# Opening day misfortune........



## idontknow316 (Mar 21, 2008)

For those of you that read regularly know that I have yet to shoot a deer. Came close a couple times but no cigar.  Well get this yesterday after pheasant hunting I decided I better see how the ol shotgun is shooting. Last year I went through a few scopes that were junk. They were the scopes that come with the Mossberg 500 combo. Well let me be the first to tell you they are JUNK!! 

Started at the 100 yard mark......the shot did not even touch the paper, and the paper was really cardboard the size of a refrigerator. lol. So I'm scratching my head wtf? Decide to move to 50 yards, same deal.  Oh yeah did I mention that I'm shooting sabots? So you know how much I like to shoot these things off due to the price. Anyways I move to the 25 yard range, and I hit the cardboard about 2 foot low, and a foot to the right. No problem corrected the windage and got it centered up, but the elevation would not move up. I had no more room to move the elevation up, and the shot was still in the same damn spot. I had moved this thing about 50 plus clicks with no movement what so ever. So I finally figured out that the scope was crap after about 40 to 50 dollars of slugs. The problem is its Sunday, I have ran out of daylight and the only gun I own couldn't hit a school bus 40 yards away.

So my buddy lines me up a muzzle loader that I could use until I could make a run to the store and pick up a new scope. Which I did as soon as we were done hunting. I have never shot a muzzle loader so I'm a little unfamiliar with it. My buddy had it all loaded and ready to go, all I had to do was put the primer in and I'm good to go.

I get out to my spot put my primer in, and I'm ready to go. I counted 43 shots from sunrise to around 9am or so. I look over and there is a nice mature doe 40 yards away, she looks in my direction for a sec and then put her head back down. So I raised the gun, got her perfectly in my sight....I'm getting excited now, I just know I'm about to bag my first deer. It may as well have been a huge buck, thats how pumped I was. I take a deep breath as the deer was perfectly broadside, squeeze the trigger and pop......notice I said pop not BOOM! To my horror as the doe goes full alert and busts away I could do nothing but stand there in disbelief. The primer fired but the powder did not!!

Not a great first impression, with a muzzle loader. My fellow ogf buddy heard the pop and knew what had happened. Does anyone have the kind of luck I have? I swear I can't make this stuff up. He put another primer in and wouldn't you know it....BOOM fires just wonderfully. 

Decided to hunt another hour, which was hard for me to do I was pretty crushed and ticked off. Decided to shoot it again and BOOM, no problem. You better believe I went straight to the store and bought a quality scope, and MORE SLUGS and it sighted in beautifully. I'll give em hell in the morning.... 


I'm changing my name from idontknow316 to BADLUCKBOB


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## Lewis (Apr 5, 2004)

Tough luck for sure.
Invest in a good shotgun scope and by all means...sight in your gun a few weeks in advance of the season. It gives you plenty of time to resolve problems.
You can save a ton of money sighting in a new scope setup by paying a small fee to any good gunshop to have your gun "bore sighted".
This will put you very close to dead zero and you can fine tune from there. 
When sighting in a gun..always start at shorter distances and work your way up to 75 or 100 yds.
Sometimes scope mounts or rings need to be shimmed so proper elevation adjustment to be reached.
If you have your gun bore sighted a good gunsmith can take care of this for you.
Its cheaper than shooting many sabot slugs trying to get it right!!


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## idontknow316 (Mar 21, 2008)

Thanks Lewis, I did have the original scope bore sighted believe it or not. The scope was junk. I even turned the elevation a whole half turn back down and it still didn't move. I picked up a good scope today and had it bore sighted and 5 shots later I'm good to go.


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## MuskieManOhio (Jun 29, 2008)

Hope you get your first deer this week sometime goodluck -frank-


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## ohfisherman (Aug 16, 2007)

did your buddy fire the muzzle loader that day? you said it was loaded and ready to go. just curious....


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## freyedknot (Apr 10, 2004)

my buddy did that on 6 does in a field ,and he went thru 5 or 6 primers b4 they trotted away. most times it is left over oil or bore butter gets pushed down to the primer inlet. you should always clear it b4 loading each day. shoot a few caps off without powder towards the ground and watch to see if the grass or leaves move from the primer. if they move then it is clear and ready to load.


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## fishintechnician (Jul 20, 2007)

though break man hang in there i'm sure you'll get one just haven't had the right one come in yet i went through the same deal with the mossberg scopes they suck was ok for the first year then was like i had took a bat to it no consistency at all. I just traded the whole gun and got me a Nova man is that thing sweet dead on at 50 and about 1 1/2-2 in low at 100 with open sight i can put holes through holes at 25 i love it, but with the riffled barrel it was about twice as much as the 500. My buddies hunt with Muzzleloaders and swear by them but i think i'll stick to the trusty 12


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## ohfisherman (Aug 16, 2007)

thats what i was getting at knot...i had a buddy who would just put the gun in the house after a day of hunting and take it out the next day. then he would try to figure out why it always misfired. condesation always was my guess.


