A close call and a lesson learned (just not sure what it is)

[Setter Man]

So Sunday I am working Tess and we really get into the grouse. At one point I pulled the trigger and heard a click. I opened the gun and found my right barrel had an empty shell. Assuming I had not opened the gun after the previous shot I pulled the empty and dropped in another shell. We were on the way back to the truck and no more birds were flushed.

Got back to the house and broke apart the gun to clean. Pushed the cleaning rod through and - there was an obstruction. After really pushing out popped a wad and 7/8 oz of #7.5 shot from the Spread-R load I had been shooting. I guess the primer had in fact fired but it only moved the load about 8" down the barrel. Thank god I did not pull the trigger on the next load - needless to say, it would not have been pretty for me or the 20 ga DHE.

So, what did I learn? Well, never assume that I forgot to remove a spent hull, especially on an ejector gun; always check the barrels for an obstruction and.... I am not sure what else.

This is more than a little un-nerving for me. In my life I have fired thousands of rounds and never had this happen. Do I let the fellows at Spread-R know about the "dud"? What would you do?

Thanks,

JDG.