https://youtu.be/HAIjzQEFUnw

This video is instructive. Here’s what happens when you mistake your sight picture for your barrel position. It could’ve been worse. Don’t be that guy. Don’t be me. But that’s not the way sootch00 plays it. Despite the “look ma, no brains” mea culpa at the start, this video celebrates his ballistic stupidity with good ‘old boy bravado. “Things happen from time to time,” his non-plussed sidekick opines. Now I’m not saying every YouTube shooting video has to be educational. But this one should be. As the man behind Armed Citizens United (ACU) Gun Rights Organization, sootch00 should have leveraged this view count magnet to explain the mistake and promote gun safety. Not parade the lack thereof.

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128 COMMENTS

  1. I did that once, shooting at a pocket gopher about 20 feet away, with a scoped .22. The scope line-of-sight cleared the hood, but the barrel didn’t. Only left a small ding.

    • That’s not irresponsible. It’s just a rite of gun safety passage. If you shoot. I mean really shoot, you will do this or something similar.

      • So, not knowing what you are muzzling and shooting something you did not intend to is not irresponsible…

        Got it.

        Rationalizations are fun.

      • I could see teenagers, or younger, jacking around with BB guns or pellet guns like this, but grown men? Nope. Whatever passage this alleged rite is supposed to mark, should have been passed by that middle aged man decades ago. Pure irresponsibility.

      • No, it’s not something that everyone has happen. I shoot. I shoot a lot. To the tune of 10,000+ rounds per year. I have for many years. No negligent discharges. No accidentally shooting something I didn’t intend to shoot. It happens to those who let their guard down and forget the power of what they are holding. Don (Sootch) is great. He’s obviously a knowledgeable guy when it comes to firearms and his channels are great. He made a mistake. It can happen but it doesn’t have to happen. I’m not going to vilify him for making a mistake but won’t pass it off as “it’s gotta happen sometime ” either.

        • I recall a video from him a couple years ago that showed a couple/few ND’s of his that he caught on film. I think they were all handguns in his house. Taking a Glock apart, something with a CZ P-01 I think doing the tabletop review stuff. Not exactly confidence-inspiring. The rifle in the video here also jumped around a whole lot during those shots. The first one might have been aimed but the rest weren’t.

        • So you’ve honestly never hit the floor at an indoor range? How about the foreground or a target post at an outdoor range? If so, were you were intending to hit them?

          Many years ago I made the hanging target holder at an indoor range bounce hard because I nicked the bottom of it when I unintentionally double-tapped with a USP .40 that I was just getting familiar with. Luckily I didn’t do any rear damage to it, but it was my most embarrassing range moment ever. I was careful to never repeat it.

      • Bullshit. Not REALIZING and UNDERSTANDING that your scope is ABOVE your barrel is about as IGNORANT and RECKLESS as you can get. It’s flat-out moronic, and so is your defense of it. There IS no rationalization for carelessness when it comes to handling firearms and if you think that this is a RITE?? you should not be ALLOWED to be ANYWHERE NEAR a gun. Your statement of “if you shoot, really shoot” things like this are bound to happen is EXACTLY the inverse in truth, more experience means MORE SKILL and COMMON SENSE which you clearly possess very little of either. Saying “If you shoot. Really shoot” and then defending this idiocrasy and reckless endangerment only proves to the rest of us that you DON’T REALLY SHOOT at all. You should think long and hard before commenting on things when you are clearly unqualified to. Be sure to tell the rest of us when you plan to go shooting so that we can drive 10 klicks the other direction first.

    • With all the people talking about shooting chronographs as if it’s normal, how is this different?

      (and yes, I grazed the top edge of my chrono once)

      • I think of this as a bit different because the truck was his rest. By comparison, most chronographs are placed some distance down range from the shooter. For small calibers not much at all, but for those of us using optical chronographs, large calibers require them placed a few feet from the muzzle. Get the elevation wrong, and you get to buy a new one.

        By contrast, I think you’d be hard pressed to find many people who have managed to put a bullet through what amounts to an improvised benchrest (high stress scenarios excluded).

