Deadliest mushroom in the woods

[gumpond]

4:49 pm and I've been on the stand for an hour and a half. I hear a noise to the right and I look over my shoulder. He's coming through the heavy brush of the woods. I can see him out about 70 yards through the thick growth in the swamp. I can't tell the number of points but it's a high rack. I wait as he draws nearer nad he comes up into an opening about 20 yards out and stops to eat from the acorns heavy on the groung. I line up my sights, a Redfield peep, on my model 94 in 30WCF. Steady now. I have the shoulder in my sights. I pull the trigger. CLICK. He hears the click and looks up. I know my rifle is loaded, he's looking around to find the source of the noise. I can't cycle the rifle or he'll take 2 steps into the brush. I ease bak the hammer and pull the trigger again. CLICK. He runs off about 40 yards. I ease my action open and remove the round and jack another in. He hasn't seen me yet but is alert. I watch him amble off into the thicket.
Remington Core lokt finally failed me. He was a nice 8 pointer with high tines. He'll be a better one next year.
Have you ever had a factory round fail you. I mean just out of the box new. Primer is dimpled deep by the 2 strikes. Let me know.

Greg

[2ndovc]

Same thing happened to a guy I know with a Factory Rem. 357 JHP he was using in his GP100. Fell asleep in the stand and woke up with a nice buck standing below him. He pulled the trigger and "snap" . Nothing. By the time he pulled the trigger again the buck was on his way to the next county.

I just laughed. Guy's a jerk anyway. Last I heard he'd been kicked out of his buddies camp for drinking too much and being an _______.

[Rhys.94.375]

That is unlucky, ive never had centre fire ammo fail on me touch wood.
hopefully you find him next hunt!
is this a 30-30?

[Sixgun]

Extremely rare. I don't mean to unfairly question you but.........
1.) Did the primer have a good dent on it from the firing pin? (this
indicates a properly headspaced firearm or other mechanical
problems.
2.) Do you know the history of the ammo as to storage conditions or
age?

I don't shoot much factory ammo (10K a year in handloads) but my good friend Tom who owns Targetmaster has a firing range in which the users have to use factory ammo. He tells me factory misfires are "nearly" non-existent and when it does happen, it is almost always the fault of the firearm or user.-----------

[gumpond]

Primer is dimpled les than about 3-32", deeper than normal due to 2 strikes. Ammo was taken from a box in the console of my truck. New this season. I've never had this happen with factory rifle rounds in the previous 35 years I've hunted. It is the round and not the rifle. I'm chalking it up to stuff happens. Probably means I'll have to wait till I'm 87 for it to happen again .

Greg

[Modoc ED]

Was that a Winchester Model 94 with the rebound hammer? If so, there have been some problems with mis-fires with those rifles. There is a fix for it. I'll see if I can find the link. It involves the hammer strut and spring.

[gumpond]

No rebounding hammer. Again, deep primer dimple. Ran a few more rounds down the pipe this morning, no problems.

Greg

[RSY]

I think it happens more than most people would think.

I bought a box of .270 "brass" one time from an estate sale that had one "unfired" cartridge in it. The primer had decidedly been popped before. I put it in my Model 70 and it took 2 more knocks to get it to go off.

It was a fairly recent Winchester Super-X Power-Point (grey box).

scott

[Modoc ED]

No rebounding hammer. Again, deep primer dimple. Ran a few more rounds down the pipe this morning, no problems.

Greg

Well, in that case Greg, I gotta tell ya that in my 64-years (almost 65) I have learned that sometimes the only way to describe an event is with the phrase "$--T Happens". I know that's not the answer you're looking for but sometimes that's the only explanation.

Tell ya what. Just for the heck of it, clean out the bolt/firing pin, firing pin spring and put just a tad of oil on the firing pin. May not have had anything to do with your mis-fire but it won't hurt anything. In my travels, I've run across guns that won't fire reliably pointed up-hill, and some that wouldn't fire reliably pointed down-hill (like from a tree mounted stand). A quick cleaning of the bolt, firing pin, and firing pin spring cured those problems. Dirt, gunk, rust on the spring, and in/on the bolt kept the firing pin from striking with the same force in all positions.

Sadly though, it appears you may have had a bad factory round. Sorry you lost your deer but I like your attitude when you say it will just be bigger next year when you get it.

[gumpond]

Ed,

I may just go back and get him tomorrow or better yet, put my son in that stand because he didn't make me.

Greg

[Modoc ED]

Ed,

I may just go back and get him tomorrow or better yet, put my son in that stand because he didn't make me.

Greg

That's the spirit Greg!!!! WOW!!!! What a thrill it would be for your son to bag a deer like that. Good luck!!!

[brucew44guns]

I sure wish you had been setting with my trusty old 71, a factory 200 grain silver tip, it would likely be a different outcome. Sorry for your mis-fire. Core-lokts are usually pretty dependable.

