Click!

[Lewis1303]

A friend of mine was sharing a story of a guy he hunted with years ago who in gun season had a nice buck step out in front of him. When he pulled the trigger, the dreaded “click” came instead of firing off a round. My dad has also shared a story or two of that happening. Wondering if anyone has some good stories along those lines having shells misfire?

[Jess]

This isn't a misfiring story but a click story none the less. I have a friend Nick who used to work at a gun store. A customer came in madder than a wet hornet the afternoon of the WI gun deer opener claiming his new deer rifle was defective. He told Nick he had a deer in his scope and when he pulled the trigger, all he heard was a click. Nick sold him the rifle the evening before the opener (of course) and this was the guys first ever deer rifle. Nick is pretty calm so he took the rifle behind the counter and dry fired it. Nick said he could hear the audible noise the firing pin made so Nick then asked the man what type of ammo he purchased for his rifle. In a very confused look, the customer said what do you mean? Nick said did you buy Winchester, Remington...you know...what brand of ammo did you purchase? The customer said to Nick he didn't buy any. Nick asked well what did you load in the rifle then? The customer in a very confused look said I didn't load anything in the gun...I assumed new rifles came fully loaded. Come to think of it, there probably was a misfire going on somewhere.

[Huntress13]

This isn't a misfiring story but a click story none the less. I have a friend Nick who used to work at a gun store. A customer came in madder than a wet hornet the afternoon of the WI gun deer opener claiming his new deer rifle was defective. He told Nick he had a deer in his scope and when he pulled the trigger, all he heard was a click. Nick sold him the rifle the evening before the opener (of course) and this was the guys first ever deer rifle. Nick is pretty calm so he took the rifle behind the counter and dry fired it. Nick said he could hear the audible noise the firing pin made so Nick then asked the man what type of ammo he purchased for his rifle. In a very confused look, the customer said what do you mean? Nick said did you buy Winchester, Remington...you know...what brand of ammo did you purchase? The customer said to Nick he didn't buy any. Nick asked well what did you load in the rifle then? The customer in a very confused look said I didn't load anything in the gun...I assumed new rifles came fully loaded. Come to think of it, there probably was a misfire going on somewhere.

The only click I ever heard was the buckle on the gun sling bumping on the rail of the tree stand. This was before I knew about stealth strips. And I got the deer anyway. So I guess that doesn't count.

[UntouchableNess]

I have a coworker who originated in another country. He showed an interest is hunting as he was sure it would be "cheap" food. He bought a 12 gauge shotgun and some slugs, due that being the only legal firearm during our gun deer season. I took him out to a piece of private ground, we got set down in the timber before sunrise. About a half hour after the sun came up, we hear a deer coming down the trail. He lifted his gun, aimed at the deer, squeezed the trigger and CLICK. I about puked at the sound of the firing pin dropping on an empty chamber. He had forgot to rack a round from the magazine. The buck was close enough that he heard the click and took off on a sprint. I have to admit that I was impressed when he worked the action on the shotgun and nailed the buck on the run. So it worked out in the end.

Another Click story: I took my finance shotgun deer hunting. We saw a group of deer run across a road into a timber. I thought I had an idea on where they might be headed, so I took her over to the far side of the timber, put her on a logging path, told her to walk 50 yards until she saw a big stump, then sit down. I was going to follow slowly from behind, starting at where they crossed the road. I waited until I figured she was sitting down, then started in. I got in a ways and saw deer trotting away ahead of me, felt confident in the plan. When I saw that I bumped them, I stopped to let them slow down a bit. Wasn't long and I hear a BOOM. I continue her way, get up there, ask how it went. She threw the gun up to her shoulder when the deer came in, YANKED the trigger and nothing happened. She forgot to take the safety off. When she took it off, the CLICK spooked the buck and he took off. She shot and hit him a little far back, so we decided to come back the next morning since it was late in the afternoon (cold and snow on the ground).

The next morning I put her on the far side of the timber as I took up the track. I figured if it was still alive, she should get another shot at it. Well, the buck had died and unfortunately the coyotes had found it and were still at it when I walked up. They took off running towards her, then I hear a BOOM. Get over to her and she had shot one coyote, on the run, through the heart at 40 yards. I asked why she couldn't have done that on the buck, LOL. I skinned the yote out and had it tanned for her, still have it to this day.

