2020 has been the strangest of years. One of the results of the lockdowns was that I spent much more time at the range shooting this year than ever. That was a very positive thing, but I also saw more unexpected things happen than ever before. I’ll start by saying that fortunately no one was hurt by any of the things that I’ll be describing, but nonetheless when they occurred it was not what was expected and someone could have been hurt if range rules weren’t followed.
1. Early in the season the first thing that occurred was one club member was shooting a gun that hadn’t been fired in quite some time. As soon as it was fired we knew something was wrong. Upon investigating the nipple had blown out causing the hammer to blow backwards beyond what the main spring could handle, and the main spring in the percussion lock broke. The dangerous part was the nipple flew over the head of the shooter never to be found. Anyone behind this shooter could have been injured during this malfunction. Lesson to be learned is to wear eye protection when shooting and give other shooters their distance.
2. This next example occurred during the loading process. Due to conversation at the range the shooter lost track of the loading sequence. They couldn’t remember if powder was poured in or not. They decided to just take the gun to the line and dump any powder in the grass and start over. After tapping the barrel in an effort to knock any loose powder out they went back to the bench and ran a cleaning patch down the barrel. Then they attempted to clean the nipple by blasting a cap to blow any fowling out. One method is to point the barrel at a blade of grass to see that the nipple is clear. Another method is to leave the cleaning patch and rod down the barrel when popping the cap. They choose to do the latter. Fortunately they pointed the gun down range and squeezed the trigger. To their surprise the ram rod shot out of the gun and it flew down range about 20 yards. The black powder had been compacted in the barrel and it didn’t just fall out when it was dumped. The lessened learned was the necessity of always pointing the gun in a safe direction down range, even when you are just blasting a cap.
3. A very experienced shooter loaded their gun and had it on the bench ready to fire. They were going to shoot offhand. They cocked the hammer and put the cap on the nipple. Next they picked the gun up and had the gun waist high but pointed down range. The hammer dropped and the gun fired. Upon further investigation they found that the lock had a great deal of wear and could fire without pulling the trigger. Again no one was in any danger because the gun was always pointed down range with the cap installed. Lesson learned was to expect the unexpected and always have the gun pointed down range when it is ready to fire.
4. Another shooter was clearing their nipple by popping a cap and when the cap went off they found out the gun was loaded. Fortunately they popped the cap in the grass with the muzzle pointed down range. Better in the grass than the concrete surface under the range roof.
Each of the above stories was a surprise to the shooter. No one was injured and no property was damaged. Not everyone has the opportunity to see one of these surprises but this year I saw all four. The point of these stories is that Muzzleloading can be very dangerous. If you follow the rules and always have your gun pointed down range when the cap is installed, no one has to get hurt or killed. Our sport can be very safe. We all need to practice safety at every step of the way and look out for our fellow shooters.