[gumpond]

Been using Core lokts for years and have always been dependable and effective.

Greg

[El Chivo]

I have had 3-4 Remington rounds fail to discharge in my Win 94 with rebounding hammer. All went off the second time. I had had my trigger worked on and the gunsmith was saying that the striking might be a little light. So for me it was the rifle, but I was looking at the shallow dimples in the primer and getting the impression that the primers are on the tough side.

I wonder if it was cold out, would the lubricant slow down the firing pin? If the strike was done slowly rather than sharply it might still be deep and not go off.

[BAP]

ive never had that problem with those shells been using them for years , but did have that happen with my turkey gun winchester suprems hv one time, lost a big ole tom due to it..

[Blaine]

I"ve had Green Box 22's fail almost regular, but never a centerfire....

[gumpond]

Do you reckon that's why they liked double guns with dangerous game? For the unexpected?
Temperature was cool for my area, around 50 degrees c. I'm in Georgia. I don't think temperature was a factor this time. I did drop the hammer twice. He just had a get out of jail free card, karma for all you on the left coast. I will be using Remington Core-lokts on my next hunt but not that round, it's a trophy kinda' like a leg band on a duck. I like traditional rounds from traditional guns.(Am I getting old?) Like I said earlier, I'll have to wait till I'm 87 for this to happen again.

Greg

[JDL]

Happened to my brother years ago. He was using my Dad's 336 in .30-30 and walked up on 5 deer feeding under an oak. He slowly raised the rifle and squeezed the trigger, only for it to snap on the Super-X 150 grain. The deer made it away quick time and he came home fuming. I later picked up the cartridge and found it had a big dimple in the primer but, it would not fire at all. I have heard of factory rounds having the primer upside down and had some that wouldn't chamber because of a wrinkled neck from too much crimp. Still, the percentage is very low for the amount of ammo produced. -JDL

[john4me05]

If the rifle was a Marlin i had that happen before.. I had a 30-30 that wouldnt reliably set off anything but a Federal factory ammo... Smith said something about 12-14 pounds to set off a Win/Rem primer and the Marlin was only dropping 10 or so... I could go 3 boxes of Rem without a misfire and then 1 day i snapped a whole box of 20...

[cutter]

I had to rehit a Core Lokt three times once, of course the ammo was manufactured in 1974 and I was shooting it in 1993!

It was kinda' greenish looking too!

I've learned a lot since then...

[Old Ironsights]

Do you still have the round and a Kenetic Bullet Puller?

Pull the bullet and dumpthe powder.

See if the spilled powder ignites.

No? Bad Powder. Yes? Bad Primer.

If you can safely do so, try to ejext the Primer and see if it has all parts intact - i.e. missing an anvil, etc.

If no anvil, check your powder burn for one. Your primer pocket could be outsized. Throw the brass away.

In any case, check your lot number and use the rest for Practice.

My 2p anyway.

[Modoc ED]

Greg -

You know, strange things happen both with handloaded ammo and factory ammo. Could be that the primer in that particular round wasn't seated properly so that when the hammer fell and the firing pin went forward, it simply moved the primer further into the primer pocket and only dented the primer. Could have happened on the second trigger pull too.

I'd just chalk it up to chance/fate/karma and let it go. It sure as hell wouldn't prevent me from using Kore-Lokt again. I've used them for years and they have always fired for me but you never know -- on the next triggger pull, all I might get is a "click".

[horsesoldier03]

Man that would be just my luck too! I have never had that happen but sure as it did it would be when it counted! Better luck next year!

[pharmseller]

I know a gun store owner who refuses to stock Remington green box ammo because of failures to fire. I've never had a problem and I've shot a lot of good ol' green box ammo.

Quinn

[HEAD0001]

I saw a frind of mine have 5 straight factory shells misfire in his Winchester 94. We were hunting and a small spike came in to us(we were walking into our stands). I watched him cycle 5 shells through the rifle, and not one of the shells went off. He could not figure out what happened, he thought for sure he killed the deer. It turned out that he got buck fever and never pulled the trigger. That happened 25 years ago and I still make fun of him. You had to be there. It was one of the funniest thing's I have ever seen. Tom.

[shawn_c992001]

I've seen this happen alot with Remington ammo, had a box of 222 ammo that just would not go off, and another box of 30-06 180gr ammo that the bullets were loose in.

[MikeS.]

It just wasn't that buck's time to go. He must of had a lot more does to chase.

[gumpond]

Just reporting in on the mushroom. Two years and no more problems with the failure. Still have the round that didn't fire. Fluke? You bet. Am enjoying the woods and anticipating a great season.

