Post by cedarthicket on Feb 2, 2011 12:51:17 GMT -5
An interesting thing happened to me last Thursday while rabbit hunting in very cold weather. I fired at a running rabbit and missed the first shot (not unusual). I tried a second shot, but only heard a click as the hammer fell (short-shucked my old 16 gauge, modified choke, Winchester M97 pump gun) and the rabbit entered some tall weeds and brush. Another shell was carefully fed into the chamber from the magazine tube as I watched it to be sure. I then looked up to see a rabbit sitting up on his haunches just beyond the patch of tall weeds and brush. This was about 30 yards away. I fired and the rabbit dropped.
When I got up to the rabbit I saw what looked something like a front leg extending past its head. However, upon closer inspection I noticed that roughly half its head was blown away, and what looked at first glance like a front leg was actually part of its head. In the snow I could see where 5 or 6 pellets had hit, but that was all. Apparently, the overwhelming portion of the 1 ounce of #5 pellets had stayed together in the Remington plastic wad all the way to the rabbit. The result looked like I had shot it at 30 inches instead of 30 yards!
I had reloaded the shotshells over 20 years ago. They were 16 gauge made by shortening some Winchester plastic field load hulls and roll crimping to shoot in old 2 9/16 inch chambers. I had carefully loaded all shells with 166 pellets of #5 shot and marked the load of 1 ounce on the over shot card of all shells. Old Alcan 220 primers were used in the Winchester plastic compression formed hulls. A Remington plastic wad (#W29934) held the shot. A .05 inch thick card wad was placed over the shot before roll crimping in place. The powder charge was 19 grains of Winchester Super Field (WSF). I had shot several of these reloads earlier this season and did not notice any problem with them.
When I got home I took apart one of the remaining loaded shells to see if something “odd” could be found. The ONLY thing that seemed a little out of the ordinary in this shell was that the plastic wad had a somewhat odd odor and was perhaps a little discolored. I do not have a good sense of smell, but my wife said it reminded her of the smell of the herb lavender. I do recall that some VERY old Winchester plastic wads that I had years ago in 12 and 20 gauge had an odor something like “toe jam.” If I recall correctly some of the old “smelly” wads tended to be somewhat brittle compared to new wads.
Two things of which I am sure is that I did not accidentally insert a shotgun slug when reloading the shells, or insert a loaded factory slug shell in my shotgun last Thursday. All fired hulls were accounted for that day. Strange.
Anyone here have a similar experience? Or have a possible explanation?
When I got up to the rabbit I saw what looked something like a front leg extending past its head. However, upon closer inspection I noticed that roughly half its head was blown away, and what looked at first glance like a front leg was actually part of its head. In the snow I could see where 5 or 6 pellets had hit, but that was all. Apparently, the overwhelming portion of the 1 ounce of #5 pellets had stayed together in the Remington plastic wad all the way to the rabbit. The result looked like I had shot it at 30 inches instead of 30 yards!
I had reloaded the shotshells over 20 years ago. They were 16 gauge made by shortening some Winchester plastic field load hulls and roll crimping to shoot in old 2 9/16 inch chambers. I had carefully loaded all shells with 166 pellets of #5 shot and marked the load of 1 ounce on the over shot card of all shells. Old Alcan 220 primers were used in the Winchester plastic compression formed hulls. A Remington plastic wad (#W29934) held the shot. A .05 inch thick card wad was placed over the shot before roll crimping in place. The powder charge was 19 grains of Winchester Super Field (WSF). I had shot several of these reloads earlier this season and did not notice any problem with them.
When I got home I took apart one of the remaining loaded shells to see if something “odd” could be found. The ONLY thing that seemed a little out of the ordinary in this shell was that the plastic wad had a somewhat odd odor and was perhaps a little discolored. I do not have a good sense of smell, but my wife said it reminded her of the smell of the herb lavender. I do recall that some VERY old Winchester plastic wads that I had years ago in 12 and 20 gauge had an odor something like “toe jam.” If I recall correctly some of the old “smelly” wads tended to be somewhat brittle compared to new wads.
Two things of which I am sure is that I did not accidentally insert a shotgun slug when reloading the shells, or insert a loaded factory slug shell in my shotgun last Thursday. All fired hulls were accounted for that day. Strange.
Anyone here have a similar experience? Or have a possible explanation?
