Last time I had my 12 inch 44 mag Encore out for the day I spent most of my time on stand. Hung it in its holster all day and waited for something to happen, which never did.
Packed it up and when I got home, unloaded it, wiped down the exterior and put it in its zipper case.
Got it out to clean it last night and when I opened it to verify it was unloaded I looked down the barrel and saw THE BLOCKAGE!
Was having a hard time deciding what it was so I pushed a rod through it and out jumped a very mad spider. Black furry thing with a red dot on it. He/she went running as it hit the ground and I jumped pretty good myself. After the inevitable capture and flush, I decided the only way that spider could have holed up in my barrel was to gotten in there that day in the cedar blind. Probably would have starved to death as no meals were coming that way.
I always try to visually inspect an Encore barrel before loading just in case. This time it paid off.
I doubt if would have exploded the barrel but if it was completely blocked by the sticky spider web over time, who knows?
Just thought this was interesting and might save someone in an extreme case.
Anyone else have a similar experience?
Mike
