Witnessed Unsafe Behaviors

[leadhoarder]

I seen someone smoking while loading an inline with pyrodex.

 

[Travis186]

Ya'll scaring me.

The unloaded guns being loaded and then finding a glowing ember after the fact are the ones freaking me out.... I always thought I was being a little excessive running a spit patch down the pipe before loading up again... maybe I'm not after all.

 

[Woody Morgan]

Ya'll scaring me.

Indeed. Been an RSO for thirty years. The stories.....

wm

 

[Nazgul58]

I have an aversion to putting any body parts over the muzzle. Loaded or unloaded.

Don

 

[Artificer]

Indeed. Been an RSO for thirty years. The stories.....

wm

Yeah, I bet. I spent a LOT of time as an Armorer on standard familiarization firing and re-qualification firing of rifles and pistols as well as LOADS of time as a NM Armorer, Block Official, Range Officer and even a few times as a Match Director. One time I was the Range Officer when we fired M60's, Ma Deuces and Mark 19's. Also spent time as the Armourer to National and International Muzzleloading Matches.

Yeah, the stories.......

Gus

 

[TFoley]

I'm quite surprised to read that so many people either smoke, or have to warned NOT to smoke, on the firing line.

I know that it's different here in UK, but I've never EVER seen anybody smoke either on the firing line, or inside the range buildings. It's is just not done. Add to that that these days, with cigarettes at around $15 a pack, very few people actually smoke anyhow.

 

[Artificer]

I'm quite surprised to read that so many people either smoke, or have to warned NOT to smoke, on the firing line.

I know that it's different here in UK, but I've never EVER seen anybody smoke either on the firing line, or inside the range buildings. It's is just not done. Add to that that these days, with cigarettes at around $15 a pack, very few people actually smoke anyhow.

FWIW, I have forgotten how many ranges I've been all over the US and I've never seen a firing line that allowed the shooters to smoke, even with modern guns. Heck, even when I am all alone on a modern range, I step well away and far behind the firing line to smoke.

Gus

 

[Feltwad]

Over the years I have witnessed several miss haps The first I remember well was a sxs repro shotgun my friend was shooting , he was using the brass Italian caps these caps needed a good wallop from the hammer but the gun in question had a weak mainspring. On removing the cap the cap compound was still on the nipple ,he started to remove it using his finger nail the compound ignited and fired the gun which ended up on the ground behind him .It was a nerve racking experience and if it had happened to a newcomer to the sport would have surly but him or her of muzzle loading.
Another was with a flint lock rifle the owner was using flints that were the wrong size and to large this resulted with chipped parts of the flint laid in the pan , when reloaded instead of brushing away the chips he primed the pan and closed the frizzen , there was a instant discharge the closing of the frizzen must have crushed the chip which ignited the pan powder ,on examine the lock it as though that with a wrong size flint when closing the frizzen face must have contacted the flint the was not so has there was plenty of space between has the gun was at half cock so it must have been a crushed flint chip in the pan
Another was a burst barrel which was caused by using poor bought over shot wads that were less than 1/16 which resulted in the ramrod by passing the wad and leaving it on the bore wall which when the gun was fired opened up causing a blockage which burst the barrel [see image ]
Feltwad

 

[Colonial Boy]

I wasn’t involved with this but knew people who were there.
There was a re-enactment group who used matchlocks and by all accounts they were rather careless about cleaning their guns.
At one demonstration one of them had his gun fail to go off; they were firing blank charges, and he left his ramrod in the barrel.
As they left the field in single file his gun went off and the.ramrod killed the man in front of him.
It was seen as an accident and the group disbanded, probably a very wise move.

In my book it was gross negligence.

 

[nkbj]

Well I'll be, no bouncing ball stories.
Once saw a .44 percussion revolver bouncing balls across a lake like a Lancaster taking out dams in the Ruhr valley. Once saw multiple holes in shingles on the next hill over from bouncing bullets. Some people just don't think about it.

 

[Rum River]

Was coaching my 4-H Shooting Sports team. A .50 caliber percussion Hawken with a patched ball and 60 grains Pyrodex had a hang fire. After a full minute of pointing down range I declared it a misfire and had the shooter place it on the bench I reserved for such occasions so it was still pointed at the berm.

I was about to do a 'teachable moment' on the use of a C02 discharger when the shooter walked around the front of the bench/muzzle. My response reduced the fifteen year old to tears.

