Numbnuts goes Bambi hunting (funny story)

[cantolina]

Almost killed myself yesterday.....but, let's not get ahead of ourselves....this is a pretty good story...

Unlike a lot of idiots around me, My Mossberg 500 was hunt-ready WAAAAYYY ahead of time....sabot barrel with cantilevered scope-mount installed, sighted in...got some Lyman Shocker style reloads from a friend of mine WEEKS in advance of the season. The weapon had been misfiring quite a bit during goose season....full-on misfiring.....I had checked the firing mechanism a few weeks before deer season when I put the sabot barrel on and ran probably 20 or so rounds since with NO misfires....

Primarily, I hunt behind my house.....which is to say that I only have to go about 500 yards to get to where I like to sit. On opening day, however, because the manufacturer of the ladder stand sent my first order to Salt Lake City :laugh:laugh and had to resend the order, I sat at the base of the tree I chose...only saw a few small doe....no shots fired...

I set up the stand the next day after work....it was actually after sunset, but I had enough time and light to get it installed..

Spent the next morning in that stand....and saw NADA....Zip....not even a damned squirrel... :doh In my mind, I was questioning EVERYTHING about the setup....the spot I chose...the direction I was facing (I had the woods to my back..I was on the treeline, to my left, open field for about 200 yards...then a RR track..... in front, 50 yards of field, then a 50 yard wide ravine with a creek in it, brushy and wooded, separating the field I was overlooking with the next one...to my left, open field for about 100 yds, then another brushy/wooded barrier to the next field....I felt maybe I should be facing INTO the woods..but, I digress...)

Yesterday, I had the whole day off from work, so I did the AM hunt, came in about noon, and decided....what the hell, I'll try the evening today.....

I hit the stand about 3:00 pm....nice day....mild wind, cloudy and just cool enough as it was getting later in the day....sunset is about 4:45 or so...

I saw a rafter of turkey, clucking around and eating....and I thought..."Hey, that's a GOOD thing....other game around NOT alerting is a good environment for passing deer.....

I was scoping the turkeys when something caught my eye....MOVEMENT

I can't tell you where they came from, but suddenly there were a coupla doe and a yearling on the edge of the field RIGHT in front of me.....

I knew right away that they were too small for this early in the season :p...I get one buck and one doe for this season (plus another doe in another part of the State...), and none of these were gonna be the ones....

I thought....cool! DECOYS... :smoke

I watched them walk around...eating and looking around....they went into the brush (assumedly to bed down for the night), and watched them with my scope for quite a while....then BOOM...they were gone....didn't take off, as far as I could tell...just vanished....:p

I pull my eye away from the scope, and look left....and stop DEAD...

50 yards away....broadside to me.....an easy kill...

An 8 pt. BUCK...not a monster, by any stretch, but a fully mature buck with a nice rack....

Now mind you, there were a BUNCH of years between my first bunch of big-game hunting seasons, and this past 5 or so....I just didn't live in the right places to be ABLE to hunt.....I hadn't even SEEN a buck in the field...during hunting season, since my very first kill (a 6 pt) my very first year of hunting- 1979...and now here one is.....and this one is MINE...:shhhh








I take my time, as he seems to be in no hurry....line him up in the scope exhale, and FIRE....or so it should have....:doh



All I heard was a loud "CLACK"




No response from the buck....nothing...he still doesn't know I'm there! :clap:clap:clap





I rack the pump down slowly, just enough to get the shell out by picking it out of the receiver.....the shell is opened...WTF?????:confused:

I remember thinking "How the FV<K did I manage to put an empty shell in the mag????"

I'm still shaking...because the buck is standing there, I've got the fever so bad, I'm not thinking straight...all I want to do is kill that damned BUCK!

Without even racking the action back any further (too much noise to just rack another shell)...thinkin' I'm pretty slick, I reach onto my vest, pull another shell, stick it in the breech, and VERY quietly close the receiver...

OK...I'm all ready.....line it up again.....everythings a go....I pull the trigger..

How many of you reading this story knows what happened next? ;)




















That's right....















The loud CLACK was NOT a full on misfire....It was a sound I didn't recognize really, but one I will NEVER forget....

The pin hit the primer, the primer went off, but for some reason (maybe a reloading error???) the charge didn't ignite....

I did learn, on that fateful day, that a primer charge alone WILL, in fact, release a sabot load into the barrel.... :frownthre:frownthre:frownthre:frownthre

REALLY loud explosion..........

Cantilever mount and scope flies away like a twig you might throw....

Nothing left of the forestock that I had recently held in my left hand...

hot and painful left thumb.....

blew the thumb right OFF my glove....but I'm ASTOUNDED to see that I have a thumb still there....

