Your best shot with a handgun intentional or not

[MTNSTRYDER]

My amazing shots occurred over 40 years ago while I was building our first house. After a long days work we, family members, knocked off for the day. As everyone left I decided to stick around and clean up the job site. I loaded scrap lumber in my truck and drove it 75 yards to the back of the property to burn it. While throwing it into a pile I came across a piece of drywall about 14"×20", about the size of a human torso, a perfect target. I tacked it up on a small tree and drove back to the house and pulled out my Colt Trooper MKIII, loaded with handloaded 38 Sp wadcutter. This Colt was not especially accurate, 2 1/2 -3 inches off bags at 25 yards. I cranked the rear sight up a few clicks, 2 hand standing at 75 yards, held center of the drywall and squeezed the trigger. There was a puff of white dust so I knew I had connected, I was extremely happy to hit the target. 2 more shots and 2 more puffs of white dust. But the most satisfying moment was when I walked back to the target and there was 3 holes in a perfect triangle, 1 1/4" center to center.

Another Ballantine moment

 

[ApacheCoTodd]

Every single low-down scoundrel of a bad guy that I have ever snap-shot at on Outlaw Josie Wales has fallen like a pile of bricks to my 1858 Remington. Neither Time nor space nor even empty chambers mean anything to me.

Beyond that. We were out on Ft Campbell wasting a pile of tracer .45acp that we had in the system for a no-longer available sub-cal device. What we were doing was trying to ignite barrels of foo-gas with tracers of different weapons.

In any case, we had a barrel waaaaaaaaay out beyond where a 1911 should be shooting in general and SIGNIFICANTLY beyond this ignited range of .45acp in particular.

Almost referentially, while holding a loaded 1911, I said to my Junior Demo to fire his rifle at a particular barrel. He says; "which one?" So I point the 1911 and say "the one on this tracer arc" and launch my fire-pill.

He watches the arc, says; "OK, got it" and then seemingly ridiculously later we hear; p-thunk!

Now, we're thinking NO WAY I hit that barrel way out there so we hoof it out for a look-see. Yup, sure as baby rabbits there's a brand new crease on the front and remnants of the .45 round at the base.

Todd.

 

[Matthew Temkin]

Once challenged at a police firearms instructors conference to “prove” that point shooting works.
For a goof I drew and fired 3 rapid fire shots at 3 steel targets ( one shot per target) from the hip at 15 yards.
Hit all 3.
Even I was impressed.

 

[Armored farmer]

"You have a gun in here?" Said #1 son when he spotted a fat groundhog eating soybeans about 35yds off the dirt roadway.
"Just my lcp"
"Give it here, I've been seeing this one out here eating beans" .
"Meh", I wasn't too keen on wasting one of my good sd hollowpoints on educating a groundhog, even if he was devouring soybeans by the mouthful.
I drew my lcp and handed it to my son who was familiar with it because he has one too. He took entirely too long to get sighted and solid, but at the sound of the shot, the groundhog's tail went in a circle like a helicopter. I knew where the bullet struck.

It was one of the best pistol shots that I have ever seen. I didnt fire the shot, but i witnessed it!
DID I MENTION THAT IT WAS AN LCP!

 

[Hokkmike]

So what’s your best shot with a handgun? I’m talking about one where you scratched your head and said “did I really do that”? For someone like myself that has been shooting handguns for 50+ I have only one that stands out and it was strictly unintentional.
When I first got married I was visiting my brother at his place in rural Central Texas. I had a Model 10 S&W 4” .38 Special in a cowboy rig. There were four couples and we all were walking on the ridge of a stock tank. About 50 feet away there was a aluminum can half submerged in the water and mostly covered with mud. I said “see that can right there” and after everybody stopped to look I did a Matt Dillon unaimed fast cowboy draw (for those that know what that is) and hit that can knocking it about ten feet in the air. Pure ‘D luck.
Like on TV I blew the smoke from the barrel and reholstered. There were some accolades including my wife who said “Wow you are a good shot.”
We continued to walk and my brother slipped up next to me, rolled his eyes, and said “you couldn’t do that again in a100 years”. I said yeah, well don’t tell her that.”

