How many times (IF you hunt deer a lot you have to have done it once)...

Mine was with a Browning BAR 243 - I was share I chambered a round...

Click - the ears went up and he looked my way... CHIT !!!

Once that I can think of with deer. I worked the action as quick as I could, but the "click" came and my heart stopped. I ended up having rust in the metal around the magazine well and for whatever reason the first round in the magazine didn't get lifted up enough for the bolt to catch its rim. I did NOT short stroke (ha!) the action. I worked the action again, aimed and the next time it fired. Deer dropped at about 80 yards.


I had it happen on a cow elk last year, but the primer was either bad or it was too cold at -20F for the powder (H414) to light. I jumped the cow by accident, worked the action and had the dreaded "click". I jacked that round out of the chamber and the next round in, which had the same primer (from a different lot though) and RL22. This time it went boom and the cow fell at about 200 yards. The first round's primer had a solid strike, and was the last round from that bullet/powder combo I had. I pulled the bullet and dumped the powder when I got home.

I am sure if I thought about it more I could come up with others, especially if coyotes are in the mix.

Had it happen ith a Voere O/U in 222 mag. Lucky coyote.

Once.
This was the first time I ever tried one of my reloads hunting. Opening Weekend, 2001. I'd been doing most of my bowhunting out of a stand on Heartbreak Ridge, and the deer had gotten wise to me. One in particular, a basket-8 I'd dubbed "Spike." This deer had an uncanny ability to slip up on me when I was not looking and eat acorns below my stand without my seeing him. He'd pulled this stunt once to often, so I decided to fool him. On the weekend before the rifle opener, I hid my climbing stand next to a tree about 80 yards along the ridge on a trail I knew Spike was using. On the Opener, I got in early and got up the tree and waited. Sure enough, about 0900, a doe came up from the creek bottom, following the trail and I figured this was as good as any.

I had my Winchester 670 in 30-06 and a batch of handloads. These were 165 grain Hornady SP's over H4895. I'd only started reloading less than a year before. This was my first time hunting with reloads. The doe turned broadside at 15 yards and . . .Click. She looked up at me for a brief moment and then ran off back down the trail. I didn't see anything more that morning.

When I came out from hunting that morning, I tried the round again, firing into the dirt. Click again. I decided to switch to my Remington 742 and use a different box of the same reloads. A test firing worked, so I figured it must be the rifle. The Win 670 went back in the case and I kept it in the back of the closet for some time. I went out the next morning and nailed a nice doe from Heartbreak Ridge.

The next weekend, I was back at Heartbreak Ridge in the original buddy stand. This time I had #2 son, Mooseboy out with me. It was his first rifle hunt. A herd of deer came down the hill towards us in the first hour and Mooseboy spotted Spike trailing the parade. I shot Spike and he fell down right at the base of the stand.

From that day on, I've never had a misfire. I've still got the round

It happened to me back in the late 80s when I was first starting to hunt deer and hogs. I just plain was too excited about getting in my stand and forgot to chamber a round. I set there for several hours before some hogs came by and when I leveled off on one , click....... i was able to get a round in my lever action 3030 but that bunch was long gone. About ten minutes later a big boar came walking by and I killed him. I remember thinking...Now what. It took me about two hours to skin and qtr it with my two $8 survival knives. Some old guy in a swamp buggy came by and I remember I told him it was my first big game animal and I sure could use some advice. He laughed and said “ well young fella I would cut away everthing I did want to eat and toss the rest In my cooler” then he drove off.

Only with a flintlock

It happened to me the first time my wife came along to observe. Was focused on making sure that she got all she needed out of the truck and never chambered a round.

We had been in the blind about 10 minutes when a young 4 point and a fat old 8 point appeared. I aimed the 7-08 at the 8 point and it went CLICK!

I realized what I had done immediately as both deer turned facing us and stared. I worked the bolt as quietly as possible and fired and the 8 point dropped.

So far the lesson has not been forgotten.

My ONCE was with T C Renegade 54 cal. 4 EARS (2 deer) up

....buttS went Noooooorth with a vapor trail.

Jerry

Carried a muzzleloader that after the hunt, required a 2nd cap.
No clicks afield, on anything, yet.

