Blowing down the barrel?

Zonie, a little bit of information IS a dangerous thing. If taught correctly, children know the difference between the occasions when to put a muzzle aiming at your own head and when not to.
How many of you guys own a bore light. You slide the little bugger down the bore then you look right down the bore by putting your eye in front of the muzzle. That's the way I and everybody I know that has a bore light does it. Using your logic, a kid sees his uncle use a bore light on his muzzle loading rifle and then the next day he shows his buddies how this works on a 30-06.....
Come on, anything imaginable CAN happen without proper training. That's the responsibility of adults, train thoroughly about gun safety or lawn mower safety or auto safety or the list goes on.
There are potentially dangerous duties one must perform with any tool. You ever clog a mower with grass. The sign reads"Never put your foot or hand under the bed". So you disconnect the spark plug and clean the bed out. CORRECT procedures minimize the probability of an accident. If you blow down a barrel of YOUR rifle after YOU have shot YOUR rifle there is no danger of blowing your head off. If YOU clean your rifle and insert a bore lite in YOUR rifle, then there is no danger. If YOU load YOUR own rifle with a powder measure and not the full powder horn, YOU are not in danger. I don't understand why anyone continues to have a problem with this procedure.
And with all due respect for the powers that be in the NMLRA. I still think this ruling needs to be re-visited. Simple logic begs for it.
Don

 

[Swampman]

I do it to see if the touch hole is blocked. I don't see it as a big deal. I'm a Safety Professional for 9 hours a day. What I do when I'm off work is my business.

 

[Voyageur]

Although this response is shown to be in reply to Cooner it also includes all the others engaged in this discussion.

I'm really glad to see that this discussion is now leaning towards 'objective' rather than 'emotional' or 'personal'. I've seen a lot of common sense outlooks expressed here recently.

There is just no getting around the fact that almost all of us (if not all of us) have looked down the bores of muzzle loading rifles in the past and we will be looking down the bores in the future as well. Come what may, the youngsters will see us do it and, by example, do so as well. One of the most common unconscious acts is when you've just run the cleaning rod down the bore and you look to see if you can see anything in the first 6 or 8 inches of the bore. You do it so often you don't even think about it. There are times when I've been trying out loads that I look to see if the fouling is black only or has red deposits or green deposits.

Now if the very act of putting your head in line with the bore is unsafe, then you have done so in the past and will do so in the future. It just cannot be that it is safe to look down a bore sometimes and unsafe to look down a bore at another time... (unless the firearm is loaded as in the case of the old Civil War letter.) Either way you've placed you head in alignment with the bore axis.

Whether the more documented dangers of 'embers' vs. 'bore-in-line-with-head' is important seems to be an emotional and personal viewpoint.

Of course, the next objection will be "You cannot tell when the firearm is loaded". All well and good... you can't! If you cannot tell if it's loaded out at the range then you cannot tell if it's loaded in your garage. You just cannot have it both ways and insist that only the rule you've accepted is correct.

It is my opinion that rules made and enforced which undermine the development of common sense make folks unsafe or dangerous.

So why don't we drop this business of 'safe or unsafe' and keep the topic objective.

Some fellas insist that they don't bother to put moisture into the fouling residue and they still maintain their accuracy. Others have said (myself included) that keeping the fouling soft enhances accuracy over a shot string. Some run a wet swab down the bore and some use the moisture generated by their own breath.

In my .32 caliber (which is a small diameter by muzzle loading standards) the softening of the fouling seems to affect it more than my larger calibers (up to .62 caliber). Yes, I do shoot the .32 caliber at the range but it is more fun in the field against the dreaded saber-toothed praire dog.

So maybe some interesting experimentation is in order for each shooter. Perhaps you should find out if it makes a difference between 1st shot and, say, 3rd shot. In the field I doubt whether you will get more than 3 shots on any one game animal situation. Certainly you could stop and take the time to clean if you shoot, miss and the game takes off for parts unknown... while you are planning to continue hunting for the next opportunity.

Again... thanks to all of you who have remained objective about this topic.

