True Confessions

[ndbilly]

There was a string posted a few days ago about mistakenly shooting a ramrod out of a .32 cal. barrel. While I cannot claim to have done the same thing, I have had a red face a time or two while at the range. Forgot to put powder in once and had no "worm" with which to extract the ball. Unscrewed the touch hole and trickled in enough powder to make the ball clear the muzzle. Velocity was well into two figures on that one. Also once put in powder then started the patched ball down the tube with the starter and forgot to ram it the rest of the way home. Result was a bulge in the barrel at exactly the depth of the ball starter.

OK, I've bared my soul. Anyone else ever screwed up with Ol' Betsy?

 

[shmrck1]

ndbilly,
no one here ever done anything
so :redface: :crackup: :crackup: :crackup: :crackup: :hmm:
and i've never told a fib either :what: :nono:

snake-eyes eace: :thumbsup:

 

[brushbuster]

back when i was new to muzzel loading .I forgot to fire a cap to make sure the nipple was clear(delay fire, swab the barrel after the shot(hung ball),forgot to put in powder and seated the ball(had to remove the nipple and trickle powder into the breech and touch it off)all in the same day demonstratin my new rifle to my uncles one easter sunday. :redface: :redface: :nono: :nono: :: :crackup: :results:

 

[brushbuster]

c,mon snake eyes fess up... I wonder what stories musket man has :hmm: :crackup: :thumbsup:

 

[roundball]

In my early days with a sidelock percussion, I became quickly aware of the technique to remove the nipple and trickle a little powder in as a substitute for no powder at all...then went through a few years without a mishap until this summer with a flintlock when twice during the same range trip I double balled two loads...fortunately the ramrod bottomed out with the "mark" a 1/2" higher than it should have been...but by then I'd learned about ball pullers and they slid right out

 

[No Powder]

ndbilly
Naw never made a mistakkke. Hince the name NO POWDER I'll bet that deer is still laughing. :curse:

 

[Gary]

Yep, ball and no powder here too. Had to use the stuck ball extractor to extract it. Never shot my ramrod downrange though.

 

[Stumpkiller]

Loaded a powderless ball just last Sunday. First time in years.

Tried doing the right thing and pulling the ball, but couldn't get the leverage on the rod tip with just my piddies and a scrap of leather, so I pulled the nipple and knocked in some powder. Enough to bury the ball 6" in the ground at my feet when I shot it out. If the puller had stuck in the ball instead of the rod it would have been a somber walk back down to the house.

After I had assembled my New Englander kit I was grouse hunting with it and absent mindedly feeling the trigger pull & engagement (my first single trigger M/L long arm). Taking it from half cock to full cock and releasing it with my thumb lowering the hammer. Muzzle up and the gun carried at port-arms. To no one's surprise but my own it went off. Shot right out of my hands. I was so shocked that I just stumbled a few steps - I guess wondering if I'd just shot myself. Pretty stupid (Luckily, the gun landed softly and not on rocks or my foot).

I also had a premature discharge when my fingerless mitten got involved with the set trigger of my .54 Renegade. Kind of surprises you when the go off before you're ready. Have done it with a gloved hand, too. :curse:

 

[robinghewitt]

I was having a bad day shooting clays with a flinter, missed (again) with the right, decided to shoot the left from the hip.

The touch hole blast went through my shirt sleeve like it wasn't there, had to scrub the powder out to avoid getting a tattoo.

Won't do that again ::

 

[Chickenfax]

I went to the range one day and everything was going great. I was concentrating on the procedure since I was semi-new to the muzzleloading scene. powder-patch-ball....powder-patch-ball, etc..

Cap the gun, click-aww-manure.
Wait for 30 seconds, clean out nipple hole and cap again. Perhaps the cap didn't take. click-aww-manure.
Wait another 30 seconds... stick ramrod down barrel.
hmmm, looked like I never loaded ball or powder...
So I get back into my routine of cleaning barrel, powder-patch-ball.
Click-aww-manure!
No we got a problem. I had a ball puller but the threads broke off in my ramrod. Guess that ended my day. When I got home and cleared everyhing up, I had loaded ball-powder-ball. It is a lot quieter that way....

 

[bob1961]

had my friends .308 out hunting one day and seen a deer bout 100 yds out and sited up on it and pulled the trigger and nothing "duh" safety was on....well i lowered the rifle and clicked the safety all the while my finger was on the trigger and BOOM....well the deer just stood there looking around for the noise and was able to get back on site but the deer took off :crackup: at me.............................bob

 

[musketman]

I wonder what stories musket man has :hmm: :crackup: :thumbsup:

I never messed up with a muzzleloader, unless you count the time I was shooting at a deer that had just walked behind a small (8 inch diameter) tree, I estimated the lead of the deer and touched the flintlock off, hit the tree dead center...

There was two feet of deer on both sides of that tree and I hit the *%#*!@#@!* tree!!! :curse:

I've pinched many a fingers between the muzzle and the short starter when I start the ball with a sharp rap of the free hand...

I had a wooden ramrod break and skewer my hand with the jagged point sticking out of the end of the muzzle, now every muzzleloader I own has metal rods...

