Well.... recently I've been on the lookout for a used shotgun that would fit my wife for shooting some clays. A friend of hers mentioned that there was a pawn shop nearby with a couple doubles at reasonable prices, so off we went. They had 2 doubles, a highly engraved one that looked too pricey and another Plain Jane model that looked about right. I asked the lady behind the counter to hand me Jane, I shouldered it a time or two and handed it to my wife, who thumbed the release and opened her up. She then closed the action, shouldered it, and proclaimed that it fit good. I then took it back and thumbed the release to check the bore and see how tight the action was.
Here is where all hell breaks loose:
All in one horrifying moment, the action opens, the forearm comes off in my hand and the barrel flies off in a slow motion loop-the-loop to land breech face down on the concrete floor six feet in front of me. I'm standing there with the stock in one hand, the forearm in the other and a "What the hell just happened?" look all over my face. The lady behind the counter could have passed for my twin in that second as she too had that same look plastered all over hers. I was still speechless when she managed to stammer "Well, I hope you can get that back together again."
Upon closer inspection, the forearm latch was broken and everything fell just right for the dern thing to explode into its major components as soon as I thumbed that release. Needless to say, I put that thing back together, wiped the concrete dust off the now scarred breech, handed it back to her, and made as graceful an exit as possible without actually running.
That's one pawn shop this bearded wonder will never show his face in again. :mrgreen:
Ian