        • Still, how can this be construed as irresponsible? He deliberately shot over the truck hood, safely. He knew he might damage the hood, and it happened. So what? He buys a new hood, and got a review of scope height over bore.

          It’s not like he wrecked a quad ir something.

    • Sadly, I did it once as well with a scoped .22 on the roof of my car. Fortuntely, it only made a small dent. I was so glad it was the .22 not the Mosin.

    • I should have added that the scope had just been installed and I had never shot through a scope before and hadn’t considered the 2″ or so of height difference between the bore and the scope. It wouldn’t have happened with iron sights, with 0.5″ inch difference.

  2. Eh I don’t know, the only thing damaged is his own property (and his pride no doubt). Irresponsible seems to be a stretch here. They appear to have been on an established range shooting safely if poorly aimed shots.

      • What are the Four Rules? Something about not intending to destroy something…something…something.

        • “Never let the muzzle cover anything you are not willing to destroy.” He was clearly aware the possibility and seemed willing to risk damage to the hood, so he didn’t violate that rule.

    • Unless he actually intended to shoot the hood, it’s an explicit violation of rules #2 and #4.

      It’s entirely possible to be irresponsible with your own property, and plenty of people are. It’s not illegal (in most cases; can be illegal with land, depending on how it’s zoned etc); but other people can and will judge you based on such behavior, and there’s nothing wrong with that.

  3. I’ve seen this or a variation of this a number of times over theyears. Don’t use your vehicle as a shooting bench.

    Worse I saw was a dummy wanting to “man up” his undersized 12 yo boy. Dummy gave the boy a 97 winchester and the boy managed to put a full load at near contact range thru his daddy’s car door.

  7. I have to give him credit for admitting his mistake. Definitely a good reminder for everyone, and I would say he is not quite as “irresponsible” as some of the other people featured on this site!

    • Being willing to admit your mistakes is a virtue.

      Uploading your mistakes on Youtube for the world to see it stupid.

      Reminds me of the rednecks who are so desperate for attention they fell a tree with a chainsaw so it falls right on top of their mobile home, then upload the video.

      And just as those idiots perpetuate the negative stereotype of rednecks, this guy perpetuates the negative stereotype of gun owners. He is not our friend.

  8. I shot the big fifty while laying in the bed of my truck. That fish gill muzzle brake directed all the blast off the side walls of the bed right back into me.
    Knocked my coffee over, blew my hat off, and just plain hurt me.

    • I had a friend do about the same thing. Blew the tail light assembly right out of it’s socket. I believe that coast him $412 dollars.

    • Cracked the front window shooting a friend’s .338RUM off the hood, and I was well forward of the glass.

  9. I’ve been in several 2-Gun competitions where at a stage you are shooting from behind an old van. Can’t tell you how many bullet paths I saw in the windshield…but it was A LOT. 🙂

  12. I learned this lesson the first trip to the range with my new AR. I had been resting it on a bipod and zeroed it in at 50, figured I’d do some standing shoot to see how bad I sucked. There was a shelf above with sang bags for use. I was shooting over it. Well my sight picture was clear, BANG, I get slapped with sand, as do the two guys to my left and right. I either shot the bag, or my break gassed out to the sides and ripped it to shit. Either way, it was a good lesson I intend to never repeat.

    • I put a hole in a sandbag at the range once. It wasn’t a direct hit, I had my muzzle resting in the middle of it and it bunched up enough between shots to take just a little bit out of it. I quietly switched bags with the next bench during ceasefire.

      • I think we’ve all done that. I was shooting a friend’s 30.06 once (the rifle had a new muzzle break we were trying out) resting the barrel on some sandbags. Well, apparently I had the muzzle a bit too close, and the gasses were redirected right into one of the bags. Blackened the vinyl (they were homemade bags) and threw sand everywhere.

        • “resting the barrel on some sandbags”

          ???

          Who taught you to do that, or what made you think that was a good idea?

          Geez. We need to return to real marksmanship training. This is just sad.

