Fifty seconds saved by tired mind

[Mack Hacker, #60477]

Shooting the last stage at the SW Regionals, this Cattle Baron Duelist had a senior moment and was not sure how many had been loaded in the rifle.  I decided to empty the tube and reload, just to be sure.  The action locked up on the very first cycle of the lever with a “”short round on the carrier” as the obvious problem.   I cleared the jam and continued to cycle the rest of the rounds and, much to my surprise, got two more lockup’s. I then ruled out ammo problems and put the ten rounds in my wife’s rifle where they functioned flawlessly.  In the shop this morning I took the attached photo showing a classic cracked loading gate tab.  
 

Best mechanical failure I ever had. Broken tab on left   Tab from wife’s rifle shown back to back for comparison