Kibler .50cal.

[JonBishop]

Fired my Kibler colonial today. Not a bad group at 30 yards. Had one go astray though. While loading and priming, I decided to put the hammer in the half-cock position. To simulate a hunting situation. And blamo! The gun went off, went right through the front window of the house. I don’t know where the ball ended up. Just want to let everyone to consider safety first. Some attached pictures. This is after I fixed the hole in the window. Not really fixed. Anyways, the other pics are of the rifle.

Jon

 

[PathfinderNC]

Oh. My. God.

 

[LawrenceA]

Glad you didn't catch that one!
So what do you mean when you say

While loading and priming, I decided to put the hammer in the half-cock position

Then the gun went off?
Did you have the gun on half cock when you were pouring powder down the barrel etcetera.
Or
Do you mean you loaded the gun then went to put it at half cock and the hammer just slammed forward.
or
The gun was on half cock and somehow the hammer feel from half cock without any urging?

 

[JonBishop]

The gun was at full cock. I tried to put it in half cock from full. The flint hit just hard enough on the frizzen to cause a tiny spark. My thumb never came off the cock. I’m new to blackpowder and this is a lesson I’ll not forget. Again, safety first everyone.

Jon

 

[EC121]

Due to the fly in the tumbler, you can't put the lock in half cock from full cock. With the frizzen open you have to let it all the way down and pull it back to halfcock. Why was the gun pointed at the house?

 

[bmtshooter]

There is a possibility that the contents of those open containers may have also contributed to the negligent discharge. Firearms do not mix well with alcohol.

 

[Eric Krewson]

A friend had his loaded but not primed .58 flintlock in the house and decided to drop the hammer to test the spark. He said he could see one spark in what seemed slow motion bounce off the pan and make a bee line into the touch hole, BAM, and he had a huge hole in the side of his house to patch and a lesson learned.

 

[Hatchet-Jack]

@JonBishop you need to learn safe procedures so you can effectively practice "safety first". From what I can tell you either loaded your weapon inside your house and it went off shooting outwards, or you loaded it outside your house and it went off shooting into your house. If people were around someone might have been killed.

Other things that aren't safe are alcohol & shooting (if those are really beer cans, I hope not). Powder primer and powder flask sitting next to your shooting bench. If you are shooting off of this bench position leaving those containers sitting there sparks from the flint or touch hole could ignite one of those containers and then you have a bomb blowing up in your face. Never treat those self closing brass containers like they are 100% enclosed and impervious of sparks getting in. Tuck all powder containers away when shooting or at least make sure they are a good distance from the touch hole and capped off.

I'm not trying to beat you up (well maybe a little with good intensions to help you). We all want you to enjoy the sport and not get hurt or killed.

I would recommend that you join a local black powder club and find a mentor that can help you. That's what I did and I learned that I had several minor "Bad habits" I was doing that were not safe. You get with a mentor that has been shooting BP at a club for years and you will get a lot of guidance and help.

By the way the rifle looks great! With the right load, patch and ball you should be able to shoot clovers with a Kibler.

Good luck and safe shooting.

 

[Pete G]

Very few things as startling as an unintentinal discharge

 

[Jim Wag]

I did the same thing with a
BB gun.
I didn't know it was
Loaded!
And
I wasn't.

Jim in La Luz

 

[JonBishop]

Hatchet-Jack, fair points all. Luckily the window was the only damage not to mention my pride. This incident scared me pretty good. I stopped shooting right after. I even had to wait a bit to clean the rifle my hands were shaking so badly. I was loading under the porch in the shade. I was shooting away from the house at my target that was in the sun. I’m new to blackpowder and I was a bit leery of having my powder out in the sun. This was a lesson well learned. The beverages were after the shooting session. I needed something to calm my nerves down. I debated on posting about this but I decided to anyway. Someone else new might get some help from it. It’s funny, I consider myself a safety first type of person and I let this happen. It’s humbling.

Jon

 

[Spikebuck]

Jon, I'm glad no one was hurt. One can never be too safe.

It's not just the newer individuals to the sport that can have an accident. I used to watch the TV show "Sasquatch, Mountain Man" and he was raised around hunting with bows and muzzleloaders. Watching the show I used to always cringe watching him carry his Hawken around with a cap on the nipple and the hammer sitting down on that cap. One little accidental flick of that hammer and WHAMMO. Well, in one episode he was carrying the gun over his shoulder, but barrel forward, balancing the gun with his hand way at the end of the barrel...little finger hanging in front of the muzzle. He was going through thick brush and what do you suppose happened? Yep...a little branch caught the hammer, flicked it a bit, gun discharged and he had a much shorter little finger on that hand! What made a bad situation worse was he was in Alaska in the boonies. He was fortunate to have a camera crew around and the ability to get out, but if I recall, it was hours by boat to civilization and medical treatment.

So I'm glad you posted because ALL of us can use a reminder every now and then...even those of us that have been doing it awhile. Sometimes familiarity breeds complacency.

Gun looks nice. I hope you have many safe and enjoyable years shooting it.

 

[COTNTOP]

Thanks for posting your experience, shooting today and some friends were doing the same. Explained what could happen and they said they never thought about it that way. I always remove spent cap and let hammer back down to load. THANKS

 

[Mulebrain]

Simulated hunting situation

Gave me a chuckle