        • Wow, those ND’s are just unacceptable. “Wow some clothes got into the trigger guard when I was holstering it” is an ND. “Oops I intentionally pulled the trigger with a live round in the chamber [on two separate occasions]” is beyond stupid. I dont think the hood shooting was negligent (in my opinion one inch can’t make the difference between negligence and rsponsible hood-rest shooting), but I’m definitely insubscribing from this guy.

        • That’s pretty much my take, Njal. The truck thing is stupid, but the two pistol NDs in that video are really scary. Pulling the trigger without checking the chamber is unacceptable, but I guess I can understand making that mistake – once. Doing it again on a later occasion? Beyond ridiculous.

          I’m pretty strict about checking guns to make sure they’re unloaded, but if I ever negligently popped one off like he does in this video, it would become my new religion. There is no way it would ever happen to me a second time.

          Everybody makes mistakes, but only a total idiot refuses to learn from them.

  15. When moving from a turret down to a hull down firing position one of the tank gunner’s duties is to check mask clearance through his telescope, announcing driver stop when he sees the gun is clear of the barrier. This generally works better in daylight than at night since the telescope is a daylight optic. Occasionally someone will stop short and fire. The practice rounds may be inert but they still hit with a lot of grunt.

  16. I had a similar incident when I was young with a sandbag benchrest and a .22. It bruised my pride but the bag was easily fixed with duct tape and it was a lesson learned. From my experience, everyone at one point will hit something they are using as a rest. It may be a tree, a car, a blue barrel, a barn door, or even a benchrest. If we are all following our safety rules, no real danger is posed to another person and a valuable lesson in physics will be learned.

    • “From my experience, everyone at one point will hit something they are using as a rest. “

      Then your “experience” is wrong. Sorry.

      Some folks have been shooting decades…longer than a lot of Guns 2.0 folks have been alive…without doing this.

      Seriously. Rationalizing this sort of thing as “everyone does it” is a huge step backwards.

      This thread is making me very said for the future of honest-to-goodness marksmanship and shooting proficiency/understanding.

      • You can say that you have not shared my experience, but you cannot dismiss it as wrong. Such a statement implies that you were there at every instance of firearms use I have personally seen in my life and witnessed something other than what I did. I should have said almost everyone, the use of everyone was a slight exaggeration and not helpful for the sake of clarity. Sometimes the mistake is caused by lack of experience (my case) sometimes forgetfulness/carelessness (sootch in this case) but when training seriously and under stress, cover/concealment is bound to be struck sometimes by even the most experienced shooter. When limits are pushed we find our mistakes, better to reveal these mistakes on the controlled and relative safety of the range than out in the world when defending our/someone elses life. I have only ever seen anyone make this mistake once, it is a valuable lesson to learn even when learned the hard way.

  17. Watched a HS/LD alphabet agency fed do that exact same thing to the hood of one of their SUVs during a warm-up exercise in preparation for the arrival of a VIP. I have a series of still pics (not for public consumption) of the event as it happened. Ooops.

  18. So,
    Did I see that right? He finished shooting, put the safety on and leaned his rifle against the truck. . . . . not really a bright thing to do.

    This was staged. Just sayin”

  19. I unsubbed from Sootch a long time ago because I was skipping all of his videos (shill ads for shit gear), but honestly this judgement seems a little harsh.

  21. Anyone with that much corrosion on their battery is a douche anyway. Everything I have seen screams DOUCHE.

  22. I watched a hunting buddy do this same thing with a .58 caliber flintlock rifle. We were checking zero on a moose hunt in Canada and using the hood of his truck for a rest in a rock quarry the locals used for such purposes. It left a long powder burn with an impressive hole in the middle of the burn.

  23. I worked at an auto service shop as a summer job basically all of high school. We replaced at least a half dozen or more side view mirrors that had been shattered by muzzle blast from shots taken out the passenger window during evening hog hunting trips. I guess I just don’t see why this is so bad. The mirrors I saw replaced where always done with cash, the jacked up hood is probably expensive enough to warrant a call to the insurance co. Would love to be a fly on the wall during that conversation.

    • I am a bodyman and let me tell you, I have fixed or replaced a few hoods that people have shot. If you have comprehensive on your policy it’s a non issue to claim this type of damage and comp deductibles being lower than collision deductibles make it a no brainier to make a claim on this sort of damage.

