I am cursed. There is no 2 ways to say it. I have somehow pissed off the gods of local shooting (minor deities) and they have decided that I will not do good at my local IDPA matches.

At the match today, as usual not too fast, but damn it I was being accurate and not one single penalty of any kind. No-Shoots dancing all over the place in swingers ? Keep dancing, you ain’t getting hit. Trick covers? I’ll twist like a Cirque du Solei performer, but no SO will call cover on me. I was on fire! Then, on the third stage, I got a squib that I did not hear or feel. The worst case scenario. I was lucky enough that the bullet moved just far enough that even though it allowed the case to eject, it placed the gun out of battery and I could shoot no more.

I didn’t even caught that the gun was out of battery. I just automatically went to failure drills (Tap, Rack, Bang & changing mags) till a buddy screamed loud enough that I had a squib and my gun was disabled. I unloaded and cleared my gun while the Safety Officer asked me if I was calling a DNF (Did not Finish). I asked him to let me check the gun first to make sure what was wrong before I made any decision.  After quickly taking the gun apart, we all saw the bullet lodged in the barrel. As usual among Gun people, several shooters jumped and announced that they had rods & mallets and whatever I might need to get the bullet out. I realized that having to go uprange with a disassembled gun in my hands was not smart so I holstered the frame and placed the slide, barrel and recoil spring in my vest pocket. In retrospect I should have gone uprange with a safe and assembled weapon first and then do the taking apart, but feces happen.

The ammo I use is my personal reloads. It is loaded hot trying to replicate the defensive ammo I carry everyday. I use a Lee Single Stage so I am very careful and constantly do visual checks. The buddies removed the bullet and we noticed a clump of what appeared to be half burned propellant on the base of the bullet. The only thing I can imagine is that something fell in the case after throwing the charge and right before placing the bullet aqnd it gunked the burning.  I have no idea how many thousands of rounds I have reloaded without any problem and this is a first for me. Oh well, no damage to the gun so I am happy.

Next I decided to go to the Safe Table (No ammo manipulation allowed!) to re-assemble my gun and get back to shooting. I stick my left hand in the vest pocket and in one powerful grab take all the parts in there: The slide, the recoil spring… and a motherbleeping partially used magazine that I had in the gun when the malfunction occurred.

DQ.

Now, should I take two chickens for the sacrifice or do I just go ahead with a full size turkey to be on the safe side?