Danger of rapid firing?

[tenngun]

Didn't someone just post a 500 yard gong shot with a long rifle?

Yes shooting a conical. A world of difference from a round ball. The .451 whitworth sniper rifle can well compare to target guns today at eight hundred yards. But that’s the end of ml era

 

[vintovka]

Now were back to the "kiss of death" lips from blowing down fired barrel before reloading. This was "learned" behavior from watching all the other ML trap shooters do it. Never saw an accident when loading and never saw rifle or pistol shooters do it. Also never forgot wife's reaction after i came home from first match.

 

[oldhunter1954]

I there, I have a Blunderbuss, and as many know one of the hall mark feature is the flared muzzle for easier loading on a stage coach or navy ship that is in motion. As a fun activity I wanted to fire and load it as if I were in a stressful encounter that the blunderbuss was made to be used in. I have made quite a few paper cartridges to fire and thinking about testing how quickly I can fire in a one minute period but then I stopped and realized there might be an inherent danger to loading more powder down the bore so soon after a previous shot. Is there any chances that the heat from a previous shot, or possibly an ember from the paper could ignite any powder and I lose a finger or worse?

Anyone have experience with rapid reload and the do and don'ts?

Nice. I don't see many people with a Blunderbuss. Did you build it or ? I built mine from parts from several companies. I have a 75 caliber with a 14 inch barrel. I have never tried to load fast. I have used lead shot and also a 75 caliber round balls.

 

[Osseon]

Nice. I don't see many people with a Blunderbuss. Did you build it or ? I built mine from parts from several companies. I have a 75 caliber with a 14 inch barrel. I have never tried to load fast. I have used lead shot and also a 75 caliber round balls.

Got mine from veteran arms, the "french blunderbuss". InRangeTV recommended it, and I thought it would be a good starter black powder gun. I wish the trigger was better and the hammer was a bit softer but otherwise it seems pretty good compared to other guns I've seen. It's no kibler or custom.

 

[cebusey]

I believe some of it, like a Ranger hitting a Mexican at 100 yards with a Walker. Totally possible, I've hit silhouette targets at 100 with a Walker, no problem. But then there were claims that the Walker hits with "the same or more knockdown power as the .54 Rifle" which is an exaggeration.

Some of the stories like California Joe Head hitting a Confederate sharpshooter at 2000 yards with a scoped Sharps may be a little exaggerated. Like maybe each person who told the tale added some distance to it before it was written in someone's journal or a letter.

The story about the Union Sharpshooter who fired some rainbow like magic bullet into a Confederate camp at a "bunch of men he could just barely see" that were getting water from a stream and later found out he hit one of them at "a distance exceeding 3000 yards" , again it was probably 800 yards, a lucky pot shot and it just became 1000s of yards when the story was told later and put in a letter home and retold in a tavern somewhere "my cousin Johnny hits Rebs at 3000 yards with his Springfield musket."

Modern vets do the same thing, I do the same thing, you add some "gas" to a colorful story when you have 8 beers and 3 shots in you at a bar talking to other vets about something that happened years prior and then the story gets retold on Facebook, and become a fact ….. 30 second long firefights become 30 minutes, explosions get bigger, actions become more heroic, I can totally relate to all of the Civil War soldiers "gassing up" stories in their excitement to retell the tale of a 3000 yard shot that was really 300, but in your mind you swear you were shooting at a mile.

I have a union officers diary that talks about being held in reserve some 800 yards away from the closest fighting and had his best friend killed by a shot to the head while they were talking. He doubted that it was an aimed shot but it really discouraged him as they thought they were safe from fire at the moment

 

[Stantheman86]

I have a union officers diary that talks about being held in reserve some 800 yards away from the closest fighting and had his best friend killed by a shot to the head while they were talking. He doubted that it was an aimed shot but it really discouraged him as they thought they were safe from fire at the moment

Most likely just a stray bullet from a volley fire, half these guys just pointed and pulled and the bullets just went wherever.

I knew a guy in NJ that found a shotgun slug hole in his garage door and the nearest hunting area was a long way off.....some idiot probably had buck fever and fired at a deer on a Ridge line , and the slug just blooped 1000 yards down into a development, hitting the guys house.

 

[Osseon]

Most likely just a stray bullet from a volley fire, half these guys just pointed and pulled and the bullets just went wherever.

I knew a guy in NJ that found a shotgun slug hole in his garage door and the nearest hunting area was a long way off.....some idiot probably had buck fever and fired at a deer on a Ridge line , and the slug just blooped 1000 yards down into a development, hitting the guys house.

There has been some research done and there is a theory that a lot of soldiers in history didn't really want to kill and a lot would aim slightly lower or higher than the presented target, or simply fire in the general direction. The irony if some civil war soldier didn't want to kill someone and threw his shot and ended up nailing a guy 800 yards away.

 

[Stantheman86]

There has been some research done and there is a theory that a lot of soldiers in history didn't really want to kill and a lot would aim slightly lower or higher than the presented target, or simply fire in the general direction. The irony if some civil war soldier didn't want to kill someone and threw his shot and ended up nailing a guy 800 yards away.

