Funny Stories about Muzzle Loaders that left you wondering.

[akapennypincher]

Having spent the BEST PART of 8 years working as a Volunteering Safety Officer at a local public shooting range I have a few, but shall share them later in the day.

 

[tg]

I have heard a LOT of them the last few weeks but so has the rest of the forum so I will not repeat any of them :surrender:

 

[Zonie]

Ahhhh, akapennypincher.
You created a new Topic just to tell us you have some funny stories about muzzleloaders and then tell us you are not going to tell us about them?

Maybe it's just me but that seems sorta strange. :hmm:

 

[hanshi]

Uhhh...that's probably one of the stories? :hmm:

 

[akapennypincher]

Ahhhh, akapennypincher.
You created a new Topic just to tell us you have some funny stories about muzzleloaders and then tell us you are not going to tell us about them?

Maybe it's just me but that seems sorta strange. :hmm:

Did i not say later, so it is now later. Well as I have been busy all day, and got side tracked with a very important project having to do with the VA, now is the time.

First story is of a guy who shows up at Ben Avery Range to shoot his Brand New Italian Made Cap & Ball 44 Cal. Army Reproduction Pistol. He apparently got it as a gift.

So he is laying out his Caps, Ball, and other Shooting Accessories, and out of the corner of my eye I see him pouring Powder in his Brass Flask Powder.

I ask what is in the can? He replies "Pistol Powder", like what is printed on the can. I ask where he bought it, he explains he went into one of the local gun shops, asks for a “Can of Pistol Powder”, and that is what they sold him.

I say I am sorry that is "pistol powder" but it is SMOKELESS PISTOL POWDER, and he has a Black Powder Only Gun (showing him the stamping of Black Powder ONLY on the Frame) the Pistol he apparently he got for a gift with everything he need to shoot it but Powder.

I explain why he can not shoot smokeless in his Black powder Only Pistol, and why he needs REAL BLACK POWDER FFFG Granulation.

I offer him a refund on his Range Fees, and suggest he go out and see the Muzzle Loading Club for Powder, and Instruction in almost everything he did not know.

The guy is real nice about the entire experience, and thanks me for maybe saying him from an injury.

Funny thing is he did ask for "pistol powder" at the gun store that sell powder, got pistol powder, just not black powder.

I know the owner of said store, mention the customer he had, and he say he will tell the staff about the sale.

I say to myself had the powder thing not been caught, how many would have been hurt?

 

[akapennypincher]

Story two is a little shorter, but still happen at the same place some time later. An older gentleman show up with a Muzzle Loading Rifle, he has all the gear, shooting box, and from the looks of things, and the condition of his equipment I would have thought he was a long time shooter of Muzzle Loader.

Well he two has a Brass Flask, when he start pouring Black Powder from his Brass Flask into the Powder Measure he has a very nice Lit Cigar stick out of his mouth.

He is puffing away during the Powder transfer from Brass Flask to Powder Measurer, and than down the Muzzle Loader.

I mention nicely that smoking & handling BLACK Powder is a Hazard, and he need to leave the Cigar on the Shooting Bench, and out of the Loading Area. While he is loading.

He tells me he has been doing this for “YEARS”, and in the place he normally shoot back home no one bothers him.

I advise him about Powder Fines in the Air, Possibility of a Flash when Fines, & Cigar meet,and the possibility of the Powder Flask could be like a Hand Grenade if it blew up.

The older gentleman get all upset, starts packing up to leave, because of the "stupid rules". As he is leaving I say wait sir let me refund you fees, as you did not ever fire a shot.

He show me his middle finger, and I never saw the guy again at the public range.

 

Penny,
Not such a funny story, but a darn good lesson for everyone. PAY ATTENTION AT ALL TIMES AND BE KNOWLEDGABLE OF WHAT YOU ARE DOING.
Mark

 

[Zonie]

Probably several people near him would have been injured.

Hopefully the owner of the gun shop chewed some rears on that one. If the clerk was doing his job the very least he would have asked would be, "What cartridge do you plan on loading?"
Smokeless powder for a .32 ACP is a lot different than powder for a .357 Mag.

 

[David W.]

The clerk did even not ask what caliber pistol? There are a multitude of smokless powders with very different burn rates, making that a dangerous sale even if the range guy had a CF pistol.