[Tennhunter3]

I was sighting in my rifle last year.
With coreloks sp my favorite bullets in my savage 270.

When sighting in I pulled the trigger and it clicked I freaked out. I was scared to take the shell out thinking it might then go off. After about 10 min I took it out and continued sighting in. My thought process being the shell is probably very hot from the barrel and I didn't want to risk a serious injury or death.

I've shot hundreds of rounds of Remington coreloks and this was the only time I've had a misfire. Still a huge fan of soft points on deer.

[hunter_mike]

Last fall i had my 3 yr old out on a squirrel hunt. A beautiful black squirrel hopped out nicely and stopped in front of us. I pulled the trigger and absolutely nothing happened. Freaked me out, i unloaded the thing and put it away.

Took the shotgun to the gunsmith later and he said that there was just a bunch of dirt inside one of the mechanisms. I figure the dirt/debris was probably from some of the rabbit hunts i did before that where i was busting a lot of raspberries/brush

[PK_]

I have never had a misfire but I have ‘capped’ on a nice buck with one of the old style muzzleloaders with the tiny primers.

Also had a ‘hang fire’ on a nice gobbler due to dirty firing pin.

You live and you learn.

[Grizzlyadam]

I've had that happen a few times for various reasons.
I have an old savage 30-30 bolt action I used as a kid. One time I was hunting on a cold morning and had a buck sneak in behind me, I got the gun shouldered and took off the safety squeezed the trigger and there was a slight hesitation then a click. I cycled the bolt and ejected the round, the next one fired but hit a branch and didn't get the buck. Turned out the firing pin was frozen because I had hunted in the rain the day before and there was water in there that froze up after the temps dropped. The first round had an indent in the primer but it didn't hit hard enough to set it off.

[Bonecrusher101]

I had a trifecta with my muzzleloader one day. I had the muzzleloader loaded and had 2 reloads with me.

I first saw a few deer and glimpsed a buck and a coyote came in within the first hour. I shot the coyote first. I Moved about 60 yards and setup again. Around lunchtime soon after I had setup, I Killed a big doe with my second shot. Reloaded my last round and here comes another doe. I lined it up knowing it would probably spook soon with the other dead animals I had laying around. I squeezed the trigger and it gave a loud click. I had forgotten to put in a fresh cap after I reloaded it. I thought, wow, that feels like an omen. I relooked at the the doe and it had a small set of 4 in tall spike antlers. I got lucky.

I muttered to myself I’m saving this last shot for a buck only. About 4 pm 3 big does came in. They were close, about 35 yards and I was expecting them to spook at any time. Then the does attention immediately turns to a buck who prances around them and stops broadside at 40 yards and I killed him with my last shot.

Was a fun hunt and a lot of work getting two animals out.

[oldrank]

I had it happen with an old kit muzzleloader I put together back in the mid/late 90s. I setup on the ground on the backside of an old clearcut. A while latter i could hear other hunters moving my way with a bird dog bell dinging away. Far ahead of them they pushed a small buck my way. I think I fired 2 or 3 caps off and couldn't get the gun to fire. The buck moved off n I was left empty handed. Of course when I got home I put another cap on and the gun went off. I bought a knight inline the next day...lol...and never looked back.

I had another hunt with my old rusty trusty single shot 12. My uncle n I were hunting gobblers and called a good bird in. I pulled the trigger and it was a soft thump but no fire. Still not sure what happened but I didn't get that gobbler. I think I had something get caught up in the hammer. It has never happened since.

[Andr3wxmma]

After a long gun season last year we finally got some tracking snow here in Wi. I made a plan to hunt a marsh i had only scouted my way into to a sit in late oct where i jumped some deer in the dark on my way in. They ran towards the hardest to get to part of the marshy terrain so i was going to hunt there.

