OK gentlemen and ladies it is time to fess up. After reading about the kids first bow kit I was thinking of what kind of bone head prank or stunt did you do and survived?
I'll start it off with a tail of when I was around six years old and wanted a bullet out of a loaded round.
One day I decided that I wanted a bullet to take to school or to just play with. Now with both of my parents gone from the home and knowing where dad kept the loaded rounds I had a idea. After watching numerous cowboy and Indian shows I knew that if you put a loaded round into a fire that it would go off, so here was my plan. I went into moms and dads bedroom and got into the dresser drawer that held the ammo. I took one .30-06 round from the box of 20 not even thinking that dad would know when he found one round missing and headed outside. I went to the side of the house that my sandpile was located on and dug myself a hole about two feet deep. Into this hole I placed some crumpled newspaper and some wood for my fire. Now here is where I got a little bit smarter. I took a old roof top TV antenna that was laying up beside the back of the house and broke off two of the metal arms. I fashioned these pieces of metal into a A frame to hold my loaded round on one side and I stuck the bullet into the dirt for rapid recovery after it went off into the dirt up to the case. Now I started the fire.
I don't remember just how long I stood there waiting for that shell to go off. I do remember adding some more wood with no effect. So after I while I got tired and decided to put the fire out. Now here comes the real smart part. I went and got the hose and turned on the water and headed to the hole that held my now small fire and the loaded shell still sitting on top of my A frame with the bullet stuck in the dirt. Now for those of you that have never put something real cold onto something real hot here is what happened. Just as soon as the water hit the shell casing there was a small explosion. To this day I don't know if it was the primer going off or if it was just the shell casing exploding along with the powder and primer. I do remember being just about as scared as a young man could be. The fire was out, the shell had exploded and the hole was full of mud.
To this day I still remember looking at that shell case and remembering what it looked like with its brass pealed down the side of the case and no bullet in it. I still don't remember where the bullet went and I never went looking for it. I buried it right there without exploring further.
Dad never did mention that there was a shell missing out of that box of 20 and I am sure that the statute of limitations have ran out so I am safe from prosecution, but for a six year old that was quite a afternoon.
In the years since then I have done a few other bone head things but that was my start. The amazing part if that I still have all my digits attached where they belong.