Did have a Contender that would do it if not closer sternly.
Even then once in a while it'd click at the range.
Ordered springs but sold it (with a new spring to be installed) to a Contender guy.

Eh, I like a falling block way better than a break open.

best buck i ever got was after a click, no boom. i had switched guns at the truck and just stuck the mag in my 7600 without chambering one. deer was about 1/2 a second from bolting when i shot him.

my son dropped the hammer on a nice 10 point a few years ago but forgot the safety. he didn't get another chance because the buck was real close.

Something was happening with the corelokts in the mid 90s, had a few misfires out of a couple different guns while hunting. I know its a tried and true round but they cured us of using corelokts.

Not yet on a deer.

But I have opened the action on my rifle to get down from the stand and found I've never loaded it. So, it's pure luck that I haven't had the "click" on a deer.

Marlin 444 on a dandy 8 point buck at about 20 yards.

One of those levers with a fuuggin safety.

He came in, I cocked the hammer and as he was walking and I squeezed the shot off.

Click, I thought WTF and the deer just stopped right there. I had no clue what had just happened so as I tried to run another round up in the chamber he decided to boogie.

Took me a few seconds to realize I had never pushed the safety off.

From then on I cocked the hammer as I was sitting and just had to push the safety off when it was go time.

WHY did you have to remind me of DOING THAT ?
I was in a GREAT place and INTENSELY anticipating shooting a good Buck !!

SO GLAD he didn't show --> COLD chamber.


If we can't laugh at ourselves, we have NO right to laugh at others.

Jerry

Once on a coyote. Bad primer, chambered a second round and killed the coyote. Switched to another brand of primers.

Second time on the skeet field 20 gauge round from a brand spanking new box of skeet loads. (Same brand as the primers). Have not purchased primers or ammo from that company since.

Never did that, but hunted all day once with an unloaded gun! Didn't know til end of the day when I went to unload it.

Twice:

First time was a Handi-Rifle in 444 Marlin. Tried to shoot a doe at 80 yards. Clicked on her twice before she shagged out of there. I put the rifle by the heater in my stand (was in the 20's that morning), worked the hammer back and forth a few times, put the round back in, and busted a crow at 175yds with the same round. Go figure.

The next time was a coyote with my daughter's rifle. Click. Nothing. Turned out that my Lee priming tool was crapping out and not seating primers completely. They were all a bit raised and were absorbing the impact of the firing pin instead of igniting. At least it didn't happen on a good buck.

Never on a deer or with a rifle. But I've had it happen pheasant hunting with my shotshell reloads.

Only on muzzleloaders

-Jake

Never with a cenrefire, but lots with .22lr.

Solid primer strikes, no bang.

Once. Guide gun. Went "click" and checked the safety Yep, it was on. Deer, of course, was long gone.

When I got home, I pulled the buttstock, put safety "off" and tightened down the tensioner screw. That bad boy hasn't move since 2007...

I handle it just like my M94 Winchester. Half cock safety is all I use.

Happened to me on a Black Bear and a large one at that. Browning BLR that I never racked a round into. Bear was just as annoyed as I was.

Twice with a flintlock

Yes nice buck, model 88 Winchester. Never chambered s round. I killed him as soon as I worked the lever.

Many times with a flintlock before I knew what I was doing

Never. Ever.


But Ive had a couple "Boom...no whack...."

My very first deer hunt by myself back in 81 with a newly acquired marlin 336 30/30 bought used from the local grocery store. Two deer coming through the sprayed timber just after daylight at about 100 yards. I lined up the first one and pulled the trigger and heard a loud snap. Both deer threw up there heads and looked my way and it was then I realized it was a buck. Once they put their heads down I worked the action and out popped the factory Winchester 150gr with dented primer. I worked another into the chamber and proceeded to empty the remaining shells as the buck popped in and out of the down timber. I lost track of him when he disappeared into the creek. I found him dead in the bottom with 4 holes in him. My first buck was a basket rack 7-pt but I’m still very proud of it.

