reminds me of my own "aw h#!!"
had a similar ammo failure about 3/4 of the way through the first IDPA match i shot.
gun was a Ruger P95, I screwed up.
stage was sort of a "house clearing" type set up, went through engaged the required targets with first 10 rounds (don't remember exact course of fire) , reloaded preceeded to next target series, rounds one and two ok,(the next few step happened almost fast enough that the RO didn't catch it in time) third round makes a funny noise but I don't notice difference, empty stovepipes, i rack slide and tip gun to the right to clear the stovepipe, next round fails to fully chamber, rack slide again, THAT round chambers, i go to fire on next target..... RO screams "STOP!!!", i freeze, RO tells me to clear teh weapon, i do so in a slightly fumbling manner (i'd just had an Ex-Drill Instructor scream at me from less than 2 feet away, i was just happy i hadn';t peed my pants), RO takes the gun, look in chamber and hen down bore tells me i have a bullet stuck in teh bore and to clear it.
cleared the stuck bullet and was ready to proceed again after taking a few mins to breathe deep adn shake it off.
please excuse this part i feel i can't tell this story without telling the REST of the story.
now comes the part that truly PISSED me off b/c if not for this i would have finished the match.
i was only 19 at the time so my father was present it being his gun that was being used. unlike me HE is near unnerved by the whole thing. while i'm trying to get ready to go back throught eh stage again he keeps asking if i'm sure i'm all right, etc. etc. tot eh point that he causes me to lose count of the rounds i've loaded into my mags, and i have to strip and reload/count TWICE because he won't shut up so i can concentrate (at that time i didn't have the nerve to tell him i need him to be quiet for a moment). my father grabs the straw that my obvious distraction has provided him adn declares that i'm "obviously too shaken to continue" adn that we're going to pack up and go home!! this was an unfortunate day for the relationship between Dad and me b/c if not for his putting his fears over on me, we might have been able to start enjoying cmpetitive shooting together even if i was the one doing the shooting while he watched. but his actions that day have caused me to pretty much keep him away from any competition that i've done since i turned 21..
and that truly saddens me