AmericanLongRifles Forums
General discussion => Black Powder Shooting => Topic started by: whetrock on August 28, 2025, 07:11:14 PM
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This thread is for mishaps or near mishaps you personally experienced or which happened when you were there. For this thread it would be good if we could avoid describing mishaps that are repeated hearsay and just focus on more personal accounts. I’m not questioning the truth of those other accounts, but my hope is that we can focus on stuff this community has experienced. I think that's some of the best education we can offer.
I’ll start by saying when I was first learning to shoot flintlocks, I once had an unexpected ignition. I was trying to lower the cock from full cock to half cock, but I had not flipped the frizzen out of the way. So, with my thumb on the cock, I let it down, thinking that I had control of it, but the cock went forward more than I anticipated and it touched the fizzen, and it was enough. All the sudden the gun went off. Shot a hole in the ground about 15 feet in front of me, but otherwise nothing injured other than my pride. I learned to first flip the frizzen open if lowering the cock, and to dump the powder from the pan and put a feather in the touch hole if I need change a flint.
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As I mentioned once before I was at a rendezvous where a shooter was loading and shooting a trail walk in California coastal drizzle. It was assumed by myself, and others, that water ran off his hat brim and a drop or two got mixed into his loading sequence. The result was somewhere between a total misfire, and squib load. In any event the ball never cleared the barrel initially. But the shooter mechanically dropped the butt of the gun to the ground, and started to blow down the barrel. Thank goodness he didn’t get his mouth over the barrel before the remaining powder that had been pushed up the barrel dried out enough to ignite. The ball ( a .54 caliber) did clear the barrel this time, and caught the shooter between his eyeball, and his eye brow. He did lose the sight in that eye, but it could have very easily have killed him if more of the charge had ignited, or he had gotten his mouth over the muzzle.
Hungry Horse
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On two occasions just this summer, I double-loaded my rifle.( I've done a lot of shooting this summer) Once, when distracted by another person at the range, I fully loaded it twice, and the second time, when I remembered I wanted to look for my shot patch and forgot, I had charged the barrel. I discovered the errors because I had marked the rod, and it didn't come near the mark when seating the load. I fear my age and health are contributing factors. On the positive side, I am pretty good at pulling the balls!
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Bout 25 yrs ago I was deer hunting & saw a buck making a scrape & was almost ready to shoot. Had set my set trigger. Then he ducked down & into a low spot & disappeared. I was so ticked off I forgot a had set the set trigger. I went to hold the hammer to let it down, just barely touched the trigger & hammer slipped it fired into the ground in front of me. Man I was upset...... I am always so careful, taught safety courses at the gun club, etc. Never happened before or after, but it really shook me.
One time Ken G & I were deer hunting at my hunting camp. We were done I had shot mine to unload it, & he says "I wonder if it will fire without powder in the pan ?" I said you bet your butt it will fire, & I'll bet it will even do it Upside down ! He laughed & said we shall see.
So he turned took a brush & cleaned all the powder out of the pan, cocked the rifle & closed the frizzen over & tried it 3 times & on the 3rd time it fired. Now he Knows for Fact.
And that is why you never never EVER knap the flint on a loaded gun. Shoot it out or pull the ball. But DO NOT knap the flint if it is still loaded.
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My brother in law and I were racing to see who could hit the pop can first. We were hustling loading and shooting. I looked over and his ram rod was sticking out of the end of his barrel. Before I could say anything he fired and hit the pop can. I looked at him and told him that he just shot his ramrod, he said I was poor loser. Until he found his ram rod down range in pieces.
Fleener
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I got a buddy that talks way too much and gets distracted too easily. He was at my place and blew up his TC. Luckly no one was hurt. I was over the hill with the neighbor looking at a tree he wanted down. My guess is he short started it.
Same guy has blown up 3 guns. One a centerfire that he dropped two loads of powder in the case, he woke up laying on the ground.
