Yesterday at the trap range, my wife's shotgun (SPR 453) went off when she was closing the action. Fortunately, it was pointed in a safe direction and she just hit the grass in front of the firing line.

Now, at first I didn't believe that her gun just "went off". I don't believe in the tooth fairy, and I don't believe in accidental discharges.

But on looking over the gun, I found the following things:

1) It did not cycle after the shot.

2) The leading edge of the shell (where the crimping is) was torn.

3) There was some scaring on the front edge of the ejection port.

4) My wife closes the action on her shotgun by using her left hand to hold the foregrip and her right hand to hit the button on the side of the body. Her hand is not big enough to be anywhere near the trigger when doing this.

5) The action on the gun cocks the hammer when the bolt is only a 1/2 inch back. The bolt moves 3 1/2 inches.

She was shooting factory Federal 12 gauge shells with 7 1/2 shot. Based on what I saw, I'm guessing that the primer was not properly seated and the shell went off when she released the bolt and the bolt struck the back of the shell. A small amount of shot went out the ejection port and scared the leading edge. The fact that some of the energy from the shot went out the ejection port meant there was not enough energy left to cycle the gun.

Has anyone ever heard of this happening or is my theory bunk?