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?

First off - I'm glad to hear that no one was hurt. And Kudos to your wife for safe gun handling. Accidental Discharges (ADs) are scary anytime. But just to be safe, I would call Remington and tell them what happened. Or you may have an authorized Rem gunsmith in your area take a look at the shotgun.

Well put.

We can theorize all day long, but without having it in front of me thats all I can do is shoot in the dark at it.

I cannot exactly figure out how shot ended up coming out of the ejection port though? In order for shot to have come out the ejection port, the shell would of had to have been fired when it was not in the chamber. The only way for that to have happened would of been if the gun was locked open and the shell went off before she shut the action. And in that case.. she probably would of lost her hand or at least been burned. Typically though, shells that cook off not in the chamber don't fire like they do inside the chamber. Its more like a firecracker and the heat from the burning powder is usually more dangerous than the shot. I've seen one get cooked off on a buffing wheel (trying to remove rust... bad idea) and I hit one at the hunt club with a lawn mower just right and it went off. Most of the shot and the wad didn't even leave the shell... most of it blew out the side.. but you could tell it had blown.

Anyhow... thats the only part I cannot figure out.

that's right....anytime accidental discharge.....hopefully gun safety was being executed and pointing in a correct direction....

That's the kind of stuff that shouldn't happen, and should never accidentally hit something or someone.....so glad to hear nothign happened.

Anytime I see something unsafe I make a point of it, sometiems guys are like "whattt?" its just not acceptable to not practice safety....

Thank God your wife had the muzzle in a safe attitude. I would absolutely not mess with the gun until it was checked by a professional, that's just me though. If a professional clears the gun as safe then I would believe the primer therory.

I am glad to hear you wife,or anyone else,did not get hurt out of this. I know AD's are a scary thing. I had one once. I was with my cousin after he got back from MCRD San Diego and we were burning up some ammo cause he said he wanted to.(the Marines teach them to love shooting anything) We were shooting my SKS and my Mauser m48. I was shooting the sks from a standing position and pulled the trigger and it went "click". So I counted to 5 and lowered the rifle and saw that the bolt was not fully closed and gave the charging handle a push and BANG. For those who do not know a sks has a free moving firing pin so when I pulled the trigger the the firing pin was down with the hammer was keeping it there. So when I gave the handle a push I manually pushed the firing pin into the primer. Besides feeling stupid,a sore thumb from the charging handle recoiling my thumb backwards the way it's not supposed to go, and a good scare and that was it. I should have made sure the bolt was fully closed beforehand but I had never had it not go into full battery before after releasing the charging handle. And as you all know hindsight is always 20\20 and I learned my lesson never to do that again.

Am I correct in thinking the bolt did not lock in place when she closed the action and the gun went off. SOunds like the action wasn't locked... I would be calling Remingtons 800 number and requesting that gun be exchanged for an 1100 or an 11/87. 3 things could have happened 1. bolt picked up the shell and the firing pin was partially protruding and when it slammed shut it went off. 2. The gun does not lock properly and the shell went off when the bolt slammed shut. The bolt on any semi-auto has to be fully forward for the hammer to hit and set off the charge. 3. the ammo was defective and the primer was not fully seated but I think a misfire would have happened and not this.

I took the shotgun to two gunsmiths today. Both had the same opinion. (The first sent me to the second to confirm.)

Slam fire.

The shotgun was set up to fire 3½ shells from the factory. My wife was shooting 2 3/4 light loads. The main spring was at a VERY heavy setting, and the firing pin spring is very light. When the bolt slammed shut, the firing pin still had inertia that its light spring could not resist and it kept travelling forward, detonating the primer.

Fortunately, the solution is easy. As the Spartan 453 has an adjustable gas system, I simply decreased the tension on the spring.