That Tom Knapp

[shaftbass]

First of all, if you aren't famliar with Tom Knapp, he is an exhibition shooter with shotguns and other guns. He's from Minnesota.

Of particular interest to me was the other day when I was browsing his site, and came across this:

In addition to the Benelli side of the show table, Tom also has a .22 rifle show. He uses older rifles that are no longer being manufactured and when the show site has the appropriate background distance, Tom Knapp puts on another unbelievable show! He’ll start by throwing “easy to hit†objects into the air, like potatoes, apples, and oranges. When the bullet from his .22 rifle meets the center of them, it produces a fantastic display! Then he works down in size, throwing charcoal briquettes, small wooden blocks, and even billiard chalk cubes that are less than 1 inch across! The whole time he is talking and telling the audience what to expect. If Tom should happen to nick the object on the side, or on rare accounts miss it completely, he’ll tell you that “it gets boring if you hit every target that you shoot at.†The Grand finale of his rifle routine is where he throws aspirin tablets in the air and at a distance of about 15 or 20 feet, he turns the tablet into a cloud of white dust that is as big as a grapefruit!

This is interesting to me because my uncle, who also lives in Minnesota, told me years ago that he had an opportunity to go do exhibition shooting all over the world, but I never asked him about until about a year ago. It turns out that when Tom Knapp became famous as a shooter, and started showing up in magazines, on tv, etc. My uncle learned he was from Minnesota, got in touch with him on the phone, talked to him for a few hours and at the end of the conversation, Tom invited him up to his place to shoot.

My uncle accepted the invitation and spend a weekend shooting with Tom. A few of the things he showed Tom were, shooting aspirin out of the air with a .22 rifle and pistol, shooting a lever or pump action .22 rifle, ejecting the empty, and swinging the rifle around to shoot the empty .22 case while it was still flying through the air, from the hip. Taping an aspirin to a washer, throwing it into the air and shooting the aspirin out from the middle of the washer, shooting pennies, dimes, other tiny objects out of the air. Not to mention his skill with a shotgun. I saw my uncle shoot 9 clays in one throw long before Tom Knapp was on tv

Anyway, at the end of the weekend, Tom, who was sponsored mainly by Winchester at the time (long before Benelli picked him up), was so impressed he asked my uncle to tour with him all around the world doing exhibition shooting. My uncle is a family man though, a country man who grew up on the farm and would find it really hard to leave his wife and son for long periods. He declined the tour, but Tom left the door open for him. It's still open as far as I know.

Cliffs notes: My uncle who started teaching me how to shoot when I was 5 also impressed Tom Knapp and taught him a thing or two

[Guest Phantom6]

Helluvashooter. Sounds like your uncle is or was too. I saw Knapp do his shotgun and rifle routine on a program on the History Chanel or A&E. I was impressed and I'm not easily impressed unless it concerns fine whiskey, fine women or fine cigars. I'm a sucker for all three of those.

[shaftbass]

Ah, yea my uncle is still around. He's almost 50 now and I see him once a year when I visit my grandparents. I have three relatives houses within 2 miles of each other up there.

I always bring a gaggle of guns up when I visit him. I pretty much spend the whole time shooting, drinking Grain Belt, and eating homemade beef jerky.