Shot my first young buck. Shaken up after a malfunction.

C

canoetrpr

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Could have sworn I posted this in Reloading but I don't see this there. Maybe I forgot to press Post. Apologize if this shows up as a double post.

Got a young buck this morning. What a crazy story. First I thought it was a doe. 40 yards away. First shot. Positive I'm right on. BANG! Deer just stands there; obviously not hit. Just startled. I reload. How could I have missed? All that practice. Next shot BANG! Right in the heart. Deer on ground. Dies within 15 seconds.

Deer cleaned out etc. We move to another blind. I try to load up there cannot!

Check my barrel for obstructions. There is a bullet lodged in the chamber. Holy s$&@!

Go back to the camp as my cleaning supplies are not with me. Bullet now out but I'm shaken up.

First, at least I'm not as bad a shot as I was. But how did this happen. First shot sure didn't sound like a squib load. Loud, primer and powder seemed to ignite fine.

Obviously the first shot did not exit the barrel and the second hit the first which killed the deer??

Bullet came out of the chamber with a cleaning rod without much coaxing. Tip is not damaged so I'm perplexed.

I've loaded 500 rounds now with never a problem. I'm SUPER careful. Obviously I'm shaken up as I must have screwed something up and almost killed myself the first time hunting. Only thing that makes sense is that there wasn't powder in that first round and the primer pushed the bullet out into the chamber but not right out?
 
So the second shot hit the first, propelled it to it's intended target but still stayed in the barrel? That doesn't sound right at all, the second shot over a fully loaded case hitting the first would have caused a great deal of damage and providing your barrel survived, would not still be stuck in the barrel,

What caliber is the gun?
 
Guns aren't like shooting pool, smacking one bullet with another doesn't make it go flying down the barrel and out of the gun at supersonic speed with you not noticing anything wrong. If it didn't sound or feel like a squib, it wasn't. Both shots left the gun and you probably missed with the first. There is something missing from this story. For a bullet lodged in the barrel to prevent you from chambering a round, it would basically have to have pretty much not moved down the barrel - like chambering a round with no crimp, ejecting it leaving the bullet in the chamber, and chambering the next round.
 
Did you chamber a third round after the deer went down? Perhaps in the excitement of killing your first deer when you unloaded it, the bullet stuck in the lands and pulled out of the case. I agree that the bullet combination shot is not plausible.
 
sheephunter said:
Did you chamber a third round after the deer went down? Perhaps in the excitement of killing your first deer when you unloaded it, the bullet stuck in the lands and pulled out of the case. I agree that the bullet combination shot is not plausible.
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This seems like a plausible explanation.

After all, if the last bullet impacted another inside the barrel it most certainly would not be in any sort of undamaged shape.

Or it's possible that the first shot did in fact hit, but the deer had a delayed reaction, and then the second shot was a squib. Is it possible your powder got contaminated, and perhaps failed to ignite properly?
 
sheephunter said:
Did you chamber a third round after the deer went down? Perhaps in the excitement of killing your first deer when you unloaded it, the bullet stuck in the lands and pulled out of the case. I agree that the bullet combination shot is not plausible.
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But then there would be powder all over the place plus an empty shell with a live primer. Should be easy to figure out.
 
1899 said:
But then there would be powder all over the place plus an empty shell with a live primer. Should be easy to figure out.
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Not if you yank the bolt not looking, not expecting there to be anything in the barrel. Necked cartridges and extruded powders don't barf powder all over the place like straight walled stuff.
 
i shot a deer on the run at 50yards... with my 300 wm and it never even flinched... kept running like a deer.

it got to the edge of the clearing... bout 30 yards out..


plonk !

stone dead, shot through the heart


i'd say your first shot hit... second was the squib...

if you squibed the first..i'd expect the 2nd would be a KABOOM n trip to hospital ?
 
Whatever happened, it was not the description of events in the OP. THAT is impossible. My first guess (and it is a guess only) is that the first shot was the killing shot, and excitement clouded the witness about everything.
 
You know what. I did chamber a third round and ejected it to make it safe before checking on the deer. I've only got two pieces of brass in my pocket; not sure if I put that back in the container or not. Maybe I left it in the blind.

The bullet was in the chamber, not be end of the barrel. Come to think of it these do fit somewhat snug when I close the bolt. The OAL is 0.015" from the lands.

Sounds most plausible that chambering that third round pulled the bullet into the chamber. You think I would have noticed the powder falling all over though. Got to find that third round.

I think I'll be doing a bit of a crimp from now on. I was under the impression you only crimped match/target bullets.

Also note that same bullets were chambered and ejected a two to three times yesterday as I made my gun safe. Pretty rare that I do that with my reloads T the range. They are generally loaded and shot. From now on I wil be using the bottom plate to eject until I'm 100% confident this won't happen again.
 
canoetrpr said:
You think I would have noticed the powder falling all over though.
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Lots of things get overlooked in the heat of the moment...especially with a first like this....congrats on the buck! I'd chalk the first shot up to buck fever. It happens. Be sad if it didn't really.
 
Mystery solved. I just had a round chambered and ejected it to have powder fall out and no bullet. So looks like this is a problem with my bullets being uncrimped or a bit too long or both? I recall now ejecting the third round and having to work the bolt to get it out.

Everyone is making fun of me now at my camp being the guy with custom loaded rounds who wil now have to borrow factory loads. Fortunately I'm shooting a 30-06 (thanks to those that advised me to get this well know calibre). Fortunately he has rounds in the same weight I'm shooting and I know the POI of that ammo is not much different from mine.
 
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