Homemade Sausage Making

I process a fair amount of game and try to be sure I don't pick up any bullets along the way but it happens from time to time. I've learned bullets will destroy a $300 set of meat cuber blades in just a second. I learned this about 10 years ago and since then I haven't had any issues till last week when grinder made some terrifying noises which sounded like the transmission was about to go. Ended up being a bullet. I knew something had gone wrong previously because the mince wasn't coming out properly. Then the noise started and then there was a Big Bang as the blade broke in two. I still wasn't positive what had done this but I had my suspicions it was a bullet but was unable to find any sign of one in the mince.

Obviously I hadn't been thorough enough because today I was slicing sausage for packaging when I the knife hit something hard and there it was - the bullet. Glad the knife found it and not a tooth.

Butterbean wrote: ↑

Thu Nov 26, 2020 21:22

Glad the knife found it and not a tooth.

But then once in a while we have no ther options, and just have to bite the bullet.

Yeah, that's a revelation that something as big as that managed to find its way into the sausage. When I used to make sausage with Canada goose breasts, I'd spend a lot of time looking for pellets in the meat and once in a while my grinder would stutter and I'd find it. But then on the rare occasion one would sneak through and I'd find it in the finished sausage. I cringed at the possibility that one of my friends would bite into one and break a tooth.

How big a plate were you using that the bullet went right through? I have had my grinder just come to a grinding halt on a 300 Win Mag all copper Barnes bullet.

I guess it's time to invest in a metal detector! I'm glad ya found it.

redzed wrote: ↑

Fri Nov 27, 2020 07:19

But then once in a while we have no ther options, and just have to bite the bullet.

fatboyz wrote: ↑

Fri Nov 27, 2020 20:24

How big a plate were you using that the bullet went right through? I have had my grinder just come to a grinding halt on a 300 Win Mag all copper Barnes bullet.

3/16" plate but I don't think it actually made it through the plate. I think what happened was when I removed the plate to find the broken blade I pulled some mince out of the throat with the broken blade and all this fell in the bucket. My attention was on studying the blade to be sure all of its metal was not in the mince and this is where I think the bullet found its way into the lug and was later stuffed.

Next time I hear what sounds like the transmission tearing apart in the grinder I'll know its a bullet.

Ah, that makes sense. In the shop I worked at before it burnt down they had a very large grinder and processed a lot of wild game from trim people brought in. We often found bullets and bits of bone in the grissley meat between the plate and wrapped around the blade.