Look at the barrel, and see a 10 inch rip, along the barrel, from the breech forward....both sides of the weapon, as I can see daylight thru it! I had just blown my weapon up.....fired a load into a barrel blocked by another load...

I quickly look up and the BUCK IS STILL STANDING THERE!!!!!

Not even alerted...not looking at me...as if NOTHING had happened....

Eventually, as I'm TRYING to find my camera phone (that is seep in my jean pocket, under my bibs) it just kind of wanders away....slowly....and for me....painfully.....

If he been a little closer, I'da thrown my damned KNIFE at him.....

But, all I could do was laugh at myself....what an idiot....

SOOOO hot for the kill, that I bypassed a very important detail, and it should have hurt me real bad.....might have killed me, in fact....

Here's a few pics of the resulting damage:

The thumb:

http://xlforum.net/photopost/data/656/p_00054.jpg

The forestock, which was found in 3 pieces at the base of the tree stand:

http://xlforum.net/photopost/data/656/p_00053.jpg


Where the forestock USED to be:

http://xlforum.net/photopost/data/656/p_00052.jpg

The scope...undamaged, still on the mount that broke off the barrel, and one side of the barrel (a pic of each side):

http://xlforum.net/photopost/data/656/p_00051.jpg

http://xlforum.net/photopost/data/656/p_00050.jpg

I think I'm gonna have to start NUMBERING my Bambi incidents.....

:laugh:laugh:laugh:laugh:laugh:laugh:laugh:laugh

[havi0412c]

Damn, you are definitley lucky. A friend of mine did this not too long ago with a 30-06 and home reloads he did himself. the barrel exploded the same way you are saying here . He is ok, not too many scratches. he has the gun mounted above his reloading kit to remind him what too much powder does. glad your OK!!

[prettyponyofdoom]

Glad you're still here to tell the story. That little incident could have been REAL bad. I had a mossy one time, same misfires all the time, threw that sucker in the trash.

[ted]

I would suggest archery, but it scares me to think about the possibilities. ;-) I bow hunted quite a few years and did pretty good. I prefer muzzle loaders though.
Ted

[Hot Rod Sporty]

Good God, Chuck! You're lucky to still have the top of your head!

Betcha won't do that again, will ya? :doh


Glad you're alright...;)

I think perhaps you should avoid deer altogether....bad juju...:frownthre

...you know the expression about the "third time...":shhhh

[debster]

Holy crap! You were definitely lucky -- that was some explosion. What is it with you and deer? LOL Glad you're okay.

Have you considering switching to blowguns? :laugh

[flathead45]

you need to stay the vuck away from any and all deer from this point on

I can't believe you can still count up to 20 :smoke

[wandrur]

Jeezus, man, how do you get yourself into these situations!?!?! Did you break a freakin' mirror or something?

Glad you're okay. That's some scary :censor right there. Lots of potential for serious damage, so if you're a believer, you've gotta be thanking somebody. At least it was only the gun and a glove that got blown up.

[Screwdriver]

I get my meat from the store and have my guns for the impending zombie invasion.

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/247/514384986_e26c9d2cf6.jpg

[cantolina]

Glad you're still here to tell the story. That little incident could have been REAL bad. I had a mossy one time, same misfires all the time, threw that sucker in the trash.

Yeah...it IS a POS....I bought it because my step father had one that I borrowed for my first kill....sentimental attachment, I guess....knew it was a POS when I bought it, but it was cheap....:frownthre

I sent this out in a mass email to my friends...one in AZ wrote back:

"Scope on a Mossberg 500? Isn’t that kind of like putting fishnet stockings on a 90 year old whore?"

:laugh:laugh:laugh:laugh:laugh:laugh:laugh

Jeezus, man, how do you get yourself into these situations!?!?! Did you break a freakin' mirror or something?

Glad you're okay. That's some scary :censor right there. Lots of potential for serious damage, so if you're a believer, you've gotta be thanking somebody. At least it was only the gun and a glove that got blown up.

Good question...one I SHOULD be asking myself more often....My Mom always said "If you had a brain, you'd be dangerous"

[gearhead1972]

Dam Chuck, No more deer for you, Glad your ok. If I was you I would be playing lotto everyday, cause your one lucky sob lol

[DudleyDoRight]

Glad you are OK. It's not the gun's fault. I remember your post about letting it rust, your not really into maintaining it, are you? Why the hell are you hunting with re-loaded slugs if you didn't load them yourself! You violated a major saftey rule by not checking the barrel after a "misfire" and ejecting an empty shell. Sorry, I don't mean to sound harsh, but you are lucky to be alive. I shoot my centerfires alot more than I hunt with them and this kind of crap is just instinct to me now. I favor flintlocks, but you need to keep your wits. It's been years since I shot anything with my ramrod.:)

[steveb71]

Chuck, first and foremost, I am glad you are o.k.! This could have turned out much worse. Like DudleyDoRight stated, it is not a good idea to use someone else's handloads. I do realize folks can make mistakes (more on that in a bit:rolleyes:) no matter how long they have been handloading, but its best to load them yourself for YOUR firearm. It sounds like the cartridge or hull in this case was not charged. Your right about the primer having enough force to push the slug in the barrel. At least a few inches anyway.