I was at one of my shooting spots playing with my 686 in .357. A local guy, who introduced himself as a former "shooting instructor" noticed my group was low and left. He said that I should aim high of the bull and let the sights settle down naturally to the center while squeezing the trigger. Humoring him, I did so and nailed a shot dead center in the bull. He got a grin a mile wide, nodded with that "told you so" look, got in his truck and left. I feel better about what I did for his ego than my own.

 

[Rembrandt]

Best shot with a handgun was.....intentional. After many years hunting Antelope with a rifle, it became too predictable, started looking for more of a challenge. Knew I could get within 200 yards for an Antelope, began practicing and developing loads to try it with a handgun. Practiced all summer a couple times each week.

Goal was to get an entire family unit of Antelope mounted for the trophy room. Took the spiked doe (upper right) at little over 200 yards with 44 magnum.

Not talented enough to match Elmer Kieth's 600 yard deer using a 44 magnum....afraid 200 is my limit.

 

[AustinTX]

I've hit the X-ring at 100 yards with iron sights more times than I can count. Not particularly impressive, though, because I do a fair amount of handgun shooting at 50 and 100 yards, and many, many more of my shots miss the X-ring than hit it.

 

[wmgeorge]

Out in SD prairie dog hunting with a friend and my trusty CZ 223 varmint rifle. I had taken along my small Tarus SS 2 inch barrel 22 revolver for the rattlesnakes we never saw. Getting ready to leave and my friend pointed at a Prairie Dog 100 ft away, lets see if you can get him.... lucky shot but I nailed the little bugger. Surprise for Everyone!!

 

[roadliner]

It's been over thirty years ago, wow can't believe I just wrote that. Time flies. My buddy and I would hunt rabbits in the rolling hills south of here using just handguns. We both reloaded ammo and would pick a different caliber to take on each outing, mostly 357/38, 45 ACP or in this case, 44 magnum. He had a Ruger Blackhawk and me being between 44's, borrowed back my 8 3/8 Virginian Dragoon from my brother. In the middle of the hunt, my German Shorhair locked up on point. Since we had kicked up a covey of quail near here in the past, my buddy suggested we flush them and give it a try. We had a hillside as a backstop for the rounds so we put them up. I fired at one bird probably less than 10 feet out and it dropped. I seriously thought the muzzel blast had just stunned it, but no, there was a hole through the lower abdomen. My buddy made quite the deal over it, but I just acted like it was just my skillful shooting.

 

[GAF]

A few years ago I shot a friends Arcus full size 9mm handgun at an 18 inch steel plate at 200 yards. I hit the plate twice out of 5 rounds.
I loaded up five more rounds for a repeat performance. Hit the steel plate 2 more time out of 5 rounds and then I quit while i was ahead.

 

[TRX]

So what’s your best shot with a handgun? I’m talking about one where you scratched your head and said “did I really do that”?

A buddy had a 1911 that had apparenly unsolvable FTF and FTE problems. I took it home and cleaned it for him - it was full of solidified lubricant of some sort - and next range trip, it was a little better, but it would malfunct two or three times per magazine.

I asked to try it, stuck my arm out, and put all seven rounds in the bullseye, bang-bang-bang-bang-bang-bang-bang. After staring in disbeif for a moment, I handed it back and told him I thought he was limp-wristing it...

Ordinarily, I would have been able to keep all seven in the rings, or at least on the paper, at that range. No way would I be able to shoot the bull out. It was pure luck, but it happened when I could take maximum advantage of it.

 

[Pete D.]

Well....nothing to match those marvelously entertaining stories. I shot the one in the picture yesterday. It’s about as good as I do nowadays. There were five shots...the other four were nines...two right and two left.
Gun is a Hammerli AP air pistol. 10 meters, iron sights, one hand unsupported. The ring is 5mm. The pellet is 4.5mm

 

[Mohican1]

So what’s your best shot with a handgun? I’m talking about one where you scratched your head and said “did I really do that”? For someone like myself that has been shooting handguns for 50+ I have only one that stands out and it was strictly unintentional.
When I first got married I was visiting my brother at his place in rural Central Texas. I had a Model 10 S&W 4” .38 Special in a cowboy rig. There were four couples and we all were walking on the ridge of a stock tank. About 50 feet away there was a aluminum can half submerged in the water and mostly covered with mud. I said “see that can right there” and after everybody stopped to look I did a Matt Dillon unaimed fast cowboy draw (for those that know what that is) and hit that can knocking it about ten feet in the air. Pure ‘D luck.
Like on TV I blew the smoke from the barrel and reholstered. There were some accolades including my wife who said “Wow you are a good shot.”
We continued to walk and my brother slipped up next to me, rolled his eyes, and said “you couldn’t do that again in a100 years”. I said yeah, well don’t tell her that.”