Fleener
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Just the other day I had taken my recently completed .54 Kibler Woodsrunner to the range for some off hand practice, had a buddy along who wanted to shoot. All went well, came back to the house and started to show him what’s involved in cleaning a muzzleloader. I took the lock out, cleaned it up, sprayed it down with WD-40. I had brought the cock back to full cock so I could wipe away some powder fouling and I closed the frizzen, gave it a squirt and went to set it on a rag on top of my hard tonneau cover, guess I contacted the sear just right and my right pointer finger was between the cock and frizzen. Gotta say that Kibler main spring for some power. Deep cut just below the nail and another on the palm side of same finger. Bled like a stuck hog. Cleaned and disinfected real good and all seems well. Take the flint OUT any time you’re working on or with your flintlock!
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My daughter and I were hunting, she was just 12 and really tiny. We were just over a really steep bank watching a deer trail. Miserably cold day, she got too cold so we decided to hang it up. I said to her we better pull that cap off before we climb out. So I’m helping her to hold the gun and she pulled the hammer back and it slipped. The only damage done was to the earth worms. She was crying and understandably upset. I calmed her down, and explained we did everything right. The muzzle was controlled and the only thing shot was the ground. We learned a important lesson about cold tiny fingers too. BJH
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Over the years I've run >1,000 shooters through an "Intro to flintlocks" class. Worst injury--the only one, IIRC--was a guy who drew his thumb across a fresh flint to see how sharp it was. That took a Band-Ade to fix.
Years ago--I think I was 12 or 13 years old--I arrived at the gathering point for a parade for the centennial parade at a local village, passing an ambulance on the way in. One of the marchers had been "injured in an accidental shooting". I got some coffee and a doughnut, and sat down on the ground to wait to see if we would be marching. When I set my cup down, it tipped over: turned out I set it on the guy's detached thumb.
IIRC, I've been present twice when nipples blew out of caplocks (no injuries to the shooter). At one match, the shooter on my left had the drum break off his caplock when he fired. No injuries, but he and I were both done shooting for the day.
Saw a guy manage to ignite his powder horn when he touched off his flintlock (spout plug attached to the horn, he forgot to replace it after loading). Turned out both he and his buddy the range officer had a couple of beers for breakfast to settle their heads from the night before. Shooter had 2nd degree burns and a really nasty "rope" burn on his neck.
A couple times I've seen powder ignite when dumped down the barrel. Both shooters had burns to their hand.
Drove to a shoot in a neighboring state, got registered, and had posted my first target when I realized the RO was more-than-slightly-drunk. I immediately began packing up to leave. While I was doing that, the range officer managed to grab someone's match pistol and shoot himself in the foot. A couple of the shooters got angry when we closed the firing line, called an ambulance, etc, because they wanted to shoot "before it got hot". Two people got ambulance rides: the RO and a guy who had a suspected heart attack.
Once saw a guy split the barrel on his longrifle when he left his "ramrod" (1/2" steel rod) in the bore after loading. Barrel was 15/16"x.54 caliber. Guy lost at least one finger on his left hand.
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I was at a rendezvous in Lake County California (my home) many years ago. It was crazy hot, and the firing line at this particular target was pretty long. It was a small cast iron anvil welded to a chain, and hanging from a tree. I was a spot or two from the firing line and had just loaded my gun. The shooter after me was a lady with a bonnet, and a big full prairie dress, being hot as it was she was leaning on her rifle with her legs far apart so that big old dress could catch the slight breeze that was blowing. At the crack of the gun I noticed her dress made a jerk, and dust boil up behind her. Upon examination of her dress she found a bullet hole through both sides, and the ground disturbed behind her. I don’t think I ever saw her at another Rendezvous.
Hungry Horse
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I had a gunsmith years ago tap a hole and put in a new larger nipple. First shooting session I blew the nipple out and it hit the bill on my cap, blew it off my head.
I have also had my thumb slip off the hammer while hunting. Always point the muzzle in a safe position.
fleener
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I was at a place shooting one time & they had a car rim with a post up from it 4' up & a target. I told my friend, I don't like that dang steel car rim being there. He says "Oh it's OK, we do it all the time" (Famous words ???)
First guy that shot he hit that rim & it bounced off & hit a dif guy in the side of his foot with boots on. He pulled his boot off & I thought his foot was gonna explode. It turned black & swelled so bad the skin was starting to split at the cracks at his toes ! Packed him in ice & off to the horspital. He could not wear a shoe for 3 weeks. Then rim went in the back of my truck & into the scrap bin at work.