      I have also fixed bullet holes in cab corners from negligent discharges in gun racks and I towed a pickup once where a dude shot his transmission with a .300 win mag he had riding in the center of the rig.

    • side view mirrors that had been shattered by muzzle blast” – I learned after the first one and started carrying bean bag in the truck to get a good rest and a little height off the mirror.

  24. You making this was an excuse to be a douche it wasnt a nd or anything bad it was going downrange so dont berate him because he shot his truck there was no breach in safety just a breach in his thinking because he was hot to shoot

  25. Could be worse. Sootch could be an effete, art collecting New Englander who bought his first gun at the tender age of 45.

    • Come one man, don’t be nasty. We should celebrate ANY first time gun owner, no matter what they were or where they stood before that purchase.

  29. Is it just me or did he muzzle flash the camera too where his buddy walked out from? Then just leans the rifle against truck without clearing? Maybe I’m too cautious or missed the safety check but I don’t wanna take advice from this guy.

  31. Just remember “Height over bore” “Height over bore”. At the last IDPA match, one of the guys was displaying the range bag he was using as an improvised rest with similar results.

  32. Soooo…Sootch makes a dumb mistake while shooting, where the weapon was pointed at a target at all times (albeit too low, obviously) and RF jumps on the guy soon after he posts it. But when idiot d-bag Yeager’s instructor has a ND where somebody could have been seriously injured, TTAG purposely avoids mentioning it for a relatively long time. And when they eventually do, it’s in a ‘no big deal’ kinda way. Double standard much?

  33. So I can’t figure out, is he in good hands with Allstate or is State Farm a good neighbor and standing behind him?

  34. Been there done that and got one of the original T-shirts on the July 4th weekend in 1974. Stood on the driver’s side doorjam of a 74 Powerwagon shooting downward toward the river off the right fender with a Ruger single action 357. Got my CB handle that day, Bullethole.

    • The good news is, not even bullet holes can make a ’74 Powerwagon uglier than it already is.

  38. It’s the first rule of gun safety: don’t point at something you don’t want to destroy. I’d say keep a muzzle as far away from something you don’t want to destroy. For goodness sake, if you use your truck as a rest to steady your aim, use the back end of the truck, not the front.

  39. I’ve watched a few of this dudes videos. He struck me as someone enamored with the sound of his own voice.

  41. Props to Sc00tch for posting the video. He could have chosen to just delete the footage and pretend that nothing had happened.

    I know everyone else on the internet is perfect. I am not. Sc00tch’s video (as well as his older one where he had a negligent discharge) were very educational to me. As a fairly newish gun owner – I am glad to be able to learn from other people’s mistakes.

  42. Seems like something an un-experienced person would do. He even pointed out hoping that he wouldn’t shoot his truck.

    Meh. I feel like scotch isn’t a good shooter at all. His videos are not very knowledgeable and all of his reviews are “2 thumbs way up”. Feel like he only reviews positives of products companies send him.

    It’s funny how very skilled and knowledgeable people get burried under channels like this that pump out shill reviews like there’s no tomorrow.

    • When he was talking about a permanent mark he was talking about a mark from the gases, not shooting the hood. The irony is hilarious.

  43. An aside: to be “non-plussed” is to be so confused or surprised as to be unsure how to act.

  44. It’s weird to me how many apologists there are for this behavior. It’s okay to call the act stupid and give the man a little wiggle room. When I think about the gun mistake I made as a kid I don’t think of it as “no big, we all do it” I think of it as a negligent discharge that I do not want to repeat.

    They aren’t mutually exclusive I guess, but I’d rather focus on the learning than shrugging it off. Not trying to tell you what to do, though.

  45. Mistakes happen no matter how experienced you are. That is the reason I posted this video was to be a lesson on what not to do. It was dumb. Thanks for the dubious title. It was well deserved.

    • Congratulations!

      Your views are bound to go way up now, after CSGV, MDA, The Trace, and every other gun-hater’s web site posts a link to it, offering you up as a prime example of why free people shouldn’t be allowed to have guns.

