell you there was dust, grass, and bugs all hovering 1 ft above the ground as far as I could see. It was like a little low to the ground layer of dust fog full of grasshoppers, spiders, and a worm or two.
        
          The daylight turned purple. Let me repeat this... THE FRICKING DAYLIGHT TURNED PURPLE.
        
          There was a big sweetgum tree out by the gate going into the pasture. Notice I said "was". That sumbich got up and ran off.
        
          So here I am, on the ground blown completely out of my shoes with my thundercats T-Shirt shredded, my dad is on the other side of the carport having what I can only assume is a Vietnam flashback:  ECHO BRAVO CHARLIE YOU'RE BRINGIN' EM IN TOO CLOSE!!  CEASE FIRE.  DAMN IT CEASE FIRE!!!!!
        
          His hat has blown off and is 30 ft behind him in the driveway. All windows on the north side of the house are blown out and there is a slow rolling mushroom cloud about 2000 ft. over our backyard. There is a Honda 185 3 wheeler parked on the other side of the yard and the fenders are drooped down and are now touching the tires.
        
          I wish I knew what I said to my dad at this moment. I don't know - I know I said something. I couldn't hear. I couldn't hear inside my own head. I don't think he heard me either... not that it would really matter. I don't remember much from this point on. I said something, felt a sharp pain, and then woke up later. I felt a sharp pain, blacked out, woke later....repeat this process for an hour or so and you get the idea. I remember at one point my mom had to give me CPR. and Dad screaming "Bring him back to life so I can kill him again".  Thanks Mom.
        
          One thing is for sure... I never had to mow around that stump again, Mom had been bitching about that thing for years and dad never did anything about it. I stepped up to the plate and handled business.
        
          Dad sold his muzzle loader a week or so later. I still have some sort of bone growth abnormality, either from the blast or the beating, or both.
        
          I guess what I'm trying to say is, get your kids into Shooting. It's good discipline and will teach them skills they can use later on in life.
      
          Author Unknown....Any resemblance to Walther Beltfed Croslin is purely co-incidential.... Cool
"Peace is that brief glorious moment in history when everybody stands around reloading".
--Thomas Jefferson



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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Dogger Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: October/08/2012 at 06:51
Ah yes Bud, love those life lessons...........
God save the Empire!
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote budperm Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: October/08/2012 at 07:06
Yes.....They are the essence of education aren't they....   Filed under 'Lessons Never Forgotten'...
 
 
 
 
How are you doing Craig?  It has been a while since last we chatted... Howdy
"Peace is that brief glorious moment in history when everybody stands around reloading".
--Thomas Jefferson



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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote SVT_Tactical Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: October/08/2012 at 07:25
ExcellentRead that one before and kills me every time.
"Most folks are about as happy as they make their minds up to be" - Abraham Lincoln
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote budperm Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: October/08/2012 at 07:41
Morning G gety any bow time in?
 
I finally made it to the range Sat evening.  Was able to site in the Black Diamond.  I mounted my Viper 2-7X32 on her.  Sun was low and behing the target backstops so only got 9 shots off total.
 
I used 100Gr Blackhorn209 w/ RIO 209 primers and TC 250Gr Shockwaves.  Steve had swapped out the OEM butt pad with a Limbsaver one some kick was fairl;y mild.  Lst 3 shots grouped 1.25"
so I'm pretty happy!  Now I can spend a few bucks dialing in the load...chrono time 1st though.
 
I also got to shoot the Mosin I got from ILya.  Light was waining fast and I could no longer see hits so I only put 3 down range.  I've no idea where they went cause when I colected the targets I saw no 7.62 hits only the 45s from my ML.
 