Went back there 6 mo later, dang if they ain't back to rim shooting ::) I just turned around & left. I can shoot out back at home for free, & I don't get any surprise events.
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In 1977 16 year old me went out on the back porch to dig my Seneca out of the gun box to head down the RR tracks to find things to shoot at. Ran a couple patches down the barrel. Stuck a cap on to clear the nipple before I loaded it. Kinda aimed toward the window to pop the cap and BOOM it went off! Dads one and only new chevy 4X4 was on the other side of that window. I'm standing there in disbelief in a room full of smoke knowing I shot dads new truck and he would kill me. Somehow the ball went thru the window trim and didn't break the window. More importantly I missed the truck! To this day I can't remember putting it away loaded.
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This is for those that believe that if someone you know has always been a stickler for safety, they alway will be. A very close friend and mentor was part of a team of gun club members that did demonstrations at our local middle schools to prepare them for an annual trip to Ft. Sutter in Sacramento. I was demonstrating how to check a muzzleloader to see if it was loaded. I asked my old friend if I could borrow his short barreled trade gun to do the demonstration because it only had a 28” barrel that made it easier to handle. I pull the ramrod, and dropped it down the barrel placing my thumb at the muzzle, then laid it on top of the barrel. To my astonishment there was about a two and a half inch discrepancy. Guns were hurriedly switched and one of our other members to the loaded gun outside and pulled the charge. And that boys and girls is how we found out the guy that was usually a stickler for safety was now suffering from degenerative memory loss.
Hungry Horse
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The guy who got me into black powder was about 40 years old when I was a teen but of course I thought he was old. He was all set for rondy with buckskins and powder horn and fur cap and rifle. I could see he was having the time of his life. His income was low and he had a family so his guns were low end, but he’d age them and put brass tacks on them or a rawhide wrist repair and they looked the part for “shining times”. But he liked to load up those thin-walled drum and nipple percussion guns and holler “fire on one end; fool on t’other!” We were shooting in my parent’s back yard when the drum blew out of his rifle. We never did find it. Thankfully he was on my right. Good guy but a bit of a showman and sometimes it got the better of him.
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been in the woods, and on my own property, many times and have someone 200 or 300 yards away put a round zinging through the woods, hitting tree branches and making me more than a little nervous.
I have only confronted folks on a couple of occasions. After all, they have a gun. I usually do too, but no point in a confrontation.
I swear some folks think that bullets never ricochet, or that bullets immediately drop to the ground after passing through a paper target.
An extended family member that rented from wife and I next door, put four #6 shot holes in the front of his pull behind camper. I noticed he was putting some sort of sealing tape on the camper, but he never said anything and I didn't ask. Then later I found four shot traces on the top of his propane tank when I was over there with the propane guy. many more small marks and nicks in the paint lower down on the tank too.
He had a habit of shooting squirrels off his bird feeder out the back door. Terrible shot, and was afraid of recoil, so would hold the .410 at arms length and close his eyes when he shot.
finally found more ricochet marks on the steel car rim on the ground he used to secure the bird feeder post. Back door, car rim, propane tank and camper all lined up very nicely. He was lucky there wasn't more damage. dont think he did that again. at least he learned, and got off easy.
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True story, and a very sad outcome. A retired fellow just loved to hunt the post Christmas Pa. flintlock season. One morning as he was loading his gear in his regular routine, the accident occurred.
He was in the habit of loading his rifle while on his front porch. Taking advantage of the porch light so he could see. Then he would put the loaded rifle (no pan powder) in the back of his 2 door vehicle. Well, apparently when he was placing the rifle in the back, he was putting it in buttplate first and the muzzle was pointed at him. The theory is that from him likely jockeying the rifle back and forth to get it settled in the back seat, the hammer either got to full cock and the trigger caught something, or the hammer got pulled back just enough to come down on the frizzen.
In any event, the rifle went off as the muzzle was pointed at his chest. He made it back to his front porch where he died.
We all know these rifles\pistols are as deadly as modern firearms. Be very, very careful in your handling of them. We all know that....but reminders never hurt.
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Can't tell you how many times I have heard "There is no powder in the pan". ::) It don't need it.
