doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Freak event on a dove field

I am still trying to figure out what happened opening day, Saturday before last, on the dove field. I mentioned the event briefly in another post, but can't seem to get it out of my mind.

I was shooting a new to me Verona 30" O/U .410 with two fixed full choke barrels. I had previously patterned the gun with 2 1/2" loads to look at the point of impact of both barrels, as it seemed to be stocked a bit high for me. The patterns at 30 yards were what I expected for full chokes, and regulation was good. So, I bought a few boxes of Remington 3" loads, 7 1/2s at 1135 fps and took it to the dove field that Saturday afternoon. I was working towards my limit of 15 pretty well when a dove came from right to left, almost a 90 degree crosser, well within my range. I swung and shot, and immediately noticed a small object in the air off to the right side of the dove, and watched as they both hit the ground. Wondering what it was, I never took my eyes off it until I reached the bird. To my amazement I was looking at the dove's head laying on the ground some 5 ft. from it's obviously lifeless decapitated body. Upon closer examination, the dove's body was not excessively shot up, nor it's head. They were just completely separated from each other. I went back to my stool, sat down and began to wonder what had just occurred. I got back up and stepped off the distance from my stand to the spot it fell, calculating a distance from gun to bird in the air of 23 yards. Understand, I clearly saw the dove's head leave it's body upon impact of the payload.

I am very blessed to have taken many thousands of doves in my lifetime, here and abroad, but have never witnessed anything like this. I have taken 39 doves with that little gun so far this season. None of them were mangled or damaged due to too tight a pattern or too close a distance, though some were taken at distances as close as 15 yards.

What do you think happened? Is it possible for a load to stay in a wad for that distance and impact like a slug, due to some aberration in the loading procedure? These were new shells, never exposed to water or any other weather extreme. It sounded and felt like every other load I have shot out of those four boxes I bought. The hull looked just like all the others with no difference detectable in the hull mouth.

What do my brothers in arms think?

Clueless In The Country, SRH

Bridged shot? I understand that is usually an issue with larger shot, but is it more likely to happen with 7.5s in a smaller bore like a .410, where that shot size is proportionally larger to the bore than in a 12 gauge?

Hope you ate it quick - otherwise, it might become Ichabod Dove, and will return headless to haunt you every dove season

I don't understand that term, as used in this application, Doverham. I am accustomed to shot bridging in the drop tube on my .410 loader, but could that cause it to stay together, in a clump, for 23 yards?

SRH

I once shot a quail and found the wad in the bird,do you think it's possible the wad itself hit the neck?
Mike

Several years ago, on a bobwhite hunt, my shooting student Joe Wood shot a quail and my first impression was that he had somehow put two wads into his reload. But almost immediately I realized he had shot the head off of that bob. It was a close shot, maybe fifteen yards. My best guess was and is that he had hit the head with the wad. But that seems an unlikely explanation for your dove since he was shot at thirty yards. For what its worth.

How would we know Stan? You are the only one on here that CAN shoot a dove in the neck at 23 yards in full flight. I'm just pleased when one falls at all...Geo

I recall reading about shot being "pressure welded" together into a clump while traveling down the barrel, presumably because they bridged across the bore, maybe due to some interference from the wad or crimp. One issue is that these clumps can travel well beyond the normal shotdrop zones and cause injuries.

Ruag


Perhaps it could have happened when the shells were made. I would think it would only take 2-3 fused 7.5s to decapitate a dove.

And a single pellet might be enough to do the job - at 25 yards, a 7.5 pellet shot at 1295 fps retains over 2 fpe. If properly placed (a task you are clearly capable of ), I would think that could be enough energy to do the trick. I shot a preserve cock pheasant in the neck a few years ago and nearly decapitated it.

I'll go with the simplest explanation, "Shit Happens".

I concur with the fusing theory.

Several years ago 'we' shot a guy hunting quail.

Two of us fired at the same going away bird.

There was a small wooded area at about a 45 degree angle from where the bird was.

The path to the bird was clear and open, and nobody was in sight when we fired.

Out from the woods, bleeding from the cheek and mildly annoyed, walks Jerry.

X-ray shows a figure 8 shaped piece of shot between his ear and eye, and he carries it to this day because the doctor fishing around in there for it exceeded Jerry's patience limit.

A freaky, and scary event.

So, shot does pressure weld and fly off in strange directions. I don't discount the shot clump theory in the case of the dove.

I have read that lead shot, when we used to use it on ducks, could fuse if the shell took on water and wet the shot to the point that it dried and oxidized. That does not explain this, however. Never heard of shot fusing together otherwise. I hope someone comes along with some good evidence of this. My poor brain is tired of trying to figure this out.

The dove, other than being headless, looked perfectly intact. Even the head was intact. I wish I had dressed it separately, but it got cleaned along with the other 308 that we took that afternoon.

SRH