True Confessions - The Answer Revealed

[wolfsong]

I have a riddle for y'all. I'll give you some clues, and some time to put the clues together and give your conclusions. Ready?

The scenario: first light, opening day of dove season.
The participants: me.
The witness: my cousin Sammy.
The action: dove, lots of dove, coming in from all angles, flying mach 5,

The clues: how, why and what do a folding pocket knife, a Leatherman multitool, vice grips and a tree branch approximately 8 inches long and a quarter inch in diameter have to do with a Remington 870 12 gauge and a fully loaded magazine?

Have at it.

 

[Bear Paw Jack]

We the jury in the case of Wolfsong, find the defendant guilty your honor.

 

[Jeepnik]

First off, you are fibbing. Doves don't fly at mach 5. Mach 6 at least.

As to the rest, I figured you used the tools to gut the birds, hack off a 1/4 diameter branch and used that to carry your limit.

 

[GhosT]

Crap wolfsong,
Ya wrote a Hitchcock mystery....lol
''The action: dove, lots of dove, coming in from all angles, flying mach 5,...''
somebody shot the others gun....prolly not, said Sammy just a witness.

''folding pocket knife, a Leatherman multitool''.....
Yer gun took damage, yet wanted to still hunt.
I've fixed many a things with either a Swiss army knife or a Leatherman multitool.lol.
Had ya mentioned ''DUCT TAPE''.....would be sure..lololol

''vice grips and a tree branch approximately 8 inches long and a quarter inch in diameter have to do with a Remington 870 12 gauge and a fully loaded magazine? ''

Uggggg!
Still sounds like a gun quick fix temporary repair, so ya can still hunt?

''tree branch approximately 8 inches long and a quarter inch in diameter''
Can't figure out what part that would replace???????
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
A dove had a rough life. His wife cheated on him.
Dove dove into yer gun barrel to end it all.

Ya needed to use the stick to clear out dead dove from the barrel.


As All Ruger owners keep their guns Perfectly Clean,
while removing said dove,ya saw a reflection of your nose.....
Ya saw 3-5 long nose hairs.

First thought.....tweezers.......got some in yer first aid kit.........
But then ya remembered......Hillary Clinton has a staff of 30 supporters armed with tweezers in both hands that spend the hours 3 -5am daily, plucking off her Demon fur....


''Well, Screw that''... What would TRUMP Do?

Vice gripped those 3-5 out , lite up a smoke.. and said... ''God bless America''. !!!

____________________________________________________________________

Wolfsong,

Am I close ???????????

As haven't figured out how the full magazine ties in.........
Not saying my theory is 100% YET!! :lol: :roll: :wink:

 

[Fire Chief]

You forgot your magazine plug .

 

[32shooter]

What Fire Chief said. I have had to do this myself while duck hunting. Now hunt with O/U, no need to worry about a plug.

 

[Snake45]

You forgot your magazine plug .

He beat me to it. You had to whittle a hasty mag plug for legality.

 

[contender]

I just got on here at 9:00 & Fire Chief nailed it.
You forgot your plug, as required by federal law when hunting migratory game birds. Your 870 was illegal to use unless plugged.
You loaded your magazine, & discovered the plug was missing,,, aka; fully loaded 870.
You had to unload the magazine & in may have given you issues, so you used the Leatherman to assist in getting it unloaded.

Luckily you discovered this prior to the State Warden catching you & adding to the list of items which would have included an expensive piece of paper.
You took your pocket knife & cut & whittled a 1/4" x 8" wooden tree limb into a plug.
You went to install it & found the barrel nut was frozen & you needed the vise grips to loosen the screw cap to install the freshly made plug.

 

[wolfsong]

Wow! We have some very good detectives on the forum! Some of the theories are quite imaginative!

A few of you are on the right track but, alas, still a miss.

Another clue. As Fire Chief deduced somewhat correctly, I DID forget to include the mag plug and the mag nut in the list of clues,; however, the plug was in its proper place at the start of the action.

Keep trying, guys.

