Blowing down the barrel?

[Voyageur]

Roundball and especially Big John...

I'm impressed by your credentials they are no more impressive than my own. And it's nice that you are into threatening folks about what you believe is correct.

Buttttttt... the question was: Just who blew out his brains while blowing down the muzzle of a muzzle loading barrel?

Please don't quote any more Commandments at me, please don't reiterate your beliefs... just tell me (and Fred, I believe): JUST WHO BLEW OUT HIS BRAINS WHILE BLOWING DOWN THE MUZZLE OF A MUZZLE LOADING BARREL?

 

NMLRA,NRA and many shoots that I hold don't allow it. I specifically announce at my shoots that is not to be done, otherwise the culprit will have to surgically remove a size 13 steel-toed work boot from his a++. I'm also an NRA/NMLRA Instructor.

It seems good manners and gentlemanly decorum has fallen to the wayside. :shocked2:

 

[tnlonghunter]

voyageur,
I know I'm not either of the people you asked that question of, so I may be in the wrong here, but....

I have heard plenty of "horror" stories used to make a point. Many have been told from the guy who knew a guy who saw a guy etc. It may be as likely that this story was an adaptation of an actual event, or an outright invention, used to colorfully illustrate the point about not putting your head in line with the muzzle.

If there really was an unfortunate person that this happened to, I don't want to be disrespectful. I'm just saying that it is an extreme enough (and stastitically improbable I'd think) an event that it may not have actually happened.

 

[Voyageur]

It seems good manners and gentlemanly decorum has fallen to the wayside.

Yup... we're all going to have to be careful here. After that notification by ol' Claude, it's plain he intends to come down like Thor's hammer on any thread that gets out of control.

 

[Voyageur]

voyageur,
I know I'm not either of the people you asked that question of, so I may be in the wrong here, but....

I have heard plenty of "horror" stories used to make a point. Many have been told from the guy who knew a guy who saw a guy etc. It may be as likely that this story was an adaptation of an actual event, or an outright invention, used to colorfully illustrate the point about not putting your head in line with the muzzle.

If there really was an unfortunate person that this happened to, I don't want to be disrespectful. I'm just saying that it is an extreme enough (and stastitically improbable I'd think) an event that it may not have actually happened.

You may well be correct tnlonghunter. I doubt that it has ever been documented.

Now... as to whether or not someone has blown his head off by getting in front of a ML barrel... I'd say the chances were pretty good. But what I am speaking to here is the women and men who hunted buffalo on horse back and the soldiers or besieged-by-indians men and women who were forced to charge the firearm, spit a ball out of their mouths (unpatched) into the bore AND SHOOT FAST!

I can well imagine this happening with flintlocks as twice (2) I've had fellas standing next to me set off a flintlock without priming in the pan. A real shock to everyone concerned.

But it is difficult to imagine that someone has touched off his ML and not known that it did not fire... especially since I can find no documentation of such a happening.

There is something else to consider as well. Times change with regard as to how ineffectual folks are or how much common sense they lack. This is not necessarily a truth but it makes for some good court cases with just about everyone trying to get free money. Like one fella said here: If you can't tell if your firearm went off then maybe you have more problems than just being shot by blowing down the muzzle of your rifle.

There are a lot of organizations with letters instead of names who I regard as being a problem to society. ACLU springs to mind but they are helped out quite a bit by OSHA.

 

[roundball]

Roundball and especially Big John...

Buttttttt... the question was: Just who blew out his brains while blowing down the muzzle of a muzzle loading barrel?

Please don't quote any more Commandments at me, please don't reiterate your beliefs... just tell me (and Fred, I believe): JUST WHO BLEW OUT HIS BRAINS WHILE BLOWING DOWN THE MUZZLE OF A MUZZLE LOADING BARREL?

