Muzzle UP or Muzzle DOWN?

[Cowboy]

Back in March of last year a group of us attended a Woods Walk at a friends place. We were going out in groups of three or four. A lot of trails with many different kinds of targets to shoot at. A fun time for all until a member from one of the groups came back in with this! It was a beautiful Tip Curtis flinter in .45 or maybe it was a .50?

Lucky the shooter nor the other bystander's around him were hurt. Can't say that for the muzzleloader though!!

This leads to my question! When yer walking through the woods, do you walk with yer muzzle down or muzzle up?

Can you guess what happened and why?

Respectfully, Cowboy

Shot with Obstruction in barrel by ferrell stroh, on Flickr
Untitled by ferrell stroh, on Flickr
Untitled by ferrell stroh, on Flickr

 

[Don Steele]

First...Praise God that nobody was hurt.
To answer your question: My club requires "Muzzle UP" on the BP range until ready to cap or prime. On woodswalks, I'm also always muzzle UP.
That gun looks like it was carried muzzle DOWN, and got a plug of dirt in it.

 

[BrownBear]

That poor rifle looks all too familiar. We see the same around here almost every year from folks who insist on carrying muzzle down. Muzzle up requires muzzle discipline, but we're "supposed" to be doing that anyway.

 

[azmntman]

:redface: I was taught to carry all guns muzzle down and thats what I do. Down means just not up so my muzzle stays about 2 feet off the ground. AZ GFD hunter safety class in 1972. Reason is if you trip the muzzles down and wont shoot anybody while yer falling :idunno:

I'm too old to change but I do always check closely if my gun has hit ground (and it has, and it will), to date have not ever had anything in my muzzleloaders but have had to unload and clean a .22 once, had thick mud

 

[BrownBear]

...thick mud....

Got a lot of that around me, along with steep slick hillsides. You can look at the scuffed up butt plates on my guns and guess how many times a day they hit the ground. Mud, snow and sticks have accounted for lots of barrels around here. At the very least muzzle downers have learned to put a strip of electrical tape over their muzzles on every outing.

 

[azmntman]

MOST of my hunting is early fall and little moisture but I may use that tip for any late wet hunts in the future! My mud experience was Calichi (spelling) and I could not get it out in the field. So instead of probably 5-6 bunnies (it happened about 100 yds into the hunt :cursing: ) I had to use my .22 ruger SA and got just one. When home and cleaning I was into it over an hour. Calichi is THE hardest clay I know of and being not as smart as the average bear I had the gun muzzle down and heater on in the truck on the way home and the mud "sat" and hardened. Think dirty cement :surrender:

 

[Loyalist Dave]

I've seen that happen from two reasons. Crud in the tip of the muzzle from the ground or more commonly from snow. Did the shooter remember banging the muzzle on the ground?

The other reason, and the results looked very similar, was twice when I saw a shooter load using a short starter..., but failed to finish the process and didn't ram the ball and patch "home" against the powder charge, but left it a few inches from the muzzle and then fired.

LD

 

[Idaho Ron]

I carry muzzle up. Brush can and will screw up my sights on my rifles. Slipping and falling puts the muzzle in harms way with rocks and mud. Doing damage to the crown of the muzzle would not be a good thing for accuracy.
Finally I carry in the vehicle muzzle up. For the same reasons. mud on the floor board along with lots of bumps and vibrations will screw up the crown of the muzzle, and that leaves the sights to be kicked. The muzzle stays up.

 

[bender20]

I was always taught it depends on the circumstances muzzle up in a boat and muzzle down in a helicopter for example.

 

[Rifleman1776]

:redface: I was taught to carry all guns muzzle down and thats what I do. Down means just not up so my muzzle stays about 2 feet off the ground. AZ GFD hunter safety class in 1972. Reason is if you trip the muzzles down and wont shoot anybody while yer falling :idunno:

I'm too old to change but I do always check closely if my gun has hit ground (and it has, and it will), to date have not ever had anything in my muzzleloaders but have had to unload and clean a .22 once, had thick mud

The #1 rule at every ml range and club I have shot with is MUZZLE UP until pointed downrange. No exceptions. Not following that safety rule can get the violator escorted off the range very quickly.

