When have you ever been let down by the performance of your rifle on game?

[Divernhunter]

I once had a rifle fail me. I made a bad shoot and after all these years of using it the darn thing did not even correct the shot a little bit. That is gratitude for you.

 

[JimP]

Every time that I think that my rifle, scope, or ammo has failed me I find out that it was just me.

 

[PeteG]

I used cor-lokts in Africa for baboons out of my 7mm mag. Four of the five animals I took were with 160 a-frames which performed beautifully. I took the bushbuck with a 150gr cor-lokt feeling no need for premium on a small animal and there was no blood and no exit. It died quickly but I went back to the a-frames after that. My experience is that cor-lokts work well at lower velocity but at 243, 270, 7mm and 300 velocities they come apart fast. Would I use them for deer in my short barrel 308, absolutely, my 7mm not a chance. My new deer round is the 7mm with a 110 ttsx at 3300

oddly enough core-lokt is our ammo of choice for the 243 on small game like puku, warthog, reedbuck, duiker etc.
substantially better than the usual options we have had available previously like the PMP ammo.

 

[lcq]

oddly enough core-lokt is our ammo of choice for the 243 on small game like puku, warthog, reedbuck, duiker etc.
substantially better than the usual options we have had available previously like the PMP ammo.

Last Fall I shot my first deer with a 243. Typical 30yd shot in Lanark county on a medium size doe. Hard not to miss with a rock at that range so the shot was perfect with a 100gr cor-lokt. No exit wound, ran 60 yds and when I opened her up the heart looked like a sieve but no exit wound and very little blood. The HVAC guy told me he hit a huge buck with his 243 Hornady 80gr superformance and it never made it 20 yds blood everywhere. I like two holes, air in blood out so if I ever use a fast bullet for edible game it will be a damned stout one

 

[Saul]

Ive had a cor-lokt disintegrate in a hog before annd I had a failure to expand from a Hornady GMX. Believe it or not, I once saw (I wasnt the shooter) a Nosler Partition completely separate the lead from the jacket and barely penetrate. It was all Accubonds for him after that.

As far as the actual gun goes, I have had a fox model b open up after firing, Ive busted the o-ring in a Remington 1100 while in the field, and I once had the screw holdinng the barreled action of a Marling model 25N come loose and have the whole barreled actioni tip down in the stock so the shots were thrown low.

 

[CAustin]

Like Gizmo and Code 4 said I have fail but never my rifle or shotgun!

 

[lcq]

Ive had a cor-lokt disintegrate in a hog before annd I had a failure to expand from a Hornady GMX. Believe it or not, I once saw (I wasnt the shooter) a Nosler Partition completely separate the lead from the jacket and barely penetrate. It was all Accubonds for him after that.

As far as the actual gun goes, I have had a fox model b open up after firing, Ive busted the o-ring in a Remington 1100 while in the field, and I once had the screw holdinng the barreled action of a Marling model 25N come loose and have the whole barreled actioni tip down in the stock so the shots were thrown low.

they call you lucky?

 

[Saul]

they call you lucky?

Certainly not lucky. The moral of the story is to thoroughly check out all used guns before you buy them. Also, I have always been serious about my guns, but it wasn't until I got older that I became serious about my ammo. Buy premium bullets in the proper caliber and weight for the game.

 

[TokkieM]

Given the right (wrong) circumstances many good bullets can fail.

 

[JacquesVR]

Rifles not yet but bullets yes - the one main reason I started handloading - in both cases it was a combination of two high a velocity with soft bullets (In my case PMP 168grn on the 30-06) and thinking that in the Kalahari all animals will be way off in the distance - Now I load premiums and given a choice Barnes or Swift.

 

[JMM]

I guide a lot in West Texas for whitetail deer. I have had miserable experience with Barnes TTX bullets. They appear to be too tough for whitetails. I have shot and guided many deer that left no blood trail at all, just pin holes in both sides. I have ultimately found the deer dead, but do not enjoy the lengthy tracking with no blood trail.

 

[Sand Rat]

I have seen bullets(30-30) skip off the plate of an old boar. They can be really tuff

I went back to using my first rifle Dad bought me when I was 10 (1970) a few years back just for nostalgia, it is a foremost bolt action 30-30. Using Hornady Leverevolution 160 gr it is badass! Shot several 300 lb pigs and whitetail at over 200 yards. If you have an old 30-30 laying around give it a try, with only 3" of drop at 200 yards it ain't too shabby.

