# What's the craziest rifle...



## Tom Bombadil (Mar 25, 2008)

What is the craziest rifle you have ever hunted with?

What is the craziest rifle you have ever fired?


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## Tom Bombadil (Mar 25, 2008)

The hunting part is not very sexy - I have only hunted with a Ruger 10/22, a Marlin 30/30, or a Remington .308.

The craziest rifle I have ever fired would be the Barrett .50 semi-auto. It was the rifle that taught me that after 500 meters, I was the problem. The range only went to 800 meters and my buddy, who owned the rifle and has better eyesight, could hit near center of mass (about 4" group) at that range.


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## hunter63 (Jan 4, 2005)

Checheslovakian Mouser 98 w/straight bolt, 8 mm.
You pulled it straight back, then straight forward, kept seeing the bolt going thru my eye.
Gun in our Black powder group used a home made match lock, had to keep the rope (match ) burning.
Got a deer with it slso.


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## wilded (May 10, 2002)

Mowry 58 caliber black powder rifle.

Ingram Mac 10 45 ACP full auto


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## quietstar (Dec 11, 2002)

Hunted one day in Louisiana with a borrowed 6.? MM Japanease military rifle as captured. There was enough slack feeling in the bolt closing that I was relieved I didn't see a tempting buck.

Met a friend on the bench rest range with his new found, old 10MM French Lebel(sp) rifle. After firing one round, I had the feeling I had used up a big chunk of my Irish luck...Glen


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## diamondtim (Jun 10, 2005)

Both would be my M44 Mosin-Nagant carbine. The swing-out 13" cruciform bayonet caused one of my huntin' buddies to comment, "You can shoot, stab and gut them with that thing."

When you fire some Russian military surplus through it, you'll get a 1 foot by 2 foot fireball coming out of the muzzle. She'll put a good bruise on your shoulder to boot. Cheap and fun to shoot!:happy:


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## VarmitSniper (Apr 2, 2008)

Picture this, you're a 14 yo at a machine gun shoot and a guy asks if you would like to shoot his gun. You say ''ok'' and get behind the gun and pull the trigger. Turns out it was a .416 rigby that weighed in at about 9 lbs, felt like i had been hit by a car. In all the years since i have never fired anything even remotely as painful as that. On the Barrett .50 BMG i have got to fire three of them,:rock: recoil i have to say is not that bad at all, a Remington 870 in 12 gauge with slugs kicks harder than them.


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## tallpaul (Sep 5, 2004)

wilded said:


> Ingram Mac 10 45 ACP full auto


a mac is a subgun and not a rifle  

then again neither are the machine guns mentioned 


No crazy guns hunting for me unless my contender in 45/70 counts...

my crazy guns are a legal ADC pen gun in .25 acp

my legally registered silenced sten gun is crazy

now others guns civilian/legal guns

the Ma duece in .50 and the 1919 browning

The american 180 and HK mp5-sd (silenced) were real fun


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## stranger (Feb 24, 2008)

never hunted or shot it, but my uncle has a 31 cal. that he brought back from the Pacific islands in WW2.. the japs made a 31 cal that would shoot our captured 30 cal ammo, but we couldn't shoot their 31 cal.
it looked like it was made out of spare parts.


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## big rockpile (Feb 24, 2003)

Well not the craziest but I did have a Shotgun blow up on me after 5 shots.Company wanted to know if I wanted another? I told them no they provided all the excitment I needed the first time around.

big rockpile


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## wilded (May 10, 2002)

tallpaul said:


> a mac is a subgun and not a rifle
> 
> then again neither are the machine guns mentioned
> 
> ...


The Mac did have a screw on barrel extension and an attachable stock.


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## -TWO- (Mar 25, 2008)

Friend-o-mine has a very old single shot .22 thats been in his family for years. It has long, long, very heavy octigon barrel with a breaking breech like a shot gun. Its so heavy it has to have a rest. Used to shoot ground squirrels with it when we were younger. The thing is dead on accurate & hardly makes a sound when fired. I believe it was made by Hawkins.


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## stranger (Feb 24, 2008)

-TWO- said:


> Friend-o-mine has a very old single shot .22 thats been in his family for years. It has long, long, very heavy octigon barrel with a breaking breech like a shot gun. Its so heavy it has to have a rest. Used to shoot ground squirrels with it when we were younger. The thing is dead on accurate & hardly makes a sound when fired. I believe it was made by Hawkins.


 probably a target rifle from back when private schools and some colleges had rifle teams before the depression and til WW2..


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## THETOOLMAN (Feb 15, 2008)

I got a deer with my 1927-a1 tommy gun last year. .45


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## K-9 (Jul 27, 2007)

I didn't get to hunt with it but probably the neatest rifle I have ever gotten to fire was a Gemmer (sp) reproduction that was custom built. It is a trapdoor springfield action with a octagon barrel and half stock like a Hawken style rifle complete with "ramrod" which was actually a cleaning rod. We were shooting black powder loads and cast bullets. It is one neat rifle. Now as far as some of the gee-whiz full autos mentioned, I have shot a bunch of different ones including some very exotic stuff but for me it didn't compare to that old/new singleshot rifle.


