What is/was the most unusual firearm you've ever shot?

[spaceman spiff]

The M-16 that was assigned to me during basic training.

I have shot many rifles since then and it remains the only one that was
automatic fire.

Regards,

Troy

[Old Savage]

JerryB - now wasn't that base plate fun?

[COSteve]

As a kid, I fired a friend's father's small cavalry cannon that he'd made in his machine shop. The cannon was about 25" long and sat on a gun carriage like an old civil war cannon. It shot 10 gauge rifled slugs and we fired it using a lanyard.

Other unusual firearms I fired were the 105mm main gun on my M-60A1 tank in Germany and the 90mm main gun on my M-48A3 tank in Viet Nam. But my all time favorite unusual firearms was my 'Ma Duce' (M-2 50 cal machine gun) of the M-48A3 followed by closely the M-85 50 cal machine gun mounted on my M-60A1 I shot as the Tank Commander. They were a ton of fun!!!

[MrMurphy]

I'd forgotten....... 75mm pack howitzer firing the full power blank (10ga inside a 75mm shell).

I went to New Mexico Military Institute, they fired half-power blanks for the morning and evening gun, saved fullpowers for parades, etc. One day they decided to crank off a full power and i was around, so I got to yank the lanyard.

[GoatGuy]

MrMurphy - NMMI! Wife and I attended graduation ceremonies there this past May for daughter and son of our very closest friends. Daughter graduated the NMMI post secondary school program and now enrolled at Norwich Univ. in Vermont and the son from the NMMI secondary school program and now enrolled at Univ. of OK. I lived in Roswell in the mid-1970's and always thought very highly of the Institute.

[Pathfinder09]

60mm Morter! OOOOOORAH!

[MrMurphy]

Well, I was a member of Delta Troop, 3rd Squadron of the Nine Million Marching Idiots for a year (all of '96) but time was bad (Clinton in office) so i didn't continue with the program and commission. The big 75mm out front of Hagerman barracks is the one I fired.

[20cows]

I do have that little cannon I built a while back. It has an 0.875" bore with a 40 pound barrel. I can't believe I don't have a picture of it. I'll have set the carriage up and remedy that.

[JerryB]

OS, now a range session with my M1 makes me glad I am in Arkansaw and not in those California mountains. I don't reckon I could hold that base plate and an M1 let alone climb those high ridges out there.

[slimster]

"Hitler's Buzz Saw", an original German MG-42 in 8x57. Man those things rip! Went through a 50 rd. belt in just a couple of seconds.

[2ndovc]

It would have to be OI's Howda pistol. One ounce lead ball pushed by several grains of BP, looked very intimidating but not as bad as expected. Big clouds of smoke, couldn't see if I hit the target or not.

Same here! That's one cool freakin' shooter!

jb

[Noah Zark]

Does a Carl Gustaf 84mm antitank rocket launcher count?



Noah

[BenT]

Mac 10 and 30 cal browning 1919. The Mac 10 took you 10 minutes to load a magazine and 2 seconds to empty it. I wasn't that impressed with it. The browning was very accurate with iron sights shooting at 200 yards.

[Scrateshooter]

At Fort Ord in 1958 I fired a BAR, a Browning Light 30cal machinegun, 81mm mortar, 57 recoiless rifle and the 50cal. spotting rifle on the jeep mounted 106. I carried the base plate for that 81 all over the mountains at Hunter Ligget. I did own a nice old Springfield trapdoor 45-70, an 1886 45-70, and a Remington rollingblock in 7mm that was sweet to shoot.Oh well they were fun while I had them.

Wow Grandpa!!!

I remember humping a baseplate for the mortar as well as the tripod for the M2 up and down the mountains of Camp Pendleton.

[Bucks Owin]

My dad was a certifiable gun nut, always swapping for new "toys". I remember when I was around 12 yrs old he came into possession of a M-95 Win in .405 WCF. He managed to come up with a dozen or so empty cases from somewhere and put together some rounds for it. I had twice fired his M-70 "Alaskan" .338 mag the previous year so I figured I was "man enough" to burn some powder in that old .M-95. Well, I lined up on an empty soda can about 50 feet away, closed my eyes and jerked the trigger missing by a foot or two. The ol' man gave me a "somewhat disgusted" look and suggested trying again so I squeezed one off like I'd been taught. I made sure I redeemed myself with a hit because I didn't want to fire the dang thing anymore! That M-95's curved steel buttplate bruised me up a little, I thought it socked me harder than his .338, but I was a happy 12 yr old 'cause the old man grinned, clapped me on the back and said I'd done OK.....I guess a year or so later, the .405 got traded off. It's barrel had been amputated at some point before dad got it and it was in kinda rough shape otherwise I'm pretty sure he would have kept it........

[Streetstar]

I spent a considerable amount of time firing a HK VP-70 i was considering purchasing. I couldnt find a pic on photobucket to post, but it was the first "super capacity" polymer 9mm -- i thought it was 18 rounds -- i was considering purchasing it in the early 90's for 300 bucks -- but was skeptical and bought a glock instead
Looked like a "space gun" from some 50's sci-fi comic book

Should have bought it as a curiosity, but i was 23 or 34 years old at the time and it wasnt in my budget to own a "curiosity"

Around the same time frame, i spent a bit of time with a Beretta 93-r, which was their model 92 with a burst fire feature -- lots of fun

[Blaine]

Just the everyday, mundane LAWs, M60, M79, MaDuce, M16s and stuff......

