gun inspection

[b bogart]

I just had an auctioneer stop at the house to show me a gun. It was a perchbelly halfstock made by C C Blakemore, Fayette County Ohio.  36 cal, 1 1/8 across the flats. As I learned from this site, I checked for a "hot" gun and sure enough, it's loaded. I asked him to let me pull the load but he declined and off he went. Hopefully he'll reconsider. I was glad to get to inspect it. I wish I had the $ to buy it. Maybe I can talk him into a deal
Bruce

[steg49]

Probably not uncommon to find a loaded one, old grandpa keep his loaded by the door for years, then it went into the closet to be rediscoved years later still loaded.  I don't get many old one across my bench but the first thing I do is check for a load, only had one old smoothbore loaded with shot but it wakes you up when you find a hot one.

[JTR]

I've come across a few that were loaded.
One in particular needed to be unloaded, and a twist on the breech plug showed that it was less than tight, so out it came.
From the back end of the barrel the load looked like a bunch of crud. So I pushed a ramrod down from the muzzle and pushed the load out.
And the 'load' was just exactly what it looked like from the rear of the barrel,,, just a bunch of crud that had made its way into the barrel over the years.
No ball, no patch, no powder, just dust, dirt, maybe a hornets nest or two mixed with a bunch of dead spyders.
So loaded ain't always loaded, but still good to be cautious.
John

[Ken G]

I recently pulled what looked to be an old cork out of one.  When the ram rod stops short of where the breech plug is it sure raises the pucker factor a notch or two. 

[Feltwad]

I have come across a few loaded barrels on originals when restoring mostly on percussion sxs shotguns , one of the main give aways is if a hammer is missing or a tumble square has broken off .Before working on any muzzle loader always check for a loaded barrel.
Feltwad

[Fullstock longrifle]

Carl Pippert once told me that sometime in the 1960's he was in the process of re-converting a rifle back to flint.  He had the barrel in his vice and was in the process of welding the touch hole when POW!  The barrel still had a charge in it, and it went off when the welder touched it.  The round ball punched a hole in his basement wall and the room was filled with smoke.  He never told his wife what happened and he patched up the hole before it was spotted.

He was embarrassed about what had happened and he didn't want me to make the same mistake.  I've always remembered that story, and so far I've always checked first.  Lesson learned, for him and me.

Frank

[alex e.]

Auctioneer?? Talk about a liability issue,I hope he lists it as "loaded/charged"
I'd hate to see it sold and some one ignorant to the fact get hurt.
Especially in these day of litigation happy people.
Makes you wonder how many other loaded  BP guns pass though sales/auctions.
Alex..

[D. Taylor Sapergia]

During the 70's I worked for Don Robinson here in Prince George, and a half stocked original came in for a new stock.  All I wanted to do is see how good the bore was, and when I put the ramrod into the bore, it stopped short of the plug.  I pulled the breech and sure enough, there was some really shiny black powder and a .38 cal slug about 5/8" long.
The bore was not good enough to still be a shooter, by the way.  I think I still have the old stock that we made into a pattern for the new one, filling the dents, cracks and splits, and gluing on end pieces for the carver.

[J.D.]

Carl Pippert once told me that sometime in the 1960's he was in the process of re-converting a rifle back to flint.  He had the barrel in his vice and was in the process of welding the touch hole when POW!  The barrel still had a charge in it, and it went off when the welder touched it. 

 ML  guns left loaded isn't confined to antiques. A local yahoo took his TC to a local gunshop to have 'em pull the breech plug to remove a dryball.

I arrived just in time to see this idiot leave with his gun, and the proprietor, who is NOT knowledgeable about MLers, wiping blood off of his forehead.

It seems that the proprietor had chucked the barrel in a vice and applied heat to loosen the breech. The gun went off as soon as heat reached the charge. The maxi took a chunk out of the basement wall and the barrel jumped out of the vise striking the proprietor in the forehead.

I offered my services in the event that another MLer came in, but the offer was declined. That shop no longer handles any ML guns, as a result of this fiasco. 

[Longknife]

My son purchased a Pedersoli double rifle .58 cal., on line. It was shipped to him, halfway across the country with TWO loaded barrels!--------Ed

[Levy]

Working as a conservator for the State of Florida, about half of the firearms that have come in, including archaeological recoveries and cannon from shipwrecks, have been loaded.  In my personal collection, I've unloaded two shotguns.

James Levy

[G-Man]

It can happen anwhere.  Many of the small indoor muzzleloading shows require that anything gun coming in the door be inspected and confirmed to be empty, but I'm not sure if they inspect all the guns on registered tables(?)  I ran across a loaded contemporary flint pistol (pretty nice one too) for sale set out on a table at a large, very crowded regional indoor traditional muzzleloading show a few years back.  The seller promptly took it off his table when I told him - apparently had just taken it in on trade and didn't check it over carefully.

When I first started shooting, the first thing my dad told me to remember is that "There is no such thing as an unloaded gun" when you are handling one, or in the presence of someone else handling one.  Never assume.  When one goes off accidentally you almost never hear the person say "Oh yeah - I knew it was loaded..."  


Guy