Mistake made with flintlock

[BE Wild Willy]

He must have a helluva time explaining his hairy palm. Then again, it may give him a chance to wax poetically.

 

[Richard J.]

Well when he gets back home the **** is going to hit the fan. Brother went to his place with his wife and found weapons leaning against walls all over the place. All loaded with none in the chamber. This man has little grandchildren. Its not going to be good for him this time. Found out he might not have feeling in two of his fingers. I just cant believe he would borrow a weapon and not get familiar with it. There is no deer in the woods worth having a accident because you didnt know your weapon. My brother and myself train people in BP all the time. Have a nice group of people that I helped into it down here in FL. Lots of instruction before they were ever loaded. Its a hard lesson to learn. I also picked up a guy one time that had his elbow on his double barrel shotgun. Safety was off and bird dogs tail hit the trigger. One inch of elbow missing. Boy did he scream. You can never be too carefull.Stay safe and good shooting to everyone

 

[Richard J.]

Another common mistake we have found while hunting in wet or snow weather is that a lot of the new people think all you have to do is dump the pan. If the powder got damp there is going to be a lot of it left in there. Seen many times gun propped up in truck and frizzen closed or bumped closed. They all say the same thing ( oh its safe I dumped the powder). all the while there is a flint touching a frizzen because it wasnt set up properly. Used to get very angry at these people, now I stay calm and just try to teach them saftey.The ones I love are the ones that say it wont fire. Get my little rubber mallet out, make them hold flintlock then bump hammer very lightly with mallet and watch it go off. Easy way to show them that flint cant touch frizzen. Sometimes I just wonder how many accidental firings in the woods there are because of improper training or no training at all. Brother and myself make ourselves avaliable at any time to teach, and not just BP. All modern weapons also. If they get into the habit of saftey with BP it will carry over to all there other weapons also.

 

[David W.]

No, just emptying the pan out does no good, because it's possible to fire a flinter with an empty pan. I say again to use a frizzen stall.

Guns don't have brains...we're supposed to.

 

[cynthialee]

it is imperative to know the safety procedures comonly used

Even though I had a solid knowledge of BP pistols I spent a good 2 weeks reading up on BP rifles before I put the first powder down the barrel. If I ever get my hands on a Flintlock I will do the same thing. Shooting myself or a friend would really mess with my entire life. Not something I care to go through.

as to Richard J stateing they found a bunch of loaded guns in the house... I will admit that we keep a loaded firearm in this house. But it is stashed very well and certainly not in a place a child could get their hands on it.
This guy needs to sell off his guns and buy a fishing pole.

 

[Billnpatti]

I am glad your friend was not hurt any worse than he was or even killed. I surely hope the doctors can make the needed repairs so that he regains full function of his hand. I also hope he doesn't give up on muzzleloading and gets the needed instructions to be safe and to know enough about his rifle to become proficient with it.

I hope I am not being presumptious when I say that we all wish him a speedy recovery.

 

[Col. Batguano]

Guns don't have brains...we're supposed to.

well said.

 

[Matt85]

I understand that we all have to exercise our own due dilligence, but the guy who loaned him the gun did him a disservice.

how so? if someone were to ask to borrow a gun from me, i would assume that unless stated otherwise that they knew how to use said firearm. when a friend asks to borrow your car do you ask him if he knows how to drive?

when i borrowed your rifle for a shot on your property, you didnt give me a run down on the operation and safety practices of that firearm. this was not an error on your part, you just expected that i would know how to use the firearm as i gave you no reason to suspect i did not.

the onley one at fault here is the shooter who took an unknown weapon out in the woods without making any attempt to gain experience with the firearm first.

-matt

 

[hanshi]

There's no way to immunize against stupidity. As soon as you make something "stupid proof" they up and develop a new strain of stupid. It's sheer luck no one was killed.

 

[Walks with fire]

I shot my ring finger on my left hand the first time I shot a crossbow. I had it sticking up too far and the string hit it when I fired it. Lucky for me that I just tore the nail a little bit but it still stung quite a bit and I doubt it will ever happen again. I really don't care for crossbows anyway.

We all make mistakes and the good part is the guy got away without being killed.

 

[cynthialee]

you came to my place pre-educated and I knew that

every time I have handed a gun to a person and I wasn't sure if they were educated in its use, I have made sure they get that education

this acident would have been preventable in two simple ways
first: don't leave it cocked!
second: a leather cover should have been on the frizzen

if either of these basic steps would have been taken then the acident would not have happened

 

[Drago]

There is a reason they have it written on the fan belt package to turn off the engine before changing the belt, someone tried it running. Glad he was'nt killed but it does sound like he should give up guns before a child gets hurt.

 

[hockeyref]

you came to my place pre-educated and I knew that

every time I have handed a gun to a person and I wasn't sure if they were educated in its use, I have made sure they get that education

this acident would have been preventable in two simple ways
first: don't leave it cocked!
second: a leather cover should have been on the frizzen

if either of these basic steps would have been taken then the acident would not have happened

This should have been prevented in ONE very basic way.... Discharge the dang thing before leaving the woods.... There is an old stump on the trail coming down the hill to a parking area at my gun club that I bet has a few pounds of lead in it.... It's where all of the flint lock hunters in the club empty them out before going home....

 

[kaintuck]

yeah....I've seen people handling a weapon, putting thier hand OVER the barrel, it just hasn't happened to THEM yet......

all guns do one thing....distroy stuff.

we all need to be careful~this fellow has learned the hard lesson in life. :shake:

 

[Matt85]

This should have been prevented in ONE very basic way.... Discharge the dang thing before leaving the woods.... There is an old stump on the trail coming down the hill to a parking area at my gun club that I bet has a few pounds of lead in it.... It's where all of the flint lock hunters in the club empty them out before going home....

opening the frizzen, dumping the prime, and leaving the hammer at half cock is enough to insure the firearm will not go off. or in the case of a caplock, simply remove the cap and insure the hammer is at half cock.

i kept my gun with a charge in the barrel for 3 and a half days before discharging into Bambi.

-matt

 

[David W.]

OMG! You'd shoot Bambi? Baby killer! :nono: :haha:

This should have been prevented in ONE very basic way.... Discharge the dang thing before leaving the woods.... There is an old stump on the trail coming down the hill to a parking area at my gun club that I bet has a few pounds of lead in it.... It's where all of the flint lock hunters in the club empty them out before going home....

opening the frizzen, dumping the prime, and leaving the hammer at half cock is enough to insure the firearm will not go off. or in the case of a caplock, simply remove the cap and insure the hammer is at half cock.

i kept my gun with a charge in the barrel for 3 and a half days before discharging into Bambi.

-matt

-matt

 

opening the frizzen, dumping the prime, and leaving the hammer at half cock is enough to insure the firearm will not go off.

I hope you're not serious? :shake:

 

[Matt85]

I hope you're not serious? :shake:

please explain how the gun could go off with no prime, an open frizzen, and the cock in half-cock?

-matt

 

[Richard J.]

The worst part about this situtation is that where he hunts he has to walk by his own gun range. The main problem was he knew nothing about the firearm and tried to hunt with it. Now he has to pay the consequence. Very hard way to learn. And yes we cover our frizzen.

 

I hope you're not serious? :shake:

please explain how the gun could go off with no prime, an open frizzen, and the cock in half-cock?

You really have to ask? :shake: