True Confessions

[Stumpkiller]

Yep. Anytime you move the gun, like tipping it forward, the main charge powder kernels can tumble out into the pan.

Sounds like that one would be a pretty sure-fire gun with a decent flint!

 

when I was new to ML, I loaded a ball without powder and didn't have a puller. I went to the shop of a local builder, who removed the nipple and fed some fffg in. The feller then pointed the rifle at a wood post on the back wall of his shop and touched her off! The .445 ball sunk beyond sight into the wood. Scared a few customers out of the place. I don't know what would have happened if he missed the post--probably the ball would have passed through the drywall into the next store...no, I remember there being an alley behind the wall....anyway, a dumb move. :shake:

 

[ndbilly]

OK, OK. Last one and then I ask for absolution. I know, however, I'm not alone in this one. Fess up, now. Right after you started shooting BP, how many laid a three foot line of powder on the ground and touched a match to it and expected it to slowly fizzle and sizzle like it does in the movies? And how many ended up with scorched fingers and a nose full of sulphur fumes when the stuff ignited almost all at once?

 

[roundball]

Not quite that...but this spring, I did line out on the bare ground four pounds of Elephant FFFg 24/99 that was of such poor quality it had delayed ignition even in percussions and would hardly ignite in flintlocks at all.

I poured each one pound into separate 10ft lines, each was lighted separately, and each took many / several seconds to burn as I stood and watched.

(PS: Conversely, Goex is the finest thing since sliced bread!)

 

[Stumpkiller]

Something similar. I was in the Order of the Arrow in Scouts, as as part of a ceremony (can't give details - still sworn to secrecy) I was to toss a bit of flash powder into a fire for effect. Well, I wanted a GOOD effect, so I scooped a handfull about the size of an egg and, at the proper moment, dropped it in as I passed my hand over the elevated brazier on the "alter". Now this is the shiny white magnesium and aluminum flash powder. The kind they use in flash & bang "stun" grenades. Well, this was in summer, and standing around doing public speaking on a warm night in buckskins and wool gear with assorted bustles and a roach, etc, etc. Anyway, your hands sweat. And powder sticks to them . . .

Remember the scene in the Wizard of Oz at the end where the witch tosses the fireball on the Scarecrow's arm? Hoo Boy! We always ended that ceremony with a flaming arrow shot on a big arc into the lake. That was nuttin compared to the night in 1976 when the flaming indian did the cliff dive into Tuscarora Lake!

 

So far I've shot my ramrod once and rammed a ball without powder twice , all with the same rifle . My brother and I were at the range 2 weeks ago trying to shoot our caplock rifles . First my brother pulls the trigger on his , nothing happens , so he puts another cap on , nothing happens . We know he shot 3 caps to clear the nipple because I told him he needed to shoot 3 caps to clear the nipple (I thought he already knew to do that , glad I asked) so he takes a nipple pick and runs it through the nipple a few times and puts another cap on , the rifle still doesn't fire . I now suggest that he take off the nipple put some powder in the hole put the nipple back on and try again , which he does , the rifle still doesn't fire ! I had noticed that before he had loaded , he ran a patch with solvent on it down the barrel . I wondered why he was doing this , since the rifle hadn't been fired yet but I didn't ask him why since I was busy loading my rifle . I asked him if he ran a dry patch down the barrel to mop out the excess solvent , he didn't . :crackup: Next I pull the trigger on mine , click , the cap doesn't fire . I put another cap on , still doesn't fire . On the third cap it fires so I reload . This time 4 caps in a row don't fire so I get a cap from my brother (he won't be needing any today :haha . His cap works (he's using Remingtons and I'm using CCIs) so I load again and have more dud caps . I finally have one fire , then , since my brother is down for the day and we had already shot a box of clays and our pistols , we decide to hit the road .

 

[JeffS]

Under my loading table in the basement, runs a relief crack in the slab. It had a bunch of powder in it, spilled from about a year of loading black powder cartridges. (Yow see where this is going, no? :redface: ) Yup, knowing that vacuuming powder is a no no, I decided to touch it off with a mapp gas torch. It is a big wide crack, I wasnt worried about it being confined. FFFFFOOOOOOOOOOOSH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! BIG fireball, and a ton of smoke. Set off the smoke detectors. I cant tell you how glad I was that the wife wasnt home... The house did still stink when she got home later though. (she thought it stunk, I kinda liked it) It didnt burn me, lucky, but I being the fast learner that I am, I decided I wont do that again.

