What’s with the thumping?

[reddogge]

I did witness a blowing down the barrel of a loaded gun at the range. The guy had a misfire and blew down the barrel. It did not detonate fortunately. I and everyone else there hurried to their trucks and vamoosed.

I don't thump. I give the ramrod two little pushes on the ball. I think a lot of thumpers are monkey see, monkey do.

[HighUintas]

I put the heel of my palm over the end of the rod while it's in the barrel and ball seated on powder and give it a few really heavy pushes. That gets it done. After  the first fouling shot, the speed spread is no more than 10-15, so it works pretty well.

[Greywuuf]

I would counter the "non thumpers" with if you are using the weapons mounted rod it os often quite short and a bounce is a quick way to get the rod a little more clear of the barrel and it naturally flips easier to replace the rod.    At least I find the motion to be quite natural and easy. Also those saying they use the heel of their hand or their palm to compress the charge..... ick. Gives me the heebie Jeebies placing my hand over a loaded muzzle. The bounce can be carried out with the finger tips and a pinch grip. Way rather blow down a discharged weapon than flat hand the muzzlenof a loaded one.

[Hungry Horse]

 I think as has been mentioned before not all shooters today were trained to carry a range rod. I certainly wasn’t,  and I’m sure not all the people on this forum came up through the ranks packing one either. To me unless I am bench shooting a gun that requires a very tight load, a range rod is just one more piece of junk to keep track of. So, I would suppose that if you don’t like keeping track of a range rod, you also don’t want a ramrod sticking out beyond the muzzle of your gun a country mile either. So the easiest way to tell if your patch and ball are clear down on top of your powder charge is to thump it three times, and if it doesn’t bounce don’t shoot it.

Hungry Horse

[Waksupi]

People who blow down a barrel after a misfire are just giving Darwin and even chance.

Travel out west, you will see blowing down the barrel is nearly universal. We don't have lawyers watching over us like those in the east do. I neglected to blow down the barrel last summer, and did have a charge flare off when I poured it in the barrel. No harm, just a short lived Roman candle. That was the first time in over 50 years of shooting muzzle loaders, and one of the few times I hadn't blown down the barrel before loading.

[mushka]

My take on blowing down a barrel is that bullets rapidly exit the end of  the barrel.  Doesn't really make good sense to me to put your face where that happens.  I believe in Murphy's laws.  If it can happen, it will.

[Seth Isaacson]

Why would blowing down the barrel extinguish any burning residue? Long way down a barrel for the moisture to get to it, and we blow air to get things burning as well as to put out a candle.

[Daryl]

IF you use weak ball and patch combinations, fouling will build up, especially in the breech. Throwing the rod onto the seated ball will guarantee the ball is on the powder.
This "MILITARY" method of loading was taught and practised due to the loose paper ctgs. issued to the troops. After only a few shots, the buildup of fouling was quite severe from the 165gr. and later, the 135gr. Ctgs.
They were taught the "throw" the rod onto the seated ctg. 3 times.

[AZshot]

Both throwing the ramrod down a bit and blowing through an EMPTY barrel had reasons to do so.

On the blowing the reasons are to have your humid breath make the powder fouling softer, to see a puff of smoke coming out of the touchhole to be sure it was clear, and to burn out any spark left behind. A blast of air will do that. A low oxygen, just fired barrel doesn't have much air.  Hence, lingering sparks. Cannon barrels were swabbed after firing to extinguish any lingering sparks or embers from the gunpowder, which could ignite the next powder charge and endanger the loading crew.

I can't imagine why anyone would try to blow down a LOADED barrel, that's an entirely different story.  And extremely dumb to ever put any part of your body over the bore of a loaded gun of any type.  Ever. 
"How do you know it's not loaded?"  Well, you just FIRED the gun, and saw the bullet strike.  Pretty certainly it's not loaded after a big boom, and a bullet flying out.  "Could someone mess up and mistakenly blow if it's their habit?"  Yes, if people make mistakes an ANY way loading and shooting black powder, accidents happen.  I prioritize the risky things.  For example, I don't use the palm of my hand on the end of the ramrod to seat the bullet.  IF a lingering ember sets off the charge at that point, you've got a ramrod and a ball shooting through your hand.   I'd say there are 3 ways to prevent sparks - blow down the bore, wipe with a wet patch, or wait a few minutes between loading.  I'm not advocating anyone blow down the barrel mind you....and not saying if I do. 

[Daryl]

With the ball and patch  combinations Taylor and I (among others here) have been recommending for many years, there is nothing left in the barrel to hold a spark, thus there is no reason to be putting your mouth over the muzzle.
If you must do this to soften the fouling, your ball and patch combinations are too loose. With a good combination, there is zero fouling buildup, nor any chance od am "ember" left in the bore after firing.

[AZshot]

I'm sure I knew about a good, tight fitting patch and ball since the 70s!  As did all the generations before me going back to the 1800s, from what I've read in Roberts, etc. 
But I agree, it's pretty much a silly habit that's not needed.