 

Actually Crooner, IMO, using Zonie's reasoning, the bore light scenario if far more of a concern that the blowing down the barrel scenario. When a youngster see's someone blow, even a 4 year old will recognize the fact that it is always done imediatly after a shot. When a youngster see's his freinds dad in his den looking directly into the muzzle, he doesn't know that the gun has a light in it and has just been cleaned. he just see's an authority figure looking into the muzzle. Must be the thing to do anytime you want. Those that believe that blowing is a violation of "safety rule #1" wouldn't use a bore light either for the same reason.

Cody

 

[Claude Mathis]

...to Se if it was loaded and Set his foot on the Cock of the gun and Blowed in the muzzle and his foot slipped of the cock and discharged the Gun...

This is how nature gets people like this out of the gene pool.

I wonder if they had Darwin awards back then? :rotf:

 

[Runner]

So, he picked up a gun he did not have control of, stuck the barrel in his mouth to blow so he could see if it was loaded? Has absolutely nothing to do with this discussion at all.

 

[coehornboy]

IS THERE AN EXAMPLE OF SOMEONE SHOOTING THEMSELVES IN THE HEAD WHILE BLOWINING DOWN THE BARREL OF A MUZZLELOADER?

:grin: My post was an answer to the earlier question.

So, he picked up a gun he did not have control of, stuck the barrel in his mouth to blow so he could see if it was loaded? Has absolutely nothing to do with this discussion at all.

Obviously, this thread was started about blowing down the muzzle after shooting, and seems to have "morphed" into an overall view about safety. :hmm: But is this a bad thing?

I offered my post illustrate how one careless moment can cause a tragedy. I would guess that the dead soldier probably had done this many times before with no ill effect, but on this one occasion..(OOPS, maybe I need to start a new thread) :shake:

 

[roundball]

I offered my post illustrate how one careless moment can cause a tragedy.

Thanks for your post...it makes the obvious point about safety and muzzle control...the most basic of all gun safety practices.

Those who practice muzzle control disciplines that are taught by respectable, recognized firearms organizations and instructors 100% of the time will enjoy the rewards of safety from that practice.

However, the "last conscious thought" of those who do not practice that degree of muzzle safety discipline could very well be that they thought they were.

I welcome your pro-safety reference as a good reminder about safety in general...and as a general rule...excluding the occasional perfect human specimen among us of course...history shows when humans stray from discipline and start getting complacent, get in a hurry, get distracted, cut corners, etc...#&#%$ happens.

Not this child...I might die while driving to the range in a head on collision, but it won't be because I was intentionally aiming a muzzle at myself.

:winking:

 

I have stayed out of this shouting match and I am very proud of myself.

My personal belief about the other guy blowing down the muzzle is neutral. I am a firm believer in social Darwinism.

However, when I decided to do some research on this matter I made a simple discovery.

I punched firearms safty rules into a Google search and got 6,400,000 returns on the hit. After scrolling down about the first twenty I came to the realization, near genius that I am, that each of the lists began with one basic prenise:

 

coehornboy, I also appreciate your post. But I must say that the situation sighted is not a good example of what we are discussing here. The soldier in question had pushed and held the hammer back on a primed peice. Everybody here understands how dangerous that is. The thread though, is about blowing down the barrel of an empty freshly fired rifle by the owner of said rifle after he himself has fired said rifle. :winking:
Don

 

Ghost, with all due respect of a fellow member of this illustrious forum, this has not been a "Shouting match". As far as I am concerned anyway.
Roundball, muzzle control is simply not good enough. Total control of your peice is the rule for me. Knowing when it is loaded, you can call it bore control if you like. You should know whether it is primed or not. (Breech control?)
Do I understand you correctly that you NEVER inspect the bore of a muzzleloader with a bore light or in any other instance look down the bore of your rifle? :hmm:
Don

 

 

I have stayed out of this shouting match and I am very proud of myself.

My personal belief about the other guy blowing down the muzzle is neutral. I am a firm believer in social Darwinism.

