Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles Anyone have a shell not go off while hunting??

Just came in from hunting. Watching a field for a my deer to come out 150-200 yards. All of a sudden I could hear a deer running from behind me. I turned around and a doe was running through the woods right at me. I grunted her to stop and she did at only 5 yards! Easy pickings right?? I put my 308 Montana on her head and ...."CLICK". Wtf?? I automatically racked another shell in and and she took off. I looked at the defective shell and it had a nice primer dent. Ammo was Winchester Deer Season XP 308 win 150grain. Kinda pissed. Anyone else have this happen???

only with rimfire...may have been a rifle issue. Maybe try it in another rifle chambered for the same.

I took the firing pin out and everything looks great. I cleaned it anyways. The rifle has never hadn't issue before and the primer dent is solid enough that I may have to chalk it up to a faulty shell/primer.

mystro -

sorry but have NOT had any misfires while hunting. I have used so few factory rounds to hunt it hardly counts. However 99.9% of my hunting ammo has been handloads and again, no I haven't had it happen.

I wouldn't sweat it till hunting season is over. Hopefully it won't happen again with that ammo. If it does, that may be your answer.

Good luck,


Jerry

Yes, in fact, it happened just last week and it cost me a doe. It was the first time I have ever not had my handloads fire.

I guess it does happen. I assume it even happens in rifle matches on rare occasion.

Cousin had it happen on a nice Mule Deer awhile back. 8 years???? Not once but twice. Solid primer hits. Remington green box and Ruger boat paddle. Took the bolt apart and all looked good.

I never had it happen while hunting, but did have it happen with factory ammo at the range.

Ammo was Hornady Light Magnum in .308 when it first came out years ago. I took it to the range, and had 5 misfires out of 12 shots while trying to sight in a rifle. All the misfire rounds had a good primer strike.

Thinking it might be the rifle, I switched back to the Federal factory ammo the rifle had been sighted in for previously, and it functioned perfectly.

When I got home, I called Hornady, and talked to one of their techs who was very skeptical that it was bad ammo.
After describing the problem, he asked me to send it in, which I did. Shipping it was expensive as UPS acted like I was trying to ship nuclear waste.

About a week later he called, and stated they determined it was their fault, and said they thought it was a problem with the primer. He agreed to replace the 3 boxes I had sent in with new boxes. I bitched about the shipping, and he agreed to send one extra box, but it always left a bad taste with me as the shipping cost more than the extra box.

Still have all of it for a rainy day, fired a couple rounds to check function and it worked.

I have had it happen a couple times, over the years, with factory ammo, and that is one reason why I reload.

If it doesn't go boom, I know who to blame.

donsm70

My dad did, years ago, trying to shoot a bull elk. A Vanguard in 7RM. The shells went off later when we tried them. Gunsmith replaced the firing pin, said old one had too little protrusion, all has been well since.
PS The rifle worked fine for several years, we never did figure out why the firing pin got short. There were never any blown cases or primers.

Had a bad primer on a reload. Most likely was my fault, but not sure of the exact cause. Sent it to CCI, but since I had deprimed it from the case, they couldn't really make a good evaluation. However, they sent 1000 primers for free, just in case it was a bad one.

Also, had a weak primer strike due to wet cold weather on a Browning BAR. Again, probably my fault for not cleaning/lubing properly before bad weather, but I lost all confidence in the gun after that, and went to bolt actions.

Hunt long enough, factory or reload it'll happen. Just the way it is. It was only a doe, be glad it wasn't the best buck in your life..

Wait till you've seen a buck shot through both lungs with an 06 and a sierra gameking live to be shot 3 weeks later running a doe.. and we found a piece of his lung on the ground that day.... you won't worry about whether the gun goes bang on a big one... you'll pray that the deer dies...

I had a few over the years, it was mostly cold related-two due to faulty primers, I may have caused that myself, it happens! in 50 years of hunting I can count the number of times on one hand and have a few fingers left over!

One time I had a 139 hornady superformance 7mm-08 FTF. It was just a hog, no big deal. Sent it to hornady with the bullet pulled and got a free box of ammo and a short note saying it was unlikely to ever happen again. I agree with them.

I've had factory ammo do this a couple times... One reason I don't take factory ammo out in the field. I trust my handloads much more than any factory loads...

What would've been my first deer (a doe) lived to see another day due to a misfire.

It was COLD WIsconsin morning and my dad had done a mini-drive through a thick stand of trees when a doe came out down the corridor I was watching. I lined her up, squeezed and 'click'! Didn't think no noise could be that loud!

As a 12 yr old I didn't think clearly enough to lift the bolt and try again on the same cartridge so I ejected and tried a second....same deafening click. By then she was gone.

A real bummer for a kid and a family trying to put meat on the table. Got home and took it apart and there was some lube on the spring...cleaned it thoroughly and went back out. Never had another chance that year...

Shot ok in warm weather but a few years later did the same thing to my dad so maybe weak firing spring plus cold lube?

Anyway, that one will stick with me forever....

Remington 600 in .35 Remington with hand loads.

You kinda feel "gutted" when it happens. All the preparation and range time and a faulty round on a 5 yard shot. I could have got away with this had the deer been out 100 yards or so. I teach a CCW class and have been to Gunsite twice and practice this malfunction all the time with hand guns. When it happend with a bolt rifle, I went into auto mode and racked a new round as smooth and fast as you can work a bolt but the doe was already staring at me. As mentioned earlier, at least it was only a doe. I'll be out again tomorrow.

I had a Browning Auto in 30/06 miss fire a few years ago. I was helping 348srfun field dress a buck he had killed when an 8 point came out of some brush on the side of a hill and stopped about 20 yards away. I eased over to my rifle and slowly worked the action. When I fired all I heard was the loudest click. I worked the action again and shot the buck since he was still just standing there looking around.

The primer on the round that miss fired had a good dent and failed to fire when I gave it another try. I had thought the fault might be mine since I had slowly worked the action, but I think something must have been wrong with that round. All the rest in the box fired just fine and I have never had another problem with the Browning.

I had a a Winchester PowerMax Bonded go click on me a couple of years ago on a doe at 6 yards. I didn't rack another round though. I just lifted the bolt and recocked the gun and it went bang the second time around.

What a dumb question...

I had it happen once a few years ago. I should have noticed it over the summer when I was doing some load work and I had a couple that needed a second strike. I figured I somehow screwed up and didn't seat the primers fully.

When the weather got cold none of them went off. I replaced the striker spring and end of problem. FWIW, the old spring was clean, so over-lubing was not the cause. The rifle was over 30 years old and stored cocked. I now take the tension off the firing pin before storage.