      Next time you have a brain-dead moment, share it only with your insurance company and resist the temptation to contribute to the next “stupid gun fails” Youtube compilation.

      • And next time you decide to lean your gun up against the side of your truck, clear it first.

  46. Well, this was a informational Vid, or sootch wouldn’t have posted it. It was an accident, knowone was injured, the barrel wasn’t pointed at anyone.. Things happen, adapt-learn-move on.. People are so quick to throw rocks at others in our community.. be of good courage and LONG LIVE THE REPUBLIC…

  47. I made this exact same mistake in combat. Returning fire from previously “safe” area, I threw my M4 over the hood of the 1151 and started firing through my ACOG. Debris was going everywhere until I realized what I was doing. Our team fox just yelled “keep shooting, you’re wearing a groove through it.” Had to laugh.

      • 9 American dudes 60km away from the nearest coalition force, so no motor pool. We rolled with that truck until the 4BCT came in and we gave it to them. We actually had 6 trucks, but 2 of them were used as parts to make the other 4 run. By the end of that deployment, I could replace the half-shaft in an 1151 damn near blindfolded.

  48. I’m sure most of us have done this, when I was young and first learning to shoot, I did this to a sandbag on a bench. It was a .22 target pistol with a huge and heavy red dot on it (hence the bench shooting), I was shooting and next thing I know I saw sand on the table and thought “How did that happen?”, I look down and see I was hitting the sandbag. Scope was over the bags, muzzle was not. Learned my lesson that day, basically the exact same thing sootch did…just a much cheaper mistake on my part lol

  49. There are inherent risks associated with using firearms. There are two types of shooters, ones that have had a negligent discharge and ones that will. That’s why there are four basic safety rules, not one.

    If people find the shooting sports too dangerous for their tastes, they need not participate. If people think “havin’ the dumz” is the sole purview of firearms evidently don’t drive motor vehicles or work with tools. – Crucible Arms

  50. I’m gonna laugh when you “I never make mistakes” folks have a ND. It you’re human it can happen.

  51. Next time use a bipod or a tall front rest. Shit happens, but the only victim was the truck (this time). Have fun and keep your aim true. By the way, your spotter should have caught the mistake, it is very noticeable when you were aiming that your truck was going to get wounded.

  52. I saw nothing irresponsible but a misleading headline. The fact is, to coin a phrase: It’s his dog and his damned peanut butter so I guess ol’ Bobby should probably STFU and MHOB.

    The truck was parked ON a shooting range such that the shots would impact in the designated impact zone and there was nobody downrange or in any position that was otherwise dangerous. He was shooting off his hood and KNEW that it might damage it. There’s no shock and surprise that it did and that it was his to damage.

    So Bobby, WTF is your glitch. How exactly is this incident irresponsible.

      • I’m not interested in his reputation. I could give only slightly fewer damns about that. I’m interested in journalism which accurately reports the facts and interprets them in a way that is logical and which is not just churlish finger pointing at innocuous silliness for the sake of being able to say, “I’m better than you.” Why are you so interested in what I’m invested in?

        An interesting point of this whole thing that you’ve seemingly completely missed could be written:
        They came for the _____ and I did not speak up because I was not a ______.

        • The AMOUNT of all CAPS WORD kinda gives AWAY your personal INVESTMENT. But nice attempt at walking it back. The bottom line is Sootch did not observe correct muzzle discipline (and displayed it to millions of viewers, which has a wide range of impact) and got called out on it. You threw a tantrum. And your little gun-control connotation is wildly misplaced.

  53. I’m looking at this video and the first thing i thought was it’s an intentional shoot.
    Why have all sorts of camera angles?
    Why shoot off the hood anyways?
    It seemed like after the first round he actually lifted the weapon to fire deeper into the hood?
    Does anyone else notice this?
    I think the internet is full of people putting on shows.
    Just a thought everybody….maybe I’m incorrect but maybe I’m not.

    • Yeah, I got a kick out of that, must have spent a good bit of time and effort to record shooting his own truck.

    • Why have all sorts of camera angles?
      He makes YouTube videos. Like Geico…it’s what you do.