Never when it counted on a big buck. Jumping out of the truck to whack a coyote, happened this season. Calling coyotes happened with a shotgun. Dropped the hammer on the 30-30 on the safety twice, once on a prairie dog the other on a doe freezer pleaser. Ended up getting them both. I'm sure it's happened more than that but those are the ones I remember. Doesn't bother me if and when it does. I used to hunt hot but now I don't. No need to usually

Once on a deer and a couple of times at the range, all reloads. On the deer, it wasn't a problem, it was about 250 yds. away, cycled another shell in and shot the buck. I can't say for sure but I think I got resizing lube on the primer. I was about 16 and still under the tutelage of relative who insisted you had to resize and prime all on the same trip through the die. I think I had lube on the fingers that I used to pick up the primer and put it in the seating arm. I changed my procedure after that.

The first range one, my young son was 'helping me' reload, we just plain missed putting the powder in one. Got a pop out of that one when the primer went but no boom. And the last one was about a month ago, no idea what happened. Bad primer I guess as the powder was there and the rounds before and after fired. But that one didn't, even with a second strike. Who knows???

Dale

Only one time not counting muskets. I was a teenager, rifle was a 6/06.

It taught me a valuable lesson about sizing/headspace.

Oops actually forgot about several I’ve had with my 270. Had some primers that must have got contaminated some how, iirc a half dozen out of the 100 I had loaded were duds.

When I first started reloading I made the mistake of setting the shoulder back too far on some 358 reloads. Cost me a doe but learned a valuable lesson on testing shoulder length before loading cases.Had to tear down 20 reloads. Live and learn.

Never out hunting, but would would be way worse would be expecting a "click" and getting a boom. I only nearly did it once when I went to inspect my 20 gauge and found that I'd forgotten to unload the chamber.

Okay, now that we are telling reloading stories... Back when I was just a kid reloading for my .30-06, I had the bright idea that if I oiled the primer pockets, the primers would go in a lot easier! They did, but if those rounds didn't hang fire, they didn't go off at all. Don't do that.

Once with a 7mm-08, failed to put powder in the case. He was 200 yards away, didn’t scare him.

Multiple times with a Ruger 77 in .243. My mom's gun, it was foisted upon me as a 12 year old. I hate the thing! For some reason it will click if left for some period of time (hours, minutes?) with a round in the chamber and safety on, but it always works if freshly loaded. So it would work fine at the range and totally let you down on the deer stand. It failed to fire twice on does when I was 12. The next year I was expecting it when the rifle failed to fire on my first buck, a 10pointer. I was able to work the bolt and shoot him though. I have no idea what's wrong with the thing, maybe it's possessed. Looking back on events as a parent I have no idea what my father was doing having me carry the same garbage rifle for a second year. Someone should have reported him to child protective services!

I've also had issues with rifle brass used for multiple reduced loads with trail boss. After three or four firings they're no good any longer. Oh, and lets not forget all the fail to fires you get with Remington .22 ammo.

New hunter left safety on no boom. Hog got away.

I hunted with a Ruger M77 in 243 when I was a youngster that had a defective firing pin spring. After sitting cocked for some long period, it wouldn't fire. No one on that side of the family knew about replacing springs, or even letting the tension off the spring when storing. Often the first shot would not ignite the primer, but if the spring was reset, the next shot was fine. I missed a few deer and one antelope because of a "click", followed by several shots at moving animals that never panned out.

It's my mother's rifle. She still has it. To my knowledge the spring has still never been replaced. I hope to give it to my daughter one day, with new spring already installed.

My shooting buddy bought a Marlin .30/30 and a box of CoreLokts, he got 14 of 20 to fire, but the other 6? Nope, no way, no how, did they ever fire. It wasn't the rifle, which worked with handloads and Winchester loads, but Remington had a spate of bad ammo for quite awhile.


Another guy I know bought a Remington 7400 .30/06, and danged if it worked, even after three trips back to Remington, it clicked every time. I have no idea what was going on with that rifle, but I DO know I've shied away from them ever since his experiences. At first, I thought he was just easing the bolt forward, but he swore he wasn't doing that. I know all his issues went away when he swapped it for a Browning BAR.

I had a Hornady Superperformance round not fire in my .444 Marlin. Other rounds fired just fine (I did get the deer on the second shot). After that I took the stock off the rifle and cleaned the hammer spring and associated areas and haven't had an issue with any ammo since.