[Bill in Md]

People who blow down a barrel after a misfire are just giving Darwin and even chance.

Travel out west, you will see blowing down the barrel is nearly universal. We don't have lawyers watching over us like those in the east do. I neglected to blow down the barrel last summer, and did have a charge flare off when I poured it in the barrel. No harm, just a short lived Roman candle. That was the first time in over 50 years of shooting muzzle loaders, and one of the few times I hadn't blown down the barrel before loading.

One doesn't need a lawyer to figure out that if you have a fire in your bore after shooting, that you have a common sense thing going on (lack of) that geography cannot fix

[New Fowler]

I like to thump it because it's what I was taught, and seem to get great groups in my rifle, despite the the thumping.

[Bob Roller]

Blowing IN to a gun that just misfired is a grand rank brain @$#%.I have blown ACROSS the muzzle  of one that I had just fired and that will create a vacuum to get rid of smoke or maybe a lingering spark.I wish I had kept the 58 caliber flint lock I put together but it's about 20 miles to the club range and dedicated time was almost zero.Competitive shooting was never a priority for me but I did really enjoy the BPCR shoots at Ralph Marcum's range in McKee,Ky.more than muzzle loaders and the steak dinners at Opal's restaurant were something to look forward to.Those shoots stopped when Ralph passed away.I am a member of a local shooting club that has a fine range and allows members to shoot anything we can legally own form a match lock to whatever.Every member has a key to the gate and expulsion occurs if the key is loaned to a non member.Getting back to muzzle loaders and black powder,is Curtis&Harvey still available? I noticed less fouling and higher performance in muzzle loaders and BPCR when I had some.
Bob Roller

[Scota4570]

I do give the rod a thump after the ball seats.  In single shot pistols I use my loading mallet to give two taps. 

Why?  Consistency.  It is part of my ritual.  If there is some fouling building up in the chamber it may prevent the powder from being compressed that same as a clean bore.  I do use steel range rods with tips that fit the ball closely.  I turn the tip in a lathe and cut the correct radius.  I then refine it with sandpaper pushed by the actual ball size in question.  Any deformation is minimal.  Some obturation may be helpful to accuracy, IMHO. 

Does it matter?  No idea.  I do know a set routine in important to shooting well.  That also includes consistency in loading.

Blowing down the barrel?  That is a hard no.  It is a blatant safety violation and serves no purpose.  I use moose milk shooting patches in a quality barrel.  I polish barrels inside.  With not significant tool marks there is no place for the fouling to stick.  Between the wet lube, a quality barrel, and the thumps, no significant fouling builds up. 

Last weekend I watched a fellow shooter swabbing between shots at a pistol shoot. His cleaning patches looked like they were coated with tar after one shot.  He was using pre-lubed patches.  My cleaning patches were only slightly grey after a dozen shots. We were both shooting the same caliber, charge, and Goex 3F.  I have observed the wet swabbers have lots of trouble with misfires from the bore cleaner. That is a safety issue that affects all the shooter on the line.  IMHO that is more dangerous than the remote possibility of the powder lighting while loading . 

The problem being addressed with blowing  down the bore is best addressed with other procedures.   It is also likely exposing the shooter to extra lead for no good reason. 

NMLRA Rules
1090–BLOWING DOWN THE BARREL
There will be NO blowing down the barrel during NMLRA
matches in any manner that requires the head to be in front of
the muzzle. A flexible blow tube may be used at the shooter’s
option, provided that the shooter’s head is not placed in front
of the muzzle.

[whetrock]

Like many others, I throw the rod at the ball three times. I appreciate the historical explanation for where this tradition started, and I agree in principle that, technically, it isn't necessary and that observing a mark on the rod is sufficient. So why do it? Because the ritual helps me avoid screwing up. It's like the ritual of taking my morning meds in a certain sequence, and locking the door to the house in a certain sequence, etc. It may be a "silly ritual", but it is easy to follow and easy to mark in my mind, so that I don't screw up and forget to seat a ball. I certainly don't care if others do or don't do it.

I do not blow down the barrel.

[Daryl]

Once the ball is pushed down to where it stops, I place the hold in the starter's knob on the rod, then give that knob a smack with my palm. This puts the same pressure
on the ball against the power, shot to shot. There is ZERO fouling buildup, but I have found this "smack" compresses the powder the same amount, each time, just as down in BPCTG loading.
With the smack, I get shot to shot variations of under 10fps AND a velocity increase, depending on the calibre of up to 100fps. The added "consistency" in shot to shot vel. is why I do this. With
just pressing the ball onto the powder, my shot to shot variations run 40 to 60fps. "Consistency, though art a jewel".

[HighUintas]

I actually started the ramrod thumping/throwing just out of curiosity to check if my balls was completely seated .... Well lots of times it is not!

My accuracy went up after I started doing it 

[Daryl]

Short starters all have a starting peg and a hole for the end of the rod to do the smack. Thumping the rod onto the ball is not necessary. One smack does it.
All my rods are cupped to fit the ball's shape.
Ha! the .69's starter is turned sideways. The knob is an ash baseball bat end.