On a serious note this could have been REALLY disasterous if I had had an open can of powder on the table or somthing. (not a funny thought) Gotta use your head around this stuff.

Jeff

 

[roundball]

I think the old adage about not using a vacuum cleaner is really a very, very old one...vacs made in the past couple decades have sealed motors, containment bags, no direct access to sparks coming off motor brushes, etc...not sure what possible ignition source there would be in modern vacuum cleaners for anything being sucked into a sealed bag, use mine all the time...hope I'm not wrong
::

 

[rayb]

Well, last sunday, on the 2nd round of trap, last station, I "fired" 6 caps on my shotgun, after a "misfire". but the clay birds sure didn't break... this after double checking and cleaning the nipple holes with a pick.. So very carefully left the range, went to my storage shed and tried to pull the charge (shot, wad, etc., being very careful n ot to get in front of anything, i can say i was very nervous with it all. funny thing there wasn't any shot in either barrel, then again there wasn't any wad, pulled the nipples off, there didn't sem to be any powder, and all of a sudden thought to check the barrels with my 5/8" loading dowel, you know the rest, i never had loaded either barrel after swabbing from the previous shot...

:results:

I think some aliens came and abducted my brain cells. I'm only about 250 miles from Roswell New Mexico & those things get around......

rayb

 

[ndbilly]

Something similar. I was in the Order of the Arrow in Scouts, as as part of a ceremony (can't give details - still sworn to secrecy) I was to toss a bit of flash powder into a fire for effect. Well, I wanted a GOOD effect, so I scooped a handfull about the size of an egg and, at the proper moment, dropped it in as I passed my hand over the elevated brazier on the "alter". Now this is the shiny white magnesium and aluminum flash powder. The kind they use in flash & bang "stun" grenades. Well, this was in summer, and standing around doing public speaking on a warm night in buckskins and wool gear with assorted bustles and a roach, etc, etc. Anyway, your hands sweat. And powder sticks to them . . .

Remember the scene in the Wizard of Oz at the end where the witch tosses the fireball on the Scarecrow's arm? Hoo Boy! We always ended that ceremony with a flaming arrow shot on a big arc into the lake. That was nuttin compared to the night in 1976 when the flaming indian did the cliff dive into Tuscarora Lake!

Dang, I'da PAID to see that!

 

[Keith]

RB, do you want to take a chance there isn't a hole someplace?
How about static electricity?
If I got to clean BP off the floor I think I'll stick to a broom. :imo:

Dumb thing I did. I had a Blue Ridge Rifle in flint. I couldn't get that thing to fire to save my life. The pan would go no problem, but never the main charge. So one time I was trying to get that damn gun to fire. I was holding the gun at my side, and looking down at the pan. For reasons I can't explain now I pulled the trigger. :shake: Muzzle down range, gun wouldn't fire anyway so no problem there. Unfortunately, my face was directly over the pan. I thought I was blind for a minute. The flash dried my eyeballs right out. I was wearing shooting glasses so Ididn't gewt anything in my eyes, but the heat and flash, wow!

 

[ndbilly]

Under my loading table in the basement, runs a relief crack in the slab. It had a bunch of powder in it, spilled from about a year of loading black powder cartridges. (Yow see where this is going, no? :redface: ) Yup, knowing that vacuuming powder is a no no, I decided to touch it off with a mapp gas torch. It is a big wide crack, I wasnt worried about it being confined. FFFFFOOOOOOOOOOOSH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! BIG fireball, and a ton of smoke. Set off the smoke detectors. I cant tell you how glad I was that the wife wasnt home... The house did still stink when she got home later though. (she thought it stunk, I kinda liked it) It didnt burn me, lucky, but I being the fast learner that I am, I decided I wont do that again.

