i'm a little embarrassed to admit some of the dumb things i do, especially when i know in advance it was stupid. one of the last hogs i shot on the edge of the corn ran in after he was hit. i thought he'd be laying there just a few rows in, so i went after him... with the gun that had been jamming all night... with a hand that just had a finger bitten off and hammered back in. i went in all the way to the first pivot tire rut, which is too far. so yea, at the minimum i need my gun to work.
that reminds me of a similar hunt last year with a pof in 6.5 creedmoor. i was sighting in a friends atn mars 6x. got a pretty good shot on a hog with it, but he made it into VERY tall grass. i knew better than to go after him, but i really wanted him and he should have been dead. i entered the grassy corridor with pistol and flashlight. he growled when i got close, and the top of the 8 foot grass disappeared from the skyline as it gave way to his charge. fortunately it was so thick, he had a hard time getting through in his condition, and i was able to retreat back to the truck.
i felt the creedmoor was enough firepower, so i held the flashlight against the hand guard and let the barrel lead the way back in. i still couldn't see him when he charged, so i started firing in the direction of the snarls. after a few shots the flashlight somehow shut off, and i lost my footing, stumbling to the ground in darkness.
i kept my bearings from the moonlight and kept firing where the grass was slapping the ground under his pounding hoofs. the whole magazine emptied flawlessly in a few seconds. i don’t have the words to describe how i felt lying silently on the ground with an empty weapon, straining to hear if an agonizing death was still headed my way.
anyway... i've got a hot tip for clearing up the jam and i'm very hopeful. so much so that i may just go right into battle without testing it. ok that would be stupid, but what else is new.