In the late 80's I was deer hunting from a treestand in Virginia when a big doe and a yearling came crunching through the frozen snow. I dropped the yearling with a smoothbore 12ga 870 slug bbl with a Brenneke about 50yds away and the bigger doe ran by me so I drew a 4in Model 15 Smith with one hand and shot quickly single action 3 times starting from about 10yds. The 3rd shot hit her between the shoulder blades at 45yrds as she crested a hill and down she went. All one handed as I was holding the 870 with my left hand. Turned out, 1 hit her in the hindquarter, 1 through her low chest and the 3rd I already mentioned. I was using the old Federal Hydrashock 129gr +P load. The old FBI load would have been better. I think we were both surprised.

 

[Mohican1]

Second day of deer season, just at first light, I was searching for a tree to climb up in and settle down for the morning hunt. I hear all these truck doors slam and guys talking while they load their shotguns. The guys fan out, about 8 or 10 of them, and start walking through this hay field, away from me. Now I am about half way up this tree where I should be. Suddenly I see a buck emerge from the tall grass right where these guys just walked through. The buck was crawling as low as he could go until he got a little distance away from the hunters. Now the buck is running at a full gallop right toward the tree I am trying to climb. He passes right under the limb I am standing on. Holding on with my left hand, I draw my scoped SBH, cock the hammer and get off two quick shots at the running deer. First shot misses, second shot hits buck in the ass as he flies by me. All the hunters in the field stop and look around, trying to figure out who is shooting and at what? I climbed down from the tree, found a little blood, tracked that deer about 1/2 mile, found him totally emerged in water in a creek with just his horns sticking out of the water. The 240 gr. Rem. JHP entered the deer right next to his butt hole and never exited. I was aiming at the back of his head, but because he was running so fast, his ass got in the way. Lucky for me, for him, not so much!

They call that a Texas Heart Shot

 

[swg1]

Before bifocals, top 18inch of an old acetylene bottle standing vertically at 200yds with a Ruger MkII KMK678 22. Could hit it more than 50% of the time. From 150yds, I could hit it about 90% of the time. A six inch plate at 100yds repeatedly with a 1920's commercial Luger in 30 Luger. A pop can at 50yds with a pocket Beretta 21. The little Beretta was a great grouse gun while deer hunting. I liked it so much I thought to get a stainless one (INOX?). That one did not shoot ANYWHERE near as well or anywhere near where it looked. A wheel barrel at 50 feet was a challenge with that example. Still have the blue one, the stainless one is long gone.

None of it all that impressive after I watched a good handgun silhouette shooter in action; that character was shooting one inch groups at a hundred with his contender offhand.

It hadn't occurred to any of us to shoot at that acetylene bottle gong at 200 until some unknown character pulled up to the range one day in his Landcruiser, jumped out and rang the gong 6 times with what appeared to be a S&W m19 and then got back in his rig and drove away. Did it bullseye style, one hand in his pocket, one on the gun. Back in the eighties when the Shelton Rifle Club was still out in the woods and conveniently on my drive home every night from work.

 

[Coyote3855]

At a cowboy action side match in the late 1990s, I hit a steel chicken silhouette target at 100 yards with a Colt SAA 4 3/4' .45 Colt. Good enough to win a ham. Much more luck than skill. About the same time, I shot a 1.25 inch group at 25 yards with a Ruger Blackhawk .357. Never came close to anything like that since.

