Have you ever had a bullet fail?

[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.