If you have a good sparking lock, those dang sparks CAN & WILL go in the vent hole & ignite the
powder. Proven Fact, no theory. FACT.
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True. I know the OP ask for personal experience's, but that story is one that can't be told enough.
As for no pan powder, I was hunting with a bunch of friends on a post Christmas flintlock day. It was off and on raining.....mostly on....and about a balmy 40 degrees. (You get the picture).
At the end of the day I wanted (as did all of us) to shoot off the load and the next time out have a fresh and (hopefully) dry load.
Well, the pan powder would stick together. Cleared that out but it was a steady rain and no matter what part of me tried to keep the pan dry, some other part would dribble water into the pan.
So me and a buddy were hunched down over the rifle trying to keep water away. I had a dry rag and cleaned out the pan. So, before I powdered it again I wanted to check the spark. With no power in the pan, I pulled the trigger and the gun went right off as if the pan was well powdered.
Those safety rules that get pounded into your head paid off. I (We) had the gun pointed into the woods at a dirt mound. Nothing behind it for half a mile.
No powder is needed for sure. A spark can easily bounce off the pan and into the flash hole.
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way back when i did a lot of all kinds of repair jobs
lots would bring me a gun and say oh its not loaded
always would fully check right off
way more were loaded than wasnt
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I received one in the mail once that was loaded. Guy shipping it didn't know. That was a reproduction.
A friend bought a loaded antique gun from a well-respected seller at a show once (seller is now deceased). My friend was new to muzzleloaders and didn't know how to check until I showed him and said, "Let's check ...."
Got home from visiting him that same evening and checked one I had recently bought, also at a show, and found it was loaded, too! (Was teaching him, but had neglected to check my own!)
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I witnessed a percussion gun go off while decapping with the muzzle on the floor of a pickup truck. There was a blinding flash and thunderclap with the cab filling instantly with smoke followed by the sound of the right front tire deflating!
We bailed out laughing and choking! Next day I filed some dang checkering on the hammer.. ;)
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I was shooting one of my rifles with double set triggers decades ago. I was shooting a target match. Back then I would mount the rifle with it held high, about 45 degrees in the air, lowering it to get the sight picture. I would click the rear, set trigger as I was doing so, then move my finger to the front trigger.
Boom! Guess what happened? Right, I was on the wrong trigger.
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Excellent thread, especially for those of us early in getting into the black powder experience. Likewise some great advise about range safety etiquette.
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Not only happens with BP guns. Hope it can relate this occurance here.
At a local "Gun Show" a few years back, I'd already set up my table the day before the show & was wondering around the floor looking for muzzleloaders and other antiques. I stopped at a table where a gun store owner had just put down one of those cute little Browning S/A's. I asked if I could have a look at it and he said yes, of course. I picked it up and immediately opened the action. Out popped a .22LR. I said " it was loaded, didn't you check? He reached for it and I pulled the loading plunger from the butt, tilted the rifle up and 7 more rounds dumped onto the table. I replaced the tube & pulled back the breech bolt several times, with no rounds coming out, looked and "proved" the gun empty. THEN I gave it back to him, saying, "I think you should check ALL those other guns".
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Here's a humbling, learning experience from 1959. My buddy bought an original Warner pocket revolver quite cheaply at auction as the cylinder was frozen and would not turn. After looking at the exposed chambers and finding them empty, he tried several different solvents, oils, and methods, but the cylinder was still frozen. In desperation, he then took a hand torch to heat up the cylinder pin. After the explosion, he found that the old lead ball had hit a cooking pot across the way in the kitchen and put a major dent in it!
Later we concluded that many years ago, the ball in a loaded chamber had moved forward and partially seated into the forcing cone of the barrel, with the black powder still in the cylinder. Since then, we always put a ramrod down the barrel to make sure that ALL the chambers were empty.
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It was 50 years ago....I was 14, and it was October. I was just home from school and took my side by side up into our woods to hunt tree rats. When I returned with the only one I got; a large gray, my Mother, and 2 younger brothers were gone......I threw my shotgun on my bed and went out to the front porch table to clean the squirrel.
The old station wagon came up the road. My 2 brothers ran inside the house and my Mother came over to hear my story of the hunt. The loud pop that we heard from inside the house turned my Mother's face white...she knew somehow what had happened.
