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Swampman

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It's possible to blow up a good modern muzzleloading rifle barrel with 3F blackpowder and one typical weight conical or roundball projectile?
 
I don't think it's worth a life or an eye to find out so I stick to the recommended range of powder/projectile loads.

I do sometimes wonder why anyone would see a need to overload a black powder muzzleloading firearm.
zonie :)
 
Believe me anything is possible.
After working on production machines run by (I can't say) and idiots, if it can happen it will happen. :shake:
I say, What happened?
I hear, I don't know It was running and it just stopped!
Twisted shafts stripped gears broken over engineered parts. I get. I don't know :rotf:
Lehigh...
 
Yep, many ways to do it too. First , pressures in excess of 100,000 psi have been created with black powder in tests. Second, short start a ball. Might not cause catastrophic failure, but I consider a bulged barrel blown. I could imagine what kind of damage is done to a barrel, when people use the old 'proofing ' methods; ie, double charge, double ball.The gun may survive that , but I'm not gonna shoot it afterword.
 
Lehigh, I'm with you. I'm a maintenance tech here in Atlanta, and see that phenomenon on a daily basis. "It just stopped working" or "Here are some parts that were found under it a few days ago"If it can break, it will, and if someone can overload a barrel, you can bet that someone....somewhere....will go, "Bubba,try this muzzleloader and see whatcha think". And the rest is in the morning papers. We must keep on educating. This is the perfect site to do just that.
 
yes, it is possible. that's why it behooves one to pay attention while engaging in this sport, just like it's possible to ski into a tree and kill yourself, even if you are rich and famous.

over charge, short start. repeat a few times (or once if you're unlucky) and boom... we read about you in yet another anti- gun slanted news article.
 
There used to be an article about it in the old Dixie Gunworks catalog. It was very interesting. Most folks believe it's possible.
 
Zonie said:
I don't think it's worth a life or an eye to find out

I don't think mark is asking anyone to run any sort of tests. He's just asking what people believe.
 
Of course it's possible.

The more powder, the more pressure - yes, on a diminishing scale, but nontheless, more pressure.
 
I believe at a certain point, the powder just increases the recoil and burns after it leaves the barrel.
 
I'm looking at the Dixie article about their "blow up the barrel" test on page 187 of the 1987 Dixie Catalog. It says:
"We took one of our 10" sections of barrel blank unrifled and plugged both ends with two good breech screws and drilled a tiny vent hole, poured 210 grains of black powder in the barrel and fired it with our firecracker fuse to see if the barrel would blow up. Well it didn't. I guess these barrels will stand a mighty heavy pressure. I can't imagine all of that fire coming out of the vent hole but it did."

This, along with a photo of the barrel was given in the barrel section of the Catalog and I'm fairly sure it was intended to show the strength of their barrels as a sales point, not to advocate loading their barrels with an excessive amount of powder. :)

zonie :)
 
It certainly seems posible that the unburnt powder could be 'blown' out the end of the barrel. I have read articles in the Black Powder Gun Digest, and Guns magazine where these theories were tested. They were able to blow several barrels, although I don't remember the charge or type of powder they were using. I do remember that the first test Black Powder ran, was to fill a barrel to the muzle with powder, it split legnth wise and destroyed the stock. It was a very interesting article, if I still have it, I will try to scan it for you.
 
Mark Lewis said:
I believe at a certain point, the powder just increases the recoil and burns after it leaves the barrel.
and in some test's even reduced muzzel vellosity.
bernie :thumbsup:
 
Depends a lot on the powder used. I believe Swiss 3f has blown several barrels over the years. What went wrong is a serious question in those cases. I have personally fired a 200 grain Goex 3f double ball load off my shoulder out of a TC barrel to prove I would when I was younger and dumber. That gun is still in service and has seen many loads well over 100 grains over the years. The problem with answering this question with truth is that there are several interchangable powders being used in the muzzleloading world. Can you blow one with 777? Darn straight! Can you blow one with Pyrodex? I have never seen it, but P can produce serious pressure under a conical if you push it.
Another thing is what barrel? A 7/8ths 50? A 15/16ths 50? A one inch 50? A 13/16 45? A one inch 54? A 15/16ths 54? How about a 15/16ths 36 shooting a 150 grain conical?
Too many variables to predict anything except that obeying the recommendations is safer than not!
 
yeah I agree, no reason to overload. I refer a 60-65 grain charge in my Bess, and it works just fine for me. I think some just want to see what kind of charge they can handle.
 

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