However, when I decided to do some research on this matter I made a simple discovery.

I punched firearms safty rules into a Google search and got $6,400,000$ returns on the hit. That is six million fourhundred thousand!!!! I used the money signs so you would pay attention.

The first hit was the NRA site and there were many other safty oriented sites run by the firearms mfg.

One nice site was a safty class for obtaining one's concealed carry permit. They said anyone that pointed their gun in an unsafe direction would be ejected from the class, no refund and no permit! Yes, they can do that!!!

After scrolling down about the first twenty I came to the realization, near genius that I am, that each of the lists began with one basic premise:

ALWAYS KEEP THE GUN POINTED IN A SAFE DIRECTION

one site substituted a variation of this rule, which was;

TREAT EVERY FIREARM AS IF IT WERE LOADED (that was Jeff Cooper's site, he always was a renigade)

Pointing a muzzle directly at ones brain stem is not a SAFE DIRECTION, if we follow the premise that every gun is ALWAYS LOADED

If you pick up the phone and tell the operator that you are going to put your gun in your mouth, what will be her response?? The operator will instantly recognise that this is not a normal activity and take appropriate actions.

I'll just sit over here with Roundball and Claude and wait for the accidental discharge, and I'm not volunteering to clean brains off the overhead cover. We just won't use that little section of the range any more.

:rotf: :rotf: :rotf: :rotf: :rotf: :rotf:

 

Enjoy the wait but don't hold your breath. :blah:

 

[Voyageur]

I doubt that we'll ever get answers to our questions Cooner.

Mine was: Exactly who got their brains blown out by blowing down a barrel.

Yours was: Do I understand you correctly that you NEVER inspect the bore of a muzzleloader with a bore light or in any other instance look down the bore of your rifle?

The answer to yours is even more pertinent. If the answer is: "I'm never going to look down the bore of a muzzle loading barrel" it's just not believeable. If the answer is: "Yes, I have looked down the barrel of a muzzle loader and I will in the future" then that person's head is in line with the bore and the issue has been dealt with honestly.

Instead of answering the questions, we'll always get evasions by reieterating what the 4 Commandments of Gun Safety are.

 

Yes sir,.... I believe you're right. Let's give it a little more time. Maybe they're looking it up for us. :winking:

 

[roundball]

Roundball, muzzle control is simply not good enough.

You keep missing the point of this forum.
It is not a perrogative of yours to tell me my opinion, or any of our opinions are wrong.

The Forum encourages you to post YOUR opinion on a forum about how YOU think something should be done and I applaud your right to do it, if you then end it.

But the Forum doesn't encourage you to challenge what I or anyone else believes in doing, comprendez?

So we get it...you're going to aim your muzzle at your head all you want, and blow down your barrel to your heart's content...and I applaud your right to do that.

But it's just wasted bandwidth trying to start a debate with me / us who don't agree to do as you say...sorry, but them's the facts.
:v

 

[robinghewitt]

It is not a perrogative of yours to tell me my opinion, or any of our opinions are wrong.

There are laws to protect us from other people, religion and advice to protect us from ourselves.

Muzzle blowing is okay so long as we keep it to advice and don't start making laws or evangelising :grin:

Even allowing for muzzle loaders being a fairly small percentage of the UK population, I am still far more likely to be killed by my trousers than by barrel blowing.

It is an acceptable risk, like wearing trousers.

 

I was giving my opinion of your opinion just as you, I and everybody else has been doing throughout this thread. Why the sudden change in the attitude? As for being drawn into a debate? That's what we've been doing for three pages now, debating in a gentlemanly fashion. That is, until now. :shocked2: You asked me a question and I responded earlier in this thread, I have asked you a question and all I get is sass. How about answering the question in the same good faith that I answered yours in.
Respectfully submitted,
Don

 

[jim gray]

Even allowing for muzzle loaders being a fairly small percentage of the UK population, I am still far more likely to be killed by my trousers than by barrel blowing.

Blow or don't blow it's your choice, but please wear trousers. :blah: