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Old June 16, 2010, 09:01 PM   #15
Dr. Strangelove
Senior Member
 
Join Date: August 1, 2008
Location: Athens, GA
Posts: 1,436
Once.

A friend of my Dad's loaned me a sporterized 8mm Mauser when I was a kid (about 14) so I could deer hunt. I took it by my grandfather's house to show it off, he had a few old rounds of WWII era German ammo that were moldy and green, so we decided to shoot it in the basement of his house. (He lived in town)

I aimed, pulled the trigger, heard "click", kept the muzzle pointed into the hand-dug dirt wall of the basement, turned my head and said "I think this one was a.. BOOOOM!!"

Three lessons:

1: Old green, moldy ammo is unsafe.
2: Never fire a center-fire rifle in the basement without hearing protection. (or at all, if possible) My ears rang for days. (I was a kid and didn't know any better) It's amazing just how much dust is in a hundred year old hand-dug basement.
3: An 8mm Mauser fired a couple of feet below a kitchen stove will make all the pots jump and dance, and your sweet little grandmother scream at you while shaking a dishrag at the top of the basement steps "I don't know what you're doing down there, but STOP IT! STOP IT RIGHT NOW!"

It became a family legend, but could have easily ended badly. If I have a misfire now, I let it sit for five or ten minutes pointed downrange.

Total delay was probably three or four seconds.
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