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## Blaze6784 (Nov 3, 2006)

I have had similar "luck" with a muzzleloader before. Before I even leave the house to go hunting or load my muzzleloader, I shoot a cap. This dries up any moisture in the barrel and gets any remaining bore butter out, helping to keep the powder dry. And if I had to choose my shotgun vs my muzzleloader, I would take my muzzleloader any day of the week.


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## Fishstix (Aug 16, 2005)

I had that happen to me one year when I was in college. I didn't have much time to hunt, so I hunted hard during muzzleloading. Sat all day one day and didn't see a deer. As I was walking out the logging road, I saw 3 Does jump across at 75 yards. I lined up the shot, but before I could shoot they busted up through the brush. I suddenly heard crunching leaves and look to the left. 3 more Does were making there way right for me. I turned and aimed and squeezed the trigger. Same thing, POP and not BOOM. These Does were no more than 5 yards from me. You should have seen the lead Does eyes. They were as big as grapefruits when she realized what she was walking into. It was discouraging, but things like that happen.


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## buckeyeguy (Aug 20, 2006)

Knock on wood I haven't had a problem with my muzzleloader not firing. <knock><knock>
I kind of threw myself into muzzleloading 13 years ago. My buddy's dad had been hunting with them for years and he gave me a few pointers....

1. Set it out in the garage/barn or some place that is closer to the outside temperature two days before. (I don't do this anymore with my 209 primer guns)
2. Fire a couple of primers through it before you load it.
3. Load it the night before.
4. Put it back in the cold storage room.
5. If its a percussion cap primer, change them once an hour or two while hunting. If its wet, or real humid, change them more often.

Glad to hear you got a new scope for it! I had an experience like yours a couple years ago that made me turn to getting a quality scope and boresighted. When you start adding up all of those sabots at $1.75+ a piece, your money ahead in the long run to just do it right.


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## idontknow316 (Mar 21, 2008)

No no one fired the gun that day prior to the gun not going off.


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## idontknow316 (Mar 21, 2008)

I sat almost all day Tuesday, only leaving to eat lunch and didn't see a single deer.


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## NorthSouthOhioFisherman (May 7, 2007)

I know money may be tough

Get a remington, rifled barrel, and invest in some decent slugs-then you will get deer

Depending on how bad you want the deer-depends on what you;ll have to go through to get it

Better luck next time Bob


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## TrevorJ (Nov 20, 2009)

Does your buddy take the nipple out and clean it really well? Might be a dumb question if so sorry but I know of alot of people who can get the caps to go off but the spark never makes it through the nipple to ignite the powder. Seeing as how you said it went of the second time this probably isn't the case but it could be if there is powder buildup/blockage. Are you shooting pyrodex 50 grain pellets as your powder? I always use my muzzleloader because of the accuracy and distance and have yet to have that happen rain or shine so I consider myself fortunate. Sorry bout the luck hope you get a chance at one next weekend if you are able to hunt.


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## Stripers4Life (May 2, 2007)

idontknow316 said:


> For those of you that read regularly know that I have yet to shoot a deer. Came close a couple times but no cigar.  Well get this yesterday after pheasant hunting I decided I better see how the ol shotgun is shooting. Last year I went through a few scopes that were junk. They were the scopes that come with the Mossberg 500 combo. Well let me be the first to tell you they are JUNK!!
> 
> Started at the 100 yard mark......the shot did not even touch the paper, and the paper was really cardboard the size of a refrigerator. lol. So I'm scratching my head wtf? Decide to move to 50 yards, same deal.  Oh yeah did I mention that I'm shooting sabots? So you know how much I like to shoot these things off due to the price. Anyways I move to the 25 yard range, and I hit the cardboard about 2 foot low, and a foot to the right. No problem corrected the windage and got it centered up, but the elevation would not move up. I had no more room to move the elevation up, and the shot was still in the same damn spot. I had moved this thing about 50 plus clicks with no movement what so ever. So I finally figured out that the scope was crap after about 40 to 50 dollars of slugs. The problem is its Sunday, I have ran out of daylight and the only gun I own couldn't hit a school bus 40 yards away.
> 
> BADLUCKBOB


just a thought, but if your shotgun doesn't have a rifled barrel, you should not be shooting sabots. They are designed for a rifled barrel and won't give you any accuracy out of a smooth bore. I own a mossberg as well and couldn't get good groupings until i switched and bought a rifled barrel, copper solids fly dead on to 100 yards with the rifled, w/o it im lucky to hit paper. But it does sound like your scope is giving you issues. Try the slugger's or berneke's if you have a smooth bore, you might have better luck. there is still another shotgun season too, so keep your head up.


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## idontknow316 (Mar 21, 2008)

Stripers I do have a rifled barrel, it was just my scope. Thanks for the advice though. 



TrevorJ this wasn't even my buddy's gun it was his brother in laws. It was mostly my fault for figuring this out the day before gun season. lol


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