Not during deer season but on a grouse hunt. Dog went on point, I flushed the bird, had a clear shot, CLICK. My dumb ass forgot to load my gun. Dog looking at me like WTF

My dad had it happen in doe season in PENN back in the 80s. Doe was standing broadside at less than 50 yards, a very load CLICK and she took off like a rocket. Dad ejected the round and looked it over, primer was dented, he chambered another round and aimed at a nearby tree stump BOOM. Only misfire he ever had with that gun

'Tis a path I've not traveled.

I've never had a commercial round fail to fire, I have loaded a whole bunch for myself, two BILs, one FIL and my dad.........

FIL had one round, 7x57, that he brought back to me that failed to ignite, don't know why... bad primer I guess....

First deer hunt in 1979, ML season.

I had an old Hawken 45 cal. First day we went out and didn’t see anything. Didn’t want to leave the gun loaded, and too lazy to clean it so I fired it and just sprayed some WD-40 down the barrel.

Next morning at buddy’s apartment, didn’t want to wake his roommate so I didn’t snap a cap to make sure it was clear, just loaded it.

Later that morning, I was on the south side of a bush my buddies were pushing form the north. A doe and fawn popped out 30 yards from me - a chip shot with that gun. Lined up and SNAP!!

My buddies insisted it was buck fever. Nope, pure laziness.

I just noticed that my post mirrors yours in almost scary fashion. It's a defective firing pin spring. If the spring remains compressed for a period of time, when it is released, it doesn't have enough force to pop the primer. If it is allowed to expand, and is then compressed and rapidly released, the spring will have enough force to pop the primer. You can buy a replacement spring and swap them out.

I was in a tree stand with a H&R Ultra Slug gun in 20 ga. Heard the deer coming, saw the antlers above the brush, got ready for when he would come out in the open about 50 yards away. He comes out, I place the cross hairs behind his shoulder, pulled the hammer back, squeezed the trigger and click!

Broke the action open, made sure a round was loaded, squeezed the trigger again and click!. Buck started looking around. I broke the action open a second time and replaced the shell from a shell holder on the butt stock. Squeezed the trigger a third time, and BOOM! Deer down.

Nice thing about that single shot is it is super quiet to load, reload.

It happened to me once. We were going to put on a drive at our camp. I was to be a sitter. The drivers were on the back of some ATVs being taken up the road to be dropped off. I decided to watch the road to see if anything tried to sneak out after the ATVs went up the hill. Sure enough, a bear came out of the hard hack right into the road (the ATVs were long gone by now). I buried the crosshairs on that bear and the next sound I heard was the loudest click ever. I hadn't chambered a round yet. The bear heard it too and ran back the way he had come from.

Biggest WT I've ever seen. Close. I pulled the trigger and had forgotten to put one in the tube. He was quickly at 400 yards and running wide open. 🙄

The only misfires I've ever had have been with Rem .22 Thunderbolts, maybe 1 out of 100. I don't use them much but do have a couple boxes on hand that I practice with. For reloading I've always used CCI and Win primers and don't recall ever having one fail.

Yeah, I saw your post and was struck by the similarity. My rifle was a 1976 tang safety model. Maybe someday I'll rehab the springs. For now the rifle sits unused in a safe at mom's place. If I end up with it some day I'll likely try new springs and if it works out, rebarrel the thing. Interestingly this rifle is also responsible for my emotionally charged hatred of the .243 winchester. There's nothing worse for a 12 year old's morale than to have a rifle fail, and then immediately have the cartridge fail when the rifle goes off. This happened on one of the does when after going "click" the rifle fired on the next try with an apparently solid hit on the deer. Lots of hair and blood seemed to bode well but the deer made it to the neighbor's place and was finished off, a case of what I now recognize to be rather bizarre bullet failure. The result of this was that for several years afterward I was convinced a .243 was about the same power-wise as a .222 and useful only for woodchucks and such. I recognize my youthful ignorance so these days I hate the .243 for more refined reasons, such as it's bizarre pressure spikes and decreased barrel life compared to other rounds. And the fact that it's horrible, horrible!! And what an ugly, wretched case shape, and.........But now, if I found a nice 6mm Remington, that would be a neat gun, so........

