Have you ever had a bullet fail?

[The Big Game Hunter]

When I say "bullet failure", I'm not referring to a situation where someone recovered a bullet out of an animal they cleanly killed and it simply did not look like they expected it to. Nor am I referring to a situation where a hunter merely found the bullet core and jacket separated on the offside hide of a dead animal.

No, I’m looking for verifiable instances where the hunter made a good shot on an animal that should have killed it, but that did not occur due to wildly unexpected bullet performance. For instance, this could be in the form of a bullet failing to penetrate deep enough to reach the vitals or by a bullet failing to expand or upset in a manner appropriate to cause sufficient damage to the vitals of the animal for a rapid kill.

Furthermore, this story must involve a recovered animal where the hunter was able to examine what happened afterwards and determine with certainty the bullet did indeed fail to perform.

If you have a story you think fits the bill, please share it with us here or send me a PM. We’d love to see photos if you have them as well. Be sure to include all the pertinent details: cartridge and bullet, type of animal, shot distance, shot angle, what the bullet did, how the animal reacted, how far it ran afterwards, etc.

I’ve already compiled a bunch of stories along these lines that I recently shared in a podcast you can listen to on Apple, Spotify, or YouTube at the links below. I’ve continued to receive submissions from other hunters who listened to that episode and I may do another show along these lines in the future.
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/349-the-ugly-truth-about-bullet-failures/id1462591474?i=1000680107812
https://open.spotify.com/episode/5LWWzBwvFjVBVxx0VIx6KY

[huntindoc]

glad for the topic.
I had not killed anything for a couple years and my wife called me a vegan.  Hurtful.  I called my buddy and he took me to some ground just to fill the freezer.
I was carrying my 243 which I've had literally for 40 years.  Killed a bunch of stuff, shoots well and I am very confident with it.  I had Federal Fusion off the shelf, it had been well sighted in. 
We line up on a 3 yr old white tail buck.  Early rut, the buck is crossing an alpha field.  We watch him to 240 yards.  He stops, I've got a dead rest and pulled the trigger.  Buck hunches, runs off.  No blood, no deer!  Buddy (long time guide) asked me where I hit him, and I replied he was watching through the glass!  I swore I hit him right on behind the shoulder!  He agreed.  We looked for 4 hours.  Nothing.
Later in the evening, another buck at 235 yards broadside.  Same age buck broadside.  Shot again, and the buck hunched, just turned sideways and wagged his tail.  Stood for 3 or 4 min.  I shot again at a very sharp angle quartering away.  Buck laid down, did not die for 5 min.  Very weird.  The two shots were 3 inches apart, both should have been immediately fatal. 
We skinned the deer out, and the second bullet fell off the outside of the rib!  Barely dented, and it did not penetrate/ break the rib.  The first bullet was recovered in the off side rib, having luckily gone between the ribs on the fore side.  As we were loading the dead deer, the first deer from the AM was rutting does in the same field, only minimal limp, and no apparent skin/ muscle injury. 
Have a bunch of hand loaded rounds now, no further Federal Fusion for me other than at paper.  Would not have believed  if it did not happen to me!

[elkslayer069]

338 rum 250 grain Berger otm at 2950 fps. It was a quick off hand running shot at around 120 yards. This is the entrance hole. I can remember it in slow motion swell up like a basketball and then burst open. Deer dropped to the ground jumped up and took off down the canyon. 600 yard chase ensued with another shot to close the deal. The bullet never made it passed the shoulder blade. The final shot was to the neck which can kind of be seen in the photo. I’ve shot a lot of animals (deer, elk and bears) with that combo and usually find the jacket and chunks of lead under the hide on the off side if it didn’t pass all the way through.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[birddogdad]

have had some interesting adventures...

have had brenneke slugs go in square broadside shoulder and chase spine to rear of deer
taken a 7mag bullet out of spine of elk from previous shot by someone beyond effective range
have had fast shooters never make down range in wet conditions, burn up in flight
have had brush disrupt flight on occasion even split and have two entry points


lots can happen out there!

[The Big Game Hunter]

have had some interesting adventures...

have had brenneke slugs go in square broadside shoulder and chase spine to rear of deer
taken a 7mag bullet out of spine of elk from previous shot by someone beyond effective range
have had fast shooters never make down range in wet conditions, burn up in flight
have had brush disrupt flight on occasion even split and have two entry points


lots can happen out there!

Tell me more about that 7 Mag bullet you recovered from an elk!

[MeatMissile]

I shot a broadside 5x5 Rosie with a 180gr Nosler Partition handload that averaged just over 2800 fps.  Dropped like someone turned the lights out.  I found a scarred knot high on the shoulder structure and inside it was some copper fragments and blue plastic.  At the time, the only blue tipped bullets I could think of were .25 caliber Nosler Ballistic Tips.