Different curcumstances(excessive pressure!:(), but I had a catastrophic case failure about 6 months back from my handloads. It blew the case head completely off along with blowing the 45 ACP cartrides right out through the magazine and through the floorplate of my 1911. I was very lucky as well. Like you, it could have been much worse. Glad you are o.k.!

http://i104.photobucket.com/albums/m193/stevensavage/45ACPcaseheadMontageSmall.jpg

[thatbikerguy]

you need to stay the vuck away from any and all deer from this point on

I can't believe you can still count up to 20 :smoke

:dohYeah! He almost lost a toe messin' with the fridge after Bambi 1:shhhh:smoke

[spike71xlch]

i think you really do have a guardian angel....good for you

[ParrotHead]

Glad you're olk. If I didn't know better, I'd say the deer are mounting a counter assault for killing bambi :)

Ever consider a safer hobby like shark petting? :)

[Carl-04XL]

I got a 500 with the 18.something barrell. Used it in three gun stuff and sometimes for transition in IDPA. Never had a misfire, but I always use commercial stuff.

I think that you should just get a good digital SLR and 'shoot' Bambi that way. Make sure you get one with enough zoom. :laugh:laugh:laugh

[Btw, glad to here that only the Mossy got hurt.]

[Skinner]

You are one lucky man! Can understand how it could happen in the "heat of the moment" but don't let that buck fever get the best of you.

Skinner.

[Rascal]

Almost killed myself yesterday.....but, let's not get ahead of ourselves....this is a pretty good story...

Unlike a lot of idiots around me, My Mossberg 500 was hunt-ready WAAAAYYY ahead of time....sabot barrel with cantilevered scope-mount installed, sighted in...got some Lyman Shocker style reloads from a friend of mine WEEKS in advance of the season. The weapon had been misfiring quite a bit during goose season....full-on misfiring.....I had checked the firing mechanism a few weeks before deer season when I put the sabot barrel on and ran probably 20 or so rounds since with NO misfires....

Primarily, I hunt behind my house.....which is to say that I only have to go about 500 yards to get to where I like to sit. On opening day, however, because the manufacturer of the ladder stand sent my first order to Salt Lake City :laugh:laugh and had to resend the order, I sat at the base of the tree I chose...only saw a few small doe....no shots fired...

I set up the stand the next day after work....it was actually after sunset, but I had enough time and light to get it installed..

Spent the next morning in that stand....and saw NADA....Zip....not even a damned squirrel... :doh In my mind, I was questioning EVERYTHING about the setup....the spot I chose...the direction I was facing (I had the woods to my back..I was on the treeline, to my left, open field for about 200 yards...then a RR track..... in front, 50 yards of field, then a 50 yard wide ravine with a creek in it, brushy and wooded, separating the field I was overlooking with the next one...to my left, open field for about 100 yds, then another brushy/wooded barrier to the next field....I felt maybe I should be facing INTO the woods..but, I digress...)

Yesterday, I had the whole day off from work, so I did the AM hunt, came in about noon, and decided....what the hell, I'll try the evening today.....

I hit the stand about 3:00 pm....nice day....mild wind, cloudy and just cool enough as it was getting later in the day....sunset is about 4:45 or so...

I saw a rafter of turkey, clucking around and eating....and I thought..."Hey, that's a GOOD thing....other game around NOT alerting is a good environment for passing deer.....

I was scoping the turkeys when something caught my eye....MOVEMENT

I can't tell you where they came from, but suddenly there were a coupla doe and a yearling on the edge of the field RIGHT in front of me.....

I knew right away that they were too small for this early in the season :p...I get one buck and one doe for this season (plus another doe in another part of the State...), and none of these were gonna be the ones....

I thought....cool! DECOYS... :smoke

I watched them walk around...eating and looking around....they went into the brush (assumedly to bed down for the night), and watched them with my scope for quite a while....then BOOM...they were gone....didn't take off, as far as I could tell...just vanished....:p

I pull my eye away from the scope, and look left....and stop DEAD...

50 yards away....broadside to me.....an easy kill...

An 8 pt. BUCK...not a monster, by any stretch, but a fully mature buck with a nice rack....