 

[madstone]

I see everyone else had made the same mistakes I have. (I, too, shot the 32 ramrod, but my rifle shot it very accurately and with little key-holeing!) IMHO those who haven't made these mistakes need to stick around, or shoot more...
Course everybody ain't used to 'fessing up like me, either!
I hear gun folks all time who declare, loudly, "I've never had an accidental shot go off!" I always took this to mean either they didn't shoot much or they were "fibbing"? I just don't have enough sense not to tell it or want others to be careful and not imitate my foolish mistakes! They (mistakes) don't count as long as that hole in the end of the bbl is pointed at something that a hole really won't hurt too much! Like the carpeted floor? walls? NOT PEOPLE!!

I recently was using a presumed dead WW1 45 auto ctg for a snap cap! It's primer had been beat to death over the last "whatever ought 4 minus 1918 is" years by repeated hammer falls. I always assumed someone had seated a sand filled empty with a ball and seated it for a snap cap. It belonged to a friend who had used it for this, gave his snap cp to me!!! Well, along came a nice S&W 1917 type rev. The first hammer fall shot the 1918 ctg into the carpeted floor and only stopped in the 2X12's under the floor!!! I nearly cried with wounded pride and loss of vintage ctg! Thet's what I get for using 'em ole ctg guns, anyway!!!!

 

[buckknife]

welp i learned a good lesson here awhile back about blowen down the barrel of a muzzle loader to soften the fouling.some how when changen targets i forgot i loaded the gun.I blew down the barrel an no air came out the nipple,so i picked it,didnt do no good.Then decided to give it a good cleanen,had a screw on short starter at the time an ran sum spit patches down the bore. :youcrazy:Gueess maken a mark on the ramrod would have been a good idea but i hadnt settled on a load foer the 36 so it werent marked.After a couple of dry patches i snaped a ca[ like usawal about a foot infront of me at a leaf.
KABOOM That is the last time i have blown down the barrel,i dont swab no more either that i have started usen moosemilk.
So if you blow down the bore there is a good lesson to be learnt,DONT DO IT.The older i get the more i forgetfull i become

 

[roundball]

Just remembered another mental lapse I had...you get into your routine at the range and on one shot I had a pan flash but no main...wiped the pan, tried again, same thing...cleaned around the vent liner and tried again...same thing.
So wondering if I'd dry balled, I slid the ramrod down and heard that distintive metal to metal "clink" on the breechplug...I hadn't loaded the darn rifle at all...was just sitting there trying to fire an empty gun !!
All you can do is just laugh at yourself
::

 

[Rebel]

And if'n anybody seed ya, ya could always say ya was makin' sure the flint were sharp and the primin' powder were dry, and ya knowed it weren't loaded. :crackup:

 

[Zonie]

I've loaded without powder more than a few times.
So far it has been caused by someone coming up to me when I'm just about to measure my powder charge and asking questions.
It breaks my line of thought so a little talk, place the patch, ram the ball and POP! The cap fires.
I usually remove the nipple or cross drilled hole plug, dribble in as much powder as I can, re seat teh ball and shoot it out.

I like to be friendly when I'm at the range, but I try to avoid distractions or talk when I'm loading. :thumbsup:

 

[gordy]

I'll have to fess-up to doing the dry ball routine a few times!As yet,havn't shot the rod downrange,but theres still time.Most dryballing, was when trying to talk while loading.Then there was the times I've left such things as the balls,powder or patching material at home,or grabbed the wrong pouch for the rifle I had with Me.Etc.Etc. :redface: ::Otherwise I do pretty good most of the time :thumbsup: :relax:

 

[squareball]

Well, I've done the dry ball trick several times, and I've almost shot off a false muzzle several times, but so far have been lucky in that regard.

But the one I remember most was the time at the end of a shooting session the last flint absolutely refused to fire. Being only 14 I could think of many reasons not to take the gun home with a load down the barrel. Having had my fair share of run-ins with the law being tops on the list. I just happened to have three stick matches so figured I'd see if I could get the gun to go off with them. Put the butt of the gun against a tree and very carefully put the first lit match to a pan full of powder. Nothing! Same for the 2nd one. Getting desperate I jammed the last match down into the priming powder and off she went. Do not, I repeat, do not do this trick! :: I ended up with three burned fingers and quite a few pieces of unburned powder buried in my fingers that took 6 months to grow out.

My only excuse was back in the mid 50's I'd never heard of re-knapping a flint or how to do it if I had. Possibly could have "shot" it out with CO2, but no one I knew ever heard tell of such a thing. Needless to say I never did that again, and always made sure I had one good flint in reserve.

Square Ball

 

[squareball]

Almost forgot!

Again, long before shooters re-knapped flints at a shoot. A guy came up to me and asked if I had an extra flint he could have as his just wouldn't fire, and he wanted to fire the charge he had loaded. Dug one out and installed it for him. Thought I'd make sure it was sparking ok as it didn't really fit his gun to well. Made sure there wasn't any powder in the pan, closed the frizzen, and pulled the trigger. Lucky I had the gun pointed at the ground a few feet in front of the firing line as she went off. About scared me half to death but I calmly turned around and handed the gun to the guy with the comment that "I guess it'll work ok now". I've never seen or heard of a gun firing with no powder in the pan, but I sure know for a fact it can happen!

Square Ball