I found a couple stories on some forums and i thought I'd share with you all on how important it is that you Pay Attention & do Not get Distracted while shooting & Especially Loading your Muzzle loader.
I was shooting alongside my son Jesse, and one of our neighbors, Bill, was coaching Jesse. I had one ear on what Bill was saying, and less than half my focus on what I was doing. I loaded powder and started the ball, and completely forgot to push the ball all the way down with the loading rod. In hindsight, I had no doubts, no niggling thought to check my gun if I wasn't sure of the load. Nothing. Nothing, that is, until the gun went off with the strangest sound. It didn't dawn on me that something was wrong until the smoke cleared, and the muzzle didn't look right.
I was talking to a friend of mine this morning, who tried all kinds of things to get a barrel to ring. Using firecracker fuse, of course, he said he short started balls, but could NOT get the barrel to ring. He said the best way he found to get a bulge in the barrel was this method:
Load powder, ram the patched ball down the bore, seat firmly on the powder.
THEN...short start a ball in the muzzle. This makes a nice bulge in the barrel.
Now, it dawned on me as I had no recollection of short starting, it is also entirely possible I had already pushed a ball down onto the powder, and THEN short started another ball.
Either way, the main ingredient is distraction, balanced by a great big portion of luck. I am glad to be here to tell you about it, and even happier that I am not paying hospital visits to a hurt son or neighbor. Amen.
First time I ever had this happen, and hopefully the last. You might think 'this couldn't happen to me', and I must admit, I never entertained this happening to ME, with MY gun. However, this weekend changed all that.
Most of all, it's FOCUS. If you are distracted, ANYTHING can happen. I have forgotten powder about five or six times in my shooting life. OK, so you pull the ball and start over. Or the vent is full of sludge.
But something like this is not only damaging to the gun, someone could have been hurt or killed if things had gone differently. I count myself as the luckiest man in the world.
The short starter I use puts the ball just at the front sight dovetail. The dovetail makes the barrel weak at this spot. In one way, this gave the barrel a definite place to relieve the pressure. Had I a longer starter, the barrel may have only bulged, but not split? Or could it have blown sideways, and shrapnel hit my neighboring shooter? I shudder to think of what COULD have happened.
In the early '80's at a weekend shoot we had a stake cut where teams shot off a 2 x 4 between marks - quickest cut won. After about a minute of thunderous fire, there was an explosion to the line's extreme right,
and my buddy Shane was standing holding just the butt stock of his "Taylor Made" Hawken. No one was injured there either - thank the Lord. The day's shooting came to an immediate end. When the shock had worn off a little, we determined that Shane had double balled his rifle over 100 grains of FFg. and the second ball had hydraulically risen off the first ball, during the speed of loading, causing an obstruction about a foot from the breech. I do not think that either ball exited the muzzle, but left through the horrendous split, as there still are patch fragments in the torn steel at the muzzle end of the split. This is a GRRW .54 cal x 1" barrel.
I post this just to reinforce Tom's point. I am much relieved that everyone is ok. And I know that this will serve as a wake up call to us all.
Please take these Incidents to heart and every time you go out shooting, Remember this and do your best to keep this from happening. Including, Slowing down and visually and mentally seeing what you are doing.
"First time I ever had this happen, and hopefully the last. You might think 'this couldn't happen to me', and I must admit, I never entertained this happening to ME, with MY gun. However, this weekend changed all that."
I was shooting alongside my son Jesse, and one of our neighbors, Bill, was coaching Jesse. I had one ear on what Bill was saying, and less than half my focus on what I was doing. I loaded powder and started the ball, and completely forgot to push the ball all the way down with the loading rod. In hindsight, I had no doubts, no niggling thought to check my gun if I wasn't sure of the load. Nothing. Nothing, that is, until the gun went off with the strangest sound. It didn't dawn on me that something was wrong until the smoke cleared, and the muzzle didn't look right.
I was talking to a friend of mine this morning, who tried all kinds of things to get a barrel to ring. Using firecracker fuse, of course, he said he short started balls, but could NOT get the barrel to ring. He said the best way he found to get a bulge in the barrel was this method:
Load powder, ram the patched ball down the bore, seat firmly on the powder.
THEN...short start a ball in the muzzle. This makes a nice bulge in the barrel.
Now, it dawned on me as I had no recollection of short starting, it is also entirely possible I had already pushed a ball down onto the powder, and THEN short started another ball.
Either way, the main ingredient is distraction, balanced by a great big portion of luck. I am glad to be here to tell you about it, and even happier that I am not paying hospital visits to a hurt son or neighbor. Amen.
