"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.
How is it unsafe?? Mike, people did it for hundreds of years before the goober-nannies started going on about it. I started doing this back when I was 15 (1979). I had read (a wild concept, I know -- reading and studying about a subject) that if there was an ember, it could cook off. When I saw smoke coming out of the touch hole
after firing, I was worried, so I started blowing until the smoke stopped. I
STILL do it. Whether it is moist air or me just removing the last bit of combustible material, I dunna know.
I will continue to do this. I know
iƒ my gun has gone off. I believe that incident that caused people's pantei to get all wadded was a dude was loading for his wife and SHE had a misfire. She didn't tell him. Guess what happened. What is the moral of that story? Load your own gun.
It isn't unsafe.
It SEEMS unsafe, so paranoid people flip out. In today's effed-up world, things are all about appearances. As with most things in this country, all form and no substance.
Please don't think I am being a "Richard", I'm not, I am frustrated. If it was unsafe, I wouldn't do it. Unsafe, is priming before loading. Something I would usually only do at a reenactment (using blanks) or if, say injuns were trying to kill me.