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## Tom Bombadil (Mar 25, 2008)

VarmitSniper said:


> Picture this, you're a 14 yo at a machine gun shoot and a guy asks if you would like to shoot his gun. You say ''ok'' and get behind the gun and pull the trigger. Turns out it was a .416 rigby that weighed in at about 9 lbs, felt like i had been hit by a car. In all the years since i have never fired anything even remotely as painful as that. On the Barrett .50 BMG i have got to fire three of them,:rock: recoil i have to say is not that bad at all, a Remington 870 in 12 gauge with slugs kicks harder than them.


When you fired the Barrett, did you fire the semi-auto or the bolt action? I fired the bolt action and it had some kick, but no more than my 12 gauge firing magnum slugs. The guys in the military who fired the semi-auto said that it is even less since the action absorbs much of the recoil too.

Still, it wasn't until the Barrett .50 that I really appreciated the ability of what I would call a sniper. Give me a good high powered rifle that is zero-ed in and I am going to hit what I am at out to about 250 meters. Put a scope on that rifle and I can double that. Put that weapon into the hands of the guys I used to shoot with (SF and Delta) and I realize that my shooting is nothing more than adequate. With the ranges I need to hunt, that is fine for me.

The biggest "spanking" I ever got on the range: a buddy let me use his Robar .308 to shoot at a 500 meter target. I fired 3 shots prone and got every shot inside the black - pretty good, right? Then he lets this Delta guy step up and shoot at the same target. The guy fires three shots and we wait for the range to go all clear. I run down and grab the target - two of my three holes are now touched by another hole. The third hole is just a little bigger. The guy re-shot my shots! I was impressed but 500 meters is a nice jog back so I had some time to think. When I got back I said, "Holy crap! I shoot as well as Delta Force!"

Anyway, I love long range shooting even if I am no pro. As long as I can something the size of a human head, I figure I am good enough.


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## tn_junk (Nov 28, 2006)

Killed a deer years ago with a 788 Remington in .44 Magnum. Only one I have ever seen, and wish I had kept it.

Friend had a 6 bore muzzle loading rifle. After watching him fire it, and then pick himself up off the ground, I declined.

alan


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## VarmitSniper (Apr 2, 2008)

Tom Bombadil said:


> When you fired the Barrett, did you fire the semi-auto or the bolt action? I fired the bolt action and it had some kick, but no more than my 12 gauge firing magnum slugs. The guys in the military who fired the semi-auto said that it is even less since the action absorbs much of the recoil too.


All three Barretts were the bolt action ones (model 99-1 they were called, now they are just model 99.) Slammed an 800 yard target with one (benchresting) very happy about that one.


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## Dutch 106 (Feb 12, 2008)

Hi Guys,
I took a nice 8 point buck with a 1891 Mauser in 7.65mm argentine. 30+ years ago.
Dutch


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## michiganfarmer (Oct 15, 2005)

Its not real exciting but the biggest ting I ever shot or owned was a 
300 weatherby mag.


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## ricky (Jul 31, 2006)

sporterised 7.5 jap


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## RoughRider (May 16, 2008)

I am not sure what "craziest" means but I suppose "unusual" might suffice.

I once shot a woodchuck with a Sharps 45/120 (actually it is a .45 X 3.25" going slightly over 120grs of black powder) if that counts.

Shot - I have shot a 40mm Lahti which is technically a rifle (albeit an anti-tank rifle - but it is shoulder fired from a bipod) but as far as more portable stuff, I once owned a .510 Wells Express. It weighed 14 lbs so it wasnt so bad compared to my 8.5 lb .458 Lott.

Best regards,

R.R.


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## BigBoy (Oct 24, 2005)

Craziest is correct... When I was a young and DUMB kid a friend got a 4ft piece of brass tubing for me and I rammed a bolt into the rear to plug it and drilled a flashpan about 1" from the back. I then poured in about a shotglass full of blackpowder and some paper to keep in in. Luckily we were both holding it and standing on either side when we set it off... because the bolt we used to plug it shot out like a bullet. 

And FYI... the Lahti anti-tank gun is a 20mm which is about .80cal. But the entire cartridge is physically almost 3 times the size of a .50 cal.


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## PyroDon (Jul 30, 2006)

I have a 375 h&h Mag it will set you back a step if your not expecting it .
Not a bad gun if your shooting over a few hundred yards like 6 or more .
I call it my AT&T rifle for making long distance calls .
got a nice 8 point at 300 yards using iron sights
My normal deer rifle is pretty simple a winchester 44mag lever action saddle rifle with a 16" barrel


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## beowoulf90 (Jan 13, 2004)

diamondtim said:


> Both would be my M44 Mosin-Nagant carbine. The swing-out 13" cruciform bayonet caused one of my huntin' buddies to comment, "You can shoot, stab and gut them with that thing."
> 
> When you fire some Russian military surplus through it, you'll get a 1 foot by 2 foot fireball coming out of the muzzle. She'll put a good bruise on your shoulder to boot. Cheap and fun to shoot!:happy:


I'll second the above statements!!!! 
Also when you run out of ammo you can still use it as a club till you find more ammo and you don't have to worry about hurting the rifle....lol


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## beowoulf90 (Jan 13, 2004)

Now as to shooting some crazy (unusual) rifles, I've shot 1859 Sharps rifles (repros), an 1874 Sharps rifle in 45-70, an original Smith rifle, a Spencer rifle (repro), plus other reproduction rifles. The Mosin M44 is always a fun rifle, a Win 1200 with an 18" barrel and pistol grips will make you think twice about using pistol grips again...LOL

We shoot on a fairly regular basis with friends and family so we get to shoot a variety of firearms...