 

[lakota]

Can you imagine touching off a cap and ball pistol stoked with 20 or 30 grains of Bullseye? 4 or 5 grains in a .38 Spl makes a decent boom. Yikes!

 

[Bill Hall]

I told this same story years ago on this forum, maybe worth telling again.

Back in the 1970's, I was hunting with friends and family in Eastern Oregon. It was a modern firearms deer season, but I was using my T/C Hawken, and the only one using a muzzleloader. One night when we were talking and planning out the next day's hunt, my uncle asked me how fast I could point "that thing" and shoot. I told him something like, "Fast enought I guess, Why?". He said I could sit at the top of a bluff in the area, and with all the hunting pressure, there would be a good chance a buck would walk under me. But what he really wanted to know was if I could aim downhill at a deer, and shoot before the ball rolled out of the barrel. He was dead serious. Bill

 

[oldude]

In the early 80s when I made the switch to front stuffers I told my wife that I was going to give Black Powder a try. She then asked me how many colors gun powder came in and what did they mean??Bent

 

[pa woods roamer]

Years ago, had a new, knew it all , shooter come to the Club. He got the first shot off O.K. Second shot, nothing.He was getting all flustered and He pulled out a Cigarette and was ready to strike a Match when at least 5 guys , all at the same time, hollered at Him.Turns out He was using WD-40 for patch lube and cleaning between shots. We finally got the stuck ball and wet Powder out. A fellow shooter worked with Him and showed Him the right way. At the end of the shoot He gathered up His big Pregnant Wife and left.My Brother and I left shortly and there He sat with a flat Tire! We stopped and Helped Him change it. Nope, we never saw hide nor hair of Him again....

 

[D Sanders]

In the early 80s when I made the switch to front stuffers I told my wife that I was going to give Black Powder a try. She then asked me how many colors gun powder came in and what did they mean??Bent

:rotf: :rotf: :rotf: :rotf:

 

[akapennypincher]

Probably several people near him would have been injured.

Hopefully the owner of the gun shop chewed some rears on that one. If the clerk was doing his job the very least he would have asked would be, "What cartridge do you plan on loading?"
Smokeless powder for a .32 ACP is a lot different than powder for a .357 Mag.

Staff was spoke too, store don't even sell inlines, at last check.

Who was wrong, Customer who did not READ INSTRUCTIONS before buy Power, or Clerk who sold Pistol powder.

Just before Hunting Season was always fun at the RANGE with First time Muzzle loader who got drawn for ML SEASON, and were for many were CLUELESS.

 

[akapennypincher]

Can you imagine touching off a cap and ball pistol stoked with 20 or 30 grains of Bullseye? 4 or 5 grains in a .38 Spl makes a decent boom. Yikes!

Bullseye was the powder he had. :idunno:

 

[lakota]

I wondered if it was Bulleye. It seems like Bullseye is what every reloader thinks of when someone says "pistol powder"

I'd say he is very lucky you intervened then or he might be dead or at the very least have a new nick name! That revolver would have come apart in a hurry.

I read something once about a guy using half a soda straw full of Bullseye detonated using model rocket ignitors to blow small stumps and roots out of his new driveway he was building. Who knows if its true or not.

 

[msuspartan]

Bent,
That is probably the best and funniest story I have EVER heard. :rotf: :rotf: :rotf: :rotf:
Got to love our wives!!! :idunno:

Cheers, DonK

 

[rawhide]

had a guy once bring a cannon to a rondy to show off. that he made in collige. pretty thing old iorn sides style. well he said he wanted to shoot some blank loads and the range master told him it would be ok. so he loaded her up with powder didn't see what at the time. stuffed a tishue paper wad down lit the fuse and kabooom! SPLIT THE BARREL. huge crack in it. so I asked him what happned. said "well I loaded her up with a cap full of herco and paper and it blow up. don't know why did'nt do that before... needless to say I schooled him on black powder then he was asked to leave. luckly no one got hert. just his pretty cannon.

 

[akapennypincher]

Any of you have the opportunity to visit a "public shooting range", and spend any time there will quickly realize many who own fire arm do not know much about what they own, be it modern, or front stuffer.

I always felt besides being a volunteer safety person, my second mission was education of those thirsty for knowledge.