Is it LOADED?

[Larry (Omaha)]

A friend called me the other day who is a retired insurance salesman, and NRA recruiter. He said he had a double barrel percussion shotgun that needed to be band aided back together for a wall hanger. He is strictly a funny gun man (cartridge guns) so he asked for my help. He brought the gun over which was a poor sight, but the barrels looked half decent. Two issues he wanted help with: There was no barrel key and the RR tip was missing. After a quick look at what he wanted, I asked, " is it LOADED?" I got that deer in the headlights look and a dunno answer. We pulled out the RR and did a quick check. Whoops, about 3 to 4 inches too much RR sticking out the muzzle!! The gun could not have been fired for years in the condition it was in. One of the hammers was even missing and the stock cracked in more than one place. We dumped some WD40 in, waited 10 and then took the air compressor to work. This post is just a reminder to all my muzzleloading partners out there to treat them all......like they are LOADED!!!
Larry

 

[cynthialee]

they are always loaded
even when double checked, act as if they are loaded

this way you will never have a dreadful accident

it is the way

 

[springfield art]

A friend called me the other day who is a retired insurance salesman, and NRA recruiter. He said he had a double barrel percussion shotgun that needed to be band aided back together for a wall hanger. He is strictly a funny gun man (cartridge guns) so he asked for my help. He brought the gun over which was a poor sight, but the barrels looked half decent. Two issues he wanted help with: There was no barrel key and the RR tip was missing. After a quick look at what he wanted, I asked, " is it LOADED?" I got that deer in the headlights look and a dunno answer. We pulled out the RR and did a quick check. Whoops, about 3 to 4 inches too much RR sticking out the muzzle!! The gun could not have been fired for years in the condition it was in. One of the hammers was even missing and the stock cracked in more than one place. We dumped some WD40 in, waited 10 and then took the air compressor to work. This post is just a reminder to all my muzzleloading partners out there to treat them all......like they are LOADED!!!
Larry

I had a musket years ago that I sent to a restorer; he reported it had a load in it, musket ball, which I did not get back! I think it was a flint (US military) but don't recall the model. This was back during the Bi-Cen so my recall is a little fuzzy. He did a great job cleaning it up to spec.

 

[azmntman]

Lucky to get it back at all! Most vendors throw pretty good tantrums when they receive loaded barrels to work on!

 

[SDSmlf]

I have come across a few loaded and ready to go.

Looked at an 1851 at a gun show a few years back. All six chambers were loaded (powder and ball, no percussion caps). Asked the vendor what he knew about the gun (before letting him know it was loaded). He assured me he had personally checked out and fired the gun. In his words it was remarkably accurate. Inquired about details of his cleaning procedure. It was quite elaborate. Long story short, after pointing out it was loaded, he sold it to me in a state of panic - the pistol and an extra cylinder (not loaded) - for 25% of his original asking price. Made me promise not to tell anyone at the show (he ran a big pawn shop and gun store in town). I was quite pleased with deal. Immediately put pistol (now separated from the old loaded cylinder) in my truck before continuing to walk around the gun show.

Always check.

 

[Grimord]

I picked up a Renegade at a pawn shop. I was looking at the gun, took the ram rod out and sent it down the bore. sure enough, the sucker was loaded. I informed the clerk, and he couldn't sell me the gun fast enough at less than 1/2 of what he was asking which was still a good deal. I inherited my great great great grandfathers .35 caliber rifle he used for coon hunting. It had been above the fire place in my grandfather's house for over 50 years, and the last time the gun was used by my G,G,G Grandfather was in 1873. I think that the gun has been loaded since then. I was able to remove the ball, and flush the powder out. I cleaned up the years of soot, and now I take it out once in a while to hunt squirrels with. It is still very accurate, even though the barrel got sorta frosty after all those years above the fire place.

 

[ord sgt]

I was a dog solider at an Eastern rondyvous. One of the campers reported to me that a sutler had a loaded flint rifle on public display for sale. I did an inspection and sure enough, there was a load in the barrel. The sutler told me that several people had cocked and pull the trigger on the rifle. This was in the middle of the camp. People walking around the entire area. I made the sutler take the rifle to the area set aside for live fire and had him fire the rifle to clear the charge.

 

[kh54]

treat them all......like they are LOADED!!!

I took my NRA hunter safety course when I was 11 or 12, but I've never forgotten the three rules hammered into us by our instructor: (1) Treat EVERY gun as if it were loaded. (2) Always point your gun in a safe direction. (3) Be sure of your target. I remember number 1 being drilled into us over and over and over...

 

[Erwan]

I repair for a friend and for decoration an old rifle corpse 1777 which was transformed three times:
- First transformation from flint to percussion.
- The second transformation from long barrel to short barrel for hunting.
- The third was the adaptation of a more "modern" wood.
Yes, there are people capable of destroying everything according to the desires and times.
Anyway, all this to say that this rifle was also loaded when it arrived at my house and.......... it is not the first.
Before working on or touching an old rifle, ALWAYS make sure it's not loaded: a measure with the loading rod or any rod costs less than a life or a serious injury.

 

[Rum River]

I was attending training to re-certify my 4-H muzzleloader instructor rating. The instructor bared his soul and related a horrid tale of his own making. A friend was visiting him and had questions about front stuffing rifles. The instructor took a caplock rifle out of his glass gun cabinet, snapped a cap to show the guy how it worked, and plowed a .50 caliber patched ball hunting load into the floorplate of an engraved higher-end unmentionable rifle.