That is ironic , young 16 year old soldier wangs one way high so he can fire his weapon but not have to kill, ends up killing a guy 800 yards away and never knows it

This is deeply covered in the book "On Combat" and "On Killing", also in "myths and reality of the Rifled Musket" that young, inexperienced soldiers would just aim high and cap the round off so they didn't have to kill anyone and just hope that other guys did the killing, but usually after a hot engagement or three they learned they had to try to kill to have a chance to survive

Also about how skilled Match Shooters did not always make good Snipers, because you had to have the heart to aim at, fire at and intentionally kill men and not everyone is made for that. Firing in ranks at massed men is "easier" psychologically.

Basically the Snipers were men who were able to hunt other men with the sole objective to kill them.

 

[Steve Martin]

I also prefer to take my time shooting my flintlocks, that's part of the relaxation as far as I'm concerned. To paraphrase a famous fictional character "muzzleloaders - a more elegant weapon, for a more elegant time".

 

[vintovka]

That is ironic , young 16 year old soldier wangs one way high so he can fire his weapon but not have to kill, ends up killing a guy 800 yards away and never knows it

This is deeply covered in the book "On Combat" and "On Killing", also in "myths and reality of the Rifled Musket" that young, inexperienced soldiers would just aim high and cap the round off so they didn't have to kill anyone and just hope that other guys did the killing, but usually after a hot engagement or three they learned they had to try to kill to have a chance to survive

Also about how skilled Match Shooters did not always make good Snipers, because you had to have the heart to aim at, fire at and intentionally kill men and not everyone is made for that. Firing in ranks at massed men is "easier" psychologically.

Basically the Snipers were men who were able to hunt other men with the sole objective to kill them.

UUH being sh-tless with the order to fire at muzzleflashes in the elephant grass made it easy for most of us.

 

[beyu]

Soldiers Back in The Day did many things that we would never do — like priming the pan BEFORE pouring the rest of the powder down the bore — AND pouring the powder from a horn.

I have seen videos showing the rapid fire technique of priming FIRST and then pouring powder down a hot bore and spitting the ball in after it, without any cook-offs. So it CAN be done, but WHY would you want to take the risk?

The old-timers did it because they were in danger of being killed by an enemy. The only danger we are in is being careless or just foolish.

 

[tenngun]

Yup, you may die from loading fast, vs you will die if you don’t.

 

[Auldjin]

My father was called in by the police as an expert when a young girl complained of a stomach pain while at a funfair. When she was taken home and undressed, a .303 (sorry!) bullet dropped out from under her skin. My father identified it a having been fired from a rifle rather than an aircraft. Investigations found a rifle range about a mile away had had an accidental discharge (at the appropriate time) which went over the top of the wall. They had asked around locally and assumed it had landed harmlessly. So no real harm done but it could have been a tragedy.

 

[toot]

I do know personally of one local circumstance of a man's "speed loading" mishap. He was pouring from the horn, and it did explode, he lost part of his little finger.
Truth.

WOW! only a finger?

 

[toot]

Didn't someone just post a 500 yard gong shot with a long rifle?

wasn't there a recorded shot that killed an INDIAN at a mile away, in an INDIAN battle?

 

[toot]

Nice. I don't see many people with a Blunderbuss. Did you build it or ? I built mine from parts from several companies. I have a 75 caliber with a 14 inch barrel. I have never tried to load fast. I have used lead shot and also a 75 caliber round balls.

what is the band on the end of the barrel? is it a heat wrap, or does it restrain the barely to the stock? just courious? I like it, thanks for posting it!

 

[jfaldo]

wasn't there a recorded shot that killed an INDIAN at a mile away, in an INDIAN battle?

If you're referring to the Billy Dixon shot it was somewhat short of a mile, was done with a Sharps cartridge rifle, and has been hotly debated ever since it supposedly happened in 1874.

 

[flntlokr]

My father was called in by the police as an expert when a young girl complained of a stomach pain while at a funfair. When she was taken home and undressed, a .303 (sorry!) bullet dropped out from under her skin. My father identified it a having been fired from a rifle rather than an aircraft. Investigations found a rifle range about a mile away had had an accidental discharge (at the appropriate time) which went over the top of the wall. They had asked around locally and assumed it had landed harmlessly. So no real harm done but it could have been a tragedy.

My ex father -in-law got hit by a spent .30? bullet while he was fishing in a local lake. It just bounced off his jacket and fell to the deck. He never heard any shot. It was hunting season, so the guess is that someone a mile or more away took an horizon shot, and missed whatever they shot at.

 

[vintovka]

Anyone read "hatchers notebook"? Good experiments. I like the one about an unmentionable rapid fire device being fired straight up on a boat in the middle of a lake to see what happens when bullets fall. Think helper had a phone book on his head!!!

 

[Crow-Feather]

I have emptied a 50 round cartridge box of Pritchetts or Minie cartridges one after the other, the barrel gets too hot to touch but I've never had a flash off.

Yet