[hondo1892]

I bought some remington 30-30's last year for my daughters new old winchester 64 and one round went off ater two strikes and one refused to go off at all. I changed ammo for hunting season. I had never had problems with Remington befor this either. I wrote a letter to them and never received a reply. I don't know if this is where they are owned by different company now or what. And my daughters rifle didn't have excessive headspace.

[thornblom]

Back in about 1984, I bought a box of Super X .45-70 factory primed cases (20). Loaded them with 47 grains of RL-7 and 400 grain Speer jacketed flat point bullets. Not a single one of those rounds would fire in my rifle. I took them home, dis assembled them, knocked the factory primers out (WLR's) and reprimed with WLR's, re-assembled the loads, went back to the range and all rounds shot great. I guess it was just a bad batch of factory WLR's they used. It happens.

Sincerely,
Dave (Bubba) Thornblom

[Hobie]

Primer is dimpled les than about 3-32", deeper than normal due to 2 strikes. Ammo was taken from a box in the console of my truck. New this season. I've never had this happen with factory rifle rounds in the previous 35 years I've hunted. It is the round and not the rifle. I'm chalking it up to stuff happens. Probably means I'll have to wait till I'm 87 for it to happen again .

Greg

I've had it happen twice in my presence. In both cases (pun intended) the flashhole wasn't there. Pull the bullet, dump the powder and have a look. I'd like to know.

[86er]

I've had it happen with Remington factory ammo in 2 different calibers - but I must add that in each case the ammo was at least 15 years old and the brass had some staining. It was not used for hunting but happened on the range. Of course, with rimfire ammo it is much more common.

[Doc Hudson]

I've never had factory centerfire ammo fail to fire. it happened a number of times with handloads in my accursed Ruger M-77 MkII All-Weather Stainless in .300 WinMag on a pretty regular basis.

There was not a problem with the primers, they'd go off when hit with a hammer, or removed and loaded into other brass. The problem was with that accursed rifle!

Better luck next time.

[KCSO]

With Centerfire Ammo over the last 40 years I have had a factory round f/t/f 3 times. Rimfire ammo is a whole nuther story. At one time S and W ammo in rimfire was 50% duds. Currently Federal ammo 550 is one dud out of 100 rounds and remington 550 cheapies are about the same. Pistol ammo on our range is running about 1 dud every 2000 rounds. With Black Hills remanfactured being the MOST reliable.

[deerwhacker444]

Sorry bout that,...It might be divine intervention..! Maybe there's other plans out there for you or that deer...

I've never had it happen with factory, but I've had 2 bad Remington primers in my reloads. My cousin found one last year when he was using my rifle and reloads while drawing down on a doe at the end of season. I went thru the rest of that box of 50 with no problems. He just happened to pick the 1 shell out of 50 that was bad.

[mikld]

Ohhhhh, now I get it. Mushroom

[AJMD429]

I've had it happen maybe half dozen times over the years, actually, in a variety of firearms and chamberings. Maybe two or three fired upon re-striking an apparently normally-dimpled primer, and a couple didn't, but fired in another gun when struck a third time. I think I had one .223 that didn't fire regardless of gun. None were foreign or military grade ammo.

I didn't think too much of them, as (like other posters have said) ammunition storage may have been in a toolshed or glovebox or someplace, or it was very old. Fortunately, none have been during anything 'important' like a trophy buck or self-defense. Then again, if I've fired 100,000 rounds in my life, only a dozen or so were at whitetails and (fortunately) NONE fired in a seelf-defense situation. Maybe hundreds fired at feral animals, too. So the odds are the failures will happen during the 49,000 rounds or so each shot at targets or 'plinking'.

[jd45]

The only problem I've EVER had with factory ammo not going bang was with,..........you guessed it......Remington! But .22lr rimfire, not any of their centerfire stuff. jd45

[jd45]

Just curious, Dr.,........but did you have a gunsmith correct the problem? Sounds like "no", or you wouldn't be referring to the Ruger as "accursed". Thanx, jd45

[Sixgun]

I was all ready to answer this post when I saw I already did------two years ago!

Gads--this is starting to sound like the gun rags. ---------Sixgun

[Terry Murbach]

I had to rehit a Core Lokt three times once, of course the ammo was manufactured in 1974 and I was shooting it in 1993!

It was kinda' greenish looking too!

I've learned a lot since then...

SOME YEARS AGO WE SHOT UP OVER 10,000 ROUNDS OF 303BRIT MILITARY AMMO IN ONE DAY. WE NEVER HAD A SINGLE MALF AND IT ALL WENT BANG.
YEP, 10M ROUNDS IN ONE DAY...IT WAS EASY TOO AS WE USED A BREN GUN.
THE AMMO WAS MADE IN 1904.

[2X22]

I had it happen 2 different times, 2 different guns. Both times it was traced back to a weak hammer spring.

2x22