Whoopsie

 

[Erwan]

Morality: it is a pity that this charge did not ricochet to reach him in a place that politeness forbids me to name.

 

[JRMan]

I recently purchased a very nice Mule Ear Percussion rifle, listed as a American Heavy Barrel Trade, Plains Rifle off of gun broker. No markings so hard for me to tell much about it. It was likely made in the mid-1800s. It has the very old fashion rifling where it looks like points inside the barrel tip. This thing weighs 12.5 pounds, 11 of those pounds is just the barrel. The barrel was full of dust so I went to run compressed air through the nipple nothing came out. I check with the cleaning rod found it would not go all the way in. Ran in my bore camera and found what looked like a piece of cloth stuck inside. After a bit of digging, I pulled out a full load of black powder and bird shot with old cloth patching. This is a nice-looking rifle with some creative inlays so it likely was hanging on someone wall or over their fireplace for the past 100 years fully loaded. The nice thing, after a bit of clean up, this rifle shoots great!

 

[user 49399]

I have purchased three used muzzleloaders (two from pawn shops and one from an individual) that were loaded. I just don’t get it, maybe it’s a lack of training. The first thing I do when someone shows me a gun is to check and see if it is loaded.

 

[lew penning]

A friend called me the other day who is a retired insurance salesman, and NRA recruiter. He said he had a double barrel percussion shotgun that needed to be band aided back together for a wall hanger. He is strictly a funny gun man (cartridge guns) so he asked for my help. He brought the gun over which was a poor sight, but the barrels looked half decent. Two issues he wanted help with: There was no barrel key and the RR tip was missing. After a quick look at what he wanted, I asked, " is it LOADED?" I got that deer in the headlights look and a dunno answer. We pulled out the RR and did a quick check. Whoops, about 3 to 4 inches too much RR sticking out the muzzle!! The gun could not have been fired for years in the condition it was in. One of the hammers was even missing and the stock cracked in more than one place. We dumped some WD40 in, waited 10 and then took the air compressor to work. This post is just a reminder to all my muzzleloading partners out there to treat them all......like they are LOADED!!!
Larry

I had to read this. Someone asked me just yesterday if my little Ace 45 was loaded. I showed him it wasn't. (cap on the nip to protect it) It bothers me to carry it loaded. The load can slip forward a little forward and when it is fired- BOOM. Or the powder can be contaminated.
Life in Montana is nice. I can shoot this in my own backyard.

 

[Musket69]

My brother in GA was given a derelict CVA Hawken. He suspected that it was loaded, but, as he shoots primarily newer style guns, didn't know how to check. The ram rod was missing... I told him to pull the nipple and see if he could spray oil from the bolster to the muzzle - no joy. I visited a few weeks later and used my fiberglass rod and ball puller to clear the rifle. At least the oil saturate any powder, safetying the rifle. Shoots fine now. I keep a cut off nail in my bag to drive balls from a cap and ball cylinder, remove the nipple and push from the back...

 

[cynthialee]

about 8 or 9 years ago I bought a Jukar pistol from the pawn shop

it was loaded, with a patched roundball and a charge of smokeless....

my hairs went on end hard when I saw that silvery flake ... I almost put a cap on it just to hear it bang and my inner voice was screaming to check it for a load first. So glad I did. I had a bomb in my hands and didn't know it.

 

[Musket69]

Wow, smokeless... I've been shooting BP since mid 70's, modern stuff a lot younger... I believe when it says BP only on the barrel.... have seen so many videos on the internet(me an old stuffed shirt) about the perils of smokeless in older and replica arms... why don't others believe with the representative evidence? They say doing the same thing over and over expecting a different outcome....

 

[Muley Gil]

I think some folks pull apart a shotgun shell, look at the powder and say, "Hey, this stuff is black. Let's shoot Grandpap's old musket."

 

[Rum River]

I was attending training to re-certify my 4-H muzzleloader instructor rating. The instructor bared his soul and related a horrid tale of his own making. A friend was visiting him and had questions about front stuffing rifles. The instructor took a caplock rifle out of his glass gun cabinet, snapped a cap to show the guy how it worked, and plowed a .50 caliber patched ball hunting load into the floorplate of an engraved higher-end unmentionable rifle.

Whoopsie

That instructor was a pretty cool guy. He related how his local high school band was performing the 1812 Overture. The band leader met with the school administrators and after some lengthy discussion approved the instructor to punctuate the cannon firing using blank-charged muzzleloaders - indoors! That would have been cool to experience.....

As to the 'indoor experience' surrounding the execution (by firing squad) of an innocent unmentionable while nestled in its tidy little home among its brethren......wow.

The concussion, smoke, flame, shattered glass, probably some tumbling rifles.....my entire digestive system would have been screaming EVERYBODY OUT!!

 

[Whughett]

Compared to many in these pages I’m a newbie to muzzle loading, owned, loaded for and shot conventional weapons for decades but only the last 10 or so with smokers.
Any way it’s always been my believe that muzzle loaders aren’t “loaded” until the source of Ignition is applied. Until then it’s pretty much an inert piece of steel and wood. Of course in the case of flint locks where the ignition source is usually always present it’s a different story or is the flint removed after firing.

I rather routinely charge my black powder revolvers with powder at home before a trip to the range, and at the range the gun is considered safe until the percussion cap is placed.