      Why shoot off the hood anyways?
      Good question. Ask him.

      It seemed like after the first round he actually lifted the weapon to fire deeper into the hood?
      The bullet deflected and hit high on the first shot so he aimed lower.

      Does anyone else notice this?
      Yes but I came to a different conclusion.

      I think the internet is full of people putting on shows.
      Ya think?

      Just a thought everybody….maybe I’m incorrect but maybe I’m not.
      He says it was an honest mistake. I would think that if it were a joke that he would have admitted it at the end of the video. Besides, even if he admitted it was a joke then he would have gotten more grief for a dangerous stunt or people would call him a liar.

  54. Whole lotta excuses for complete lack of muzzle discipline. I wonder if this had happened to a non-“celebrity” if there would be as many terrible rationalizations?=

  55. This coupled with a few of Sootch’s ND videos from before make me think he’s not a good advocate for gun safety. He has a good channel but really needs to prioritize the four rules and explain what he did wrong, and why it shouldn’t have happened. Saying, “well, this happens from time to time” is not a good excuse. It just makes all gun owners look bad.

  56. Youtube become home where you can find most gun savvy people with firearms doing most stupid thing with them make video . Remind me Larry Vickers over lube video he knew was doing some thing stupid when made it. Larry Vickers reason was stupid well some times you have do some thing stupid prove point that your stupid for doing some thing stupid. Makes people wonder do people not get enough followers on there youtube channel that they have find new stupid ways get people watch them.

  57. I can’t get on Sootch’s case here nearly as much as Robert did.

    It would have been very, very easy for Sootch to bury this video in the deepest digital pit on earth and never tell a soul. And let’s be honest, most of us would have done so.

    I have little doubt that he posted it to teach other’s a valuable lesson, regardless of whether he specifically spoke about the need to recognize the difference between his sight picture and the actual path of travel for the bullet from the barrel.

    • RyanMN I have give Sootch have set big balls award for come here admit that what happen was stupid. That he would not do again on youtube.

  58. Just 2 things:
    1: He should have buried the vid as to not give anti-gunners ammo.
    2: His battery took a hit too, look again!

  60. Shooting the hood, ok, kinda dumb. But he then swings the rifle uncomfortably towards the camera (and assumingly people). Oh, then leans the rifle on the curved side of the car. Where it will easily fall over. And discharge.
    So that’s three poor firearm handling actions in a row. Coincidence…?

      • Because safeties are a mechanical device and mechanical devices fail.
        It’s so easy to drop the mag and cycle the action to unload, why wouldn’t you? I know it’s only a very slim risk but isn’t eliminating the risk better than controlling it? Plus, he’d just shot his truck, he’s probably not going to be allowed near firearms for a little while! Haha

  61. Here is the thing I am seeing, what I am looking at is a bunch of people complaining about a guy who puts most of his firearms safety mistakes on video for the world too see but the people complaining about his mistakes are not putting their mistakes on video for us to see. Over all I see a guy trying to put out what he knows to be good information on guns and building guns like the AR15s and Glocks, Now not everyone is going to agree with everything he says or does that is a given, a lot of it is personal preference. Remember even the special forces guys learned from their mistakes and still make mistakes that is why they train and then train some more and then they do more training. I am going to ask you all one question, when was the last time you took a refresher gun safety class?

    Too give you all an idea of myself I started shooting at age 6 when my father taught me too shoot, a few years later grandpa also started teaching me too shoot and he was a World War 2 US Army Gunnery Instructor and All Army Trap and Skeet Champion in 1940,1941 and 1943. My Grandfather was so valuable as a gunnery instructor that the Army would not send him into combat even though he wanted to go. I am also a Navy Vet who will tell you the way you cut down on mistakes is train, train then train some more.

    In the end the thing to do is learn from the mistakes and the good information that Sootch00 put out, when he makes a mistake do not laugh at it but learn from it and do not forget to also learn from the other information he put out because you will find some good information in his videos if you pay attention too what he is saying and see what other people on you tube are also saying about the same subjects. And do not forget to take the time and take a refresher safety training course.

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