With many decades of shooting muzzle loading shotguns ,rifles and pistols I have come across several accidents . Some are unusual and some are the shooters neglect the two unusual ones were in the 1960s .
The first was a double barrels 12 bore repro by Pedesoli which had a weak mainspring ,the caps were brass Italian caps which needed a good strong hit for the fultimate to explode ,although the gun did not belong to me a shooting friend at a shoot was having this trouble he called me over to take a look , he then pulled the hammer back to half cock removed the cap which had left the fulitimate caked onto the nipple top , he then began using his finger nail to remove the fulitimate from the nipple ,this was enough to ignite firing the gun lucky the gun was pointing in a safe direction , this is the only time I have seen this happen
The second was a Belgian repro flintlock musket the lock was poor it needed some fine tuning and the main spring was weak against the frizzen spring which on firing caused flint particles from the flint to fall into the pan with a no fire . Pulling the cock back to half cock I re primed the pan I then closed the frizzen and the gun went off ,the only explanation I could think of was that there was flint pieces lodged between the frizzen and the barrel which caused the spark .If I now get a misfire with a flint I now brush out the pan and re prime.
The last two are down to neglect the first was a exploding powder flask caused by loading from the flask which happened to me which exploded above my head and left me burnt down my right hand side. see image
The second was a burst barrel which belonged to a fellow shooter caused by a obstructing in the bore. The obstruction was using a less than 1.1/6 over shot card wad was which on been rammed home ,the ramrod had by passed the wad which was left on the bore wall, on firing the wad opened up causing a obstructing which burst the barrel , lucky no one was hurt See image
Caution is always needed when shooting muzzle loaders even to shooters like myself who have been shooting for years has it can still happen to you
Feltwad
The remains of the flask that exploded
The first was a double barrels 12 bore repro by Pedesoli which had a weak mainspring ,the caps were brass Italian caps which needed a good strong hit for the fultimate to explode ,although the gun did not belong to me a shooting friend at a shoot was having this trouble he called me over to take a look , he then pulled the hammer back to half cock removed the cap which had left the fulitimate caked onto the nipple top , he then began using his finger nail to remove the fulitimate from the nipple ,this was enough to ignite firing the gun lucky the gun was pointing in a safe direction , this is the only time I have seen this happen
The second was a Belgian repro flintlock musket the lock was poor it needed some fine tuning and the main spring was weak against the frizzen spring which on firing caused flint particles from the flint to fall into the pan with a no fire . Pulling the cock back to half cock I re primed the pan I then closed the frizzen and the gun went off ,the only explanation I could think of was that there was flint pieces lodged between the frizzen and the barrel which caused the spark .If I now get a misfire with a flint I now brush out the pan and re prime.
The last two are down to neglect the first was a exploding powder flask caused by loading from the flask which happened to me which exploded above my head and left me burnt down my right hand side. see image
The second was a burst barrel which belonged to a fellow shooter caused by a obstructing in the bore. The obstruction was using a less than 1.1/6 over shot card wad was which on been rammed home ,the ramrod had by passed the wad which was left on the bore wall, on firing the wad opened up causing a obstructing which burst the barrel , lucky no one was hurt See image
Caution is always needed when shooting muzzle loaders even to shooters like myself who have been shooting for years has it can still happen to you
Feltwad
The remains of the flask that exploded