We used to shoot at an indoor range years ago. The floor was brick. After years of use, the cracks in the bricks close to the firing line were filled with unburned powder. For reasons he has yet to explain, my buddy tosses a lit match on the floor. You wanna see two guys scrambling around trying to do the funky chicken and stomp out this fire as it zig zags along the interlocking crevices in the bricks? Did manage to get it under control but there were at least three years lost from our collective lives until it was over.

On a serious note this could have been REALLY disasterous if I had had an open can of powder on the table or somthing. (not a funny thought) Gotta use your head around this stuff.

Jeff

 

[ndbilly]

Jeff, I tried to reply with your quote to relay a similar incident that occurred when a friend decided to throw a lit match to the brick floor in front of the firing line at an indoor range. Don't know why it didn't post.

 

[vradin]

Dang, I'da PAID to see that!

Oh, the folks what saw it PAID, and chances are good thet they're STILL paying (well, OA members will understand). Done my share of setting up those same fires in different places too, and my son has the lodge regalia down the basement waiting for some repairs and stuff.

But... since I've only been doing this for such a short time, I haven't had a chance to blow a rod down range, and most of the time I shoot it's as a demo or loading for someone else (Scout camp rules- no one under 18 gets to handle the powder) so never did the no-powder load YET, although I have pulled a few PRB's when I let someone else load.

The most "amusing" happening was at the last OA conclave a few weeks ago- was using 4 rifles, all .50 CVA bobcat or clones. Cycle the rifles add to cleaning but allows us to shoot more since there's only 1 person loading...

Just finished explaining to the first-time-ever blackpowder shooter how to sight, hold it until the smoke clears, how to pull the hammer back for full-cock... Wait until HE gets eye and ear protection on, I cap the rifle, go to put it into half-cock and the hammer either slipped or the sear was dirty- dang thing blows off in my hand, hammer goes back taking a chunk outta my right thumb, powder burns up my left arm, nipple is GONE, blown out complete with broken threads.

Habit is a wonderful thing. The rifle was pointing downrange, no extra caps or powder on the bench, MY eye protection was on, and the ringing in my ears went away after only an hour or two.

I figure **I** was lucky to get out with a knocked up thumb and a powder tatoo, but the guy I was getting ready to hand the rifle to was blessed, cause if it had blown another 30 seconds later it would have been his face up near the lock instead.

/vic (still cheerfully paying)

 

[JeffS]

ndbilly, your post was arranged strangely, but your message is there, kinda in the middle of mine. I got it. :thumbsup:

 

[Gatofeo]

Many years ago, when I started shooting cap and ball revolvers, I decided that a gym bag full of loose items wasn't a good idea.
So, off I went to the sporting good store for a tackle box for my cap and ball supplies. Now, this store had such a good deal on tackle boxes that I bought two. I figured I needed a new box to put my fishing gear in too.
Yep, you guessed it.
Got to the shooting area, about a 45 minute drive from my home, and opened the box.
You can't do much with a .44 cap and ball sixgun and a top-grade assortment of swivels, leader, hooks, salmon eggs and Flatfish, Triple Teaser and Mepps lures.
So, after listening to the Gods laughing hysterically in the distance, I drove back home.
Could have been worse. Might have been in the middle of lake and found a lovely assortment of reaallllly big sinkers, felt wads and grease!
When I got home, I made a fish stencil out of cardboard and spray-painted that darn fishing box on all sides, so it couldn't be mistaken again.
And sure enough, the next time I went fishing my buddy asked why there was a fish stenciled on my new tackle box.
"oh ... shut ... up," I mumbled and looked away to watch the end of my pole. ::

 

[Musketeer]

how many laid a three foot line of powder on the ground and touched a match to it

Guilty as charged! :crackup:My stupidest moment was right after I got my first 1860 Army replica. I was out in the desert shooting at cans and such. I decided to holster the gun so I could go and reset the cans. I put my thumb on the hammer spur and squeezed the trigger, while lowering the gun to my side. Yep, you guessed it: my thumb slipped off the hammer spur and the gun went off! When the smoke cleared, I looked down at my boot to find a hole in the toe! I took the boot off (I figured my toes were gone and I didn't feel it 'cause I was in shock) and found that the ball had penetrated the boot about 1/16" in front of where my toes were! :shocking: Why was I lowering the hammer on a loaded and capped chamber in the first place you might ask. Hey, I didn't know any better at the time. All the westerns I grew up with showed guys casually lowering the hammers on their loaded single actions! I'm amazed at the #$%@ I got away with way back when! I'm living proof that God looks after fools! :crackup: Which reminds me of that time I filled that empty CO2 cartridege with FFFg and stuck a piece of fuse in the end........(shudder)!!! :crackup: :crackup: :crackup: :thumbsup:

