My wife's first elk

central iowa couple

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Mar 5, 2015
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142
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.
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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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Nothing like hunting with you wife. What a story. Congrats for her to stay composed after issues with the rifle. That's awesome that you both share hunting experiences.
Jill and I hunt and shoot together. The best part is every time we get her a new firearm, it is like I got one too.
I'll bet the you will clean your bolts and use a good lubricant from now on. I use G-96 on every firearm. I clean take the bolt apart, clean all parts, spray with G-96 & let it set for a while, then I wipe and air blow all parts down and put back together.
 
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
 
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