My middle brother picked up my shotgun in a playful and child-like manner that was on my bed, and spun around and pointed at my youngest brothers belly, and pulled the first trigger which clicked on the spent shell, then spun around 180 degrees and pointed it the head board of my bed and pulled the second trigger, blowing a 6" hole through it.
I had forgot to unload the gun and it nearly cost my brother his life. The next day my Uncle was called to the farm. He took all of my guns, and I was not allowed to shoot or hunt for a year. A well deserved punishment that I never forgot.
This is a great thread!
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I recall an acquaintance in Idaho who had his rifle in the rack in his pickup. He saw an elk, jumped out to shoot it. He pulled the rifle towards him and since he had it capped, managed to have a discharge, blowing off his arm above the elbow. I'm sure Panhandle old timers will remember Monte.
I witnessed one case of a rifle fired at something in a lake, and the ball ricocheting off the water and hitting a kid in the ribs. He lived.
Another case, where the guy should have known better, was one of the local deputy sheriff's was shooting with us. He wanted to try one of the HK G3's we were shooting. We warned him to not shoot the steel targets on the range since we had full metal jacket ammunition. So of course he did. Bullet came back, and buried it's self about a quarter inch into his belly. Being old cowboys, we got out a pocket knife and removed the bullet, and told him to not do that again.
I've seen several barrels bulged from short starting over the years. I've seen at least a half dozen nipples blown out from those who think it's a good idea to remove them every time they clean the gun. I've witnessed four incidents of people breaking ramrods and running the splintered end into or through the hand in "speed shoots". I consider speed shoots a real liability to a club, as it is a known danger, and by holding a speed event, encouraging the behavior.
At the Fawn Creek shoot years, a pilgrim showed up with C&B revolver. He went to put it in his shoulder holster and shot himself. You need to drive 8 miles just to get a cell signal, so it's not a good place to get hurt. Now revolvers are only allowed to be used as single shots.
My X had bought a new .38 special. She shot a stump outside the cabin, and the bullet came back and hit her boob. Interesting bruise.
Another friend had come to shoot, and was shooting hard ball from his 1911. Bullets were coming back and hitting the cabin. I had him stop that.
Last fall, I was leaving the cabin, and heard something hit the car. I stopped and looked, and there was a small dent in the rear door. I looked behind on the driveway, and located a .22 bullet. Fortunately who ever fired it was a long distance away. I'm still kind of *#)*^~ at the dent in my Lexus, but there was no way to know who may have fired the shot, or from where.
I've seen several more careless discharges over the years, and have been responsible for a couple myself. Thank god I never hurt anyone with my carelessness.
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A buddy of mine used the hood of his pickup for a rest and promptly shot the mirror off the other side. His son laughed and yelled "You got em dad!" ;D
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The first m-loader I purchased in 1977 was a rifle called the "Yorktown", imported and sold be Michigan Arms , it was a 45 caliber percussion rifle. I shot it several times, and it functioned perfectly. Accuracy was ok for a greenhorn! I was at a club shoot one day and was shooting 50 grain charge and a 440 ball. When I fired off a load and it seemed excessively loud and the guy next to me commented "what you shoot in that thing?" I went ahead and reloaded and went to the line to cap it,,,, WHAT???? My nipple was gone!!!! Only thing I can think is I double charged it. I wonder how close to my head it came???? ,,,LK
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I watched a man of round build kneel on the firing line in preparation for prone shooting and cock and set the triggers on his TC Hawken. He simply fell forward to the prone position hitting the butt of the rifle on the ground discharging it straight up into the air, fortunately.
I witnessed a man shoot his steel ramrod through a target like a giant fence staple. James Levy
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I was on a woodswalk once and saw a lady take a shot at a gong, but the gun didn't go off. She took the gun off her shoulder and lowered it to waist level to check why it didn't go off. It went off a good 2-3 seconds after she had pulled the trigger and she managed to hit the gong from the waist. Excellent muzzle control!
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There was also enough time for her to blow down the barrel first :o
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It was 50 years ago....I was 14, and it was October. I was just home from school and took my side by side up into our woods to hunt tree rats. When I returned with the only one I got; a large gray, my Mother, and 2 younger brothers were gone......I threw my shotgun on my bed and went out to the front porch table to clean the squirrel.
