Bought a LOADED 1863 Springfield at Civil War show this weekend!

[MSW]

wow- thanks for the post ... a reminder that if you didn't load it yourself

(a) it's loaded

(b) the load is bad and will doubtless maim or kill you.


I think it was Kissinger who said, "even paranoids have enemies," so call me paranoid, but I still have all my body parts...

 

[Claude Mathis]

Not sure where this should be posted, here, or under Percussion Rifles.

Actually, this has nothing to do with the Civil War or Percussion Rifles.

It's all about knowing how to check if a firearm is loaded. IMO

Well, excuse me; it seemed to be a rifle I purchased at a Civil War show. It also seemed to be a rifle that MIGHT just have been manufactured and used in something called the Civil War; hence, posting the warning at a Civil War site didn't necessarily seem all that crazy, but what do I know?

Sorry I took the time to post here; probably won't happen again.
Hickok45

With all due respect - Your post was not about reenacting the Civil War, it was about you buying a loaded rifle.

 

[Eric Krewson]

Glad for your initial post, never thought about the possibility of an older gun being loaded with smokeless powder as mentioned by other posters, a real eye opener for sure.

 

[Rifleman1776]

I could see it was black powder

:shocked2: :shocked2: BP cannot be identified visually. A lot of modern smokeless powders are black and look like bp. As you said, you were lucky. Very lucky.

 

[Rod Lassey]

Ironically, once when I visited the C M Russell Museum in Great Falls, MT I spotted a Remington percussion revolver on display in Russell's studio, which is on the grounds of the musem. It had a ball in one of the chambers, maybe in others as well. It had been found on the bottom of a stream and was pretty badly corroded but was being displayed horizonatally. I mentioned the fact it was loaded to the museum staff and the next time I came in the gun was pointed down at the floor. Probably no danger there, but why take a chance.

In the old Buckskin/Blackpowder Report (for those of you who remember those magazines) there was an article concerning a percussion revolver recovered from the bottom of a dam. Loaded, obviously. After drying out, the author drilled out one of the lead balls, and trickled out the powder. It was blackpowder (the pistol was lost many, many years ago), so he decided to test the viability of the powder---touching a match to the little pile, it went off with a satisfying whoosh and plenty of smoke. Evidentally, lying loaded in the water hadn't hurt the powder that much.

Rod

 

[Rifleman1776]

Locally, there was an incident about 60 years ago that seriously injured a little boy. The family had an old rifle barrel that was used as a fireplace poker for many-many years. One day the boy was using it and it went off destroying most of his right hand. I knew him well.

 

[Jo]

True,but it has different consistency.
Still he was very,very,very LUCKY!

 

[54ball]

Well,
It's not about you, your feelings, your gun or anything like that. It's the fact that this is an open forum that children have access to. So if someone does something, shall we say, "not smart" that maiming or death could result, you bet your going to get called on it.

As we approach a million subscribers at MY Internet home, I deal all day with Trolls and goofy attitudes while still trying my best to maintain a positive approach with viewers and posters for the sake of the cause, which would be the 2nd Amendment and attracting as many new shooters as possible.

As an internet MOGUL and gun rights activist you should understand this and where we are coming from.

I've just never thought about one of these lying on a table "loaded" at a gun show

That's right you did not think. I think that is the main problem in all firearm related accidents. One thing BP arms have against them is that since they are old or look old, somehow they are benign almost quaint and harmless. When in reality they'll kill you as dead today as they would 200 years ago.

No one likes a lecture. I'll say it again though, it's not about you, it's about the 14 year old who reads your words and decides to shoot out a unknown load out the loaded rifle that granma got him using a piece of tin, quilt and baseball glove as a barricade.

 

I've just never thought about one of these lying on a table "loaded" at a gun show

That's right you did not think. I think that is the main problem in all firearm related accidents.

How many people are shot, followed by, "I didn't think it was loaded"?

 

[54ball]

True,but it has different consistency.
Still he was very,very,very LUCKY!

Billy, because of young men and women like you is why I posted the above.

As far as the consistency, do really know that and if so, would you bet your life on it?

Unless the OP had Xray vision there was no way for him to know defiantly what was in the rifle. It could have been a double load. It could have been a mixture of powders. It could have had a projectile so corroded to the barrel that it would be easier for the barrel to fail instead of shoot it out.

Another factor not mentioned so far is the loss of history. That ball could have been loaded in the Civil war, but now that history is lost. The projectile should have been pulled even if it meant unbreeching the rifle. If it was an era projectile it could have been identified. It and the remains of the power could have been preserved and kept with the rifle with photo documentation.
This would only increase the historical or at least novel value of the arm.

 

[ChrisLJ]

"As we approach a million subscribers at MY Internet home ..."

Glad to see THAT hasn't gone to your head. :bow:

 

[Pigman]

Here is the Mark Twain quote:

Don't meddle with old unloaded firearms. They are the most deadly and unerring things that have ever been created by man. You don't have to take any pains at all with them; you don't have to have a rest, you don't have to have any sights on the gun, you don't have to take aim, even. No, you just pick out a relative and bang away, and you are sure to get him. A youth who can't hit a cathedral at thirty yards with a Gatling gun in three-quarters of an hour, can take up an old empty musket and bag his mother every time at a hundred. Think what Waterloo would have been if one of the armies had been boys armed with old rusty muskets supposed not to be loaded, and the other army had been composed of their female relations. The very thought of it makes me shudder.
- Advice to Youth speech, 4/15/1882

 

[Jo]

I get that. I never fire loads that are unknown. What I intended in the post you cited was he was fortunate to be alive.My though was that BP, while it can be told from CERTAIN powders should not be trusted with my or your life. :hatsoff: Sorry I should have taken the time to be clearly understood.

 

[ord sgt]

At a rondezvous, one of the sutlers had a flintlock on the rack for sale. Found to be loaded and people had been testing the spark of the lock. Told the sutler to close the tent and take the rifle to the range and clear the load.

His excuse was...his kid must have left it loaded after deer season last year. HHmmmmm

 

[Wes/Tex]

...and that excuse will do little good in court when somebody gets one through the gizzard because of "the kids"! :wink:

 

[mrremington]

I brought home a old reproduction flintlock from my dads the other day and sure enough it Had a load in the barrel. Funny thing though. It had a j cloth wad followed by the powder then a wad of tissue paper. No wonder the original owner could not get it to shoot.



Sorry rod l I was button mashing in response to the op lol

 

[w5wjp]

Way back when I was around 11 or 12, we had a church deacon who in his early 40's and his wife was in her late 30's and had a very bad limp. At a party at his house he had a very old flinter above the mantle. I was ogling it and his wife came over and asked if I wanted to look at the gun the deacon SHOT her with. Then she told the story that the rifle had been in the family for over 100 years and hung over the mantle in the eldest sons house. When they were moving once, the movers refused to touch it and the deacon said it was safe and to prove it pulled the trigger and she got shot in the hip. Had profound effect on me...I check every rifle myself now.