I got to the backside of the marsh about an hour before light after an hour and half walk in the dark. It was still snowing pretty hard so i just sat on the edge of it on a log with my muzzleloader across my lap(i have my hand wrapped on the gun the entire time with my finger on the safety like i almost always do when holding a gun. After about an hour after light i decided to walk the edge checking for tracks heading into it. It didn't take long and i found what i guessed to be a 2.5-3.5yr old looking buck track steaming fresh headed into it. I slowly crept into the marsh with everything in my favor. The wind was blowing right into my face, the fresh snow was allowing me to be almost silent. I get to a spot where i can see a bush / tree about 20 yards in front of me and after a few seconds of searching it i could see there was a decent buck (120ish if i had to guess) bedded licking his rear quarter. with not a care in the world I even had a clear shot at the vitals with him laying down. I go to take the safety off and it doesn't budge, i thought i hadn't fully cocked the gun because the woodman arms patriots cock the firing pin with a break action type motion. I slowly lower myself down and recock it and then try to move the safety again and nope still stuck. Now i'm frustrated and push on it really hard and it finally works(it was iced over) but then i look up and just see the deer walking straight away quickly and he never gave me a shot. I tried giving him the hal blood 30 mins and retracking him, but he went straight to a spot I couldn't hunt and never saw him again.

For the rest of my life if its snowing and cold I'm going to be clicking the safety on and off every few minutes.

[Rich M]

Opening day many years ago: My first buck.( 5 pt) Got up from a bed and walked towards me w ears back. Boom! Dead.

Doe gets moving and is doing 20-30 ft leaps. First shot went click, second went boom and summersaulted her at 150 yards. First round’s primer was fully dented.

Had a guy making fun of my story at check station, gave him the primer dented shell and asked him where his deer were. Told him it might give him better luck.

[Rich M]

After a long gun season last year we finally got some tracking snow here in Wi. I made a plan to hunt a marsh i had only scouted my way into to a sit in late oct where i jumped some deer in the dark on my way in. They ran towards the hardest to get to part of the marshy terrain so i was going to hunt there.

I got to the backside of the marsh about an hour before light after an hour and half walk in the dark. It was still snowing pretty hard so i just sat on the edge of it on a log with my muzzleloader across my lap(i have my hand wrapped on the gun the entire time with my finger on the safety like i almost always do when holding a gun. After about an hour after light i decided to walk the edge checking for tracks heading into it. It didn't take long and i found what i guessed to be a 2.5-3.5yr old looking buck track steaming fresh headed into it. I slowly crept into the marsh with everything in my favor. The wind was blowing right into my face, the fresh snow was allowing me to be almost silent. I get to a spot where i can see a bush / tree about 20 yards in front of me and after a few seconds of searching it i could see there was a decent buck (120ish if i had to guess) bedded licking his rear quarter. with not a care in the world I even had a clear shot at the vitals with him laying down. I go to take the safety off and it doesn't budge, i thought i hadn't fully cocked the gun because the woodman arms patriots cock the firing pin with a break action type motion. I slowly lower myself down and recock it and then try to move the safety again and nope still stuck. Now i'm frustrated and push on it really hard and it finally works(it was iced over) but then i look up and just see the deer walking straight away quickly and he never gave me a shot. I tried giving him the hal blood 30 mins and retracking him, but he went straight to a spot I couldn't hunt and never saw him again.

For the rest of my life if its snowing and cold I'm going to be clicking the safety on and off every few minutes.

Great story!

As a youth, had a deer standing 50 feet away, ducked down to cock ML and it too off running. Never did that again. Also cock Ml when i get i to stand or start stalking tracks these days.

Not nearly as safety conscious as yer supposed to be these days. Mostly always ready to shoot, none of these cockbthe gun when you see a deer. I had a ML fail to lock in cocked position one rainy day. Never again.

[EastCoast]

**Long story warning
**Religious warning

This story started in 2018. I decided to take up gun hunting after mostly sticking to archery for the previous years. The problem was I did not have a deer rifle. That season I decided to just use my AR-15 and hope for the best. On opening day I ended up having a 2 year old six pointer walk in to about 35 yards. I hammered him thru the shoulder with the .223 and sent the other 4 rounds at him as he ran off. He stopped about 85 yards out but I could only see his back half. I only had 3 bullets left so I loaded them and sent a shot as far forward as I could. The deer didn't move. I thot maybe my scope was off so I aimed high and shot. The deer didn't move. I aimed low and shot again. The deer didn't move. Now I was out of ammo. I watched the deer for a few minutes and he eventually layed down. To make a long story short I met my buddy at the road and he brought a rifle in case the deer was still alive. Luckily the deer was dead when we got to it and I found out later most of my shots had hit it but the .223 just wasn't big enough. I decided to never do that again.

