THAT’S MY STORY AND I STICKIN’ WITH IT

June 03, 2026

by Rusty W. Mitchum

Now, I’m fixin’ to get into this week’s junk, but first I’m gonna have to do some explainin’. The reason I’m explainin’ is because it has to do with the story. This explainin’ may be borin’, but hang with me because the story at the end is worth it. There are a lot of you out there that already know about what I’m fixin’ to explain, but some of you won’t, and I want those that don’t know, to know. Man, I may have to do some explainin’ just to explain what I just explained. Anywho, here’s the explainin’.

As some of you know, I was in the sporting trade. I dealt in goods that deal with huntin’, shootin’ and stuff like that. Well, sometimes part of my job was showin’ people how the firearms I represented operated. This was my favorite part of my job, especially when I was out at a gun range and the people I was workin’ with had the opportunity to shoot the guns.

Now, when a firearm is fired, and the bullet has left the barrel, the shell casing is still in the gun. If the gun is let’s say, a semi-auto, the shell is just in the chamber for a millisecond or so, but until it is ejected it is still in there. If it is a bolt action rifle, it is in there until you work the bolt, to eject the shell, but until you do that, it is still in the rifle. I know, any idiot knows that, but some of you might not know what is takin’ place with the spent shell. Simply, when you fire the gun the propellant (powder) is ignited, which in turn burns rapidly causin’ gases to expand and then they take the path of least resistance, which, of course, is out the end of the barrel. Well, there’s an obstacle in its way, and this obstacle is called a bullet. The gases, being more powerful than the bullet, push it out of the case into, down, and out of the barrel. Boom! Now, back to the spent case.

The case has just received a lot of heat and, being usually made of brass which is a good conductor of heat, this heat is transferred rather quickly from the brass to the surrounding chamber of the gun. But if the gun is a semi-auto, the case is ejected a millisecond after the gun is fired and a lot of that heat does not get transferred and it is still with the case. That is why spent cases from a semi-auto are hotter, than manually operated firearms. Now, this is the reason I told you all of this.

One time while I was working a “shoot”, I was showing a lady how one of our semi-auto pistols operated. By the way, I like workin’ with women better than men, because when it comes to firearms, men’s egos sometimes get in their way. Men don’t want anyone to think that they don’t know about guns, especially if they have someone with them. It’s a man thing. Women, on the other hand, whether they know about guns or not, will pay attention, and I have found out, are usually better shots than men.

Anywho, I was showing this lady how the pistol operated and after she felt comfortable with it, we grabbed some ammo and headed to the firing line. This particular woman had never fired a pistol before, and so I was in the process of showing her how to hold it, line up the sights, and so on. Well, I was standin’ behind her with both of my arms around her gettin’ her in position when her husband walked up. Fortunately, he realized what I was doin’ and it didn’t disturb him that I had his wife in an awkward embrace. Well, it didn’t seem like it disturbed him. He watched for a minute and then moved off to look at some of the other firearms that we were showing.

Well, it wasn’t long before the lady was firing the pistol like a pro. I was loadin’ magazines and she was firin’ away, and was not only hittin’ the target but was groupin’ the bullets better than most people. Oh, did I mention this lady had on a low-cut shirt?

Let me stop here for a minute and explain a couple of safety rules of which you should always take heed. One is ear protection, and another is shooting glasses. Ladies, a third is no low-cut shirts.

Anywho, I was loadin’ a magazine, and the lady was firin’ the pistol. Bein’ a semi-auto, the spent cases were bein’ ejected out of the pistol and to the right of where she was standin’. There, beside the lady, was a post that had a safety sign on it. Well, one of her spent cases, which as I explained was really hot, hit the post and bounced back and landed right down this lady’s low-cut shirt.

Let me stop here again. Before I took this lady to the firin’ line, I explained that in no uncertain terms that she was not to point the pistol anywhere but down range. I reemphasized this several times, until I was sure she understood. Well, she understood alright.

When the spent case fell down her shirt, she screamed. She kept, as instructed, the pistol pointed down range. She had the pistol in one hand, and with the other hand she pulled down the front of her shirt, bent over and was tryin’ to shake the shell out. Then she looked at me.

“Get it out!” she yelled.

I could see the little case and it was wedged down in there pretty tightly, and quickly I rammed my hand down the front of her shirt, grabbed the case and just as I pulled my hand out, I felt the presence of another person. There, standin’ beside me was her husband. This time he did look disturbed, and thinkin’ about it, I don’t blame him.

I opened my hand and dropped the spent case into his hand. “It’s still warm,” I said.

“I bet,” he said, his eyes narrowin’.

“Thank you,” the lady said, and then looked at her husband. “He just saved my life,” she said. I smiled at him.

“Oh,” I said. “I don’t think it was life threatin’.” He didn’t smile back.

“You want to bet,” he said.

“Thanks again for all your help,” she said as she handed the pistol back to me.

“My pleasure,” I said. Lookin' back, that was probably not the best choice of words.

“Come on, honey,” she said to her husband, and then she took his hand and led him away. He kept lookin’ back at me. I turned and obviously the lady’s screams had got the attention of everyone within earshot range. Most of them were other reps. They were grinnin’ and some were givin’ me the “thumbs up”. I grinned back.

“Oh well,” I said. “It’s a tough job, but someone has to do it.”

And that’s my story and I’m stickin’ with it.