Yesterday I showed off my 35/40 sporter to a friend and his son. I had taken it out about a month ago looking for pigs during a full moon. When I brought it in I had left the loaded round in the chamber and safety on. All was good as I opened the side gate and poured out the 3 rounds in the magazine. Took the safety off and opened the bolt and ejected the loaded round, no issues. Here is were things went wrong. I seem to remember pulling the trigger and letting the firing pin down on the empty chamber. I was going to show how the magazine worked and loaded the 4 rounds in the magazine with the bolt closed. Opening the bolt with my friend looking over the shoulder, the first cartridge popped up like normal, I was paying attention to the cartridge feeding while closing the bolt, smooth like it was supposed to be, then bang as the bolt finished closing! The noise of an unexpected accidental discharge in a house is incredible!

Here is where I would advise doing something different that what I did, I wanted to find out why right now! After emptying the magazine and confirming the chamber was clear I cycled the bolt a couple of times< adrenaline kept me from feeling all that was happening. Felt normal each time. My friend pointed out the firing pin was not cocked a couple of those cycles. Intermittent failure, Argh! I cycled it a couple more times and yeah sometimes the pin was in the fired position and sometimes in the cocked position.
Later I tried a couple more times and I think the trigger was fully forward when the bolt closed with the firing pin down. Not 100% sure as I was still rattled. Now the failure will not repeat! I know it is not fixed and it will happen again if not addressed. In email with Butlersrangers and Whig a couple of possible causes were mentioned. I will ask them to hold those thoughts till others get to tell if they have had something similar happen with a cause and repair.