Dangerous Situation

[Rifleman1776]

'stuff' happens. Glad you were not hurt. BTW, 85 gr. in that musket is more than is necessary for most things but not a dangerous load. FWIW, fixed measures are easy to make. Antler tips are generally throw away scrap but can easily be made into a measure.

 

[Will]

Sure glad I ran across this topic. I just checked my new powder measure like the OP's. Sure enough, mine was loose also and about ready to come off. I need to go buy some loctite now. I just used it only twice since I bought it and when I went to check what the OP was telling us about, I noticed the other end was somehow missing. So it has unscrewed itself also. Now I am paranoid and there is nothing worse then a person with OCD and paranoia.

 

[Dave Markowitz]

I was using a similar measure yesterday and had the same thing happen to me. I was able to get the screw back in and fixed it permanently with thread locker this morning. I have a second measure of the same type and it, too was loose, so that one got a couple drops of Loctite as well.

Thanks, OP.

 

[SgtMaj65]

Been using same powder measure for years, but I'm a little OCD so I always check mine, and it gets loose. Mine is a WHOLE lot dirtier than that.

 

[bud in pa]

Once I have the load I want I use a 3/8 diameter drill and put it in my brass measure and wrap some masking tape around it at the top of the measure. I then drill whatever am going to use for my measure until the tape touches the top. I fill it with powder and then dump the powder back into the brass adjustable measure and adjust the solid measure until it is accurate.

 

[Dale Allen Raby]

First off, if the question to be asked is, "will it blow up" I am not trying it. That said, there are published loads for Titegroup, 45-70, 405 grain bullets. Max loads, IIRC, are 12 grains. [Don't believe me, look it up for yourself.] Period ! Not the whopping 80 they stuffed in that poor ML beast. I have shot many 45-70/405 loads at 10 grains and they are very mild. It is quite safe [Marlin 1895] in that cartridge bc Titegroup is position insensitive. But it still can be a dangerous practice bc of the small charge and the easier possibility of a double charge that would, most likely, be catastrophic. Will I attempt it in any muzzleloader ? Never, no way, no how ! Living with all my parts is still attractive to me.
I think if they really wanted to vaporize that rifle, a real tight double ball over 80 grains of imr 4198 would be interesting. I saw their full barrel BP double ball test and it looks to me like that could go either way depending on the rifle. You guys can try it multiple choice. SW

I guess that I am kinda impressed with the level of abuse a CVA rifle will take without blowing up. I triple charged (as near as I could tell) a CVA pistol once... single shot muzzleloader. I loaded it without a measure "by eye". Yes, sometimes I do stupid things. In any case, the gun fired and really punished me with recoil, but everything held up. God watches over drunks and fools. I admit to being a fool some days.

 

[Juice Jaws]

Guys and Girls,

I'd like to relate an incident that could have been a very dangerous situation. First I'd like to mention that as you can see I am new to muzzleloading and this forum. No excuse. About two weeks ago I found a small shiny round brass button shaped object on my garage floor. It was threaded on the back side. I had no idea what it was but it looked important so I threw it in my gun box. I discovered what it was the next time I shot my musket. Without knowing the button was the internal cap of the square measuring piston of my brass powder measurer. I measured my first load and dropped it and a ball into the barrel. I had a new range rod and marked the depth with a marker. When I shot the musket it kicked like it had never kicked before and let out a tremendous belch of fire and smoke at the muzzle. It kicked so hard it bruised my cheek. Well, come to find out without the cap on the measurer the tube filled up with powder around the square base of the entire piston. Later on I reconstructed the situation and found that I had unintentionally loaded 85 grains instead of the 45 grains that I generally use. Without the cap in place I had loaded about twice my normal charge. The cap had somehow unscrewed itself and fallen out. I know I should have looked into the measurer before I dumped the powder in. I have since re-screwed the cap with a little Loctite to hold it in place. I only report this so that this freak accident doesn't happen to anyone else. And I have notified TOW about the possibility of it happening with another unit, suggesting that they use Loctite also.

Phil

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What are you shooting? If its a rifle 50 cal or bigger 85 grains should be a safe load. More than I like to shoot but far from dangerous.

 

[Ed C.]

What are you shooting? If its a rifle 50 cal or bigger 85 grains should be a safe load. More than I like to shoot but far from dangerous.

I accidentally shot a double load (120 grains) out of my .50 hawken once. A little more recoil, nothing blew up and the gun continues to be a great shooter.

 

[S.Kenton]

It seems I saw a vid on some guys intentionally destroying some ML rifles (safely) and one of the things they did was to brim the barrel with powder and fire it. All it did was blow the unburnt powder out of the barrel.

I remember that video, they also used smokeless powder to try and blow it up.. it seemed like it took quite a bit and finally the barrel bulged and the stock was destroyed. I can’t remember how much though. If I remember right it was a cva Kentucky rifle in percussion.. I could be wrong about that.

 

[Frontier's]

I remember that video, they also used smokeless powder to try and blow it up.. it seemed like it took quite a bit and finally the barrel bulged and the stock was destroyed. I can’t remember how much though. If I remember right it was a cva Kentucky rifle in percussion.. I could be wrong about that.

Right and that cva breech plug and drum held together!

 

[S.Kenton]

Right and that cva breech plug and drum held together!

Honestly I’d have to go back and rewatch the video if I can find it.. but it seems to me that it did.

 

[Ed C.]

Honestly I’d have to go back and rewatch the video if I can find it.. but it seems to me that it did.

This may be what you are referring too. In any case it is a testimony to the resilience of a barrel. And yes the breech plug survived.