Has a rifle issue ever cost you a hunt?

Not a gun problem, ammo issue. My first .416 rem, Elk hunt on the Muskwa. Compressed load of Rel.15. Get to camp, bullets too long for the Sako mag. We had extra guns but I wanted to use the new cannon. Reseat bullets with hatchet. Worked fine at about 175 yards on my first Elk.
 
Joel said:
Or, at least, a day of a hunt. Something that couldn't be fixed then and there?

For example, I had one of the locking nuts on the trigger adjustment screws of a Zastava Mauser fall out, and end up wedged in such a way that the trigger could not be pulled.

Curious to hear what has done it for y'all
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Oh ya I've had it happen twice. Once with my savage 110 ultralight, the stock was so flexible and ####ty it grouped one way shooting off a bipod but later shot totally different in a standing position. The difference was so much so that I missed on a black bear. Since I've put it in an MDT XRS Chassis and it's probably the most accurate rifle I have.

The second time was my Springfield Waypoint 2020. It wouldn't group to save my life and I had to postpone my hunts because I ended up going through 3 of my scopes thinking the whole time that it MUST be my optic. Later to find it had headspacing issues and even later wouldn't strike primers. So I missed a huge part of my season because that piece of junk.
 
Holy cow. I know everyone can pass a lemon but surprised that made it through Springfield's QC. Savage or a Ruger American maybe lol.
 
I always pack a spare rifle or two on every hunting trip only once have I had to use it when I rolled my argo back about 35 years ago, buggered the scope on my 338WM and had to dig out my 280 rem. I have loaned my spare to guys at times when they had a ooppss or a brain fart like the guy that forgot his clip and ammo at home one year.
 
Joel said:
Huh! And nothing was done between his time out with the rifle and your firing it together?

Wonder why it would just suddenly start working again? Enough bumpy truck ride to dislodge what schmoo was slowing down the works? Or did he just have supremely bad luck and had two cartridges with very tough primers.

Weird!

What kinda rifle was it, out of sheer curoisity?
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Not weird at all. In fact, if the guy had recocked the rifle a couple of times and tried again it possibly could have fired.

Oh, and I’ve seen two triggers freeze up and fail to work also.
 
Same could be said for competitions. I mostly have optic or mounting failures.

I had battery contacts break on my RDS at a PPC match. Still managed to shoot in the 1200s. This year couldnt get the screws to stay tight, so had to switch to irons.
 
Bump scope out with a fall. Had enough chances at the game that figured what was needed to be done.
Usually have a back up rifle and main rifles have sights on now also
 
I shot an antelope one time with a push feed M70, opened the bolt and the extractor broke and I couldn't get the spent case out of the chamber without finding a cleaning rod to push it out. It didn't ruin the hunt but it could have if I'd have missed. Another time I got home from a ten day hunt and decided to clean up my M70 Classic, when I opened the bolt a small pin fell out onto the floor. If that had happened on the hunt I would have never found that pin in the snow and the rifle would have been out of action.
I did miss a nice white tail buck one time when I went to chamber a round in the MkV Weatherby I was carrying and the top round turned sideways and jammed, by the time I got that sorted out the buck stepped into the bush and was gone!
I always take a backup rifle if I'm hunting very far from home.
 
Don't think I have ever had one cost me a hunt, but I did break a firing pin on a O/U once- still had the second barrel though.
The fist year I varmint hunted I went to chamber a round and found out I had some ammo that was neck sized for a different rifle- my fault though as I did not read the box before shoving it in my pocket!
Cat
 
Joel said:
Huh! And nothing was done between his time out with the rifle and your firing it together?

Wonder why it would just suddenly start working again? Enough bumpy truck ride to dislodge what schmoo was slowing down the works? Or did he just have supremely bad luck and had two cartridges with very tough primers.

Weird!

What kinda rifle was it, out of sheer curoisity?
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It was a Savage 340 chambered in 30-30. As far as I know he treated it with reasonable care; transported it in a soft sided case, all paved roads to the hunting area, *probably* no major impacts or rough rides along the way (but I can't be certain). We sighted in and practiced in warmer weather than he was hunting in so that's why I suspect that the cold wet weather may have been the culprit.
 
When I was a teenager, my dad lent me his 30-30 Savage 340 for my first hunt. I had a small group of does walk right in front of me, I went to chamber a round, and the bolt wouldn't close, nor could I open it and eject the round. It was some screwed up ammo his friend had reloaded. After that, I bought my own rifle and ammo.
 
Worst I've had so far is a lost grouse due to light primer strikes on my Turkish single shot. My fault, I messed with it to reduce the trigger pull. But it worked just fine in the testing I did before taking it hunting.


I don't normally bring a spare rifle on hunts but now y'all got me rethinking that.
 
I haven’t used any rifles for hunting as of yet, however I had several issues with Summer brutality using my M39 Mosin, overall it’s a wonderful rifle but had major issues with rimlock occurring. Under a timed session that caused me a good amount of anxiety lol
 
I’ll spare the gory details but back in the mid 80’s, on a week long hunting trip with a couple buddy’s, first morning we had an unscheduled rodeo which left me on the ground and my horse thinking he was at the Kentucky derby dragging all my gear through the bush. While I got up and dusted myself off, my 2 buds chased after and caught my horse a couple miles away, picking up riggin’ on the way. My new Ruger #1 .338 came back with the butt stock at about a 45 degree angle at the wrist. About a 2 hour drive home to fetch my .348 for the remainder of the hunt. Fast forward to 1994, sheep hunting with my brother and Dad with that same Ruger #1, lying prone, crosshairs on a ram @ about 70-80 yards, pull the trigger….”click”….WTF????. Now I don’t know if this is a misfire, hangfure, or maybe an empty chamber??. I’m laying on my ammo pouch so I roll to the side, retrieve another round, roll back, then open the action making due that the breech is pointed away from me (in case it is a hangfire), out pops a round, I insert the new one and, of course now the whole band is at a dead run. They turn to go up the hill maybe 150 yards away, I locate that one I wanted and shot it. When I got home I pulled the bullet on the “dud” and there was powder in it, the primer failed to detonate. Only time in my life that has happened. While this incident was not a hunt ending one, it had the potential to change the outcome.
 
The first shotgun I owned as a teenager was a Mossberg 400G, and was a jamomatic. Cost me a lot of geese, so I saved up for an 870 Wingmaster. Was beautiful and swung great, but it would drop shells onto the lifter occasionally, resulting in significant down time. After its ejector broke in the field, it went down the road after being repaired. Replaced it with an 870 Special Purpose that was trouble free.
 
Not so much the rifle but I had a misfire from a bad primer when I was out looking for deer. Thankfully it was a slower day and caught the bad round trying to take a shot at a snowshoe hare.
 
I have had rifle failures but since I am boring and hunt on my own land it hasn't cost me anything yet. The only interesting one was learning the hard way that even supposedly fancy lubes turn to glue when you get -30c and beyond. I just go dry or use graphite if I expect that sort of BS.
 
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