Over ten years later I bumped into the young man on main street. He had done a couple of tours overseas as a US Army Sergeant. He shook my hand and told me he had never forgotten that day on the range. He also said that after having his own men on the range: "Coach, I get it now."

 

[John May]

Was on the range shooting BP pistol and out of the corner of my eye I noticed something akin to a flash of lightning? Strange... It turns out about 10 or so firing points down a guy was shooting a flintlock pistol and his powder was on the table next to him in a 1 litre ice-cream tub?? He was using a yellow Lee powder scoop straight out of the tub, no lid!!
Within a couple of minutes he had hurriedly packed his kit up and left leaving the safety wall of the firing point burned black for about 3 feet above the bench. Scary but true...

 

[John May]

Well I'll be, no bouncing ball stories.
Once saw a .44 percussion revolver bouncing balls across a lake like a Lancaster taking out dams in the Ruhr valley. Once saw multiple holes in shingles on the next hill over from bouncing bullets. Some people just don't think about it.

In the days when we could shoot cartridge guns here in the UK we had a club member that used an old Mk6 Webley with very light loads... one meeting indoors he fired, the bullet hit the target but would not go through the rubber curtain in front of the steel 'stop'. It bounced back at him and hit him in the midriff causing quite a bruise! We never saw much of him indoors after that...

 

[stevenjay1]

I was at a muzzle loading shoot many years ago and the guy next to me was shooting a replica 1863 rifle. What he was doing was slamming the steel ramrod down on the seated bullet. He was told by me and others to stop, it was unnecessary and he was probably damaging the bullet. As well he may cause a spark and set off the charge. He did not listen and said based on his research that is the way it was done during the civil war. I moved away from him and none to soon. Sure enough he slammed the rod again and the gun went off!! He was very lucky, his fingers were off the rod and only lightly burned. The rod went through the range over hang roof and was never seen again. The guy was very shaken and left after he regained his composure with his tail between his legs and a couple of sore fingers.

 

[Bill Rowe]

May I ask what the dismay in blowing down a barrel is after a shot . Seemed proper back 40 years ago, but unpopular now and not allowed on the firing range. Is their a story to go with this ban. Thank you.

 

[mmb617]

May I ask what the dismay in blowing down a barrel is after a shot . Seemed proper back 40 years ago, but unpopular now and not allowed on the firing range. Is their a story to go with this ban. Thank you.

Rule #2 of the four cardinal rules of gun safety says "Never let the muzzle point at anything you are not willing to destroy." Clearly placing your mouth over the muzzle violates this rule. Rule #1, " Treat all guns as if they are always loaded." would also be in play here.

I don't feel the four rules only apply to modern guns. They are just as important to black powder firearms. Although I'll admit it's pretty hard to completely comply with rule #2 while loading, as at least part of your hand will be over the muzzle at some point in the process. But risking your hand still isn't quite the same as risking your head.

If one feels the desire to blow down a barrel they can use a device that avoids placing their head over the muzzle but I don't normally see that. Those who blow down usually just place their mouth over the barrel. I couldn't bring myself to do that.

 

[sawyer04]

Ya'll scaring me.

Old timers say it pays to be a little leery.

 

[mhb]

Blowing down the barrel of a 'just fired' muzzleloader may or may not be useful as a preventive of any sparks remaining in the barrel, but if it becomes a habit, done without thought, it can be a really dangerous one: at one of our club matches, a lady shooter (who actually was experienced and normally careful) had a misfire with her flintlock rifle - out of habit, she placed her mouth over the muzzle and tried to blow down the bore. My hair really did prickle, and I was not the first to yell at her. She had to sit down for quite a while, and the mental pictures of what might have happened have stuck with all of us who saw the event. A cautionary tale....

mhb - MIke

 

[Doc]

Blowing down the barrel: Out west we have trail walks even our monthly shoots are trail walks. The PeeWee trail is usually the first 10/15 targets on the pistol trail with another 15+ for pistol. Many fathers and grandfathers bring their PeeWees with them. An authority figure showing its alright to put a pistol barrel in your mouth?? Bad Bad idea. For that reason blowing down the barrel at any of our Rhondys is an absolute NO NO.
Doc,

 

[Rudy Thompson]

In all of my thirty years of reenacting , using blank rounds because if we used live ones we would not have any one to play with,
I have never had a powder charge cook of with any of my rifles, Not saying that it has not happened, just not to me. I have never seen the use of
blowing down the barrel. It is like some of the boys tamping the butt of their rifles on the ground after loading thinking that this will compact the charge and make it louder.
Hope this finds all reading this well.