[The Big Game Hunter]

I shot a broadside 5x5 Rosie with a 180gr Nosler Partition handload that averaged just over 2800 fps.  Dropped like someone turned the lights out.  I found a scarred knot high on the shoulder structure and inside it was some copper fragments and blue plastic.  At the time, the only blue tipped bullets I could think of were .25 caliber Nosler Ballistic Tips.

Wow, that's very interesting. About what year did this take place? Are you thinking the previous hunter made a good shot, but the bullets failed to penetrate the body cavity? Or was that previous shot poorly placed?

[The Big Game Hunter]

glad for the topic.
I had not killed anything for a couple years and my wife called me a vegan.  Hurtful.  I called my buddy and he took me to some ground just to fill the freezer.
I was carrying my 243 which I've had literally for 40 years.  Killed a bunch of stuff, shoots well and I am very confident with it.  I had Federal Fusion off the shelf, it had been well sighted in. 
We line up on a 3 yr old white tail buck.  Early rut, the buck is crossing an alpha field.  We watch him to 240 yards.  He stops, I've got a dead rest and pulled the trigger.  Buck hunches, runs off.  No blood, no deer!  Buddy (long time guide) asked me where I hit him, and I replied he was watching through the glass!  I swore I hit him right on behind the shoulder!  He agreed.  We looked for 4 hours.  Nothing.
Later in the evening, another buck at 235 yards broadside.  Same age buck broadside.  Shot again, and the buck hunched, just turned sideways and wagged his tail.  Stood for 3 or 4 min.  I shot again at a very sharp angle quartering away.  Buck laid down, did not die for 5 min.  Very weird.  The two shots were 3 inches apart, both should have been immediately fatal. 
We skinned the deer out, and the second bullet fell off the outside of the rib!  Barely dented, and it did not penetrate/ break the rib.  The first bullet was recovered in the off side rib, having luckily gone between the ribs on the fore side.  As we were loading the dead deer, the first deer from the AM was rutting does in the same field, only minimal limp, and no apparent skin/ muscle injury. 
Have a bunch of hand loaded rounds now, no further Federal Fusion for me other than at paper.  Would not have believed  if it did not happen to me!

Jeez, that's interesting. So, the first shot on the second deer went between the ribs on the off side? What did it look like? The second bullet on the second deer didn't penetrate, but didn't appear to have expanded/upset at all?
And you're surmising the shot on the first deer behaved the same way and that deer likely survived?

[huntnnw]

Years ago while bear hunting I glassed up a bear almost straight down below me. I got set up and took a 400 yard shot broadside but shooting almost straight down off a cliff and bear dropped and was outta sight immediately. I made my way down to where it was and found some drops of blood. It was then I realized the bear was alive as I could hear it walking very slowly in some very thick brush. I continued tracking and lost all blood and didn’t hear it anymore. After spending hours I gave up and was baffled to what happened. I continued to bear hunt for 2.5 more days still wondering what happened and a bear appeared at about 200 yards and I noticed it had a slight gimp to his walk as it fed. At the time I really didn’t think much of it was just in a hurry to get set up and shoot. I shoot bear and it drops and rolls down the hill. I get down to bear and roll it over and notice a hole in the top of his back that’s bigger than a fist and you could see his lungs thru the hole. I was baffled as I couldn’t have hit him there from my shot . It dawned on me that was the bear I shot 2 days prior ! Upon further examination I found the bullet hole from where I had just now shot him as it was a perfect pass thru. I wish I had a cellphone to take pics of what had happened. It appeared the bullet grenaded on impact of part of the spine and it never penetrated and if it had not blown up it would went right thru lungs killing bear. I found tons of bullet frags all over the bone and meat .Was shooting a 300 win mag with federal trophy bonded bear claws 180 gr.

[boneaddict]

My Dad (Idabooner) told the story of his cougar, when he was down in a stump hole face to face with it and he was shooting it in the head with his 22 mag.   the bullet would enter the skin, hit the muscle and travel the least resistance under the skin and exit the other side without penetrating the hard muscle.   

Fast forward 15 years and my Brother was attacked by a cougar.  He shot it in mid air, the cat landed, and bit into a root, still alive.  My brother plugged it again with his .270  and it did the exact same thing.   First shot killed the cat.   


Is that along the lines that you are thinking?

[C-Money]

Wife had the front lead half of a nosler partition separate from the base on a mule deer. base and copper jacket in tact, copper jacket peeled back like a classic mushroom. The lead was nowhere to be found. After discussion on here about it, most figured it was not a failure, but worked as designed. I like Nosler and will shoot the Accubond. I'll claim the Hornaday Interlock as king of big game bullets with most consistent performance and weight retention for what my family has found.

