Smokeless powder safety - warning graphic content (hand injury)

I stumbled across this. I am offering no commentary, simply sharing it for informational purposes.

http://seanlinnane.blogspot.ca/2010/...er-muzzle.html

I never got involved with black powder. A friend of mine lost three fingers reloading his Hawken M/L. He fired one shot,poured the powder down the barrel,put the wad and ball on the muzzle,started to ram the bullet down and BANG! Two fingers on his right hand blew off immediately and the MD's removed what was left of the third. Every once in a while I feel like getting into it,then,I go and have a snooze until the feeling goes away.

That didn't go off while loading. The person used a volumetric measure for smokeless powder and probably thought the grain weight and volume where the same. That is what I get from the story. OUCH!

The individual is very lucky that there wasn’t more damage to his hand.
Of course he didn’t read the manual carefully and wasn’t even remotely knowledgeable about smokeless muzzle loading. In order to produce that kind of rupture would require over 120,000psi to exceed the tensile strength of the barrel. I’m almost willing to bet he didn’t even use a recommended powder to achieve that kind of result.
Smokeless muzzle loading is safe if you learned the required amount to do it safely.
Just like driving a vehicle it can be safe or deadly depending what you do from what you have or haven’t learned.


Ed

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Originally Posted by trimmer21

I never got involved with black powder. A friend of mine lost three fingers reloading his Hawken M/L. He fired one shot,poured the powder down the barrel,put the wad and ball on the muzzle,started to ram the bullet down and BANG! Two fingers on his right hand blew off immediately and the MD's removed what was left of the third. Every once in a while I feel like getting into it,then,I go and have a snooze until the feeling goes away.

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Wow! That's got to be a one in a million occurrence!

I've been shooting black powder for over 50 years without any kind of mishap or injury. Most of my friends have also been shooting muzzle loaders for many years with no problems.

Shooting black powder is so much fun - I don't think you should deny yourself the opportunity to experience such a great sport just because of one extremely rare accident.

The accident may have occurred because of a spark (maybe from a bit of smoldering patch) remaining in the barrel. This unlikely occurrence can be alleviated by running a damp patch down the barrel before reloading.

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Originally Posted by GoldenLakePete

Wow! That's got to be a one in a million occurrence!

I've been shooting black powder for over 50 years without any kind of mishap or injury. Most of my friends have also been shooting muzzle loaders for many years with no problems.

Shooting black powder is so much fun - I don't think you should deny yourself the opportunity to experience such a great sport just because of one extremely rare accident.

The accident may have occurred because of a spark (maybe from a bit of smoldering patch) remaining in the barrel. This unlikely occurrence can be alleviated by running a damp patch down the barrel before reloading.

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True, Pete. Every book I ever read on muzzleloading recommends (and I do it religiously) that after firing a shot, run a damp patch down the bore to ensure there are no embers. It also makes the next ball easier to seat.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by GoldenLakePete

Wow! That's got to be a one in a million occurrence!

I've been shooting black powder for over 50 years without any kind of mishap or injury. Most of my friends have also been shooting muzzle loaders for many years with no problems.

Shooting black powder is so much fun - I don't think you should deny yourself the opportunity to experience such a great sport just because of one extremely rare accident.

The accident may have occurred because of a spark (maybe from a bit of smoldering patch) remaining in the barrel. This unlikely occurrence can be alleviated by running a damp patch down the barrel before reloading.

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Thanks for the info,Pete and KC. I know my luck. I learned along time ago about me and Murphy's Law. Sometimes,I couldn't get lucky in a cat house with a fist full of fifties.

Man that is just nasty...

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Originally Posted by trimmer21

Thanks for the info,Pete and KC. I know my luck. I learned along time ago about me and Murphy's Law. Sometimes,I couldn't get lucky in a cat house with a fist full of fifties.

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I'm in the same club as you.. I really want a smoke pole some day.. But.. If there's a hole and I'm walking in a field I'll find it.. Was walking down a frozen river with my buddy a few weeks ago, I found the soft spot.. He was less than three feet from me.. He stayed dry.. I got wet..

Quote:

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Originally Posted by GoldenLakePete

Wow! That's got to be a one in a million occurrence!

I've been shooting black powder for over 50 years without any kind of mishap or injury. Most of my friends have also been shooting muzzle loaders for many years with no problems.

Shooting black powder is so much fun - I don't think you should deny yourself the opportunity to experience such a great sport just because of one extremely rare accident.

The accident may have occurred because of a spark (maybe from a bit of smoldering patch) remaining in the barrel. This unlikely occurrence can be alleviated by running a damp patch down the barrel before reloading.

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Quote:

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Originally Posted by Kilo Charlie

True, Pete. Every book I ever read on muzzleloading recommends (and I do it religiously) that after firing a shot, run a damp patch down the bore to ensure there are no embers. It also makes the next ball easier to seat.

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I am a new traditional MLer. I have never given thought to this. Thank you for the heads up gentlemen. Pete, you mention in your post that this unlikely occurrence can be alleviated by running a damp patch down the barrel before reloading. Do you follow this practice personally as well?