Hello,
In my thread "Here's Me Converting An Anti-Gunner" I was taken to task for blowing down my Kentucky Rifle's barrel.
One person, ignorant of the reasons for this, has been taking me to task all day. He wasn't the only one to mention this seeming breech of firearms safety, but he's tenacious like bull and it's getting irritating.
I'm sure there's others out there who do not know why I did this, so school is in
Blackpowder is made up of charcoal, sulfur, and saltpeter. It's a low grade explosive which will flash at around 800°F.
As such, it is prone to cook off.
Black powder burns at about 50%. It is not efficient by any means. LOTS of fouling is left in the barrel, and lots comes out as smoke.
The stuff left in the barrel is what we're concerned about here. If there's an ember left, the next charge will cook off when it's poured into the barrel. This has the potential to cause severe burns (imagine you're putting your face in live campfire embers - it's about like that). Having personally witnessed cook offs, I do not wish to experience one first hand.
There are two methods of making sure there are no embers left: First, you can blow down the barrel to accelerate the burning. An example of this is to light a match and blow it out. If you keep it in still air, it will glow for a bit. However, if you blow on it, it will glow brightly and burn out.
Second, swab the bore. Put a patch in your mouth to wet it, run it down the bore and back up, then follow with two dry patches. This has the added benefit of bringing some fouling with it.
The latter is my preferred method, except for one thing: Patent breeches. The patent breech is, most of the time, a sub-caliber powder chamber breech plug. It is too small for the patch to enter. Another pain is not knowing for sure if a particular barrel has a patent breech.
This can create a dangerous situation in which one believes he has swabbed out any embers, but in reality, there may be a live ember left in the firing chamber of a patent breech equipped barrel.
I therefore do the following, as prescribed by old methods and traditions:
1. I fire my muzzleloading rifle.
2. After firing, I flip it around and blow down the barrel with the hammer at half cock. While not acceptable with breech loading arms, it has been done this way for hundreds of years with muzzleloading arms. It is done for safety, not in spite of safety.
3. I then ground the butt and swab the barrel with one spit patch followed by two dry patches to remove fouling and double check any embers which may still be there after blowing down the muzzle. I recognize that there may still be live embers in the patent breech even by combining these two methods, especially when using combustible paper cartridges, so I
4. keep the barrel angled away from me when I dump the fresh powder charge. You see, the process of loading a muzzleloader breaks many modern firearms rules.
5. I then lay a patch over the barrel, then a ball over the patch, start the ball and patch, then ram home the patched ball, being very careful not to bend the ramrod. Bending a ramrod will lead to breaking the ramrod, which will then lead to a broken ramrod through the hand. Of course, it's not safe to remove said ramrod from the hand without the proper medical equipment, so if you've stuck the ramrod in the barrel as well, you may have to take a loaded rifle into the ER with you, unless, of course, you can cut it off at the muzzle. So be careful here, too. I like, and use, the one at Virtually Indestructible Ramrod - Muzzleloader . This helps minimize the risk.
6. I repeat.
When I got into muzzleloading, I was stunned that folks put barrels in their mouths and at some other practices in general. Growing up with smokeless rifles and shotguns, it was obvious that gun rules were being broken.
Then, I realized that those gun rules were written for modern firearms. Heck, I don't even know who wrote them. While they still apply to modern arms, they do not all apply to muzzleloading arms, just as not all modern rifle rules apply to pistols (how many carry loaded, for example?)
I digress, however. I'm outlining how to be safe with a muzzleloading arm, but the main point of this topic is how to keep blackpowder from blowing up in your face. Simply put, make damn sure the fire is out in the barrel. If you're not comfortable with blowing down the barrel, attach a piece of hose to the nipple and blow through that (a flintlock will require an adapter for this). IMO it's not as effective and has a higher risk of getting spit in the patent breech, causing a new set of problems, but it usually serves.
Times to NEVER blow down the barrel are after a failure to fire -- it may be a hang fire or delayed fire, and will take your head off in a spectacularly gruesome manner -- or any time you suspect a charge in the barrel. Check this with a ramrod. The ramrod should be marked. If it's not, you've failed to do your job.
I hope this clears up some misconceptions. I do not want to see anyone hurt. I am far from being an expert on the subject (I despise that word) but I've absorbed a lot from a bunch of old folks since September also. In fact, except for taking a couple squirrel for the pot, I've not touched my smokeless arms since getting my first muzzleloader, but I have gone through several pounds of powder and ball practicing what I'm taught.
I welcome any questions here - and they do not have to be about traditional muzzleloaders only. If I cannot find the answer to a question, someone else will be able to answer it (especially with the inlines as I have no experience with those) or I will go find the answer.