 

[Divernhunter]

JMM--With the barnes bullets I bet they were shooting the TSX and not the TTSX. But mostly I bet that they were shooting too heavy of a bullet and it was moving at too slow of a FPS. That will almost always cause the barnes bullets to have poor terminal performance. Seen it too many times. An example is using 180gr bullets in a 30-06 and if a handload not pushing them at max speed. Barnes bullets work like a lead core bullet 30% heavier. So a 150gr barnes is like a 196 gr lead core bullet. You need to drop down in weight and push them fast. They work well then. We have taken a number of deer(our Blacktail deer are the size of jackrabbits) and hogs with the barnes with excellet results and no tracking. We use 150gr TTSX in the 30-06, 130gr TTSX in the 308win, 110gr TTSX in the 7mm-08 and use max loads that come out of the barnes book.

We have the barnes working well but I still prefer Nosler PAR or the Swift bullets myself. My son in law only uses the Barnes TTSX that I load and he and my daughter have taken quite a number of animals with none lost.

 

[JMM]

They have all been the blue tipped TTSX. Factory loads and 150 grain in .308 is my most recent memory from last year. Three deer and not one left a blood trail. Found all of the deer dead within 300 yards of shot, but sure do hate tracking thru the cedars with no blood trail. Maybe the factory fps is too low and in my opinion, the deer are not thick skinned or heavy enough for the bullet to expand properly.

 

[lcq]

They have all been the blue tipped TTSX. Factory loads and 150 grain in .308 is my most recent memory from last year. Three deer and not one left a blood trail. Found all of the deer dead within 300 yards of shot, but sure do hate tracking thru the cedars with no blood trail. Maybe the factory fps is too low and in my opinion, the deer are not thick skinned or heavy enough for the bullet to expand properly.

I would be using 130gr in the 308. Barnes like to be pushed to open up really well but Barnes claim they open at 2000 fps. You should be able to get 2900 out of the 308 with a 130gr

 

[Longwalker]

I have failed far too often, but my rifle/bullet has failed me only a couple times.

Once I had a firing pin fail to strike the primer hard enough when shooting at a whitetail buck one November morning here in Saskatchewan. The temperature was -35°C. I learned that time that proper maintenance for very cold weather shooting includes stripping the firing mechanism of all oil and using graphite as a lubricant instead.

Once I had a "soft" bullet fail to open at all on a well shot whitetail buck. Bullet was a Sierra 225 gr. BTSP .358 caliber shot from my 35 Whelen at about 2600fps. Range was only 20 yards, animal was standing and fully broadside. Bullet entered just behind the shoulder, passed thru both lungs, and exited. There was very fresh snow or I would not have found that deer. Zero blood trail, both lungs had a tiny pencil hole through the centre , exit wound plugged with fat, and deer ran about 300 yards before dying. It was an accurate bullet/load, but I won't use that bullet again on game.

 

[sestoppelman]

Sierra bullets are not usually thought of as a tough bullet, usually the opposite. I suspect it would have opened up on something a little larger like an elk. It also probably would have opened dramatically if it had hit bone. And like that old saying goes. "At what point in the animals death did the bullet fail?".

 

[Odinsraven]

One click when it should have been a bang - apart from that nothing that comes to mind !

Ohh actually three rounds into a boar in Bulgaria - Russian semi auto sniper rifle - with Russian military ball - boar was destroyed however it managed to run into my mate and after knocking him over decided to die ! he had decided to charge it for some reason he has not been ever been able to explain to me !

No serious injuries - but very funny once we got to the bar and had a couple of restorative glasses !

 

[Scott Slough]

I had a Weaver scope fog up on the inside on my first out-of-state deer hunt in 1982, costing me a chance at my first buck. I had next to zero cash and no way to replace the scope. A friend loaned me a Remington 742 pump and I didn't take the time to learn its operation because I was certain that I had ruined my last chance to ever shoot a buck. Somehow in carrying it to the little ridge I was hunting, I hit the slide release (I had a bolt action shotgun and rifle so no real experience with a pump) and when a second buck walked out ... I pulled the trigger sooooo many times and nothing happened. Eventually, I felt the slide move and half-jacked the slide running off my buck and jamming a second round. Fortunately, I was able to clear the jam, but had to wait another year for my first buck.

I am not a drinker, but I could have been convinced to take it up that day !

 

[matt85]

ive had PLENTY of trouble with rifles and pistols but never out in the field. ive only had one animal run off wounded and it was entirely my fault.

-matt