 

[smo]

How I carry my gun depends on the situation, mainly dictated by others in the group I’m shooting with.

I was taught to always point a gun in a safe direction , that could be up, down or to the side.

The gun in the photo appears to have been short started or maybe plugged with a foreign substance near the end of the bore( mud or snow ).



Or if Jethro was in the group , it could have been plugged with BS! :rotf: :slap: :bull: :surrender: :haha:

That Guy on the left in the top photo looks a little suspicious too me .... :blah: :rotf:

I’m certainly glad no one was injuried in the process.

It just goes to show even in expierienced hands things happen.

I always try to pay attention to the other shooters in the Group as well as myself, and stay back from the line while others are firing.

 

[azmntman]

The #1 rule at every ml range and club I have shot with is MUZZLE UP until pointed downrange. No exceptions. Not following that safety rule can get the violator escorted off the range very quickly.

No issue for me, those that dont shoot at a range shoot as they wish :grin:

 

[CapPopper]

I've always carried everything muzzledown... If I use a sling I've never owned a gun that would ride muzzle up without me fighting it and that in my opinion eliminates the point of a sling... Without a sling im more likely to carry muzzle up though since the gun will sit better that way... I also rarely hunt with others and if I did it would be muzzle down to better control the direction any chance projectile may take... I also dont like the idea of shooting in the air.... Never know where it will end up... At the range I don't see where muzzle up should be an issue though would be easy to carry anything that way if you're not trying to get through brush and up hills and all that

 

[Spikebuck]

How I carry my gun depends on the situation, mainly dictated by others in the group I’m shooting with.

I was taught to always point a gun in a safe direction , that could be up, down or to the side.

I'm with you. It varies. When I'm all by myself out hunting, the gun is usually cradled in one arm muzzle back and slightly up. When I'm with others, I'm watching them for two reasons...1) some people don't know where the hell their muzzle is and 2) I need to control mine away from them.

That said, probably 95% of the time mine is in an upward direction.

Brownbear...same thing around here with steep slippery hillsides...muzzle down will certainly end up jammed into the side of the hill at some point.

 

[coloradoclyde]

I don't care how a person carries their gun or what happens to it, but, if you "Sweep" me with the muzzle during transition or during a fall....We are going to have some very stern words.

There is a time to carry muzzle up and a time to carry muzzle down..

 

[Rifleman1776]

I don't care how a person carries their gun or what happens to it, but, if you "Sweep" me with the muzzle during transition or during a fall....We are going to have some very stern words.

There is a time to carry muzzle up and a time to carry muzzle down..

Here we go again. :shocked2: Agreeing. :grin:
Back in my school days I owned a shotgun but not a baseball bat. We lived at the edge of town and I was only a short distance from a woods or corn field. Myself and a couple close friends had a hunting 'club' of sorts. Others were welcome to join. But, we had one absolute rule. If a newcomer ever waved his shotgun in such a manner so we could see his muzzle he was out. :nono: Oddly, none of our parents ever gave us instruction in safe firearm handling. We were just blessed to have some common sense.

 

[coloradoclyde]

We were just blessed to have some common sense.

Well, You are my Brother, ya know....
Mom taught us well...:wink:

 

[meanmike8665]

To further make your point ALL ranges I shoot on the rule is muzzle up! It is a good rule. For all of you that it won' t happen to me, I am sure the guy that blew up his rifle thought so too.

Michael

 

[coloradoclyde]

At specific ranges...That makes sense....But on a woods walk, where an unseen tree branch can move the muzzle... :shocked2: :nono:

 

[rafterob]

Don't know what rules others follow, but our woodswalk you can not carry a loaded gun. You must load at the shooting station. So in that case I would think this was a short started round. If, indeed they are carrying loaded guns to the next station and the guy managed to dig his rifle in the dirt, shame on him for not paying attention. Probably busy talking (like me).