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The next summer, 2019, a customer of mine had given me approximately $400 cash so I decided to take that money and buy a basic deer rifle. Unfortunately, I felt what I can only describe as a prompting from the Lord to give the cash to someone that I knew needed it. I decided to ignore the feeling and purchase the rifle anyways, nobody would be the wiser. After I bought the gun I was telling my buddy about the "feeling " I had had and hes like no way, he had just been listening to a podcast where the same situation happened to a pastor. The pastor had saved up to buy a gun but was prompted to give the money to someone else. He did and later on a person had out of the blue gifted him a gun that was much better than the one he was going to buy. I couldn't believe it. In spite of all that, I still decided to keep the gun.

From then on it kinda seemed like my hunting was cursed. Every opportunity I had at a decent buck something would end up happening and I wouldn't get a shot. In the meantime some of my buddies were shooting multiple nice bucks per year. It started getting very frustrating. Finally in late November of 2020 I got my first good opportunity at a nice buck. I was sneaking thru a thicket when a small buck jumped up and took off. A second later a bigger buck jumped up at about 20 yards. I threw my cursed gun up to my shoulder, centered the cross hairs on his chest and squeezed the trigger. CLICK! I couldn't figure out what had happened so I tried squeezing the trigger a couple more times. Nothing. I racked another round in and took a shot as the buck disappeared. This time the gun went off but it was a clean miss. Nothing good happened the rest of the season.

2021 came and I decided the misfire was a fluke and to prove it I shot the cursed rifle right before season opener to make sure everything was working properly. The gun was driving tacks and ready to go. Again I was having a rough season with no success. On November 19th I was set up watching the same thicket I had had the misfire at but this time I was up in a tree. I had to get out of the stand early that morning and I decided to rip off some grunts about 10 minutes before I had to get down. A few minutes later I heard movement in the brush and saw some antlers appear. What I thought was a small 7 pointer popped out at 70 yards. With this being the biggest buck I had seen all season I decided to shoot. I got my cross hairs on the bucks chest and squeezed the trigger. CLICK! Even tho in the back of my mind I knew it would happen I was still shocked. This gun would literally only misfire when I was aiming at a nice buck. I eased the gun down and slowly worked the bolt to put another round in. This time I pocketed the bad round to inspect it later (there was no firing pin mark on it). The buck in the meantime had moved in to 50 yards. I put the cursed gun back up and wouldnt you know it, my scope had fogged almost all the way over. I thought this is almost unbelievable. The buck stopped and with what little visibility I had I put the scope on his chest and squeezed the trigger. This time the gun went off and the buck dropped in his tracks. When I got up to buck I was surprised to find he was quite a bit bigger than I was thinking. A respectable 185lb 8 point.

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This confirmed for me that the gun was in fact cursed, and I admitted to my wife the whole feeling thing I had about the money I used to buy it, and she agreed that it was time to send the $400 to the person I should have several years back. I committed then to sending the money out, but my procrastination got the best of me. A week and a half later on November 30th I was out snow tracking with my muzzleloader. I was on a set of day old monster buck tracks when a buck jumped up and took off. At about 30 yards I swung my muzzleloader up and tried getting on the buck. He was at a dead run and as soon as I squeezed the trigger I knew I hit too far back. Sure enough the bucks back end dropped and he was struggling to get moving. I kinda panicked and took way longer to reload than I should have. By the time I got reloaded the buck had figured out how to run with a wounded back end and he was about 75 yards away. I took off after him at a run. He was going at a pretty good clip and I was having trouble catching up. At one point we must've bumped a moose because I looked down and realized I was following moose tracks and not monster buck tracks. I backtracked to where I had gone wrong and picked up the trail again. At this point I put my OnX tracker going in case the track got tough.

