Fire Danger?

[Nuthatch]

I'm out here in CA where our woods are either on fire or soon will be. Our hunting season up in the Sierras was effectively cancelled this year due to major fires. Given the damage, I'll be surprised if I'll even be able to get a tag for the next few years.

However, I still have a late season tag for the coastal area to give me one final shot at the season. Typically, it rains just before the season opener and the humidity down in the canyon is usually high enough to prevent me from ever having much of a campfire while I'm there. But this isn't a typical year.

I'm curious how much a risk it is to be shooting off a smoke pole if we don't get some rain before the season opens. I can use a patched ball (ITX here) or a copper conical (Thor). Both shoot very well. The barrel is usually cleaner after shooting the patched ball than the conical, which makes me think it is a better burn & less likely to throw out as many sparks. But the conical doesn't have any patch to potentially smolder on the ground either.

From a fire risk standpoint, is there any reason to choose one or the other? Or is the question just me being stupid by taking a muzzleloader at all if we don't get some rain? Under such dry conditions, would it be wiser to just take the longbow?

 

[Carbon 6]

I'm curious how much a risk it is to be shooting off a smoke pole if we don't get some rain before the season opens

The risk is high. No critter is worth the possible loss of life and property.
Use good judgment and police your area well if you do fire a shot.

P.S. Our sport doesn't need the bad wrap either.

 

[tenngun]

Can you make your owned reasoned decision? That’s what counts. I would say if your the type to pick up a traditional ml, in fact even asking this question is indicative that your pretty responsible.
In over forty five years of shooting ball Ive never had a patch smolder. Well greased patch just isn’t in the barrel long enough to get hot enough to burn.
Sparks from powder could be a problem. But I’ve tried lighting a fire off of muzzle flash and have been unable to do it unless I primed the area. And that’s with the blank loaded muzzle shoved right in to the tinder nest.
That said the WTBS did set the woods on fire at Wilderness. And that was late springtime in humid Virginia.
I don’t live in California so I have no idea about the land except what I saw over thirty years ago. When we have a fire alert here I don’t shoot in the woods. But it’s often too hot anyway.
I Think you will judge the conditions and make the right decision. It never hurts to ere on the side of caution

 

[SDSmlf]

I'm out here in CA where our woods are either on fire or soon will be. Our hunting season up in the Sierras was effectively cancelled this year due to major fires. Given the damage, I'll be surprised if I'll even be able to get a tag for the next few years.

However, I still have a late season tag for the coastal area to give me one final shot at the season. Typically, it rains just before the season opener and the humidity down in the canyon is usually high enough to prevent me from ever having much of a campfire while I'm there. But this isn't a typical year.

I'm curious how much a risk it is to be shooting off a smoke pole if we don't get some rain before the season opens. I can use a patched ball (ITX here) or a copper conical (Thor). Both shoot very well. The barrel is usually cleaner after shooting the patched ball than the conical, which makes me think it is a better burn & less likely to throw out as many sparks. But the conical doesn't have any patch to potentially smolder on the ground either.

From a fire risk standpoint, is there any reason to choose one or the other? Or is the question just me being stupid by taking a muzzleloader at all if we don't get some rain? Under such dry conditions, would it be wiser to just take the longbow?

I have seen patches smolder. Not often, but more than once. That said, in California or any other extremely dry area where starting a fire is a real risk, sounds like the Thor (though not a bullet open for discussion here) would be a good choice, as it shoots well in your gun. And as @tenngun mentioned, be mindful of the sparks from your powder. No one wants to be the ONE that starts a wild fire with their muzzleloader.

 

[Many Klatch]

Shoot your muzzleloader at night, full dark. Observe the shower of sparks. If the woods are dry enough that a spark off a rim of a flat tire can start a fire, you might not want to try it.

 

[Carbon 6]

In over forty five years of shooting ball Ive never had a patch smolder.

I have, in fact I even set leaves on fire in the woods one year during a drought, My eyes got as big as baseballs when I saw it. Never thought it was that big of a deal before that. The next year I started a grass fire with my cannon, that almost got out of control and would have had I not had a good sense about me beforehand.
Things can get out of control very quickly in a drought year, I'm amazed at how fast stuff can burn.
Be safe, don't take anything for granted.

 

[russellshaffer]

I have to go with Carbon on this. I won't shoot my muzzleloaders in the woods during the summer in Eastern Oregon. There is just too much stuff coming out of the muzzle. This is just me, the actual risk of starting anything is probably very low but I do worry.

 

[Carbon 6]

It's not so much a matter of probability as it is, what are you going to do to prevent it and if it happens.

 

[hanshi]

Hunting with a muzzleloader does mean a greater risk as far as fire is concerned. Now I don't recall ever seeing one of patches smolder, but you can bet I watch out for such things. BP shooters are likely the most cautious and prepared for the risks.

 

[Nuthatch]

Good thoughts. Thank you. Sounds like I should keep the longbow ready in case weather doesn't come in.

My question mostly arises out of ignorance of what kind of spark show comes out the barrel. All I ever see is smoke & I've never seen anybody else shooting a muzzleloader at the range -- just on YouTube.

 

[russellshaffer]

I have seen trade guns throw glowing clumps that are clearly visible in daylight. I don't have any idea of how they were loaded. Maybe it was a bunch of wadding??

 

[Walkingeagle]

I have seen it as well. Summer of 2019, in a very dry year at a gathering in the far South of our province. Lots of precautions were in place for the shoot, fire extinguishers everywhere and water with pumps strategically placed. I personally stomped out 3 small fires caused by smouldering patches. As did several other folks. Take extra care and make sure all is good before even heading to recover your game.
Walk

 

[Poguetx]

At muzzleloading shoots we often see patches smolder and have even seen fires start that had to be stomped out. Since this happened on a range with numerous people there to watch, it never got out of control. That said, our range always bans muzzleloaders if the county has a burn ban in effect.

 

[LawrenceA]

I have only ever produced smoldering patches once.
A 14g shotty with a 20g ball and an unlubed double thick flannelette patch. Even then it wasn't common.
But better to be safe than sorry.

 

[Boomerang]

Maybe your back up weapon could be a squirt gun.

 

[renegadehunter]

Here's a multi shot of a caplock going off at dusk. (My avatar pic).
Load was 100 grains of 2f with a hollow base conical, and you can see that some of the powder compacted into the hollow base and was still burning.

 

[fire bear]

I'm one of the people that investigate the origin and cause of wildfires. Muzzleloaders do cause wildfires. We all know that under normal conditions they wont, but the drier it gets the more the risk goes up. While hunting with a muzzleloader it is the 1 hour and 10 hour fuel moisture we have to worry about, anything less than about 30% should be a concern. If you want to know more about Fuel Moisture do a search for: S290 Unit 10 Fuel Moisture

 

[russellshaffer]

I was out this morning in 60 degree, dry weather shooting the monthly postal contest. After my "official" shooting I switched to my 12 gauge matchlock for some playing around. As I was walking back from checking the target that I actually hit 3 times, lo and behold there lay a 1 1/2 inch patch merrily smoldering on the dry dust. Not just the edges, the whole thing was smoking and starting to char. I stepped on it and pushed a pile of dirt over it.

 

[appalichian hunter]

Yes they throw a lot of fire out the muzzle. As the above pictures show. Better safe than sorry.

 

[Carbon 6]

Most impressive is the sheer amount of light that is given off in the first photo. The illumination of the ground looks like a 100 watt bulb.