Well, I have to tell you that you're allegations are incorrect...I made no posting about sombody who had blown their head off.
:blah:

 

[sse]

I've tried it a few times, but I didn't like it and I didn't inhale... :shake:

Regards, sse

 

[Voyageur]

Personally I'm a chicken and I know I make enough mistakes as it is, so unless I've just finished cleaning a barrel in a bucket of steaming hot soapy water, I personally won't intentionally allow situations, however remote, where I might somehow blow my own head off.

Hmmmmmm...

 

[roundball]

Uhmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

Read it closely and compare it to your allegation.
:v

 

[Voyageur]

Read it closely and compare it to your allegation.

Uh-oh, I've hooked into a trial lawyer.

I think it's been prooved (in court) that ANYTHING is possible. But I believe you've insinuated the possibility... which must mean that it HAS happened. If it hasn't happened then it isn't an issue... is it? Or is the court definition enough to make it an issue?

I think someone (can't remember who) mentioned a cannon having an ember that blew some guy apart. I don't think he was blowing down the barrel... unless it was a pretty small bored cannon. Now THAT seems like a good case for trying to get rid of the embers.

 

[roundball]

Based upon Claude's rules for this site, I'm deciding that I won't stay involved in a thread with someone obviously bent on provoking controversy.

I posted my personal opinion about this topic in response to a question and took no issue with you about what you may or may not do. If you don't like my opinions, I urge you to skip my posts, or put me on your ignore list.

Now that you've hijacked this thread away from it's central theme, if the rest of us are lucky, a moderator will lock it as is often the case when games like this are played.

Have a nice day...

 

[Voyageur]

I didn't 'hijack' anything roundball. This thread is about blowing down a barrel and some of the fellas were made to think they were really unsafe individuals because of something they've always done.

My questions still stands for anyone who comes along. IS THERE AN EXAMPLE OF SOMEONE SHOOTING THEMSELVES IN THE HEAD WHILE BLOWINING DOWN THE BARREL OF A MUZZLELOADER?

If not, then the whole concept is no more of a safety issue than being careful when you load. I personally do not think that a thread should be closed because a question is asked that others cannot answer.

I'm not into controversy... I simply want folks to justify their statements when their statements are so strongly made.

 

[chuck-ia]

Well, I am guilty of blowing down the barrel after a shot. I can see no harm in doing so. I do it to make sure the vent is open, and maybe to blow any fowling out the vent. I would not recommend it though, lets face it, there are a lot of people out there who might not know if the gun had just fired, I don't claim to be the sharpest tool in the shed, but I do know if my gun had fired or not, and what to do if it didn't, and the first thing is not to blow down the barrel, second is keep the gun pointed down range. I can see both sides of this though. Example, we had a fun shoot a couple years ago, I think there were 8 of us, anyway, this friend had a miss fire, (percussion gun) he immediatley blew down the barrel, (I about fell over) luckily the gun did not go off. Now, this guy is not an idiot, actually a very smart fellow, just wasn't thinking clearly at the moment. Sooo, maybe if you are gonna blow down the barrel a blow tube wouldn't be such a bad idea. flinch

 

I'm thinking it's an often repeated american myth?
I dismiss it as such. Whenever this topic comes up the "woman handing off a misfired rifle to her husband" story is drawn like a proverbial gun.

 

[Voyageur]

Cooner54... I believe there may be more than a kernel of truth in what you say.

flinch... that was a strange incident. Working around metal working and wood working power tools like I do... I know that a fella really has to keep focused. When I start thinking of something else or when someone comes into my shop... I shut off everything and walk away from the equipment. I've never hurt myself but I did have an incident many years ago that colored my outlook to this day.

A fella was standing behind my lathe watching me custom turn barrel threads. I shut off the machine to answer a question and while we stood there I saw him casually flip a lever around so that it locked. It was the lock for the taper attachment and I couldn't believe he did that without even pausing in his conversation. I escorted him out of the back portion of the shop and turned off the light. We finished the conversation out where I did retail sales. I learned a lesson.