 

[musketman]

I use to flash FFFFg in the pan of my .54 caliber T/C Renagade back in the 80's just to make the smoke alarms go off in the house...

Mom never did get use to that... :crackup:

And how can I forget the time I was cleaning the leading edge of my flint off with my finger only to slice it to the bone...

Flint in the jaws, flint knife, same rock!

 

[olgriz]

All you guys are coming clean so I reckon I will too. This don't involve a cap lock, more like a fuse lock I guess, but it is black powder. One spring day long long ago, and not so far away I had finished up haying. In fact the hay was all in the barn and I was at my shop getting the machinery ready to ride out the winter. When I looks up I see's this friend of mine name of Bill P. pulling into the yard towing a trailer loaded with a weird looking item like I'd never seen before except in Civil War pictures. I says, "Bill, what the heck you got there?" He says he's got a bowling ball mortar and wants to know if I want to help him shoot it. Now, that's kind of a dumb question, "You bet" says I, or something like that anyhow. So we head out to the hay field to give it a go. After unloading the mortar off the trailer -- keep in mind you have two 50 year old kids going on 12 at work here -- Bill says "What ya think, three ounces of powder?" Sounded good to me, and at least it was a place to start. So we loads her up and Bill lights the fuse. FLOOP goes the mortar, and boink boink boink goes the bowling ball about 10 feet out. Now folks, this is about when true rocket science takes over. I'm sure there will be people that read this that will know what mathematical formula to use in regards to amounts of powder and pressure, but neither one of us had a clue. Bill says "How about 5 ounces." "Right on" says I. Now folks, there is something expotential that goes on. It aint like double the powder double the boink. Besides, we didn't double the powder. Now I'm getting to the good part, more rocket science. Bill says, "Lets point it up the hill so it will roll back and we won't have to chase it so far." We only had one bowling ball, and I know every one of you guys would have agreed with us. We point it up the hill, Bill lights the fuse, and there is the most satisfying BOOOOOOOOOOOM and cloud of smoke you ever saw. It was awesome. Away goes the 16 pound bowling ball, the wind passing the finger holes making it sound like a flock of geese flying by. BUT -- it's like the ever ready bunny, it just keeps going and going and going and I'm thinking, ok, start down any time. And then I realize "OH s--t" it aint gonna hit the hill, it's going over the hill. Now my life is passing before my eyes. Man it's going over the hill and Bertha P. lives over there, and she is one mean old lady if'n ya know what I mean. I could see her out in the garden, working on the beans, when this bowling ball comes screaming out of the sky. And that's what it was doing, screaming out of the sky. I forgot part of the story. Just before we fired the second shot my 17 year old son and his girl friend drove up in his VW beetle. My heart was totally up in my throat, and I didn't want to climb up the hill and -- well, put it this way, I was scared of Bertha. So my son and his girl friend take off climbing the hill to get the ball. The fact was that it wasn't near as bad as I thought it would be, and the ball was over the hill, but still on my side of the fence a good 300 yards from Bertha's house. Now comes the final bit of rocket science. My son lofts the ball just like he was in the bowling alley trying for a strike. Well, y'all probably know that even in flat bowling alleys them balls don't roll straight. True to form, this one started a zig zag course down the hill, sometimes rolling, sometimes getting air, now going this way, and then that way, finding it's way down 3 or 400 yards of hill side. The last thing it did was hit the bottom wire of the fence, which lofted it into the air, and it center punched the passenger side door of the VW Bug. I bet none of you figure that stopped us from shooting it again and again, because it didn't, but none of the shots after that were near as exciting as the second one fired that day.

 

[Rebel]

Now that be a good yarn if'n i ever heerd one. :: ::