Had an older hunter stop by my camp yesterday after his morning hunt, as his Browning BAR wouldn't eject his live round. The bolt would only go back about 2/3 of the way. He didn't want to fire it, because he thought it might damage the action. After a few minutes of tinkering, I held the bolt back, felt around in the bolt recess at the rear of the action with my finger, and felt something move. I turned the rifle upside down in the sunlight and saw a gold glint back there. Somehow, he got a live 30-06 round behind the bolt. I didn't know this was even possible.
Best I can figure, a round got loose from the top of the mag while the mag was partly ejected. As he pointed the rifle up and pulled back the bolt handle to chamber a round, the loose shell slipped its way back under the mechanism before the next live round in the mag was stripped forward by the bolt. He said he was short one shell when he went to unload after his hunt, and this was when he noticed the bolt wouldn't fully retract.
The fella has owned that BAR since 1976, and has always loaded it in a similar manner, but there's apparently a first time for everything. I'm just glad he didn't see a buck on that hunt, or he might have ruined his rifle. On a similar note, I had an electrician come by a few minutes later to see why some of my lights were dead in the camp and the breaker wouldn't stay on. Had a bad short in the wall that he said really could have burned the place down. Overall, I'd say the Lord was watching out for us yesterday.