 

[Don Lovel]

I watched a Oklahoma game ranger put four shells into a gun one time, was going to write a ticket for no plug. The owner said, "I know there is a plug in there"
Older Savage pump, the ranger let him pull the mag cap out and sure enough there was an original plug with the word Savage written on it in pencil, but, over the years, oil and powder had softened up the pine dowel and the shell follower had mashed the end of the wood enough that 4 shells could be put into the gun if you shoved hard enough on the last one in.
He sat down and carved a new one out of oak limb right in front of the ranger, no ticket, a few cool stories about the old man who had owned that Savage originally.

 

[mjpchief]

Had a warden check us one time after a pheasant hunt. He was checking to make sure we were legal. I had already put my gun in the case when he got to me. I told him he wasn't going to like my gun because it didn't have a plug in it. When I pulled it out of the case it was a side by side. He did have a good sence of humor.

 

[nvbirdman]

Something plugged the barrel and you needed the branch to knock it out.
A wasp nest?

 

[Colonel Daddy]

As I read the answers, I thought for sure Contender hit it because that happened to me........well, not me but my partner. We could only afford single shots when we were young, but about the same time we decided we could afford one of those pump shotguns. Bought them and went home to assemble them. Assembled and pattern checked we were ready to go. On the field, I casually said "you did put the plug in it, didn't you?" He said "what's that?" He never would read directions!

When we got to his house to clean the guns, he grabbed the channel locks to remove the nut from the mag tube. Like I said, he wouldn't read directions.

 

[Bayouhunter]

After reading it wasn't your plug missing I had assumed the obvious.
Leatherman to saw that branch to correct length, vice grips was a little overkill on holding the branch to whittle and shape off any knots with the folding knife that would hang up on the magazine spring. Having a witness now that's to explain to the Dr in the emergency room how you ended up with such a severe wound instead of being in a knife fight.

Sure thought You may have needed fabricate a temporary plug to be legal. I've left home more than once forgetting that thing.

 

[Rick Courtright]

Had a warden check us one time after a pheasant hunt. He was checking to make sure we were legal. I had already put my gun in the case when he got to me. I told him he wasn't going to like my gun because it didn't have a plug in it. When I pulled it out of the case it was a side by side. He did have a good sence of humor.

Hi,

I've pulled that same one on a couple of wardens, and they both had a good laugh!

Back to Wolfie's 870, since it didn't need a hastily fashioned plug, I'm gonna guess it's a newer model with the internal ratchet mag cap. On those, the spring follower cup has little slots on the side to align it when installing. These same slots on the outside form small ridges on the inside. The cup was installed backwards allowing it to get stuck on a round in the mag tube, jamming things up (it's almost a perfect fit, like some evil engineer would design out of revenge.) Dowel was used to knock things out of the tube to reassemble properly. Pocket knife carved the dowel, Leatherman tool held it tight while vise grips tapped on end of dowel. Please don't ask what prompted that answer...

ETA: Phillips screwdriver on my original Leatherman tool is just the right size to knock the pins out in case the trigger ass'y had to be removed to get shell out past the mag latches. Vise grips would be used to tap the Leatherman tool in that case.

Rick C

 

[wolfsong]

Now, for the moment of truth.

As I laid out in the OP, on opening morning my cousin Sammy and I set our decoys before sunrise and waited for legal light. Things started out slow, one or two here, three there, some high flyers yada yada yada. Then, about a half hour after sunrise all he'll broke loose. Left, right, in front, behind, landing on the fence among the decoys - it was crazy! Sammy and I banged away, hitting some, missing some.

In the madness and heat of the moment I reached into my shell pouc and loaded three more rounds. I took a shot at a bird crossing from right to left, missed it, pumped the empty shell and sh*t! The slide wouldn't close. I tried racking it again, and again, and one more time. Nothing. I looked in the open breech to see the two remains shells jammed head to head. No, not head to butt - head to head. In my haste to reload I somehow managed to feed the first shell in BACKWARDS! I put the second round in and racked it then fed the third round into the magazine, somehow forcing the brass base of the first round into the mag tube.

Okay. I worked the second round out of the breech with my pocket knife - a two bladed Smith & Wesson folder (Which ended up out in the field somewhere after I threw it as far as I could. More on that later) - and tried to gently pry out the inverted shell. No luck. So, I tried a bit more force. Nope. Hmmm. I know! I'll stick the blade in the shell by cutting into it lengthwise and wiggle/work it out. Yeah, that's what I'll do. Hmmm. The blade simply made a longer slit down the shell. Okay. I'll reverse the position and use the back of the blade instead of the sharp edge.

