Ignition while loading

[Mike in FL]

No. What happened is I prime the pistol/rifle as the last step before firing.
There is no way I can see for powder to flash after a swab. Not even if you're packing a coastal gun.

You do you. I blow down the barrel after a shot. I’ve done it for over 40 years and I will continue to do it. I don’t need some nanny state aunt Mary telling me what to do. Or, to do what I know isn’t safe.

"Lighten up, Francis" comes to mind. I missed where someone said you have to do it their way. I don't mean that unkindly. You're A good man. I like SAFETY FIRST. We're all different. But me, I'm just as adamant to NOT blow in a barrel. I think it is silly. But take no offense. Boy will I feel dumb when my charge ignites because I didn't blow.

 

[Larry (Omaha)]

Well that's it for me. Muzzleloaders are too dangerous. I'm never shooting one again.

I would love to make a $100 bet on that!
Larry

 

[Relic shooter]

Yep, and a fully accepted practice in the west. We don't have lawyers writing rules for us, and don't follow like sheep. Blowing down the barrel has been, and always will be a safety step. If you want to worry about something, try speed loading events,. I've seen more ramrods broke and through hands than I have seen heads blown off.

I like most old timers have been blowing down the muzzle between shots like most for about 70 years & have never seen or heard of any negative experiences.
Sadly range rules to-not blow down the muzzle evolved a few years back to help protect 'shoot organizers' from lawsuits by our increasingly predatory cockroach judicial system.
If your at a shoot with this rule, pack a short piece of flex-tubing to accomplish the same effect
Relic shooter.

 

[CaptainVane]

Yall need to lighten up. You wanna blow down the barrel, i trully dont GAS. But every body from my grandpa to a range officer taught me dont put your face in front of a muzzle. Do what you want . I dont care. Just lighten up on those of us who happen to be a little more careful than you ‘been doing it for 40 years’ guys.

 

[French Colonial]

Yall need to lighten up. You wanna blow down the barrel, i trully dont GAS. But every body from my grandpa to a range officer taught me dont put your face in front of a muzzle. Do what you want . I dont care. Just lighten up on those of us who happen to be a little more careful than you ‘been doing it for 40 years’ guys.

That right there is where the argument is. It sounds like you are taking a position of superiority.

Those of us who have never seen or heard of an "ignition while loading" (the original question) except on the internet, and have been blowing down the barrel for 50 years (HA! I have you beat by 10 years) and think it has advantages and there is nothing remotely dangerous about it.

 

[CaptainVane]

That right there is where the argument is. It sounds like you are taking a position of superiority.

Those of us who have never seen or heard of an "ignition while loading" (the original question) except on the internet, and have been blowing down the barrel for 50 years (HA! I have you beat by 10 years) and think it has advantages and there is nothing remotely dangerous about it.

Superiority? Serious? I dont give a dam what you do. Im out here.

 

[waksupi]

I like most old timers have been blowing down the muzzle between shots like most for about 70 years & have never seen or heard of any negative experiences.
Sadly range rules to-not blow down the muzzle evolved a few years back to help protect 'shoot organizers' from lawsuits by our increasingly predatory cockroach judicial system.
If your at a shoot with this rule, pack a short piece of flex-tubing to accomplish the same effect
Relic shooter.

Do you know they never actually made a rule against it? One of the legal beagles simply stated that it was bad optics for onlookers who are not familiar with black powder firearms.

 

[Tanglefoot]

Well, all bickering aside --- I've seen one flashover with a .36 Navy cap-n-ball revolver, in spite of using felt over-powder wads and sealing the mouths of the chambers with grease too, and I was also part of a 4-man team in a Cut-The-Stake rifle match when one of my fellow team members had a reload charge ignite as he rammed another patched ball down. Nobody was hurt in either accident, but my buddy Two Bears got his fingers singed, his eyebrows scorched, and we never did find his ramrod. The gent who was firing the Navy wasn't hurt either but he did develop a flinch reflex that took a while to unlearn. We found that one of his "extra" chambers which fired managed to pack the barrel wedge screw slot with lead on it's way out along the left side of the barrel. As it happened, I was watching when he fired that shot and it was a truly spectacular flash and bang! So --- Those things do happen, y'all. BTW: I've always blown down the barrel after firing too. It's the way I was taught. I do tend to cup my off-hand behind the muzzle and blow against that to prevent putting my face directly over the bore. That's the way I was taught too.

 

[flatcreek]

I cup my hand over the barrel and blow into my hand. Don't know if that counts as blowing down the barrel, but it accomplishes the same thing. I also don't wear a seatbelt, I tell my grandson I'm grandfathered when I have him put his on.

 

[Tasbay]

Well, if you are loading from a flask, that tells me you are inexperienced and foolish. Bad habits die hard, people die easy. You are re-enforcing your learning of a very bad habit.

Yeh been shooting muzzleloaders since 1990 so I guess that makes me inexperienced.

 

[Comfortably_Numb]

Blowing down the barrel is done to make your fouling soft. That's it, nothing to do with "burning embers". Didn't we just have a 11-page thread on this same subject 3 months ago?

