Finding a bullet buried in the wall of their house was a little unsettling for Steve and Janet Jeppson. They live on Maple Creek Road in Franklin, a small town near Preston.

Warmer temperatures finally made it possible for the couple to take down their Christmas decorations, which are often iced in on the north side of their home. But as they did so a few days ago, they noticed there was more than decorations.

As he was investigating, Steve dug out a large caliber bullet from the home’s masonite siding.

“We don’t know when it happened. It was after we put up the Christmas decorations and before we took them down … three days ago. It could have been any time since we put the decorations up,” Janet said.

Because of the freshness of the scar in the siding, she believes it was quite recent.

“I have walked by there. That’s really scary — that’s right by the walkway in front of the house,” she said. “Our grandkids walk by there all the time; that’s our bedroom.”

Steve’s guess that the slug’s caliber was a .338 Winchester mag and that it was at the end of its trajectory when it hit the house, was verified by a Franklin County sheriff’s deputy. Because the bullet travels at 2,800 feet per second when fired, the deputy calculated that the 1.5-inch copper bullet likely came from Giraffe Hill Road in the Cub River area.

“That’s how far they travel,” Janet said.

The bullet is a hollow point, expanding bullet.

“It should have mushroomed when it hit our house, but it was completely at the end of its trajectory. It was estimated to have been going only 300 to 500 feet per second when it lodged into the masonite siding. Had it been any closer, it would have gone through the wall into the interior of the house and the bullet would have mushroomed back over itself,” Janet said she was told.

She continued, “The officer showed us the trajectory path and exactly where he believes it was shot from. There is no way (the shooter) would have known that it would go that far. It would have looked like they were shooting into nothing. But unless you know (what’s beyond your target), you don’t shoot.

“(The shooter) didn’t. So many bad things could have happened. Thankfully they didn’t. I would never have dreamed it came from that far away, but (the officer) was convinced his calculations were correct.”

Additional rules for safe gun handling listed on the Boy Scouts of America website are:

• Always treat the gun as loaded.

• Always keep the gun pointed in a safe direction.

• Always keep your finger straight and off the trigger until you are ready to shoot.

• Always keep the gun unloaded until you are ready to use it.

• Never point the gun at anything you don’t intend to destroy.

• Learn the mechanical and handling characteristics of the gun you are using.

• Always use proper ammunition.

• Be sure the barrel is clear of obstructions before loading and shooting.

• If a gun fails to fire when the trigger is pulled, hold the shooting position for several seconds; then with the muzzle pointed in a safe direction, carefully unload the gun.

• Don’t rely on the gun’s safety to keep it from firing.

• Be aware of your surroundings so you don’t trip or lose your balance and accidentally point and/or fire the gun at anyone or anything.

The Jeppsons hope to wake people up to the possibilities of what can happen when they aren’t careful with their firearms.

“We aren’t as rural as we once were,” she said. “We live on a main road. We just want to raise awareness and get people to pay attention to what they are doing, especially with a high-power gun like that. … It goes far.”

“At church, Kirby Chatterton told us how he was on top of that hill by our house ... and a bullet buzzed past his ear. Two of them,” Janet said. “These were from a different direction than the one that hit our house, but this is obviously becoming a problem.”

Sheriff Dave Fryar reminds the public that if they are “going to shoot, know where your backstop is and make sure that it is not in a residential area. Everyone is responsible for where their bullet goes, and they can travel a long ways,” he said.