That's when I found out that the locking mechanism didn't lock so well and the son of a beach folded on me, just missing my index finger. Meanwhile, Sammy is banging away, knocking them down.

It became obvious that i' d have to perform a field takedown, so over to my truck for some tools. Except that my tool bag is sitting on the ground under the pole barn where I park my truck. On the ranch. Not Sammy' s ranch where we happen to be hunting. Nope. Back at my ranch 40 miles away. I had taken the tool bag out while loading other stuff for the hunt and forgot to put it back in the truck. Okay. No problem.

First, get the cap off. Check. Remove barrell. Check. Remove magazine nut. Check. Remove mag spring and plastic plug. Check. Now what.

Okay. Find something to put down the mag tube and tap out the stuck shell. No problem, there's a plastic clothes hanger that I can cut down. Done. Now, what am I going to use to tap the hanger with? (my thick head would have done the trick!) Aha! A pair of vice grips under the seat! Yeah!

Sammy pipes up and says "What about the primer? You don't want to be setting that off". No sh*t. Okay. I know. I'll use the flat end of the plastic mag plug. Great idea. Okay, let me get the hanger. Sh*t. Again. Sh*t. It's broken. Not long enough. Okay.

Hey! We're in an almond orchard! I'll use a branch from one of the trees! Yeah! Trim - very carefully with that defective knife - the twigs off so it's relatively straight and smooth. Done.

Drop the plastic plug flat end down into the mag tube so it's resting on the stuck shell. Drop the branch into the mag tube so it's resting on the plug. Tap it once, twice, three, times with the flat side of the vice grips and Viola! out pops the shell from the breech.

One more problem. That branch wasn't as straight and true as it should have been. I turned the gun upside down and nothing. It wouldn't drop out. That's where the Leatherman came in. There was just enough space between the walls of the tube and the branch to get the plyers on the Leatherman to juuuuust gran enough of the branch end and work it out of the tube.

I put the gun back together, put my tools away, threw that pos knife as far as I could, lit a cigarette, drank some coffee and shook my head, wondering how in the world I could have accomplished such a thing. Meanwhile, Sammy has his limit of ten birds.

If you told me that a 12 gauge shell would fit into the mag tube backwards I would have called you an idiot and questioned your gun knowledge. Ha! The joke's on me!

We called it a day and went on home. The evening hunt was uneventful comparatively speaking. The birds were just as thick and I got my limit. And another story for the upcoming deer camp campfire.

Y'all came pretty close to solving the riddle. The only part I can't figure out is how I was able to jam that shell in backwards. Adrenalin, I guess.

Oh, well. That's my 2016 dove season confession. As Bear Paw said: "GUILTY!"

 

[6GUNSONLY]

My guess was the magazine plug, also - before reading any of the replies. I've had to make one out of a cornstalk at least once. The "rest of the story" was more, what, exotic? I wouldn't have guessed you could load a shell in the mag backwards, either. Probably couldn't do it on purpose. Ha.

 

[Bear Paw Jack]

Great story. We all need stories like that so we aren't as embarrassed about the dumb things we've done.

 

[Rick Courtright]

Hi,

Wolfie, I tried and tried, but couldn't get a shell to stick in the mag tube of my 870 the way I think yours did. When you took all the innards out, was there a magazine follower cup in there? Something like this, only probably black:

http://www.brownells.com/shotgun-parts/magazine-tube-parts/magazine-followers/remington-1100-11-87-versamax-magazine-follower-12-ga--prod10930.aspx

When assembling all the mag tube bits, it goes in first, solid end contacts the shell, spring and plug kinda slip into the open end. That piece probably has multiple purposes, but the most important one looks to me to keep everything centered up in the tube without binding. Without it, I'm wondering if the spring and plug were wiggling around in there and caused the jam.

