safety first

[jwh1947]

Those of us who have been around guns for a while have survived due to a code; namely, "assume that the gun is loaded."  This goes for muzzleloaders, too.  Suggestion, never point any gun in an unsafe direction, loaded or not; common etiquette.  Also, when a muzzleloader surfaces from that barn, attic or closet, always take the ramrod and drop it into the barrel, then measure the distance that it went.  If it does not hit the face of the breechplug, you have an issue that needs to be addressed immediately.

One day an old friend brought a rifle to me that had hung in his dad's house for over 50 years.  I remember seeing it when I was a lad.  Minding my own advice, I measured with the ramrod.  It came to rest about 2" short of hitting the base.  In this case, I pulled the barrel and the breech plug came out without difficulty.  The gun was loaded and the old powder was put into an ashtray, taken outside and tested.  It worked fine.  Generations of us had been walking past a loaded rifle in the living room, none the wiser.

[albert]

Safety,is on my mind anytime someone brings in an old "Family" gun,on working on old original guns,I believe that I have found more of them to be loaded,that not. Back in the "60s,my dad restored a fullstock rifle ,and when he checked the bbl.,it was over half full of black powder,which ignited just like it was made yesterday.I think it is up to us to educate the new generation of shooters,on the use and care of muzzleloading guns wheather new or old.

[Steve Collward]

It never hurts to be reminded of "safety first" and by checking the piece with the ramrod as described before anything else.
Over the years, I too have come across several antique firearms that were still loaded, with one no less that was on a table at a gun show! The dealer selling this gun is no novice and this gun was from his own collection. The charge was subsequently removed and the patched round ball sits on a shelf in my workshop as a reminder.  SC 

[jwh1947]

While we are on the general subject of safety, an event that I observed this fall is worthy of consideration.  We all know that we should not have beer, or any strong drink, at the firing line.  Let me also add sodas (or any other drink).

A standard 12-oz can of cola found its way to the bench and as the young man was loading his flint pistol (charging the pan, no less, he bumped the can, it tipped over, he grabbed for it and pointed the pistol right at his brother in the moment of confusion.  Luckily it didn't go off, but both my heart and his brother's skipped a beat.  No potential distractions at the firing line.  JWH

[Levy]

Approximately half the old muzzleloading firearms that have come into Florida's conservation lab have been loaded with something.  Some of the old shipwreck cannons have been loaded too.  Be careful with patent and hook breeches since they usually have a hollow in their breechface that can be full of powder.  In other words, a ramrod that reaches the presumed breechface may not indicate an unloaded firearm.  Be Careful!  It is also possible to worm a hole through an old load leaving a hardened donut of powder in the barrel.  Be Careful.

James Levy
Historic Conservator

[keweenaw]

While we're on safety let's talk a bit about semismokeless powder.  Lots of us collect lots of stuff including powder cans and a semismokeless can is a desirable item to some collectors. This stuff was made early in the 20th century as the switch was being made between black and smokeless for centerfire rifles. 

Most of us are very used to both black and smokeless powders, both of which are very stable.  Semismokeless powder (SSP) in another critter altogether and is both highly unstable and exceedingly easy to ignite.  While I had read about SSP as a youth it came to the front of my mind about a dozen years ago.  A friend, Earl Knode, in central Penna. had a gun and reloading shop.  One of his customers brought in a can of SSP as a curiosity.  When Earl unscrewed the lid on the can some slight static spark ignited it.  Unlike smokeless powder, SSP explodes like black powder.  The guy who brought the can in was blown out of the door of the shop and suffered fairly severe burns with some loss of function in his right hand.  Earl was badly burned, including scorch in his lungs and died in a burn unit.  I think that should be a graphic enough description. 

Bottom line, if you ever come across an old can of this that still has contents in it  don't shake it and don't open it in other than extremely controlled conditions.  And never, ever, keep a can of this stuff around.

Tom

[Dave B]

Snyder,
Thanks for that heads up on the SSP. I have never heard of it before. I run across old cans occasionally and have thought some time of picking one up just to have in the collection. I would have attempted to open any can I purchased to see if it were real powder in side or no. Good way to get yourself hurt if you were not informed.
I ran across a whole bunch of cans of powder in a yard sale along with old  reloading equipment I never really looked at the cans but put a 20 down to hold the stuff till my friend who was interested in it came over to buy it all.
there was about eight to ten cans of old stuff in that box I better call him to let him know to look them over carefully.

[Curt J]

I too, have found quite a number of original muzzle loaders that were loaded.  These being either guns I bought, or guns I worked on for someone else. When I first became associated with the county historical society here, I discovered a New England style underhammer buggy rifle, hanging on the museum wall, that was not only loaded but capped!

I used to visit with an old gentleman, now deceased, who had been an antique dealer in this area back before WWII, when nothing was worth anything....at least compared to the world as we now know it. He told me that he had bought and sold over 300 muzzle-loaders back then, for between $3 and $5 each.  He told how he had cleaned out the attic of a pre-Civil War house in exchange for the contents. When he thought he was all done, the elderly lady who owned it told him there were three old guns down inside an inside wall...."get them out of there".  He had to lay on the attic floor and reach an arm down inside the wall to retrieve them. Two were longrifles, and he was able to reach them and pull them up with no problem. The third was a percussion double shotgun, shorter than the other two. He could just touch the muzzles, and managed to work two fingers into them and pull the shotgun up. When he got it out, he realized that it was loaded, capped....and cocked!

[Artificer]

When I visited Andy Jackson's home, the Hermitage in 1984 or so; they had recently found an original half stock flint pistol in the rafters that had been loaded all those years.  Those rafters were in the rear part addition of the mansion and were only about 7 feet tall if I remember corectly.  Just in the right spot to grab it when one needed it.  It was found during a partial repair restoration.  Think of all the people who had been in there over the years and no one had discovered it until that time.

[lexington1]

My uncle was restoring an original several years back. He wanted to get the breechplug unstuck and put a torch to it. The barrel was clamped in a vice on his work bench. It was loaded and went off, putting a nice hole through the side of his shop.

I have an New England flinter that had patches and balls in the patchbox when I got it. I measured the balls and sure enough they were the right size for the bore. It was also loaded. I removed the breechplug and pushed the load out and the load was still in good condition. The powder was dry and bright looking and the patching didn't even appear to be rotten.

The weirdest thing I've encountered is I had an original Manton double barreled shotgun. One of the barrels seemed to have a load in it. I used a worm on it and out came a rolled up hunting licence from the 20's instead of a load.

[jwh1947]

Imagine this.  A noble old gun is used for generations.  One day, the hunter came home from the hill one last time.  He had his gun loaded for that next kill, brought it home that evening, and up and died.  There it lay for a century and we are of the fortunate few to find it.  Maybe it is as simple as this. All best.  Wayne