Savage Model 74 Accidental Discharge

Happy to find this forum.
Was in my living room last night, in the process of passing my Savage 74 on to a family member and training them how to use it. Pointing it in a safe direction, I set a Federal .22 LR round into the loading position, closed the lever, and the round discharged upon chambering it. I never touched the hammer or the trigger. Unfortunately, the rifle was directed toward my wife's piano. Fortunately, it hit the piano bench at the top of a leg, lodging in the thickest portion of the leg. Lucked out. What would cause this AD? I've never had this happen when shooting it previously. Always a delight to shoot. I haven't retried it since. Only possibilities I can think of are mechanical disorder or extra-sensitive round. What direction do I look for possible resolutions? Thanks in advance.

I'm going to assume the hammer was not set yet and you were just closing the lever raising the block. Other then sensitive round, There might have been a bit of crud holding the round back from seating properly or The firing pin is stuck in the forward fired position rubbing the rim as it passed by. Check firing pin for free travel.

fired round look like a normal hammer strike or rubbed edge?

[QUOTE=fired round look like a normal hammer strike or rubbed edge?[/QUOTE]

Rubbed edge, with a tiny sharp spike on the edge of the rim.

So... has the wife calmed down yet?

Best to always expect the unexpected. Some rifles have been known to fire when activating or deactivating the safety.

I will rarely chamber a live round unless I intend to fire it immediately, and will keep the gun pointed downrange (or in a safe direction) when chambering the round.

Could have been a lot worse.

eBob, I'd like to suggest you clean your chamber very thoroughly as it's possible this was caused by a Carbon Ring slightly blocking the chamber. That could cause the case to stick out a bit more than usual. Alternatively it could be a stuck firing pin. I had an AD with my #60 that blew out the bottom of a case due to the gun firing out of battery. Your luck was that it didn't fire before fully shut.

Live round in the chamber IN THE HOUSE??? Nothing else needs to be said!!! Be DAMN GLAD no one was hurt.

Can't believe he was foolish enough to tell on himself....

I would believe it WAS a learning experience?? At least it would have been for ME. Funerals are running close to $10K now? The loss would be the hardest thing, not the $$$.