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TurdusMerula
Posts: 362 Member
Saturday 11th deer hunting
TurdusMerula
Posts: 362 Member
Today my father was the luckier one. I had very bad luck.
I saw a nice young buck coming towards me from the other side of the field. There was a tiny "island" of the woods in the middle of it. Buck stopped there and I could take him into my crosshair but I could not take the shot as there were some buildings a few hundred yards away in the background. I waited for a couple of minutes for the buck to move. Suddenly it started to come towards me again. I waited for the clean line of fire and at that point deer was 20 yards away from me. I was in a "moose tower". They are about 10 feet high wooden platforms built for the shooters so it would be more safe to shoot at slight downward angle. I pulled the trigger. Caboom? No, just an empty click. CCI primers failed me. For the first time ever. I started reloading in 1989 and this has never happened to me before. It took me about second to recover from the surprise and reload a new round. I was already late as the deer noticed me and blasted away but tried to take a shot from my anger. Clean miss. Buck continued towards my father who was 150 yards away in the next "tower". I saw the buck collapse at the same time as the sound from the .308 reached me. F**k f**k f**k took turns inside my head but I managed to be happy for my father. At least it ended up to the same family.
Weather was great and the temperature crispy but pretty comfortable 23 degrees Fahrenheit. After all it was a great hunting day in the clean nature. Nice "gift" for my dad as tomorrow it will be Father's Day here.
I saw a nice young buck coming towards me from the other side of the field. There was a tiny "island" of the woods in the middle of it. Buck stopped there and I could take him into my crosshair but I could not take the shot as there were some buildings a few hundred yards away in the background. I waited for a couple of minutes for the buck to move. Suddenly it started to come towards me again. I waited for the clean line of fire and at that point deer was 20 yards away from me. I was in a "moose tower". They are about 10 feet high wooden platforms built for the shooters so it would be more safe to shoot at slight downward angle. I pulled the trigger. Caboom? No, just an empty click. CCI primers failed me. For the first time ever. I started reloading in 1989 and this has never happened to me before. It took me about second to recover from the surprise and reload a new round. I was already late as the deer noticed me and blasted away but tried to take a shot from my anger. Clean miss. Buck continued towards my father who was 150 yards away in the next "tower". I saw the buck collapse at the same time as the sound from the .308 reached me. F**k f**k f**k took turns inside my head but I managed to be happy for my father. At least it ended up to the same family.
Weather was great and the temperature crispy but pretty comfortable 23 degrees Fahrenheit. After all it was a great hunting day in the clean nature. Nice "gift" for my dad as tomorrow it will be Father's Day here.
To see a World in a Grain of Sand And a Heaven in a Wild Flower
Hold Infinity in the palm of your hand And Eternity in an hour
-William Blake-
Hold Infinity in the palm of your hand And Eternity in an hour
-William Blake-
Replies
JAY
Shake Dad's hand for me.
The rifle was a Winchester M70 that I had bought earlier that year. I had done all of my load work and practice during warmer weather, and had not experienced a single misfire. After the misfires, I took the rifle to a gunsmith and had it checked out. He disassembled the bolt and found it had a build of oil and gunk. He cleaned it and told me that M70 bolts were prone to this problem, especially when stored barrel up with oil in the barrel. Over time, oil drains into the bolt and thus the problem.
I don't know if this is what you experienced, but it's worth investigating.
Congrats to your dad.
Gun control laws make about as much sense as taking ex-lax to cure a cough.
I'm sure it was just bad luck happening at the (almost) worst time. It could have happened last weekend with my first moose
Hopefully it won't happen again in the next 25+ years while reloading. I have always used Winchester primers until this time. I had to buy CCI's as the shop was out of Winchester primers.
But things happen in life. It was a great day out with my dad and the rest of the hunting buddies anyway. We still have eight licenses for the moose and the hunt for my _second_ moose continues next weekend. No harm done.
Hold Infinity in the palm of your hand And Eternity in an hour
-William Blake-