Now, I could jam the gun just fine when 1 1/2 shells tried to occupy only one shell's space as the regular shell was followed by the backwards one, but all it took was removing the trigger ass'y to easily clear things. I take a cleaning kit with me on all my hunts, and there are a couple of small brass punches in there to get the trigger pins out. If I forget them, there's also a small Phillips screwdriver to do the job. And if that gets lost or forgotten, last but not least are two appropriately sized nails with the points filed off a bit (yep, belt, suspenders AND a drawstring!) Even without vise grips there's something around to smack 'em with...

BTW, was that a typo, or did you guys pull a fast one on Sammy and tell him he could only get 10 birds? Limit's 15 here, max 10 whitewings, and I thought they'd made it the same statewide a couple of years back. And of course the limit on Eurasians is "how much ammo did you bring?"--nationwide, I think!

And for the guys wondering how you load 'em backwards, just shove the brass end in first! Super simple to do, but depending on the technique used to get 'em out, 'tis either simple or an event to be recalled in story and legend to undo. Methinks Wolfie's experience will live on as an epic!

Rick C

 

[cas6969]

I've done that with a shotgun TWICE on the clock in matches, you're pretty much done at that point.



I was involved in a three man surgery yesterday at a pistol match where someone's handgun somehow chambered a round backwards (half way anyhow). The shooter tried shaking it out, then flicking it out, then prying it out. We tapped it gently from the muzzle with a squib rod, that didn't work. Finally I got a need nose pliers into the action and tried pulling on the bullet, which pulled free from the case. :roll: At least then we were able to dump the powder out through the mag well. Then we felt safer hitting it a bit harder with the squib rod, which finally knocked it free.

 

[usmc6433-6437]

I've done that with a shotgun TWICE on the clock in matches, you're pretty much done at that point.



I was involved in a three man surgery yesterday at a pistol match where someone's handgun somehow chambered a round backwards (half way anyhow). The shooter tried shaking it out, then flicking it out, then prying it out. We tapped it gently from the muzzle with a squib rod, that didn't work. Finally I got a need nose pliers into the action and tried pulling on the bullet, which pulled free from the case. :roll: At least then we were able to dump the powder out through the mag well. Then we felt safer hitting it a bit harder with the squib rod, which finally knocked it free.

How in the heck did it flip around upon chambering? :shock: I have never seen that before! Scary stuff right there.

 

[volshooter]

In TN opening day shooting starts at noon.
Never tried to load a butt first round in the mag, reckon it is possible.

Few years ago I was hunting with my buddy and he hit a doe during doe season. He said it was a good hit. Took us 3 hours to find her, almost no blood. The after hunt discussion reviled he was shooting some ammo a friend gave him, yep it was FMJ. He ain't a reloader ya see an didn't know the difference. (not much of a hunter either)

 

[GhosT]

W,

The true story just read, worth the wait.

How the hell ya got that shell to fully chamber ass backwards???????..... Impressive arm strength!!!!!!

A shame ya don't have a pic of ''said shot shell''....bet it's A S S end was a tad scratched up......lol .

 

[Rick Courtright]

A shame ya don't have a pic of ''said shot shell''....bet it's A S S end was a tad scratched up......lol .

Hi,

As Wolfie's unofficial custodian of pictures y'all need to see, I think I have one of said shell. Lemme look, and I'll post it up if I do...

Wait for it...

And, voila, ready for a couple more reloads:

Rick C

 

[Pat-inCO]

Doves don't fly at mach 5. Mach 6 at least.

Diversion from thread:

Well Jeep . . . . I think you are right. One Summer afternoon I was headed
home from work, riding my motorcycle at about 60mph and there was a
dove almost in lock step with me. He was very relaxed and seemed to
almost be loafing. I looked at him, he looked at me, and then he kicked
it in gear and moved forward at an amazing speed (left me behind).
Indeed . . . . Mach 6 at least! :shock:



Back to the thread. 8)

 

[Taterman]

Great story sir and thanks for not being too embarrassed to post it. Good thread.

 

[opos]

Sort of like reaching your pocket in a hot shoot and loading a chapstick in your 20 ga.

 

[GhosT]

Rick Courtright ,

I asked.....You delivered.....

Thanks.

 

[wolfsong]

Notice the burr on the rim at the bottom of the brass... I don't rightly know how or what caused it exactly - going in or coming out?