The old station wagon came up the road. My 2 brothers ran inside the house and my Mother came over to hear my story of the hunt. The loud pop that we heard from inside the house turned my Mother's face white...she knew somehow what had happened.
My middle brother picked up my shotgun in a playful and child-like manner that was on my bed, and spun around and pointed at my youngest brothers belly, and pulled the first trigger which clicked on the spent shell, then spun around 180 degrees and pointed it the head board of my bed and pulled the second trigger, blowing a 6" hole through it.
I had forgot to unload the gun and it nearly cost my brother his life. The next day my Uncle was called to the farm. He took all of my guns, and I was not allowed to shoot or hunt for a year. A well deserved punishment that I never forgot.
This is a great thread!
Did your middle brother get punished? Seems he was equally responsible, if not more so
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I witnessed this one as a range officer some years ago. Spoiler alert: No one was hurt or injured except their pride. Background: we open our range to the public one week before deer season begins so that folks can sight in their rifles, which are typically cartridge guns. One day, however, two "dudes," by dress and demeanor strode in with a newly 'scoped cap lock rifle. We assigned them a bench and a target and thought no more about them...until they loaded and fired the rifle. The 'scope then somersaulted off the gun and onto the pavement behind them. Chagrinned doesn't begin to describe them. Needless to say, they packed up and left shortly thereafter. Schadenfreude anyone?
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Witnessed all the following at matches back in the late 1970s/early 1980s:
Metal ramrod of a C.W. type rifle musket left on top of the load and launched when fired. End of ramrod embedded into a small cutoff tree stump about 50/60 yards downrange.
Muzzle end of a custom built rifle split lengthwise in multiple locations from the muzzle and going back about 6 inches. Probable use of short starter only.
The explosion of a small sized metal flask while being used for priming. Do not recall the extent of injury to right hand and forearm.
A shooter using a borrowed custom rifle on which the owner/builder had purposely used a large sized touchole thinking it would help with ignition. To keep powder from blowing out the touchole a pick was inserted and held in place by closing the frizzen. While loading the rifle with a N&W stainless steel range rod, for some reason, the hammer fell and the rifle fired. Nobody physically hurt. Range rod and load went through the metal roof of the newly covered firing line.
All for now,
Kevin
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Like a fool I tried shooting an Original US surcharged French Charleville musket that had been cut down in length and converted to percussion with a drum and nipple. I started with a small powder charge with paper wad with no problem. I then increased the charge and tried again, thinking that was cool I went to reload and saw there was no nipple. Never did find that nipple and now that I am a little smarter {I think} I wonder what would have happened if it was the breach plug that blew out. BTW that musket was found built into a wall in an old farm house in VT. and hangs on a wall in my home unloaded minus a drum and nipple.
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It was 50 years ago....I was 14, and it was October. I was just home from school and took my side by side up into our woods to hunt tree rats. When I returned with the only one I got; a large gray, my Mother, and 2 younger brothers were gone......I threw my shotgun on my bed and went out to the front porch table to clean the squirrel.
The old station wagon came up the road. My 2 brothers ran inside the house and my Mother came over to hear my story of the hunt. The loud pop that we heard from inside the house turned my Mother's face white...she knew somehow what had happened.
My middle brother picked up my shotgun in a playful and child-like manner that was on my bed, and spun around and pointed at my youngest brothers belly, and pulled the first trigger which clicked on the spent shell, then spun around 180 degrees and pointed it the head board of my bed and pulled the second trigger, blowing a 6" hole through it.
I had forgot to unload the gun and it nearly cost my brother his life. The next day my Uncle was called to the farm. He took all of my guns, and I was not allowed to shoot or hunt for a year. A well deserved punishment that I never forgot.
This is a great thread!
Did your middle brother get punished? Seems he was equally responsible, if not more so
Outside of being yelled at after my mother recovered from the shock, no he was not punished....My father was gone at that point in time, and my mother designated me as being the protector of my 2 brothers and in her mind I had failed. I was only 13 months older than my middle brother, but it seemed like I was 23 and he was 13 back then....I was angry at him then, but looking back it harmed him more than me for not being corrected.I was just glad that my little brother didn't die that day.It was my fault for leaving a loaded gun on my bed and I got off easy.