Josh
In my thread "Here's Me Converting An Anti-Gunner" I was taken to task for blowing down my Kentucky Rifle's barrel.
One person, ignorant of the reasons for this, has been taking me to task all day. He wasn't the only one to mention this seeming breech of firearms safety, but he's tenacious like bull and it's getting irritating.
I'm sure there's others out there who do not know why I did this, so school is in
Blackpowder is made up of charcoal, sulfur, and saltpeter. It's a low grade explosive which will flash at around 800°F.
As such, it is prone to cook off.
Black powder burns at about 50%. It is not efficient by any means. LOTS of fouling is left in the barrel, and lots comes out as smoke.
The stuff left in the barrel is what we're concerned about here. If there's an ember left, the next charge will cook off when it's poured into the barrel. This has the potential to cause severe burns (imagine you're putting your face in live campfire embers - it's about like that). Having personally witnessed cook offs, I do not wish to experience one first hand.
There are two methods of making sure there are no embers left: First, you can blow down the barrel to accelerate the burning. An example of this is to light a match and blow it out. If you keep it in still air, it will glow for a bit. However, if you blow on it, it will glow brightly and burn out.
Second, swab the bore. Put a patch in your mouth to wet it, run it down the bore and back up, then follow with two dry patches. This has the added benefit of bringing some fouling with it.
The latter is my preferred method, except for one thing: Patent breeches. The patent breech is, most of the time, a sub-caliber powder chamber breech plug. It is too small for the patch to enter. Another pain is not knowing for sure if a particular barrel has a patent breech.
This can create a dangerous situation in which one believes he has swabbed out any embers, but in reality, there may be a live ember left in the firing chamber of a patent breech equipped barrel.
I therefore do the following, as prescribed by old methods and traditions:
1. I fire my muzzleloading rifle.
2. After firing, I flip it around and blow down the barrel with the hammer at half cock. While not acceptable with breech loading arms, it has been done this way for hundreds of years with muzzleloading arms. It is done for safety, not in spite of safety.
3. I then ground the butt and swab the barrel with one spit patch followed by two dry patches to remove fouling and double check any embers which may still be there after blowing down the muzzle. I recognize that there may still be live embers in the patent breech even by combining these two methods, especially when using combustible paper cartridges, so I
4. keep the barrel angled away from me when I dump the fresh powder charge. You see, the process of loading a muzzleloader breaks many modern firearms rules.
5. I then lay a patch over the barrel, then a ball over the patch, start the ball and patch, then ram home the patched ball, being very careful not to bend the ramrod. Bending a ramrod will lead to breaking the ramrod, which will then lead to a broken ramrod through the hand. Of course, it's not safe to remove said ramrod from the hand without the proper medical equipment, so if you've stuck the ramrod in the barrel as well, you may have to take a loaded rifle into the ER with you, unless, of course, you can cut it off at the muzzle. So be careful here, too. I like, and use, the one at Virtually Indestructible Ramrod - Muzzleloader . This helps minimize the risk.
6. I repeat.
When I got into muzzleloading, I was stunned that folks put barrels in their mouths and at some other practices in general. Growing up with smokeless rifles and shotguns, it was obvious that gun rules were being broken.
Then, I realized that those gun rules were written for modern firearms. Heck, I don't even know who wrote them. While they still apply to modern arms, they do not all apply to muzzleloading arms, just as not all modern rifle rules apply to pistols (how many carry loaded, for example?)
I digress, however. I'm outlining how to be safe with a muzzleloading arm, but the main point of this topic is how to keep blackpowder from blowing up in your face. Simply put, make damn sure the fire is out in the barrel. If you're not comfortable with blowing down the barrel, attach a piece of hose to the nipple and blow through that (a flintlock will require an adapter for this). IMO it's not as effective and has a higher risk of getting spit in the patent breech, causing a new set of problems, but it usually serves.
Times to NEVER blow down the barrel are after a failure to fire -- it may be a hang fire or delayed fire, and will take your head off in a spectacularly gruesome manner -- or any time you suspect a charge in the barrel. Check this with a ramrod. The ramrod should be marked. If it's not, you've failed to do your job.
I hope this clears up some misconceptions. I do not want to see anyone hurt. I am far from being an expert on the subject (I despise that word) but I've absorbed a lot from a bunch of old folks since September also. In fact, except for taking a couple squirrel for the pot, I've not touched my smokeless arms since getting my first muzzleloader, but I have gone through several pounds of powder and ball practicing what I'm taught.
I welcome any questions here - and they do not have to be about traditional muzzleloaders only. If I cannot find the answer to a question, someone else will be able to answer it (especially with the inlines as I have no experience with those) or I will go find the answer.
Josh
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