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Semisane

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I know. I know. Never load directly from the horn or flask, and I don't.

But here's the question. Have you personally ever had the powder ignite when you dropped it down the bore? If so, what were the circumstances?

I never have, and I burn up about 25 lbs. of GOEX a year.
 
Not yet and passed the 12,000 shot mark within the past year.
One summer 2-3 years ago, I intentionally set about trying to get an accidental discharge at the range...I was alone and made certain never to have my head or a whole hand over the muzzle at any time.

I shot and reloaded 50 shots of 50grns Goex 3F at the range as fast as I possibly could...didn't wipe between shots...was pouring the next premeasured charge so fast the powder drop forced smoke out of the vent...barrel got so hot I couldn't wrap my hand around it.

Never had the first problem...not saying I never could, but I sure never have and at least that summer couldn't even force one...others mileage may vary
 
I saw one on the history channel. A Civil War reinactor was trying to get off 6 shots in 2 min (I think) and had one. After about the 3rd of 4th shot it happened. He went right on. I got the impression that he wasn't too surprised. Seems like it aired late winter or early spring. Somebody will remember it.
Regards,
Pletch
 
Pletch said:
I saw one on the history channel. A Civil War reinactor was trying to get off 6 shots in 2 min (I think) and had one. After about the 3rd of 4th shot it happened. He went right on. I got the impression that he wasn't too surprised. Seems like it aired late winter or early spring. Somebody will remember it.
Regards,
Pletch
Click to expand...

I remember it. It was on Lock and Load with R Lee Ermy, my hero :youcrazy:

I thought though, that he was using paper cartridges, wasn't he?

Josh
 
Never had one but have a couple both with minie rifles. These are more prone to cook-offs than older types because they can be fired much faster. I would think that flintlock or percussion muskets would likely suffer this as well when loaded for rapidity of fire such as would be done in a skirmish or reenactment. :2
 
Semisane said:
I know. I know. Never load directly from the horn or flask, and I don't.

But here's the question. Have you personally ever had the powder ignite when you dropped it down the bore? If so, what were the circumstances?

I never have, and I burn up about 25 lbs. of GOEX a year.
Click to expand...

I never have myself in 36 years, but I have seen a couple of cook-offs occur when fellow reenactors loaded very hot, dirty muskets during rapid fire. And I'd say that is about the only condition that it would be likely to happen in.
 
never seen it and I have shot muzzle loader for 32 years. been to lots of reenactments at Hubbardton
Battlefield vt. Gettysburg PA. Sacramento KY.
Has not happen once.
Believe a smoldering paper cartridge and rag in a black load is more likely to make it happen then say a hunting or target load would.
 
Never had that happen to me but.......................... the closest I've come to having a discharge when it was not supposed to happen was after I had CO2 discharged my load from the evening before after I came home from hunting. The next morning another hunt was planned so I went out to my garage to load her up for the early morning hunt. My procedure was to snap a cap and then load up. Well I put the cap on and let her go right in the direction of the refrigerator I have in my garage. :shocked2: If that refrigerator had been alive it surely was dead now. The dogs the wife and probably the whole neighborhood was awakened at 5 a.m. to my explosion.

What I failed to do was after I did the discharge thing instead of just tapping the barrel to make sure nothing else was in there was to send my scraper down and clean things out..........a huge mistake. No telling how many times I did not follow my procedure and not fire a cap prior to reloading but I'm sure I've sent some pretty hot rounds down range in my time.
 
I've never had one in 39 years of muzzleloading and thousands of rounds fired.

It seems that all of the 'cook offs' that are mentioned happen during rapid fire events at reenactments.

On a similar topic about this sort of thing someone mentioned that a possible reason for reenactors seeing this sort of thing happening may be due to the large amount of fouling that is caused by firing black powder without a projectile.

There is little doubt in my mind that without a projectile a large amount of fouling rapidly develops and it is entirely possible that some of this partially burned powder may hold a glowing ember that will ignite the next powder charge if it is quickly loaded after firing the gun.

Just something to think about. :hmm:

This is not to say that I take loading any muzzleloader lightly.
Just on the off chance that something might cause a new powder charge to ignite I always pour from my powder horn into a brass powder measure, and then use that to transfer the powder charge to the barrel. I also ram the patched ball with the muzzle pointing away from me.
When it's this easy to do there is no good reason for doing otherwise.
 
Never personally had one, but I did witness one about 30 years ago. I was new at bp and shooting a revolver at a local gravel pit in Kansas. There was a group there of 3 or 4 people with a fellow shooting a long rifle. I don't recall many details prior to the incident, but I remember a very unusual boom and what appeared to be a roman candle arcing away from the group. His flask had gone off while loading; the shooter was dazed, fingers and hand blackened, shirt sleeve (apparently) burned. He also had what appeared to be soot and 2nd degree burns on his face. His friends loaded him and his gear in the car and sped away. I found the remains of his flask several feet away - it was blackened and had split open along a side seam. The end cap was nowhere to be found. Never saw him again.
 
