I talked to Archie very shortly after Ed got hurt. Kinda shook me too as I was in gunsmithing school at the time. As I remember the story, they got a Remington 11-48 in for repair. Being a recoil operated firearm, Ed pushed down on the end of the barrel to operate the action instead of grasping the outside. Apparently the firing pin was jammed forward and as the gun went into battery it fired. Ed's hand and forearm were in the way. I don't want to knock Ed as even the most experienced of us make mistakes, but Ed made 2 that day. He used a live cartridge to check and pushed on the muzzle with the heel of his hand to operate the action. From what Archie said much later, I think it almost directly related to the end of their partnership. It's too complicated to go into here, and Ed never gave me much of his side of it so I won't speculate any further.