 Was nice to get back to the range!!!!  It had been too long.  Think I'll takemy Grandson next time to see the smoke pole...
"Peace is that brief glorious moment in history when everybody stands around reloading".
--Thomas Jefferson



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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote SVT_Tactical Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: October/08/2012 at 07:48
I just did my routine 20 shots of practice Saturday afternoon and Sunday.  Shot the smokepole myself Sunday only 3 shots though, then cleaned it up and ready for a deer.  I'm thowing bigger chunks of lead than you though.
"Most folks are about as happy as they make their minds up to be" - Abraham Lincoln
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote BeltFed Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: October/08/2012 at 11:55
Did you know gas is more powerful than many explosives.
 Wood dust from a beltsander is  good too.
Life's concerns should be about the 120lb pack your trying to get to the top of the mountain, and not the rock in your boot.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote budperm Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: October/08/2012 at 12:45
Baking flour also....
"Peace is that brief glorious moment in history when everybody stands around reloading".
--Thomas Jefferson



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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote BeltFed Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: October/08/2012 at 13:53
Growing up, dad would make me and/or my brother clean up his cabinet shop in the basement from time to time. This included burning the scrap wood in a fire pit in the back yard. This is where I learned alot about starting fires quickly.
One night my brother and I were cleaning the shop and burning scrap wood just outside of the shop doors. My brother decided to clean out the dust bag for the beltsander. He put all the dust on a pan. This dust was finer than mom's face powder. Without telling me (and I was standing next to the fire) he threw that pan full of dust on the fire. Holey thermal nuclear blast in minature! It looked like a HO scale atomic bomb went off; mushroom cloud and all. I don't know if it was a shock wave or involantary reaction, but I ended up several feet away from the fire on my butt.
COOL GEORGE! Do it again.
Life's concerns should be about the 120lb pack your trying to get to the top of the mountain, and not the rock in your boot.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Steelbenz Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: October/08/2012 at 15:32
I will not mention how I got rid of 2 lbs of 20 year old triple F powder.  Let's just say that that crap you see in the movies 'bout pouring out a line and it burning slow..............   LIARS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!   LOL!

My Son still laughs about it, he'd never seen his "Ol' Man" move so fast!   The hair on my arm has grown back.  
"Don't argue with a fool! From a distance you can't really tell who's who!"
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Urimaginaryfrnd Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: October/08/2012 at 21:04
I dont have good luck with fireworks.Peeker
  Take one vaccume cleaner tube for a launcher and add a lit bottle rocket have your son aim the would be bazooka.  Note extra bottle rockets stored in Dad's shirt pocket.  Didnt expect the boy to turn 30 degrees which put the back blast -  yep you guessed it - pointed directly at my shirt pocket.  I had a half dozen lit bottle rockets in my shirt pocket and it burned the shirt burned me and they went everywhere.  Next year Safety Dad puts a roman candle in a bottle not expecting the bottle to fall over with the first impact and the rest of the tube to spin and shoot in 360 degrees. 
F fireworks, I'll stick with guns.

"Always do the right thing, just because it is the right thing to do".
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote smesk403 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: October/09/2012 at 00:15
lmao. good story
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote budperm Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: October/09/2012 at 06:37
Yea fireworks can get ya.
 
I'm partial to morters.  Had a 4th July party one year where I had about $500 worth of fireworks, mostly morters andd other flying things.  I was set up on my 26X14 deck, shooting them off teh patio table push to the railing.  People kept creeping closer and closer as I set them off.  I started getting nervous and telling them to stay back but they weren't listening.  The ws until one morter only made it about 6 feet out of the tube before exploding into a huge blue starburst.  Still happened about 3 feet over everyones head and all got eyebrows and hair trimmed free.  After that I had plenty of room around the table....
 
I should have moved to a saver location but was too lazy...  We continued to launch fireworks for another 30 minutres or so when my son set a whistling chaser on the railing and lit it.  (I won't tell you what we used to call those whistling chasers down south when I was growing up...)
 
Anyway the chaser launches, goes up about 10-15 feet then does 2 loops and flies straight into an evergreen growing beside one of the deck 6x6 support.  The evergreen was one of those tall skinny kind that are thickly matted an only hte outer inch or 2 is green and eth inside dies off.
 
Yep you guessed it...when in 10 seconds we had a burning bush sending flames a good 10 feet above the deck.  Problem was the bush was under the outside corner of the deck and that corner was completely engulfed in flames.
 