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## tallpaul (Sep 5, 2004)

sharps- did someone say sharps?

one of mine... a boring but reliable 45/70 for now


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## FreeRanger (Jul 20, 2005)

Confession : I once shot a very old 22cal Benjamen air rifle at a squirel thru the knot hole in the branch of tree at xxxxxblock of Main street Peoria IL which is directly across the street from Bradley University's business building. The tree rat stood up on the branch and fell over dead. Upon examination, we found it was shot right between the eyes as it was spying on us. No more running across the metal roof of the house early in the morning...kept it out of the attic too......two witnesses observed the event..


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## Murray in ME (May 10, 2002)

Nice looking Sharps Paul. Beautiful wood.


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## beowoulf90 (Jan 13, 2004)

Nice Sharps, tallpaul..


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## crafty2002 (Aug 23, 2006)

michiganfarmer said:


> Its not real exciting but the biggest ting I ever shot or owned was a
> 300 weatherby mag.


I have never shot a .300 Weatherby but the Weatherby's I have shot were great. I already had a lot tied up in my Remington and had already sent it to the shop for an up grade before I ever shot a Weatherby, but I would have went with that rifle had I shot one before hand. That rifle in .300 magnum has got to be way better at long range than my .06 is and it's good. 

I have hit gallon jugs of water ( I just love to fill up old milk jugs and taking them way out and shooting at thim) but the best I ever did was with a Barret .50 single shot at what the owner said was 1,400 yards. My range finder was only good for about 400 yards, but I know it was way on out there and it is amazing what a 40 power scope will do with a rofle as accurate as a barret is. That scope makes it look like it's maybe 100 -200 feet from you. 
You know it ain't but 1,760 yards in a mile so I have to say that is the most incredible rifle I have ever shot. 
If I had of had that in Nam I could have just walked back to the LZ for the chopper. Wouldn't had to run cause I would have had a bigger head start,, LOL.
I love long range shooting because you can make so many eys get really big when they are looking thru a spotters scope when a jug blows up. Heck, you can't even see a gallon jug that far away with a naked eye. Not even at 800 yards out. They can't believe what they just saw with there own eyes. : And I really like it when there is money on the table saying I can't do it. :sing:

Paul, that is a nice looking sharps. Is it a reproduction. I ask because of the check piece on the stock. Just wondering where you got it and what the cost was. 
I built daddy a .50 cal. musket for Christmas one year from a kit. Any chance that came from a kit??? If it did it looks like you did some fine work on it. 
I did the best I could on daddy's but I wasn't but about 12 or 13. That thing knocked me slap on my azzzz the first time I shot it. And then my x - BIL stold it and sold it and we never did find it again. 
I guess that was another crazy rifle I shot. Or should I say got kicked by., LOL.


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## Haggis (Mar 11, 2004)

I've hunted with muzzleloading shotguns, rifles, and flintlock smooth bores (fusils), but never thought they were too crazy, though I did have thoughts about myself at times. Now the only "odd" guns I hunt with are my Marlin 1895CB .45-70, and my Marlin 1894cl .25-20. I did once own, and hunt with, a "Remington Rider" breakdown single shot in 12 ga, it was probably the strangest gun I owned, given it was the only one of its kind I've seen.


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## tallpaul (Sep 5, 2004)

it is made by Shiloh Sharps... they started up but are not ORIGINAL...

Here is info and time frames etc... http://www.shilohrifle.com/ be careful though - that sight causes lust every time I go there 

I ordered this and another over ten years ago and it took four years or so to get them... the waits are not that great and some are available new but now from folks that bought them to resell for a couple hundred over cost without the wait...

Mine has a few upgrades as the pewter fore end caps and wood upgrades... 

I need a couple sets of "proper" sights but have not gotten around to it ... 

I have a twin to it also... I am thinkin of sellin one- since I haven't shot either since I got them and I need ta streamline a bit .... 

I would love ta harvest a deer or pigs with one of em thats for sure... elk or bison would be fun too


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## dogo (Dec 3, 2005)

tallpaul said:


> sharps- did someone say sharps?
> 
> one of mine... a boring but reliable 45/70 for now


TP it seems you have too many of the 45/70's so I'll be glad to help you out by taking it off your hands. :banana02: You know just to give you more space in the gun safe . ya kno what I mean?? .:rock:


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