Zonie said:
I've never had one in 39 years of muzzleloading and thousands of rounds fired.

It seems that all of the 'cook offs' that are mentioned happen during rapid fire events at reenactments.

On a similar topic about this sort of thing someone mentioned that a possible reason for reenactors seeing this sort of thing happening may be due to the large amount of fouling that is caused by firing black powder without a projectile.

There is little doubt in my mind that without a projectile a large amount of fouling rapidly develops and it is entirely possible that some of this partially burned powder may hold a glowing ember that will ignite the next powder charge if it is quickly loaded after firing the gun.

Just something to think about. :hmm:

This is not to say that I take loading any muzzleloader lightly.
Just on the off chance that something might cause a new powder charge to ignite I always pour from my powder horn into a brass powder measure, and then use that to transfer the powder charge to the barrel. I also ram the patched ball with the muzzle pointing away from me.
When it's this easy to do there is no good reason for doing otherwise.
Click to expand...

Over here in Europe, where, as you know, we are all a panty-waisted bunch of wimps called Algernon, Piers and Nigel, loose-loading directly from a flask is actually not allowed in competition, and downright ill-advised on any gun-line at any range where BP is spoken. I teach BP safety and handling in our little club of about 248 members, and I teach flask to phial or measure to gun.

No exceptions.

And though I've only been shooting BP since around 1974 or so, I've never seen any mis-hap of any kind where BP was being handled and shot.

Remember that here in UK, let alone mainland Europe, we have a truly HUGE number of shooting re-enactors from the medieval wars right up to Modern-day.

Mind you, anybody who can get two shots off in a minute with a ECW matchlock is doing pretty well.

tac
Supporter of the Cape Meares Lighthouse Restoration Fund
 
The only time I have seen or heard of it involved reenactors. Civil war reenactors, using paper cartriges, seem to be prone to cook offs. I have always assumed it was a burning ember left in the barrel.

Revolutionary and F&I war reenactors also seem to have problems now and then. Many of these only use the rifles in reenactments firing blanks and are not as meticulous about cleaning the barrel as they should be. Accumulated crud can develop hot spots it if gets too thick.

I have never had one happen to me in any rifle or pistol I have used in the thirty plus years I have been doing this.
 
roundball said:
Not yet and passed the 12,000 shot mark within the past year.
One summer 2-3 years ago, I intentionally set about trying to get an accidental discharge at the range...I was alone and made certain never to have my head or a whole hand over the muzzle at any time.

I shot and reloaded 50 shots of 50grns Goex 3F at the range as fast as I possibly could...didn't wipe between shots...was pouring the next premeasured charge so fast the powder drop forced smoke out of the vent...barrel got so hot I couldn't wrap my hand around it.

Never had the first problem...not saying I never could, but I sure never have and at least that summer couldn't even force one...others mileage may vary
Click to expand...

Pushing ones luck in this manner is not recommended.
There is one periodically in MUzzle Blasts, first one I read about was at Freindship, pistol match, guy took a ball and rod through the wrist.
Culprit was fouling build up in the breech, maintained a spark, fired as ball was seated.
All the others are from the same basic cause as I recall.

Thus I avoid shooting long strings without cleaning.
Also different guns with different breech designs are more or less prone to this I suspect. But the pistol mentioned, IIRC, was a plain breech flint.
Someone had it happen with the shotgun on the trap range, there are others.
Not being able to produce this accident on a given day with a given gun and a given powder is no proof it might not happen tomorrow with the change of one or more variables.
Heat in the barrel is not the concern. The charge is not going to cook off (like a hot 50 BMG will do) until the temp is very high and likely the wood starts to smoke.
Its the hidden hot spot in powder fouling. The air flow, from being forced out through the vent may cause it to glow??

Dan
 
Yes I've had it happen. I was at a timed event 4 minutes to get as many shots off. This was a military shooting event. I had fired my 9th shot and had just dumped the 10th powder charge down and it went off so I dropped that ball and went for another cartridge. Its happened a few times at reenactments as well. Our reenactment unit as well as other units go through drills to keep everyone safe in the line and to expect this to happen so we drill and drill and drill in being safe with the muskets and be aware of the surroundings.
 
never have in 30 years I shot alot in my younger years not so much now never seen it happen to anyone else or heard of anyone around here either
 
The problem with these scenarios is even if you shoot a million times and don’t experience the results wanted, there is nothing to prove it wouldn’t happen on the million and first time. This is sorta like my query about firing a flintlock with no prime in the pan. Either case is, yes it’s possible, but it is not likely.
 

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