Dangerous things we did when young

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chriso
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Dangerous things we did when young

Post by chriso »

I was reading about the local shooting in the current affairs forum, and it brought to mind about the silly and dangerous things we got up to when we were boys which could have resulted in serious injury.

When I was round 10 years old, quite a lot of boys my age had "slug" guns, and it was not unheard of to shoot people on the backside. I have been "shot" on more than one occassion, as have most of my mates at the time.
It was usually done for a laugh by people you knew.
I have had 2 narrow escapes from serious injury with slug guns.

The first time, I put an empty tattie crisp poke on top of our coal bunker and said to my mate that I would crouch down behind the bunker and he would fire a dart at the poke so I could hear what kind of noise it would make.
I crouched down behind the bunker and waited. Nothing happened for about thirty seconds and I stood up to see what was happening just as he fired. The dart stuck in my skin just to the right and level with my eye.

The second time was when we had a "slug" gun fight over the shore in the old furnace building that I.C.I. used as a wood store. The rules were not to aim at the face. I was up on the first level shooting out the window, when a slug hit me just below my nostril. My face swelled up, and when I went home I told my mum that I fell and hit my face on a fence post, so that she would not take my gun off me

That slug was in my nose for about 40 years before I had it removed.

When I think of the thing we did then, I am amazed that I am relatively unscathed.

Another time was when I had a bow and arrow, I was out the back door firing at a target painted on the coal bunker
It was a lovely summer evening and the back door of the house was open. The door was directly in line behind the coal bunkerI was using for target practice.
My mum was standing at the table, which was directly in line with the bunker, making up "pieces" for my older brothers to take to work the next day.
There was a cupboard just inside the back door which was open at the time.
I fired an arrow at the target, and it ricoched off the top of the bunker and stuck in the cupboard door.
I rushed up to pull the arrow out, and was struggling to get it out of the door before my mother could see it.
my mother asked me what was I doing, and I said "Nothing" as I struggled to remove the arrow from the door, which I managed before she saw it.
It was a couple of days before she noticed the hole in the door I had made.
If the cupboard door had been shut the arrow would have struck my mother on the head.
She was never aware of this happening.

Just a few of the stupid things I got up to when I was a boy

I bet that a lot of you have had similar experiences of doing stupid things when you were younger
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Re: Dangerous things we did when young

Post by Wildfowler Lounge »

Eeeeh noooooo....... :D

At least, I can't top those two stories by a long shot. (poor pun, I know)
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John Donnelly
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Re: Dangerous things we did when young

Post by John Donnelly »

Aged ten, I'm on one side of the backdoor, my brother is at the other side. There's a bamboo cane stuck upright in the middle. I'm shooting at it with a bow and arrow. Brother is shooting at it with a catty.

Both miss and the stone from his catty gets me in the eye. Result, a week in the Eye Infirmary in Glasgow.

I was at an eye specialist last week for a regular check-up as a direct result of that day, 56 years ago.

I have a few more stories. Like Chriso, it's a complete wonder I'm here to tell the tale.

JD.
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Re: Dangerous things we did when young

Post by morag »

My mother always went on about how much easier it would have been to have boys. (I'm one of three daughters) It took her about a week visiting me and her three grandsons to change her mind!
It's a wonder how YOU survived? It's a wonder how us mum's survived! :lol: :shock:
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Re: Dangerous things we did when young

Post by Penny Tray »

What boy in the 60's didn't have a knife with a tartan handle with which we played 'knifey', landing the blade, in order to score, within 3 inches of our opponent's toes. The object of the game, of course, was to extend the distance between your pal's feet until he fell over or vice versa. Strangely, I don't ever remember my toes being severed. Strained a groin or two though.
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Re: Dangerous things we did when young

Post by chriso »

I remember them well except mine had a pearl handle.
I remember when we had secret turfs, where we would cut a piece of turf out and hide something under it, usualy money which amounted to a couple of pennies then.
I was cutting a secret turf with my knife, holding the blade pointed up and cutting away from my body, when the blade met some resistance. So I put some extra effort into it and the knife suddenly shot free and my arm swung in an arc upwards and put a cut down the side of my face. Luckily it was only superficial and it didn't leave a mark.
Yet another lucky escape.
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Re: Dangerous things we did when young

Post by jarneilh »

Hey Chriso, I was standing next to you on the second floor of the auld hoose "the old foundry" when you got shot. You would'nt believe it but I was thinking about that incident only a couple of days ago. Was it a single or double slug ?
All the best Jim
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Re: Dangerous things we did when young

Post by chriso »

Hi jim, it was a 177 cal. double slug which I've got in a little plastic jar. It was andy Wallace that fired it from a BSA cadet air rifle.
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Re: Dangerous things we did when young

Post by Milda »

Chriso,you were every mother's nightmare.I brought up three boys and thankfully must have got away lightly(as far as I know) .Milda
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Re: Dangerous things we did when young

Post by Penny Tray »

Chriso,

How about using a railway line as a 'tightrope' until you felt the distant vibration - and then a bit longer. It was more exciting if your back was to the train.

This is an interesting topic Chriso but you should have warned mothers no' tae read it.
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Re: Dangerous things we did when young

Post by meekan »

I remember having a space gun water pistol and filling it with my dad's lighter fuel and and trying to use it as a flame thrower. I remember it melted, but thinking back I was lucky it did'nt explode in my face. I can't remember if my dad ever missed his fuel. :roll:
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Re: Dangerous things we did when young

Post by Wildfowler Lounge »

meekan wrote:I remember having a space gun water pistol and filling it with my dad's lighter fuel and and trying to use it as a flame thrower. I remember it melted, but thinking back I was lucky it did'nt explode in my face. I can't remember if my dad ever missed his fuel. :roll:
I used to do similar with meths and an insulin syringe fired through a lighted candle. :oops:
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