My wife's first elk

[Coyote Shadow Tracker]

I either somehow got moisture around the firing pin or the factory lube in the bolt got stiff enough to not let the pin hit the primer. My bet is moisture. The outside temp was 18 or 19 deg. Oil seems unlikely to be the culprit. My plan it to take bolt apart....lube with g96 like coyote shadow tracker suggested. Then put in freezer over night and see if it goes boom. I plan on doing this in the future with every rifle i take out in colder weather than an iowa fall

I had a good friend of my father-in-law miss a nice 8 point buck about 15 years ago in Northern GA. Now it does get cold here in GA in the winter. It was in late December and was in the low teens. He squeezed the trigger and it went click, but no bang, racked another shell - same thing and then the ejected shell it his tree stand and the buck was gone. He took it to a gunsmith to have the bolt checked out. Got it back, put it in the freezer, took it out the next day and put a primed case in it and it did the same thing. My father-in-law called me, I got the bolt (Kimber) and took apart-it was dirty with oil. The other gunsmith never took it apart. I cleaned all the parts, put G-96 on it and then wiped it off and also sprayed it with compressed air to make sure that there was no residue left. Put it in the freezer for several days-FIRED every time while at sub ZERO temp.
Whenever you clean and lube your bolt make sure that you get all the lubrication residue off. Do not use REM OIL it will turn to glue after time.
I am not endorsing any products, but G-96 was developed for the Aero Space Industry and it works so well that it is marketed for firearms now. It is classified as a CLP Synthetic (Cleans, Lubricates, Protects) oil that actually bonds to metal and currently used by the Military & NATO. I think that it was tested to 50 below ZERO and went to 90 below.

 

[Chadp82]

The mishaps are part of the best stories!

Great harvest!

 

[heltonbc]

Hello everyone ! We just finished up our hunt in Colorado, first rifle. My wife got her first elk, a 5x5. She nailed it at 320 yds, one shot after an exciting beginning. We spotted the bull real early before shooting light in a meadow. Got as close as we dare on foot, crawled on hands and knees for final 50 yds. I left my browning xbolt 7mm rem mag lay in weeds as i wanted to film the shot and it was awkward with rifle in one hand and camera in other. We made it to a rock we could kneel behind. I took off my sweatshirt for her to lay her browning x bolt on for padding. She took her time , got steady. She was shooting a 6.5 prc with 124 hammers. The elk turned broadside...she squeezed....click. I thought...no round in chamber. Wrong. She did everything right. She ejected the round, no mark on primer. Crap. Tried 2nd time....click. third time click. I took her bolt out and put it in my shirt, blew on it, wrapped my hand around it to thaw it out. We had left the rifles in the truck overnight. Kim put a new magazine in. I put the bolt in. She aimed....click. thank god the elk was still grazing. We atleast had a very small dent in the primers. Our guide crawled back retrieved my 7 mm for her to use. Now she's only 5' 2", I'm 6'4". My rifle was set up way long for her. So she stretched out with the butt down her arm, not on her shoulder. Kinda funny she thought the scope was going to nail her head. But she aimed, sent the 143 hammer. It hit the elk, double lung, it trotted 30 yds toward us. And stopped. The guide and i were whispering.....hit him again. Kim was watching through the scope. He was facing us so she didn't shoot. He started wobbling....fell over. Total of 5 seconds from shot to on ground. We both shoot suppressed so we heard the hammer hit with a big whop. The round went completely through him. I was so dang happy for her. She had put in a bunch of hard miles on the last 2 hunts to get him. I was real impressed with how cool she stayed under pressure of the rounds not going off. We both use the same scope so the looking through the scope was exactly the same. I was glad we practiced a ton over the years.View attachment 305935
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Much Congratulations. All things considered you performed brilliantly. The practice you put in at the range proved itself. That's a fine Bull harvested. Happy eating. That's one hunt to remember for sure.

 

[LanceS4803]

G96 has now been added to my Buy list

 

[orifdoc]

Great story and great elk. I've had one click, no-bang experience myself with a tiiiiny little dent in the primer. Mine happened at around 100 degrees with a Mk V .300 Wby. Never figured it out and it never happened again. Maybe some sand stuck somewhere? The next round went bang just fine.

I avoid any kind of lube in the bolt except a very thin layer of oil on the lugs. Cold can mess stuff up and a few sub zero goose hunts tell you all you need to know about certain kinds of oil.

Interesting ejector marks on your brass. I assume they're X1 reloads?

 

[skipglo]

Very nice! Great to have the opportunity to hunt with your wife!

 

[lancetkenyon]

No lube in the bolt for me either. My cousin had two "clicks" on a late season elk hunt, last day, late afternoon, in his 7RM.
30 minutes later, he dumped a last legal light bull with my .300RUM.

 

[mpayne]

Nice Elk for her glad it all worked out in the end. My daughter was shooting a Rem 700 that went click- big click and never went off, cost her the buck. I thought it was my reload there was no dent in the primer and the round fired when we tested it. As it turns out and we can make it happen every time we try. The bolt was lifted just enough that when you pulled the trigger the click was the bolt closing doing nothing with the firing pin. I don't think this is what happened in your case, you got too many tries!

 

[bluedog69]

Awesome bull even better story.

Had the same thing happen to me as a kid hunting with a 20 gauge shotgun.
Froze up. A good thorough break down and cleaning fixed it.

I like the testing in a freezer idea. I would just make sure to dry it out well after testing.
It is likely to draw all kinds of moisture after it comes out of the freezer.

 

[Clay Target Guy]

Congrats to your wife on staying cool and making the shot.

 

[ducky]

Awesome! Tell her congratulations.

 

[Flintlock shooter]

Way to stay after it and congratulations young Lady!!!

 

[heltonbc]

Much Congratulations. All things considered you performed brilliantly. The practice you put in at the range proved itself. That's a fine Bull harvested. Happy eating. That's one hunt to remember for sure.

 

[GDKinCO]

Great story and pics - thanks for sharing! And a huge congrats to your wife for staying calm, and for you all to work through the problem. Not often you get time to resolve an issue like that and still get the shot!
What area were you in?
Greg