And so it goes with loonyism.

One of the most miserable hunts I've had was within sight of my house and the only "click - no boom" that I've had that I can recall. Copied from an old post:

Early January 2018. Rut is ON but my son had an away bball game Friday night and we're late getting home so I'm hunting at home instead of my usual hunting spot. It's ok because there's a "Calendar Buck" that I've seen after dark a couple of times. Checked the weather and it's really warm and raining through the am then the temp is set for a major drop in the pm with snow/ice expected. I slip on a light base layer, thin socks, rubber boots, and the helly hansen. Grab the 21" 6.5 Fieldcraft and make the grueling 200 yard walk on flat ground to my spot...lol....climb up, pull the FC up, and sit in the pouring rain. It's raining sideways and wind is howling....but it's plenty warm even though I've got nothing but a lightweight base layer under the rain suit. I'm planning on going in for an early lunch and will put something heavier on before I come back out before dark.

Shortly after the sun comes up I hear something jump the fence behind me (~75 yards) and I can hear it running towards me. I'm hunting an open spot where deer cross between two heavily wooded sections. I don't even bother turning to look behind because I know the route and set up where it's going to go. Scope caps flipped open, deer seen, safetly off....it's a doe hauling tail. I'm already grinning because I know something's chasing her.... She never slows down. I hear him coming. He passes me. I tell him to "stop" and he complies at ~30 yards turning to look right at me. Even, gentle squeeze, CLICK.... I never chambered a round when I climbed up in the pouring rain. He turns and hauls tail trailing the doe. I say things I wouldn't want my momma to hear.....

Through the rest of the day I see glimpses of him chasing in the neck of woods he and the doe crossed to. I see him run other bucks off. I can never get an open shot on him...the woods are thick and he's never standing still. The temp is really dropping. I like helly hansen but I still get soaked if it's blowing. My base layer is soaked. I'm starting to shake pretty bad. It's sleeting now. Ice is built up on the rain coat and paints. Rifle sling frozen. I'm just waiting on him to mess up. It's starting to get dark, still sleeting, and I text my wife to ask what time I had written on a piece of paper I left on the bar (which is 30 min past sunset - last legal shooting time). She texts back and I think I've got 13 minutes left...I could be off a little. At any rate when there's 5 minutes left, it's really dark because it's so overcast...the doe leaves the woods and runs into the pasture. Buck follows trotting. I hit him a little far back on the first shot and see him hunch up and drop his head. I lead him a little to much as he's running back to the woods and luckily catch his neck which was even with his shoulder. He drops, game over.

Get down, come in, start coffee, and put real clothes on. I'm hurting. May sound funny, but I can honestly say my physically toughest hunt was within sight of my house. Seeing glimpses of him all day off and on...along with the fact that I was so mad at myself for not chambering a round....kept me from getting down and getting real clothes on.

Couple of firsts on this hunt. First time I've ever forgotten to chamber a round. First time I didn't have to drag a deer a single step....tractor retrieval. BTW, he's not the "Calendar Buck"....that ones in a different class.

Jerked the trigger on a spring gobbler. 2nd shot clicked. I watched the fired hull come out. Short stroked it and the 2nd round never chambered.



Had a real good buck trotting at me one day. Leaned the 7600 35 Whelen on a sapling as I stood there.


Getting dangerously close and starting to slow down. Coming down an open old ATV trail. Smoothly following him in the cross hairs.

BOOM!!!!! He locks up. Uht oh. He stopped BEFORE I fired. I think I done missed at 15yds! Go to rack another round in and boy...she was locked up TIGHT. The recoil from the first shot tried to self eject. It was blocked by the sapling I was leaning on.

I got the mag out, ripped the jammed brass and shell out with my knife. New mag in and as I was raising the gun back up when he decided it was too dangerous to stick around.

Had a Rem 700 LH in 375 H&H that would not fire in cold weather and on Brown Bear! Brought the level of excitement up. Ended up being a bad trigger housing.

Replaced trigger and Sold it, Bought a LH Ruger 375 in SS.