Everybody started running around and screaming like lunatics.  There was a faucet and hose only about 8 feet away and I grabbed the hose telling my son to turn on the water.  Others ran inside and started filling pots and pans.  The darn faucet handle fell off into the gravel and my son is now screaming and on all fores looking for the handle.  I've got the hose and am whipping it at the fire like a bullwhip slinging what little water was in the hose at the fire.
 
About th etime my son located the handle and was trying to turn on the water the 1st person with a pot full of water comes running out of basement and tries to throw the water onto the fire...
Well Linda was a little excited...and a poor aim.. I got more of the water then the fire did. 
 
My son finally got the hose turned on and I made short work of the fire but not before the entire cornwer of the deck was well scorched....and I was soaking wet....
 
The next year I set off the fireworks in the lower back yard a good 100 feet from the house and deck...
"Peace is that brief glorious moment in history when everybody stands around reloading".
--Thomas Jefferson



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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote BeltFed Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: October/09/2012 at 09:59
I thought I wanted to go to Wes' next firework show, but if I take a camcorder to Bud's I might be able to make some money selling the videoLaugh
Life's concerns should be about the 120lb pack your trying to get to the top of the mountain, and not the rock in your boot.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote BeltFed Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: October/09/2012 at 11:21
Ok, it's not an I.I.E.D. (improvised idiot entertainment device), but it fits in well.
A friend of mine used to have all kinds of firearms licenses, including a destructive device (DD) license. He had a working WWII 60mm mortar in his collection as well as some inert mortar rounds. Of course my friend had figured out just how the military propelled the rounds, and he had duplicated it. for the most part it involved a shotgun shell minus the shot, and varying powder charges.
Now I had pulled his fat out of the fire once already over this mortar, and he no longer shot it in his backyard. He had been having fun just shooting it at the KCR trap range and then finding the rounds with a WWII mine detector. But he just couldn't leave well enough alone.
The MG shoot was coming up, and another dealer with even more licenses and conacts was coming to the shoot. Now this dealer could get ahold of anything I think, and I'm pretty sure if you wanted some weapons grade fissionable nuclear material, he could get it for you. Providing your paperwork was in order. It just so happened that he had a case of mortar fuses and some inert 60mm mortar rounds.
Now these two fun loving dealers got together with all their toys and a couple pounds of black powder. So there we were on the firing line, on the Friday evening of the MG shoot WOWing the crowd by launching live mortar rounds out to about 200-250yds. Well Murphy stopped by since these were improvised mortar propelling devices (I.M.P.D.). We dropped a round down the tube, and instead of getting usual BANG, we got the "phuff" that you hear in all the war movies when they fire a mortar. Now the round went into SLOW motion, literally. I watched the round slowly arch up to about 30 feet in the air and then start down. A thought goes through my mind, " I'm inside of the blast radius". I turned around and started running yelling a warning that sounded like "OOOHHH SHIIIIIIP", only to be stopped by a wall of people. I think I heard the blast. I know I saw shrapnel hit an ammo box. I didn't feel anything hit me. I didn't see anyone act like they were hit. Hell we might be ok on this one I thought.
The round landed on the 25yd line, and not a single person got hit. Several things got hit, ammo cans, tool boxes, guns, etc.. In fact every year I talk to someone who was there, I hear about something else that got damaged by shrapnel.
It wasn't long after that, that my friend sold his mortar, and KCR stopped allowing anything experimental or home made on the line during the shoot.
Life's concerns should be about the 120lb pack your trying to get to the top of the mountain, and not the rock in your boot.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote SVT_Tactical Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: October/09/2012 at 11:29

Damn lucky nobody was seriously injured there.

"Most folks are about as happy as they make their minds up to be" - Abraham Lincoln
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote budperm Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: October/09/2012 at 11:44
Yeah, it was awful nice of God to fire a warning shot first.... Loco
"Peace is that brief glorious moment in history when everybody stands around reloading".
--Thomas Jefferson



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