 

[BigBore44]

Was camping with some friends back in highschool at an old slave plantation in the middle of nowhere. We all brought 3-4 guns with us. They set up some impromptu targets (pop bottles, cans, and such) at about 50-75 yards and blasted away. The challenges started immediately. I was cutting and splitting firewood so we wouldn’t freeze that night. There was a pause for about 5 minutes or so and the shooting started again. Couple minutes later another pause. This time the shooting is much more slowed and controlled. In between the shots you could hear the “You suck”, “not even close”, “are you shooting blanks?” And all the laughter from razzing each other. Well I’ve got about a rick split and I’m ready for a break. So I go walking over to them because they have the cooler. One of them says

“Hey _____(my last name), bet you can’t hit that target.”

“You’re probably right. Sounds like you all can’t either.”

“Well lumberjack, how about you try.”

“What are you all even shooting at?”

“That bottle cap on the tree.”

I look. I could barely see a little white dot way out there through the woods.

“Taylor, that’s got to be 100 yards. You all are just wasting ammo.”

“So show us hot to stop wasting it then.”

I picked up one of their revolvers loaded a round into it, raised the gun and fired. I didn’t hit it. Wasn’t even aiming at it. I was just pointing in that general direction.

I lowered the gun, emptied the brass, and set the gun down.

“That’s how you stop wasting ammo.”

And you all probably thought I’d say I hit it. Lol

————————————————————-

My best shot was probably last year. A running piglet across a pond dike at about 100 yards with my RIA 10mm. Maybe weighed 5 lbs. I missed the first shot as he was crossing the field. Second shot as he’s crossing the dike being chased by my Catahoula, I 10 ringed him. Had to finish him off with the head shot.

 

[RedRyder73]

We have a problem with feral cats around here. One kept lurking around that was particularly nasty tempered. I could never get a clear shot at him because he was a master at using cover, plus, as soon as he heard the house door open he took off. One evening I just sat and watched out the back door (yes, I lead a really exciting life) and, sure enough, he showed up. I already had the door open so it was just a matter of stepping onto the steps. Of course he got the hell outa Dodge but he ran through about a 3 ft opening between my casting shed and a tree and I caught him with a round out of my G45 and rolled him at about 25 yards. Pure luck but, of course I let on to my wife that it was just a matter of proper lead and knowing your weapon and ammo. She seemed to buy it but then again, I can never tell for sure.

 

[PCFlorida]

In 1987 I was walking in the woods in upstate NY with my yellow lab and saw him about to get too close to a Cottonmouth. I pulled my Ruger Single Six and let one shot off and the snake was dead. He was maybe 20 yards in front of me. Of course I had the advantage of younger eyes and quicker reflexes than I do now. Not a particularly difficult shot but my Lab stayed by my side the rest of the day

 

[mnrivrat]

Pheasant at just over a 100 paces with a Ruger Single Six with the .22 magnum.

 

[robhof]

About 8 yrs ago at our club range, I had brought my DW 357 SM with the 6" barrel attached to see if I could hit anything with it, had been practicing at 25 yds and felt good, then some kids rolled up and started blasting around the 200 yd gong with AK's and missing, when they stopped to refill their mags, I aimed for the gong and placed 6 on the gong. They came over to admire my pistol and ask about it as I was putting it away, as I was sure I couldn't do that again...

 

[herkyguy]

A bobcat in FL on the far bank of a creek, from a tree stand at a range of about 30 yards. December, 2011. 6” Ruger GP100 in .357.

Ex-wife took half of my taxidermy in the divorce, including the full-mount cat. And no, she’s doesn’t hunt or shoot.

 

[The Happy Kaboomer]

I was plowing my dove field 2 summers ago and a crow lit in the field about 70 yards away. I took my little 2" barrel S&W kit gun and propped on the steering wheel 2 handed(the tractor was running but stopped). At the shot the crow fell over dead. I don't know who was more surprised. Him or me.

 

[Hugger-4641]

The most recent: was riding down a creek on my Foreman with a few friends behind me. Saw a cotton mouth slip off the bank into the water about 30yd ahead. Stopped and popped his head with one shot from my CZ52.
The most memorable: I was about 15 and my grandad bought a SS S&W .357. I had been popping turtles in our fish pond with an old High Standard .22lr and missing about half the time. He told me to use the .357 and for two days I thought I was just barely missing them and chalked it up to getting used to a new gun. 3 days later he called me down to the pond, there were 2 dozen dead turtles floating in the pond.

 

[Bcwitt]

5"×12" steel plate @ 150 yd. S&w 638 hip shot.