Horror story

[colmoultrie]

Just thought I'd pas this on. It's 2nd hand, so take it for what it's worth, but it's interesting and plausible, at least to me.

Last weekend as I was shooting, I was :bull: 'ing with one of the guys from the International muzzleloading team. (man, you should have seen the original Wm. Parker slug gun he was shooting - a .54 percussion- beautiful!)

Anyway, when he saw that I had one of those tube flintlock primers that dispense 3-4 gr. of GFFFg when you push down on them, he warned me that two years ago, he had seen a friend lose two fingers when he tried to reprime after a flash in the pan. Seems a spark was lodged in the touchhole, and as the guy dispensed powder, the pan ignited, and since the valve ws open, so did the tube of FFFFg! Apparently 1/2 of the tube sailed back off the line like a rocket, but the other half tore off two fingers and left pieces of shrapnel in the guy's jaw.

Now, as I've said, this is second-hand, so don't believe it if you don't want to, and no, I can't back it up, but it's plausible enough to me that I want to let people know that a danger may exist.

 

[bwhoffman]

thats a good heads up, whether the masses go with it or not. Its one of those things that will most likely pop up in the back of your mind when the same situation arrises to any of us.
Thanks forsharing the passage.

 

[xxgrampa]

i for one will be more aware.

thank you...

..ttfn..grampa..

 

[Wes/Tex]

Good point. I can also warn everyone to point the muzzle away from your chin when pouring powder...you'll look silly and smell worse! :rotf:

 

[redwing]

That sounds like good advice. :thumbsup:

 

[Blizzard of '93]

Lucky some of the brass from the flask did not strike the feller in the eye. :shake:

 

[TANSTAAFL]

Good heads up, we all get careless at times.

 

[Dave Rosenthal]

I know it's not historicaly correct to use plastic, but all of the friends of mine that shoot flintlocks use a little red plastic bulb for priming the pan with 4F.

Heard a story of similar circumstance, the plastic dispenser launched and melted without an explosion...maybe a safer way to do things?

Dave

 

[boar]

XX Just how old are you? 31,98,21? Thanks. Dilly

 

[tom hargrove]

:hmm: uh! would it have been any less tragic if he had been priming with anything else the spark cant tell if you use a push pan primer or prime from the horn as a lot of people do i think i had rather blow a prime horn as to blow the full powder horn,and then there is also the myth of the guy that used a prime horn that hung from his neck by a cord and when he fired his flinter the flash some how set off the prime horn resulting in massive wounds to the neck and face but this is also unconfirmed .so safety is the key word here no matter hoe you prime your weapon

 

[cowpoke1955]

This will give me something to think about the next time I prime. Don't think I'll change my ways, but I'll sure have it at the back of my head.

 

[bob1961]

just think if the guy picked the touch hole to clear it fer the next prime load and the gun went off when he shoved that amber into the main load :shocked2: :v ..............bob

 

[roundball]

Let me say right up front that my comment is in no way reflected towards you...I'm just really trying to figure out how such a thing could have happened.

He was at "a shoot" where surely range procedures were in place prohibiting priming BEFORE shooting, if common sense alone wasn't enough.

So if he was priming, the logical assumption is that he was getting ready to take a shot.

If he was getting ready to take a shot that means there was a main powder charge down the bore.

An ember would have had to survive in the touch hole during all of the time it took to measure and pour in the main powder charge, then the time it took to seat a patched ball, and the time it took to get the rifle into position and begin priming the pan....AND MIND YOU, not ignite the main charge during all this time...but then later ignite the prime when it was dispensed into the pan.

:hmm:...not a very convincing scenario...maybe it was enmbers from his cigar that fell into the pan... :hmm:

 

[Rebel]

I think you missed the part where he said the guy was repriming after a Flash In The Pan.

 

[roundball]

I think you missed the part where he said the guy was repriming after a Flash In The Pan.

You're right, I did.....but I still don't buy it.

Call me cynical, but I have yet to ever see a post like this where the story is:
"Well, I screwed up...cigar dropped embers in my pan and caused a problem"...or, I primed my piece first and left it on full cock, then when loading the main charge and seating the ball the hammer dropped and it went off"...etc.

It's always "an ember", or "static electricity", or "spontaneous combustion", or "power piston effect"...NEVER user error...:grin:

 

[Rebel]

well, what do you expect, someone to fess up and say see what happens when ya say Hey Hold my beer and watch this? :rotf: Actually, if his vent liner wall is as thin as mine is an ember would have a hard time sitting there.

 

[roundball]

:thumbsup:

 

[Itegorm]

I witnessed such a thing at a shoot a couple of years ago. In fact the person who's primer exploded is a list member on here. Fortunatly he didn't lose any fingers but the shrapnel almost completely skinned a couple of his fingers. Gross stuff and makes one wonder every time there is a flash in the pan.

 

[roundball]

Well, if you've also seen it happen there would appear to be something to it...so it would be best to check the vent after a flash-in-the-pan as the original poster mentioned but to be honest, if a glowing ember wasn't immediately obvious when I bent over to use my pan primer, I don't know what else I could do to see it.

If the risk is basically limited to after a rare flash-in-the-pan has occurred, maybe the simplist and safest solution is to use a pan brush and go after the vent hole pretty good...should put out or snag out any ember if one was lurking in there.

 

[Halftail]

Actually, if his vent liner wall is as thin as mine is an ember would have a hard time sitting there.

Actually if there had been a build up of Oil or Sludgy fouling between the powder charge and the pan it could possibly happen.Don't you think?I really can see this happening.MHO :v