That year passed pretty quickly... It wasn't the first time my middle brother got me in a pinch....I can't tell you how many fights he started that got me beaten up defending him well into adulthood.....It is just he and I now, as our little brother Joseph passed away back in 2018 at age 51.....To this day my brother lovingly calls me "Big Brother".....Our lives have taken different paths, but we still share a common bond ; the bond of brotherhood, that never goes away!!!!
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Having been at this for years, I have seen a lot of. Ramrods through hands, blown nipples, flintlock vent blasts scorching others, bulged barrels from short started loads etc
Two incidents stuck with me. One was on a woods walk where a fellow shot an oak stump [ not part of the official targets]. and the ball came back and hit him in the leg with enough force to draw blood.
The other was when I was range officer at a rendezvous. One fellow had a number of flashes in the pan with the resulting failure to fire. I kept my eye on him and told him to make certain he kept the muzzle pointed in a safe direction. Before I finished the sentence, he reversed the gun and looked directly into the muzzle...trying to see if it was " loaded". The whole line went silent as everyone froze . I banned him from the match and asked a friend to make sure the rifle was safe before leaving the line Everyone present at that match still talks about this incident. Had things gone wrong, it probably would have shut down that rendezvous for good
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One thing that hasn’t been mentioned is sharing a rifle. Years ago I built my young son a miniature tradegun in .410 gauge and this was our first rendezvous with it. A trio of shooters sharing one beautiful newly built rifle were a couple of target behind us. Everything was going well, we were taking our time, and the group of three were loading, shooting, talking and laughing. All of a sudden I heard their gun make a report nobody wants to hear. It was more of an explosion than a traditional rifle shot. I ran up to see if anybody was hurt. They were all staring at the gun kinda dumb founded. The gun was built on a swamped barrel, and now about six inches of the barrel was gone along with the front sight, and the forward ramrod pipe. Nobody was hurt, but the gun was a mess. We never did find the chunk of barrel that they blew off.
Hungry Horse
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That says a lot for barrels made from leaded bolt steel and other uncertified for gun barrels.
Bob Roller
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Went duck hunting with a friend back in high school. He accidentally shot a hole in the bottom of the boat. It sank. Good part is that it was his boat. That same year another guy in high school was duck hunting with his dad. He stood up in the boat just as his dad took a shot. He survived and was out of school for about a year. When he came back half of his face was gone. Not pretty. That was about 40 years. Nothing to mention since then.
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I once shot at the base of a jacketed bullet innbeded in the bark of a frozen Ash tree. The 148 gr. lead wad cutter came straight back and hit me in the Sternum and then fell into the snow at my feet. Put a reddish pink mark on my chest.
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I walked up on what turned out to be a record book pronghorn antelope taken with one shot with a flintlock after a one hour stalk. I unloaded my rifle by pointing it straight up in the air and firing with my best war whoop. Then it dawned on me that the ball could come back down and hit me where I stood. I figured though that to move increased my odds of moving into the return path so I stood stone still and waited... Then I heard it coming whistling along and plop close by. Darwin award for sure! :o
Sam Fadala put my picture in one of his books though. ;)
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We had a cook-off at the innaugural fall invitational over in Iowegia.
A squad of ACW reenactors showed up. Interesting to watch: I've never seen a group loading and shooting the 6-bull target "by the numbers". On the fourth relay, while they were seating their minies, one had a cook-off. The line was closed for about an hour while we checked for injuries and tried to work out what happened. (Shooters were given the option of continuing, or of completely re-shooting their target.)
Ramrod was most of the way down; shooter was holding the musket and ramrod properly so he only got minor burns to his hand. The rod was recovered about 50 yards away, probably salvageable with a little work.
The squad was cleaning (punch a brush down the barrel a couple times, scrape the breech face, dump the loosened fouling) between relays. Unfortunately, the rifle that was involved in the cook-off has about one thread of the breech threads exposed ahead of the breech plug. I suspect there was a hot-spot in the fouling buildup on the exposed threads.
The squad had a spare musket, but the shooter was a little shook-up and decided to be a spectator the rest of the day.