 

[TexiKan]

the question was: Just who blew out his brains while blowing down the muzzle of a muzzle loading barrel?

Please don't quote any more Commandments at me, please don't reiterate your beliefs... just tell me (and Fred, I believe): JUST WHO BLEW OUT HIS BRAINS WHILE BLOWING DOWN THE MUZZLE OF A MUZZLE LOADING BARREL?

Yes! Inquiring minds want to know! I continued to hear of this incident but it has never been documented with date, place and name. Until it can be proven, it fits in the ranks of "old wives tales, urban legends, etc."

If a tragic situation occurred that prompted the NMLRA rule change, then it should be well documented. So far, the question has remaind unanswered.

TexiKan

 

[tg]

"The point is, it's not the "same question" to the person asking it"

Actually Claude it was more the answers than the questions that I to be less than interesting.

 

After Civil War battles many rifles were found with multiple charges. The soldiers thought the gun had discharged when just the primer popped off.

Stumpkiller, I believe this to be a false interpretation of events. I believe that, in cases of multiple loading, the soldier, in a state of panic, just kept loading and never shouldered or touched the trigger of the gun. There are documented reports of people being confronted by a grizzly and emptying the mags of thier rifles in panic without fireing a shot.

One woman had a missfire and handed the gun to her husband to clear. He thought she had fired and blew into the barrrel in preparation of reloading it for her. She watched him die when it turned out to be a hangfire.

When and were did this happen and what were their names?.

Cody

 

[Voyageur]

flinch, Cooner54, TexiKan, tg, Cody, et. al...

Thanks guys, I'm simply trying to nail down the source. I am quite taken aback at how extreme the reactions are when this topic is asked to justify itself.

I've read of the numerous accidents when folks try to pull their loaded firearms out of wherever they've stored them. I've seen it stated that this was the most common form of firearms accident when pioneers were crossing the plains.

I have a recorded a journal entry of one fella doing this on a trade expedition around 1810 and, believe it or not, two years ago a fella did it locally with a highpower rifle.

Like I said before... I've been next to fellas twice when they discharged flintlocks which were loaded but had no priming in the pan.

I think it was in old Buckskin Report where I read a confession of one gent who set off a powder horn while loading his firearm. I've never had it happen myself although, like you all, I use a powder measure.

The unique thing about this particular thread is that so many are made to think that it is a totally unsafe procedure which many of us have practiced for years (in my case 40). I'm just as willing as the next to admit I was wrong and that I need to change... if someone will demonstrate that this is a problem that has plagued the ML users.

In the many historical journals I've read in the course of historical research, I just don't recall anyone bringing up this issue. The practice cannot be a recent practice since they've had breathing tubes for Scheutzen matches since before the turn of the century. The practice of using a tube appears to have been due to the long delay between shots when 50 & 100 shot strings took most of the day. When the delay was long enough, they seemed to have used a special 'brush' which included rubber washers to push the fouling out.

So the concept of keeping the fouling soft was not unknown but I can find no reference as to when EXACTLY the concept of 'hardened fouling' affecting the loading process was first addressed.

I think the first time I really noticed it was in using 'spit patches' in a shoot. Maybe the chemical makeup of saliva just hardens fouling faster when the chemical change takes place at the time of ignition. I sure wouldn't mind seeing the results of someone doing a professional study on it.

 

[Runner]

The reference to the cannon cooking off was me. They were doing a battle simulation and the guy was ramming the powder I think. He had both hands on the rammer and was standing sideways when the gun went off. Luckily, he was not standing directly in front of the rammer, but to the side hanging on to it. It did not look pleasant at all, but he lived. That one was caught live on video, so there is no denying that it happened.
I have heard the stories of how someone died blowing down a barrel in various forms for years. No one that I know ever witnessed such an event. I know of no historic reference to such an event. I think this is just another one of those rules that someone with no life of their own to look after made up so they could look after other peoples lives. I treat is as such.