I made a bad shot yesterday

[User00056]

It shouldn't have been. It was a 120 yard doe off sticks with my .223. I have a tried and tested home-load that never fails me, so how I managed to pull the shot puzzled me. I won't go into detail, but suffice to say I made it right very quickly.

I felt bad about it all last night, and was just about to head out to check zero this morning, when I picked the two fired cases out of my pocket....

Can you spot what's different? Old Q' now can. Yep, I'd inadvertently managed to load a factory round as the top round in my mag'

I usually have a few loose rounds in my ammunition safe, but I hadn't realised I'd left a factory round in there as well as a few reloads. That's not a mistake I've made before, and I'll be making damn sure it doesn't happen again.

 

[Greenmist]

Damn those factory rounds

 

[VSS]

An easy mistake to make.
Often we do these things in the dark, when barely awake yet.
I have inadvertently loaded a 5 round .243 mag with 4x 58g V-max and 1x 100g soft point, convinced that all 5 were the 100g rounds.
Luckily the 100g was on top, and did the job without a 2nd shot being required, and thankfully no other shot opportunities presented themselves.
I didn't discover my error until unloading back at my vehicle.

 

[User00056]

Damn those factory rounds

My fault entirely. My reloads shoot to a different POI

 

[tarponhead]

Great reminder about Ammo management - I have .308 and 6.5x55 rounds kept in separate places and always empty my mags - because both rifles are Sauer 202’s and look identical…all it needs is a distraction.

 

[Chris Richardson]

Easy done don’t beat yourself up about it what matters more is how you reacted to the situation when things went wrong

 

[Nickb]

Out of interest how much did the POI change ? Were they different weight bullets ?

 

[Freeforester]

Stick with the .270 Stu, you’ll not make the same mistake and you’ll know it wasnt the .223 rifle

 

[User00056]

Out of interest how much did the POI change ? Were they different weight bullets ?

Enough to matter I reload 55grain and the factory bullets are 50. There's a velocity difference too. It resulted in a spine shot, shot so a good six inches high and left I would say.

It could just as easily have resulted in a clean miss. Unfortunately in this case it resulted in a bad hit

 

[maximus otter]

It shouldn't have been. It was a 120 yard doe off sticks with my .223. I have a tried and tested home-load that never fails me, so how I managed to pull the shot puzzled me. I won't go into detail, but suffice to say I made it right very quickly.

I felt bad about it all last night, and was just about to head out to check zero this morning, when I picked the two fired cases out of my pocket....

Can you spot what's different? Old Q' now can. Yep, I'd inadvertently managed to load a factory round as the top round in my mag'

I usually have a few loose rounds in my ammunition safe, but I hadn't realised I'd left a factory round in there as well as a few reloads. That's not a mistake I've made before, and I'll be making damn sure it doesn't happen again.

View attachment 455605

My sympathies, as I’ve written here about making virtually the same mistake.

maximus otter

 

[User00056]

My sympathies, as I’ve written here about making virtually the same mistake.

I think it's important we admit when we get it wrong. Especially when it's something as preventable as this was. I don't enjoy feeling guilty

 

[AJC]

i use 2 different brands to ensure i don't make this mistake, white box 6.5 black box 6mm

 

[Sash]

Thank you for your honesty in telling us - there but for the grace of God……
A really useful reminder always to check

 

[Nimrod1960]

The SD confessional in operation, I think absolution is assured

 

[Foxyboy43]

Yep been there - done that.
Fortunately on a range day so no animals were harmed in the making of this post…
Did you know that a .308 will fire in a Mosin Nagant? Nope neither do did I….

 

[AHPP]

Good thread. I decided a while ago to use calibres that don't fit in each others' rifles so accidents are theoretically impossible. Aware wouldn't have prevented your mistake but it's in the same vein.

Poka-yoke - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Things like this make my blood run cold.

 

[Dave_45]

Good thread. I decided a while ago to use calibres that don't fit in each others' rifles so accidents are theoretically impossible. Aware wouldn't have prevented your mistake but it's in the same vein.

Poka-yoke - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

View attachment 455645

Things like this make my blood run cold.

That’s really quite chilling

 

[Ratel]

I once remember the boss showing me a blown case .243. He had been out with his son the previous evening to shoot some Sika hinds. A couple of misses and a bad shot on the next one. He had picked up the .270 and taken .243 ammo. I didn't at that time realise it would work but it obviously did. I also made a mistake when going to load with the boss on a grouse moor, I took and put in the RR two slabs of 12 bore shells, the boss took the 16 bore guns. Thank God there was an Italian gun using 16's and a lot of frantic running got me some ammo. Lunch time I went to thelocal gun shop (about 20 miles away) and bought all their 16 bore shells.

 

[Mungo]

I’ve put the wrong moderator on and shot wide.

Not once but twice. One was a clean miss. One was… not.

 

[AHPP]

That’s really quite chilling

It gets worse. They're designed for and commonly used in the same, extremely common rifle (AR15). They're semi auto (straight pull here but same loading prcedure) so you don't have any feel for whether you're having to force the round in. The rifles are modular so you can use one lower with two uppers, perhaps with the same furniture and sights. The mags are the same. It's a perfect storm of bad ideas. I understand what it seeks to achieve but I personally think that gain is massively outweighed by the downsides. And yet it got through hundreds of meetings without someone putting their foot down and saying, "No. This is ridiculously dangerous."