 

[oldschoolhunter55]

https://www.muzzleloadingforum.com/threads/that-evil-ember.168205/
An observation of mine is that the odds of an individual winning a Lottery are fairly high AGAINST.

But inevitably, someone does win....

i would piss in my pants and probably have a bowel movemeny

 

[Rudyard]

Yeh been shooting muzzleloaders since 1990 so I guess that makes me inexperienced.

Dear Tasbay Ive been doing it since 1960 actually before if you count home made guns of a sort, but MLs. At my current age I don't expect to live forever but mostly used a flask & blew down the barrel .Such sin & wickedness ! But I did mostly use the flash proof double shutter tops on the metal flasks & horn Flasks the best being Mick Marsh tops he never called them' flash proof ' but he did tests with hot nails to prove they where . I don't think Ime playing Russian Roulette I have seen cook offs.but often did the 12 shots in four minets from my Brown Bess , Once in the Garrison in Nelson when we did the Challange Ceromonies for the Troops , blazeing away on Trafalgar Street in our Nelson Battalion of Militia guise . If ime about the last of the Light Brigade we can find three but you who I'v never met would ime sure would fit right in ?. Sir Greg Olson in Mapua is the man who makes the togs not much ,cap & sailor type smock the musket & Belly box ect Ime sure I can fit you out .We are raised originally 1843 after the Wiarou ' Incident 'without Govenor's sanction ( no time ) but later Gazetted & still on the books if its only that one'Challenge 'Ceromony .once in a long while .But I think important to keep.
Other towns in NZ have a policeman on a horse only Nelson has the Militia to add style . The old Regimental Emblem on the hill above Tap is largley down to me pushing its restoration & the Terriers help maintain it so Ime sort of the 'Blue eyed boy' with them . bit off topic but not that much Eh .
Regards Rudyard
PM me if it suits you

 

[BuffaloSoldier]

Never had it happen with a ML, way back when (Aug 75) I was on the wrong end of a hot barrel change of an M60 mg. My platoon was qualifying our M60 gunners, we had 1 per rifle squad and the assistant gunners. Also had the lift platoon, the UH-1 door gunners and crew chiefs were firing. The barrels were right at the verge of slumping, started pulling guns off the line to cool and change barrels. Two of us started to change barrels, as we pulled the gun apart, I saw a round still in the chamber. I called out, just as it cooked off. Both of us transported to the hospital at Ft. Carson, where Drs. picked out micro-pieces of brass and powder out of our faces for hours. I catch the primer in my right shoulder, so I took even longer to clear. My Platoon Leader went my home and got my wife, who was +8 months pregnant, and brought her to the hospital. She had our first son about a week later!

 

[oldwood]

Was standing about 20 ft. from a fellow loading a flint pistol out at the 1988 Spring Nationals shoot , Friendship. The guy had his pistol in a pistol loading stand . He dumped the measured powder charge put in the patch , and ball on top , and rammed the patched ball onto the powder. The fellow got lucky , thr pistol loading rod didn't go through his hand , but stung his hand horribly. The loading rod wasn't seen again , and it was , according to another guest on the firing line possibly on the roof of the dining hall , due the close proximity of the incident. The rod had a 3" wooden ball on the end , and that was thought to have saved the shooter's hand when the detonation occured.

 

[beyu]

I think if just the right set of circumstances were together, it would go off. Maybe there's a small piece of ember from a wad in the bottom, or your flash channel has a piece of smoldering cotton (or whatever) in it.

I usually shoot paper cartridges in my Charleville, similar to what the military used in their muskets in the 18th Century. I have seen smoldering bits of the paper out in front of me after firing. They burn up very quickly, so I have not had to worry about starting any grass fires or anything like that. But I do watch for it.

So keeping that in mind, I am sensitive about the POSSIBILITY that there could be little burning bits of paper in my musket after firing. So I blow down the bore three or four times and look for smoke exiting the vent. When the smoke stops, I feel safe. THEN I reload, but not before that.


I think we have all seen videos where people demonstrate that they can load and fire very quickly without a mishap. Those videos give me a sense of confidence that I should not have to worry too much, but still — I never hurry reloads.

 

[Omahkapi'si]

I blow down the barrel to help seat the patched ball on the powder charge.

....

 

[bpd303]

I blow down the barrel also, I keep a piece of hose in my kit in the event others are around to avoid questions or trying to talk to me.

Same here.

 

[bpd303]

Yeh been shooting muzzleloaders since 1990 so I guess that makes me inexperienced.

Does my shooting them since 1949 make me experienced enough.

 

[johnraleksa]

Why? What evil do you think is going to happen? I blow down my rifle barrel after every shot. It adds a little moisture to the fouling & confirms my nipple is clear. Some say it blows out any embers, but I don't know how one can "prove" that. Old timers did it all the time, so I'm saying it's "period correct"! Now watch everybody scream I'm crazy & how unsafe I am.

Are all of those period correct old timers dead? Proof enough for me that's blowing down the barrel is not safe