[boneaddict]

THose are the two bullets we pretty much exclusively used and use to this day in our whole family.     My brother dabbled with Sierras

[JohnVH]

We've had mixed results with barnes ttsx, when you push them too fast, the pedals fall off and it just punches holes instead of making a wound channel.  Here is one I recovered, but others I know have had animals get away. I'm tempted to switch to a heavier bullet so it will go slower in hopes this wont happen anymore.

[jrebel]

We've had mixed results with barnes ttsx, when you push them too fast, the pedals fall off and it just punches holes instead of making a wound channel.  Here is one I recovered, but others I know have had animals get away. I'm tempted to switch to a heavier bullet so it will go slower in hopes this wont happen anymore.

John, have you found any of the pedals?  If so are they still large pedals or are they fragmenting?  I only ask, because the mono's I am shooting are designed to shed the pedals and the pedals do a tremendous amount of damage to the vitals.  I'm not familiar with the Barnes bullets performance on game, but have seen a few youtube videos that had less than desirable results.  One that strikes me was a California blacktail that took three shots to kill and the first shot should have killed it. 

[JohnVH]

We've had mixed results with barnes ttsx, when you push them too fast, the pedals fall off and it just punches holes instead of making a wound channel.  Here is one I recovered, but others I know have had animals get away. I'm tempted to switch to a heavier bullet so it will go slower in hopes this wont happen anymore.

John, have you found any of the pedals?  If so are they still large pedals or are they fragmenting?  I only ask, because the mono's I am shooting are designed to shed the pedals and the pedals do a tremendous amount of damage to the vitals.  I'm not familiar with the Barnes bullets performance on game, but have seen a few youtube videos that had less than desirable results.  One that strikes me was a California blacktail that took three shots to kill and the first shot should have killed it.

I dont remember finding the pedals in this deer, it was under 100yds, and the bullet is going almost 3400. 

Here is a pic from the next deer the next year, same bullet same gun, but at 250+yds.

[jrebel]

Not interested in re-hashing the drama from a previous post, but I have experienced a failure with the ELD-X bullet on both moose and black bear.

Gun:  Christensen Ridgeline
Caliber:  300wm
Bullet:  212gr ELD-X
MV:  2950 fps if I remember correctly

Bull Moose #1
Distance: 40-60 yards broadside.  Three shots behind the shoulder with no exits.  Never recovered any of the three bullets.  Moose died so all in all it worked, but just surprised I didn't get any pass through. 

Bull Moose #2
Distance 300 yards broadside.  Two shots, first behind the shoulder and the bullet penciled through.  Entrance hole was caliber size and exit hole was caliber size.  Double lunged and moose lunged forward and went to hid front knees.  Follow up shot was to the neck which killed it but again, penciled with no major wound channel.  Moose died, but not impressed. 

Black bear
500 yards shot.  I had high ground and the bear was ever so slightly quartering toward me....more broadside than quartering.  Aimed for high shoulder entrance exiting offside behind shoulder.   Watched impact (both me and my spotter), bear rolled around on the ground like they do when hit, got up and walked off.  No follow up shot.  Got over to where bear was and found a softball size ball of hear and pieces of meat.  Small amount of blood, but enough to track.  Tracked for 100 yards before blood trail stopped.  Never recovered the bear.  Fast forward to the next year and I have pictures of this bear with alive with no hair on it's shoulder and wound all healed up.   Complete bullet failure that likely exploded on contact with the high shoulder / scapula. 

Only use those bullets on 300 blackout subs now for target practice.  Did run a test to see if they would open at 900 fps impact velocities and the answer is NO, which was what I expected. 

[blackveltbowhunter]

I shot a buck with a 270 a couple years back. For the past decade prior to this I had been shooting a handloaded cartridge tipped with 140 accubonds. I am not a gun nut and don't shoot long and don't always rifle hunt annually, but since working this load and gun up it had been a long string of bang flops. Long story short I lost all my ammo to thieves, and in the great ammo shortage of '21/'22 just getting ammo was a chore much less the ingredients to build the cartridges I had confidence in. Prior to the '22 season I got my hands on a good supply of factory cartridges ( hunt wa ) mainly Remington green box core lokts. I took the gun out and it was clear they didn't shoot as well as the handloads but they shot well enough for me to be confident I could kill a buck at a couple hundred and in with no issue.
   The large blacktail buck presented with a short range off hand shot, sub 50 yards. I heard the buck coming through the frozen leaves on a timbered ridge, he was solo and cruising completely unaware to my presence until I grunted to stop him. he stopped in a wide opening a bit quartered to. Cross hair settled behind the shoulder, a good hold and squeeze. At the shot a very slight shiver went through the buck and then he became a statue. I cycled the bolt for a  second shot and in a rush of disbelief jerked the trigger hard. No response from the buck he remained frozen. I cycled the bolt again slowing my breathing and getting my words and eyes working regaining full function of my trigger control knowing I had rushed the last shot. Very solid hold, perfect break on the trigger, the buck flicked an ear and remained otherwise statue like. Now, fully convinced I am missing, and assuming high I hold low off hair at the report still no response from the buck. Rifle empty I pull a cartridge from the butt stock, another low hold and I am able spot the round hitting almost exactly where I was aiming in the duff beyond the buck. Finally, the buck turns to leave I am wringing my hands at this point and "single shotting" another cartridge into the gun. Thoughts racing at this point, trying to calculate where I am hitting and where the buck may move through offering a couple likely hurried shots. As the buck takes his first steps he wobbles a bit and stumbles. My first indication he is actually hit. I can hear him briefly through the leaves then it is quiet. I ease forward towards the bucks location until I am where he was standing, no blood or sign of a hit. I get on the trail he went and find him 15 yards from where he had been standing.