[AmBraCol]

It has been my pleasure to be allowed to shoot a wide variety of weapons over the years. It helps to have friends all over two continents who share a love of firearms. Custom guns of one type or another always crop up and the wildcats should count as "unusual". Mic McPherson's Marlin varmint gun in some improved version of the 17 Remington (forgive me Mic - I don't recall the variation's name) is one I fired earlier this year. An original Springfield trapdoor is unusual any more too. But the one that sticks in my mind is the 480 Achilles. It was in a fairly common Colt SAA clone - but was reamed to the 480 chamber and re-barreled to .475". I was the third person other than the builder to fire it. Talk about a real hoot! There's something about a widenosed nearly half inch diameter slug at a moderate velocity that gets in my blood. It took out a couple of dangerous hedge apples, providing a beautiful spray of hedgeapple guts all over the place. I've wanted one of my own ever since. The 510 Achilles I got to shoot earlier this year is more of the same - only more so. We didn't have any charging hedge apples to shoot but had a hoot with it anyway.

Now if it's the firearm itself - my custom built muzzle loading pistol made by a backwoods gunsmith in Brazil with a barrel made from an old Willys Jeep steering column and the brazing done with 22 shells and a hand made, one off action that strikes the nipple that's screwed into the rear of the barrel instead of the side - that'd probably qualify as "most unusual" as there's only one like it in the world.

[CaptainFinn]

1. 8mm Berthier Carbine manufactured by REMINGTON. Not sure where my friend who owned it got the ammunition, but he used Balle D projectiles he pulled from old french ammo. I was surprised at how powerful the gun was. And amazingly, even with the tiny little adjustable sights it was quite accurate--a 2" group at 50 yards.

2. Stoner 63. I met a guy at BMAC machine gun shoot who owned one. He said it was worth more then his house. I fired a 50-round burst. Made me want one REAL BAD. The M249 seemed like a Ford Pinto in comparison.

[Hairy Clipper]

The most unusual that I have shot was a custom built four gauge caplock elephant gun!(or anything gun) Wicked, wicked recoil. Four ounce round ball, four ounces of powder. At six foot four inches and 300+ pounds I was very surprised when it nearly put me on my back side. Recoil caused a small loss of blood on my middle finger of the trigger hand...perhaps that triggerguard was not a good idea on this one.

[DarryH]

Japanese Baby Nambu service pistol (Model 1904)
a rare semi-auto only issued to General Officers.
caliber was 7MM Nambu
The ammo is very expensive, so I sold it.

Good Shootin!!
DarryH

[cpt Dan Blodgett]

Torn between the spotting rifle (50 Cal short) on a 106 recoiless rifle or the German 1980s vintage panzer faust. Much like our 90 mm recoiless a real lauten boomer.

[muleequestrian]

Other than all the small arms I shot while in the Marines ( including the artillery I was in )... as a civilian, I'd say the Ljungman AG-42 in 6.5 X 55, or the Egyptian version 8mm Hakim that I owned. Or maybe the .577 Snyder Enfield carbine - a converted P 53 CW rifle that now uses brass cartridges, instead of black powder and musket caps.

I used to be a re enactor in CW artillery... so does a full scale 10 pound Parrot count for an unusual firearm ? I yanked the lanyard on those things quite a bit.

[Griff]

Other than all the small arms I shot while in the Marines ( including the artillery I was in )... as a civilian, I'd say the Ljungman AG-42 in 6.5 X 55, or the Egyptian version 8mm Hakim that I owned. Or maybe the .577 Snyder Enfield carbine - a converted P 53 CW rifle that now uses brass cartridges, instead of black powder and musket caps.

I used to be a re enactor in CW artillery... so does a full scale 10 pound Parrot count for an unusual firearm ? I yanked the lanyard on those things quite a bit.

Welcome to THE Forum!

[JReed]

It would have to be OI's Howda pistol. One ounce lead ball pushed by several grains of BP, looked very intimidating but not as bad as expected. Big clouds of smoke, couldn't see if I hit the target or not.

+1 That thing is just way to much fun

[JReed]

Other than all the small arms I shot while in the Marines ( including the artillery I was in )... as a civilian, I'd say the Ljungman AG-42 in 6.5 X 55, or the Egyptian version 8mm Hakim that I owned. Or maybe the .577 Snyder Enfield carbine - a converted P 53 CW rifle that now uses brass cartridges, instead of black powder and musket caps.

I used to be a re enactor in CW artillery... so does a full scale 10 pound Parrot count for an unusual firearm ? I yanked the lanyard on those things quite a bit.

Welcome to THE Forum!

Yes welcome there are a few of us Jar Heads on here.
Other then my previous post the oddest weapon I ever fired is the M3P .50cal Machine gun found on the Avenger weapons system. It is an electronically fired version of the M2 but is capable of 1200 rounds a minute. That thing will really tear stuff up.

[piller]

I don't know if a T.O.W. missile would fit in this group, but I fired one from a hammerhead unit on top of an APC, and one from a pintle mount on a HMMWV. If not, then the M60 on a mount in the door of a UH1 Iriquois (also known as a slick) while going about 90 miles per hour in the training area on Ft. Bragg. My son was given the chance to fire a Mac10 at a gun range. He was 8 years old, and loved it. I liked the HK MP5 that I was allowed to shoot a magazineful from better.

[Rusty]

When I was about 10 I was at the police range with my dad who was deputy M.E. so they let him in to shoot his M36 S&W. While there they limbered out an old German Bergman (I think) 9mm sub gun. I got to fire off a few round in that. Pretty cool at the time.

Thompson, M3, and an MP5. The MP5 was the best IMHO.

Most unusual was when I was helping out on a CW canon crew. Maybe I'll get one of those some day. I really liked the brass 12 pounder I saw at a reenactment one time. When that thing went off the vibrations set off car alarms in the parking lot 400 yards away.

[Buck Elliott]

For me, it's a tossup between a 75mm recoilless rifle and a Gyrojet pistol Opposite ends of the same sort of "spectrum" you might say...

Man, THAT takes me back some YEARS...