Now mind you, there were a BUNCH of years between my first bunch of big-game hunting seasons, and this past 5 or so....I just didn't live in the right places to be ABLE to hunt.....I hadn't even SEEN a buck in the field...during hunting season, since my very first kill (a 6 pt) my very first year of hunting- 1979...and now here one is.....and this one is MINE...:shhhh








I take my time, as he seems to be in no hurry....line him up in the scope exhale, and FIRE....or so it should have....:doh



All I heard was a loud "CLACK"




No response from the buck....nothing...he still doesn't know I'm there! :clap:clap:clap





I rack the pump down slowly, just enough to get the shell out by picking it out of the receiver.....the shell is opened...WTF?????:confused:

I remember thinking "How the FV<K did I manage to put an empty shell in the mag????"

I'm still shaking...because the buck is standing there, I've got the fever so bad, I'm not thinking straight...all I want to do is kill that damned BUCK!

Without even racking the action back any further (too much noise to just rack another shell)...thinkin' I'm pretty slick, I reach onto my vest, pull another shell, stick it in the breech, and VERY quietly close the receiver...

OK...I'm all ready.....line it up again.....everythings a go....I pull the trigger..

How many of you reading this story knows what happened next? ;)




















That's right....















The loud CLACK was NOT a full on misfire....It was a sound I didn't recognize really, but one I will NEVER forget....

The pin hit the primer, the primer went off, but for some reason (maybe a reloading error???) the charge didn't ignite....

I did learn, on that fateful day, that a primer charge alone WILL, in fact, release a sabot load into the barrel.... :frownthre:frownthre:frownthre:frownthre

REALLY loud explosion..........

Cantilever mount and scope flies away like a twig you might throw....

Nothing left of the forestock that I had recently held in my left hand...

hot and painful left thumb.....

blew the thumb right OFF my glove....but I'm ASTOUNDED to see that I have a thumb still there....

Look at the barrel, and see a 10 inch rip, along the barrel, from the breech forward....both sides of the weapon, as I can see daylight thru it! I had just blown my weapon up.....fired a load into a barrel blocked by another load...

I quickly look up and the BUCK IS STILL STANDING THERE!!!!!

Not even alerted...not looking at me...as if NOTHING had happened....

Eventually, as I'm TRYING to find my camera phone (that is seep in my jean pocket, under my bibs) it just kind of wanders away....slowly....and for me....painfully.....

If he been a little closer, I'da thrown my damned KNIFE at him.....

But, all I could do was laugh at myself....what an idiot....

SOOOO hot for the kill, that I bypassed a very important detail, and it should have hurt me real bad.....might have killed me, in fact....

Here's a few pics of the resulting damage:

The thumb:

http://xlforum.net/photopost/data/656/p_00054.jpg

The forestock, which was found in 3 pieces at the base of the tree stand:

http://xlforum.net/photopost/data/656/p_00053.jpg


Where the forestock USED to be:

http://xlforum.net/photopost/data/656/p_00052.jpg

The scope...undamaged, still on the mount that broke off the barrel, and one side of the barrel (a pic of each side):

http://xlforum.net/photopost/data/656/p_00051.jpg

http://xlforum.net/photopost/data/656/p_00050.jpg

I think I'm gonna have to start NUMBERING my Bambi incidents.....

:laugh:laugh:laugh:laugh:laugh:laugh:laugh:laugh

One of the reasons I hunt by muyself, always have. Seriously though, glad you weren't hurt bad and are ok.

[Donz5oh]

I'm re-reading this post again and my military time comes into mind.

Never saw a Mossy miss like that, but did see an M-60 E3 do that and damn near killed the a-gunner. Saw a papa-mike(filipino marine) get killed with a 1911 that busted a slide and tore open his corated artery.

If I were you, I'd slap myself first for not clearing the barrel, then go slap your friend who did the reload. Then go and get a Remy and call it a day.;)

[Chris B.]

dang... I can imagine how you felt, my ears are still ringing after reading your story.

[hallma1]

Man, I'm glad you're still here to tell us the story. I get the sweats just reading it. Good advice...NEVER let ANYTHING overwhelm your basic survival/safety instincts.

[XLFREAK]

Very lucky indeed. Good thing you were using a shotgun and not a rifle, where more chamber pressures could have done alot more damage to you. Glad you are ok :)

[66xlch]

That is MESSED up!! I've made similar mistakes chasing women, but with dramatically less dangerous results! Every time you use your right hand it's a bonus from now on! Hell everytime you wake up it's a bonus!

[gemeinschaft]

Consider yourself blessed, I have seen some serious injuries from firearms exploding for all kinds of reasons...

If this were me, I would make it my mission this year to go get that Buck and take him down, the arrogant bastard just stood there as if to laugh at you telling you that his guardian angel was bigger than yours...

Go get his head and post pics. :banana


But seriously, I am glad that you are ok. This is the reason that I never shoot without eye protection.