A few hundred yards later I caught sight of the buck going into a cut and I took a quick shot. The buck picked up the pace and headed deeper through the cut. There was a lot of bare spots in the cut so I was having trouble keeping after the buck while maintaining a fast jogging pace. I started praying and I said Lord, if you knock this buck down I will put that money in the mail that I said I would as soon as I get out of the woods. I was able to pick the track back up and I caught sight of the buck across a ravine about 100 yards away. I took another shot but it didn't seem to phase that old warrior. This whole time the buck hadn't bled one drop of blood so that wasn't helping. He got mixed up with another deer and I had a whale of a time trying to unravel his track again. Finally I started hearing him in the brush ahead of me. His tracks were slowing down also and I could see he was starting to lose his footing. I caught a glimpse of movement ahead and tried getting a better look. He was broadside and had got his antlers caught in some shrubs. I raised my muzzleloader and took one final shot. I made my way thru the brush to the buck and when I got there he was dead. Praise the Lord I couldn't believe it. He was my biggest buck to date and as luck would have it, the two mile track he took me on from where I first shot him ended a little over 100 yards from the road. I was drenched in sweat from head to toe from two miles of running but I could not have been more elated.

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I got the buck taken care of and decided it was finally time to send out the $400 that I was supposed to years ago and be done with it. With the cash in the mail I figured the story was over. A month and a half later I was driving home from work and got a phone call from a number I didn't recognize. Like all the other spam calls I just let it go to voicemail. When I checked my voicemail later it was a person from a gunshop about an hour away saying they had some important info to forward to me. I thought huh that's weird but whatever I'll give them a call and see whats up. I called them up and the person on the phone said somebody had anonymously left an $800 gift card to their store behind the counter there for me. I couldn't believe it, I had thought the saga was done and over with and out of the blue somebody had in essence purchased me a new hunting rifle. I ran up there that day and picked out the best rifle I could with the $800 gift card. God willing this new rifle will do more than just click if I'm ever lucky enough to get another buck in the crosshairs.

[naternate]

Not me but my father-in-law

My FIL has hunted deer for years but always with a rifle. He acquired a CVA Wolf and wanted me to take him hunting during our muzzleloader season. I got the ML all cleaned up, worked up a load, and sighted in the scope for him. I don’t bait hunt but he wanted some bait out (was legal in my state back then) so a couple weeks before the season I but out some beets in a public spot I always see does. Went back a week later to put out a few more and they are getting pounded. Wind was going to be perfect for the weekend coming up so I figured it was a slam dunk.

My FIL isn't exactly a rule follower. Not a straight up violator but I have to give him orange to wear and he always wants to keep his gun loaded in the case which I don't tolerate. I made him take the cap out of his gun before we leave the house to drive to the spot. We walk the hiking trail about 1/2 mile back and cut in to the woods toward the soot on the edge of the swamp. I got him set up about 50 yrds from the bait and took off back to the trail and on to my hunting spot. Didn't hear and shots that night which was surprising so a dark I walk back to get him.

As I turn off the hiking trail I can see in the snow that he has walked back and forth a couple times. I rolled my eyes but figured it was not unexpected….he can’t sit in one spot for very long. As I continue toward the spot something dark just off the trail catches my eye. It laying partially covered by the snow. But not like it had been snowed in but dropped and is partially covered. I flick on my light and reach down to find a wallet….on opening I see it is his so I slip it in my pocket. On getting to the spot he isn't there so I turn back the way I came and he meets me at the hiking trail on the way back from the truck.

I ask if he saw anything and he is all worked up. Had a group of 4 big does come in perfect to the bait so he lined up the biggest one and got the “CLICK”. He had never put the primer back in the gun. They stood there watching him get a primer and then took off as he raised up the gun again. Then he says “and in top of that I lost my damn wallet”. So as a good SIL I figure now I can pile on his primer mishap and don’t tell him I have the wallet. We look up and down the trail for a few mins and then get in the truck to head home. The whole way he is ******** about how my MIL is going to kill him and so on. After a few mins I figured I had given him enough and toss his wallet on his lap. He laughed and called me an SOB. He has 3 daughters (including my wife) that are all married and the other 2 guys wonder why I seem to be the favorite LOL