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Black powder gun going off while loading

v35v35 Member Posts: 12,710 ✭✭✭
edited December 2007 in Black Powder and Cowboy Action Shooting
Has anyone any knowledge of this ever happening while charging a BP rifle, pistol or shotgun?
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Comments

  • oldgunneroldgunner Member Posts: 2,466 ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    Not likely, and just barely conceivable. I suppose a spark could possibly hang around in the barrel from a prior shot and cause it.
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  • v35v35 Member Posts: 12,710 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    Me either but some ranges require preloads with no loading directly from a flask.
    I can imagine a potential problem with the use of paper cartridges but not otherwise.
    It would be interesting to find out if this is an urban legend.
    There was some video a few years back of a cannon rammer getting seriously injured during a N-S skirmish but their powder is in a bag
    that can leave cinders.
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  • OdawgpOdawgp Member Posts: 5,380 ✭✭
    edited November -1
    i have an acquittance that doesn't have any eyebrows, he said it was due to a MZ going off in his face while reloading.

    was reloading his flintlock rifle and shooting patched roundballs he said that there must have been an ember left behind by the patch and when he dumped the powder in POOF no more eyebrows.
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  • Hawk CarseHawk Carse Member Posts: 4,381 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    There have been injuries and maybe fatalities from muzzleloading cannon going off during reloading; a hot ember left in the barrel that was not sponged adequately.
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  • v35v35 Member Posts: 12,710 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    I have excess eyebrows anyway but seriously, that accident would happen using either preloads or from a measure or a flask.
    My concern is about the possibility of the flask going off during charging of a shotgun.
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  • TalentedTalented Member Posts: 805 ✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    Check this out [:)]
    http://www.ctmuzzleloaders.com/ctml_experiments/sparks/sparks.html
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  • OdawgpOdawgp Member Posts: 5,380 ✭✭
    edited November -1
    quote:Originally posted by v35
    I have excess eyebrows anyway but seriously, that accident would happen using either preloads or from a measure or a flask.
    My concern is about the possibility of the flask going off during charging of a shotgun.




    I believe it's possible, Just how possible percentage wise?
    I do not know, I would dare say that the chances of it killing you, are less than your chances of being killed in a car crash today.
    Is it something to worry about? only if you don't have any eyebrows to burn off.[:o)][:I]
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  • oldgunneroldgunner Member Posts: 2,466 ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    I just checked out Talented's link, and the "ohm's law" theory he(author) uses makes sense to an old electronics man like me, but since the author suggests it would require something with a current level approaching lightning to set off the powder, how does it occur in a MZ? Is he saying a spark from a piece of flint causes a current flow equivilent to a lightning strike? I don't doubt his results, but where's the rest of the story? [:D]
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  • TalentedTalented Member Posts: 805 ✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    Well i think the light from a flint consists of burning partikels
    Flints basically being a termitecomposition from nature itselfe
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  • oldgunneroldgunner Member Posts: 2,466 ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    Maybe that could explain it.
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  • SCOUT5SCOUT5 Member Posts: 16,181 ✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    The situation you ask about is much more likely with black powder than with the new substitutes like pyrodex or 777. Over tamping black powder can set it off, I'm told. Flint lock users know the dangers of mistaking flash pan powder with load powder. Does anyone remember fiberglass ram rods and why they are a thing of the past? The fiberglass could, and did a few times, cause a static spark and set some loads off. I was told this but admit I never seen actual documentation, but then I haven't looked. I've never had a load go off while reloading but I don't let the barrel point at me either, I might lose a hand, but not my head.

    Scout
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  • allen griggsallen griggs Member Posts: 35,609 ✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    A fiberglass ramrod could cause sparks and cause the load to go off while tamping with the ramrod?
    Yikes!
    That could be rough on the hand as well as the eyebrows. Get a ramrod and a bullet through the hand.
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  • sniper762sniper762 Member Posts: 25 ✭✭
    edited November -1
    fiberglass ramrod cannot produce sparks to ignite charge. putting your mouth over the muzzle and blowing down the muzzle after each shot will insure that no sparks are left in the bore to ignite powder when reloading. this is a common practice of reinacters and blck powder competition shooters.

    good shooting

    dean
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  • joelHjoelH Member Posts: 42 ✭✭
    edited November -1
    Blowing down a barrel is highly frowned upon and will get you expelled from the range where I shoot. The reason fiber glass ramrods are not used anymore is that they are very abraisive and will wear out the rifling in your barrel. It is not particles from the flint that makes the igniting spark in a flintlock gun, it is micro metal shavings that are glowing hot from the frizzon steel. Sorry to come out of the woodwork sounding like a "know it all" but I just had to quell all these false rumours!! Fear created from un-truths can give this subject a bad rap!
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  • Underdog2264Underdog2264 Member Posts: 164 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    As for powder going off while loading, I have a friend who is minus part of a thumb and 60% of the sight in his right eye from loading his rifle, and have seen two other accidents over the past 20+ years involving the same. My friends was due to over packing and a ferrous metal ramrod. The others I am not sure of, but ALL were due to UNSAFE PRACTICES in loading or handling. I always keep in mind the old adage, never point a gun at anything you don't intend to destroy. I think too many of us forget that also holds true for loading. The trip I took to the ER with my friend 18 years ago was enough for me.
    Can it happen? maybe, I always assume it will. I don't wish to scare anyone away from BP shooting. MHO it is the greatest shooting sport there is. And if you fallow safe loading, handling rules you will have no worries.
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