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Gave in to the nervous nannies

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As the title says finally got tired of arguing with the nervous nannies at our gun club.

I started muzzleloading in the 70's and everyone that I shot with (at this same club) blew down the barrel and used spit patches and I have been doing it and (back when I could see) winning matches.

For those that do not know, the moisture in your breath keeps the fouling soft and a spit patch wipes the bore on the way down and even with a tight ball and patch combination (think short starter) you can still shoot all day long. If you question this, find a BPCRS shooter and ask him why he uses a blow tube (although bore pigs have some proponents), and if he's not using one or the other his scores suck.

After forty years the only damage the empty gun has ever done to me was sometimes I noticed that my lips were black on the way home (wondered why the waitress looked at me strange).

Anyway her is my solution
Blow tube Muzzle loader.jpg


7/16 OD vinyl tubing with some white duct tape wrapped around it. So far, I have used it on a .45, .50 and a 54 and the duct tape has enough wraps that it has sealed on all three of them.

Personally I regard it as an unnecessary evil and will not use it unless at the bench and the nannies are singing their song, (you know the one "You'll put your eye out" .

Hate to let them win but I am pretty sure Simon Kenton had vinyl tubing so there you go.
 
My club too says no to blowing down the barrel. It might have to do with the guy that many years ago lost the back of his head doing so. It's very unnecessary and doesn't change a thing. Might be a 1:millions but 1is all it takes. If you want to clear the bore use a swab.
 
My club too says no to blowing down the barrel. It might have to do with the guy that many years ago lost the back of his head doing so. It's very unnecessary and doesn't change a thing. Might be a 1:millions but 1is all it takes. If you want to clear the bore use a swab.
BS
Or show proof, newspaper article,, muzzle blast article etc.
Urban legend BS
 
Markland's 1727 poem "Pteryplegia: or the Art of Shooting Flying" had this to say:

The tender Reas'ner, curious to know,
Whether the Piece were really charg'd, or no,
With Mouth to Mouth apply'd, began to blow.
A dreadful Kiss ! For now the silent Bane
Had bor'd a Passage thro' the whizzing Train,
The Shot all rent his Skull, and dash'd around his Brain.

The actual probability of losing the back of your head while blowing down a barrel after a shot is pretty darn low... However it does violate all firearms safety rules and promotes a bad safety habit that may take over when you are not thinking about it. It's your head, not mine. I don't complain about those who do blow down a barrel; but I don't, and I don't encourage the practice with those I introduce to the sport.
 
While you may not like it, we try to make firearms safety a priority when teaching kids and it's hard to make the point with the muzzle of a gun in your mouth.

Do what you want on your own time by yourself. If somebody is around that isn't as experienced, try to be a good example of safety and use a blow tube.
 
I agree, it is probably pretty safe with a muzzle loader as long as you know what you're doing.

But, the 4 rules are:
  1. Treat every firearm as if it were loaded.
  2. Keep your finger off the trigger until ready to shoot.
  3. Never point a firearm at anything you don't want to destroy.
  4. Know your target and what lies beyond it.
Blowing down the muzzle violates #1 and #3.

I think the tube idea is a good compromise, but I wonder if it went off and that tube was in your mouth if things would not end up nearly as bad for you. Reminds me of that old Carol Burnett show skit about the Siamese elephants where one sneezed.

 
Appreciate it. While I agree with several posts they are somewhat negative. I have never blown down the barrel. Was not taught so (or I would every time cuz I'm a good learner). I could care less if you do. I wouldn't care if you did it while shooting next to me. That said we all have valid points. Your solution is appreciated on this end, Thanks!
 
I don’t blow down the barrel any more but I was warching an old Dan Hagarty movie on tv the other night and Denver Pyle was playing the part of a grizzled mountain man. In one scene he is target shooting. He takes his shot and proceeds to blow down the barrel before reloading. See there! Documented evidence for doing it.😆

BTW it was a terrible movie and about 15 minutes was all I could stand. Back in the late 1970s most shooters at rondys I attended blew down the barrel. I don’t see it anymore.
 
I don't care what you guys do or don't do; I was showing you a cheap solution that works for several calibers.

I will continue to do what I have always done and works for me and only use the tube when I have to. YMMV.
I have no preference either way and I do see how it can affect fouling. I have a small tube I made for my BPCR roller for this very purpose. I haven't experienced a need for it other than my roller so I don't do it. If it's necessary, then your invention is a great way to get it done.
 
Besides the violation of the general safety principle of treating every gun as loaded, I seem to recall reading somewhere that at Friendship and other large shoots with a number of people firing off at the same time, that a person may have thought their gun went off, and so blowing down the barrel might have actually been over a smoldering live round - yikes. All I know, that comment and some hang fires along the way impressed me enough to not want to blow down a barrel.
 
BS
Or show proof, newspaper article,, muzzle blast article etc.
Urban legend BS
I started ML in the early 70's, and over the years have met two different gents who did not blow down their barrels, and experienced discharge when they were seating their load. At least one of these persons was doing a timed exercise which required faster than normal reloading so wasted no time blowing or swabbing. Apparently, a latent ember ignited the load when the forced air ahead of the load brought it to full life. Both these gents had the ball and ramrod go through their hand. The second gent I talked with, on occasion, enjoyed lighting his pipe in front of strangers from a red hot coal held by his bare fingers. He no longer had any feeling in that one hand. Both now blow down the barrel or wet swab it before loading. I always blow down the barrel if I am going to reload a fresh fired gun.
 
What to wipe with between shots, how to prevent what you wipe with clogging up the vent, what’s the best lube, why do I have to hammer the ball down the bore.

All of this unnecessary stuff that I and others like me don’t need to deal with.

Keep doing what your doing, don’t ask me why.
 
Met a shooter at a gun shop in WV who claimed an ember ignited and resulted in the loss of a few fingers. After he left the shop, those who knew the guy said he was notorious for capping the gun before loading. Claimed it saved time.
Close to being Darwin award material.

Hey dumdum. Betcha wish you still had that thumbthumb.
 

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