 On inspection 2 bullets had passed through the buck. ( I assume first and third shots )  both were about an inch apart and a few inches left of "perfect" towards the middle of body. Autopsy revealed one bullet had broken a rib, passing through a large section of the back portion of one lung and the liver before exiting. The other had narrowly missed the lung and gone through the liver and diaphragm and exited through the front of the paunch. The damage internally was minimal, the lung tissue was undamaged save a pencil like hole, the liver had similar damage from both bullets not torn or disrupted tissue, but a 270 caliber hole that extended through the organ. It did however result in significant blood loss into the body cavity, the paunch hit was so clean it was hardly noticeable it looked like a hole punch. The exits had no blood, the entrances had minimal blood with the farther back shot having some dripping from it when I found the buck.
   In my mind, I know I miscalculated the bucks angle and my point of aim should have been more forward than it was. However, based on  the evidence the bullets simply failed to expand or transfer any significant energy in the form of shock to the animal even after bone contact.

[C-Money]

Thats a tough one Blackveltbowhunter. The Remington core lokts are pretty good killers, with a solid reputation for performing well. I guess there always the exception.

[callturner]

Mine would be the Barnes I believe it was the TSX in 338 win mag. I was doing a damage control hunt in 2018 for bear in a 80 acre apple orchard. 10 min before dark a nice 215 lb boar pops out at 60 yds. 1 shot to the chest drops him. As I head to him he jumps up and heads into the brush. Not my favorite time to wade into the brush after a wounded bear but here I go. Just before I get to where he was I look to my right and about 30 yds he pops out into the open and I take him thru the shoulders and drop him again. As I head over to him he pops up again and runs about 20 yds and tries to climb a tree and I take him again between the shoulders as he is about 10 ft up. He falls down dead, so I thought. As I walk up and poke him in the face with the barrel he comes alive and wants to eat me and I take him through the neck finally breaking his spine.  My first and last time with Barnes bullets. I have always used SGK and had only bought the Barnes to hunt on Turnbull for a elk hunt.

[hunter399]

I'm gonna say that during the 2020 dumpster fire.
Ammo company's was desperate to increase that cash flow.
Quality control was probably pretty low .
Sweeping lead dust off the floor to make bullets.

[jrebel]

Mine would be the Barnes I believe it was the TSX in 338 win mag. I was doing a damage control hunt in 2018 for bear in a 80 acre apple orchard. 10 min before dark a nice 215 lb boar pops out at 60 yds. 1 shot to the chest drops him. As I head to him he jumps up and heads into the brush. Not my favorite time to wade into the brush after a wounded bear but here I go. Just before I get to where he was I look to my right and about 30 yds he pops out into the open and I take him thru the shoulders and drop him again. As I head over to him he pops up again and runs about 20 yds and tries to climb a tree and I take him again between the shoulders as he is about 10 ft up. He falls down dead, so I thought. As I walk up and poke him in the face with the barrel he comes alive and wants to eat me and I take him through the neck finally breaking his spine.  My first and last time with Barnes bullets. I have always used SGK and had only bought the Barnes to hunt on Turnbull for a elk hunt.

There have been many accounts of the the TSX not expanding at all.  The attribute the failure to the hollow point filling with hair, hide, fat and not performing.  If this indeed is the case, it is because of bullet failure due to improper engineering of the hollow point, density of the allow used, etc. 

I believe this is why they came out with the TTSX (tipped) which has also had it's problems, but appears to be way more reliable.  My guess is Barns changed the allow they were using, softening it up a bit.      I'm not a barnes guy either....but there are some great mono's on the market now. 

[Taco280AI]

LRX is the best they have. Only recovered two, but perfect performance.

[blackveltbowhunter]

Thats a tough one Blackveltbowhunter. The Remington core lokts are pretty good killers, with a solid reputation for performing well. I guess there always the exception.

I agree. Have seen many animals killed with them. I assume it was a fluke, and not typical performance. 

[jasnt]

I’m just glad I don’t have a story to add to this thread. Those that have thanks for sharing it.