First time I ever had this happen, and hopefully the last. You might think 'this couldn't happen to me', and I must admit, I never entertained this happening to ME, with MY gun. However, this weekend changed all that.
"I have been shooting Muzzle loaders for about forty years, so experience has nothing to do with this. It's focus on the job at hand that matters for the safety of yourself and others. When someone says safety, I feel like I'm right on that bandwagon, touting safe handling, safe procedure, etc. But this event made me take a step back and re-assess my thinking. This kind of thing can happen to ANYONE, no matter how, young old, or experienced if you don't pay attention to what you're doing."
Most of all, it's FOCUS. If you are distracted, ANYTHING can happen. I have forgotten powder about five or six times in my shooting life. OK, so you pull the ball and start over. Or the vent is full of sludge.
But something like this is not only damaging to the gun, someone could have been hurt or killed if things had gone differently. I count myself as the luckiest man in the world.
The short starter I use puts the ball just at the front sight dovetail. The dovetail makes the barrel weak at this spot. In one way, this gave the barrel a definite place to relieve the pressure. Had I a longer starter, the barrel may have only bulged, but not split? Or could it have blown sideways, and shrapnel hit my neighboring shooter? I shudder to think of what COULD have happened.
.54 swamped, with about .05 wall thickness at the dovetail. Shooting 70 gr FFG. .535 ball The shsort starter placed the ball RIGHT at the dovetail. You can see the bulge right at the dovetail. I think the split probably started at the thinnest point, and tore fore and aft from there.
Front sight stuck into the rafters above the firing line. It gives me the chills to think what MIGHT have happened. If reading this helps someone else pay a little more attention on the line, then this lesson has not been wasted. Don't talk to others while loading or shooting. If you feel distracted or unable to concentrate, take a break. Your safety and that of others is at stake.
I feel like the luckiest man in the world. I learned a terrible lesson at a very low price. I don't give a damn about the gun, I can get a new barrel. But I can't replace someone's eye.
Another Story from a person at a shooting Competition posted this. Here's the details and the story...
I am witness to a catastrophic barrel failure which I think was caused by the same demon...distraction.
In the early '80's at a weekend shoot we had a stake cut where teams shot off a 2 x 4 between marks - quickest cut won. After about a minute of thunderous fire, there was an explosion to the line's extreme right,
and my buddy Shane was standing holding just the butt stock of his "Taylor Made" Hawken. No one was injured there either - thank the Lord. The day's shooting came to an immediate end. When the shock had worn off a little, we determined that Shane had double balled his rifle over 100 grains of FFg. and the second ball had hydraulically risen off the first ball, during the speed of loading, causing an obstruction about a foot from the breech. I do not think that either ball exited the muzzle, but left through the horrendous split, as there still are patch fragments in the torn steel at the muzzle end of the split. This is a GRRW .54 cal x 1" barrel.I post this just to reinforce Tom's point. I am much relieved that everyone is ok. And I know that this will serve as a wake up call to us all.
NOTE----- Both of these rifles were of high quality. The owners of these rifles failed to keep a clear mind and caused this them self. Its not a product error or material failure, But an OWNER failure. They didn't do this on purpose, but they let their guard down and these incidents happened. Thankfully No One was hurt from these two incidents!
Please take these Incidents to heart and every time you go out shooting, Remember this and do your best to keep this from happening. Including, Slowing down and visually and mentally seeing what you are doing.
4 comments:
Holy !@#$
I am glad you are ok. It is so vitally important to pay attention especially shooting black powder.
I can certainly relate to that as last fall I was sighting in my CVA Wolf with a buddy and not paying attention I loaded my gun but forgot to pull out the ramrod.
Long story short, I WAS LUCKY!. The gun was not damaged at all, I have no idea where the ramrod went and I ended up with a small bump from the scope kicking back.
Hard lessons learned for both of us.
During blackpowder season, I missed a nice buck at fairly close range. Later that day I decided to see if the scope could be off. I went to a friend's and set up a target, proceeded to load my rifle and discovered I couldn't push the ram rod down to the mark I had made on it. I then realized I had double loaded it, it was still loaded from the morning hunt. Luckily I discovered this before firing. We broke two ramrods trying to clear the barrel and finally had to drill it out. A person must really pay attention when using firearms. Glad you were not hurt!
just to clear some things up. These are NOT my rifles!! I found these stories on a forum and thought it to be important to show everyone what can happen if you forget to do the most important thing.. Set the projectile!
Excellent,thank you.
http://woodsrunnersdiary.blogspot.com/
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