This is a hard post for me to write but I'm doing so in hopes of sharing an experience that someone else might learn from. It's a story about as close as I've ever come to a serious accident with a shotgun. No one was hurt but even thinking about it still gives me the willies.
Recently, a friend and his wife expressed an interest in learning about shotguns. We went through a brief safety drill at my home and went to a local skeet range where took over an idle field and started to shoot low targets from station 7.
We had two of my 12 gauges with us -- an over/under and a semi automatic. Because my friend's wife had expressed a concern about recoil, I borrowed a 20-gauge over/under from another friend for her to try. I only own 12 gauge.
After they had shot their fill, I decided to shoot a bird or two with the semi. I fired a couple of rounds but on the third bird, the gun went click. Racking open the action, I quickly checked the chamber, saw it was empty and was about to drop a 12 gauge shell into the chamber when the alarm bells went off. With the action open, I inverted the gun and holding the muzzle in a safe direction, gently tapped the butt against the skeet pad. Out popped a 20-gauge shell that had lodged in deep in the forcing cone.
At the time, my wife and two good friends were standing within 6 feet of me. I shudder to think what might have happened if I hadn't remembered about the risk of a 12/20 burst and had instead dropped that 12 gauge shell into the chamber and fired. Simply checking the chamber wasn't enough. I needed to see daylight coming through the other end and didn't.
After a few minutes to compose myself, I fired the gun a couple more times and then packed up and we left.
It was a lesson I'll never forget. Always look for daylight coming through the barrel and be extra cautious when shooting a 20 and a 12.
Paul
Recently, a friend and his wife expressed an interest in learning about shotguns. We went through a brief safety drill at my home and went to a local skeet range where took over an idle field and started to shoot low targets from station 7.
We had two of my 12 gauges with us -- an over/under and a semi automatic. Because my friend's wife had expressed a concern about recoil, I borrowed a 20-gauge over/under from another friend for her to try. I only own 12 gauge.
After they had shot their fill, I decided to shoot a bird or two with the semi. I fired a couple of rounds but on the third bird, the gun went click. Racking open the action, I quickly checked the chamber, saw it was empty and was about to drop a 12 gauge shell into the chamber when the alarm bells went off. With the action open, I inverted the gun and holding the muzzle in a safe direction, gently tapped the butt against the skeet pad. Out popped a 20-gauge shell that had lodged in deep in the forcing cone.
At the time, my wife and two good friends were standing within 6 feet of me. I shudder to think what might have happened if I hadn't remembered about the risk of a 12/20 burst and had instead dropped that 12 gauge shell into the chamber and fired. Simply checking the chamber wasn't enough. I needed to see daylight coming through the other end and didn't.
After a few minutes to compose myself, I fired the gun a couple more times and then packed up and we left.
It was a lesson I'll never forget. Always look for daylight coming through the barrel and be extra cautious when shooting a 20 and a 12.
Paul