Guest Post: All Charged Up!
Don't Leave That Powder In Your Rifle
Albert A Rasch of The Rasch Outdoor Chronicles
With hunting season in full swing in many parts of the United States, it is a good time to remind everyone about Black Powder safety.
Many years ago I was at my neighborhood gun shop. Knowing my interest in all things firearms related, the proprietor showed me a percussion rifle that was brought in to him.
I gasped when he laid it on the counter. The breechplug's tang was bent, the threaded part of the breech plug aiming straight up. The barrel, what was left of it, was banana peeled forward, with large chunks missing. I asked where the lock was as it was missing, and was told that it had been blown completely off. The trigger guard was still attached, albeit loosely, but the trigger was gone. The wood around the breech was splintered and the top edges scorched.
I immediately surmised that smokeless powder was the culprit. Smokeless powder develops upwards of 50000 pound per square inch, whereas black powder and its modern equivalents like Goex, Pyrodex, and 777 rarely exceed 20000 PSI.
My gunsmith friend quickly corrected me. The problem was black powder that had been left in the chamber for an extended period of time!
Closer examination of the charge area of the breech revealed extensive pitting, so much so that it actually looked like it would have been an egg shaped cavity before it let loose.
The owner of the percussion rifle said that it had been left loaded throughout the muzzleloader season, and when hunting season was over, he attempted to discharge it. The first two caps did not fire the weapon, but upon touching off the third one, the rifle blew up between his hands! He was fortunate, said the gunsmith, to only suffer some powder burns, and a shallow gash across the top of his hand.
The long and the short of it is,
Do Not Leave Your Muzzleloader Charged!
Pull the ball at the end of the day, and dispose of the powder safely.
If you buy a used blackpowder firearm, make sure you carefully inspect the chamber area for pitting and possible enlargement. You never know how the owner may have conducted his loading affairs!
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Best Regards,
Albert A Rasch
Member: Shindand Tent Club
Member: Hunting Sportsmen of the United States HSUS (Let 'em sue me.)
The Hunt Continues...
Though he spends most of his time writing and keeping the world safe for democracy, Albert was actually a student of biology. Really. But after a stint as a lab tech performing repetitious and mind-numbing processes that a trained capuchin monkey could do better, he never returned to the field. Rather he became a bartender. As he once said, "Hell, I was feeding mice all sorts of concoctions. At the club I did the same thing; except I got paid a lot better, and the rats where bigger." He has followed the science of QDM for many years, and fancies himself an aficionado. If you have any questions, or just want to get more information, reach him via TheRaschOutdoorChronicles(at)MSN(dot)com.
9 comments:
Such a good, timely reminder - great post
Rick,
Thanks for allowing me to put up a guest post on Whitetail Woods! I hope everyone keeps safety in mind throughout the hunting season!
Best Regards,
Albert A Rasch
A Chronicles' project: Building a Pirogue
Blessed, thanks for your visit. It is always nice to hear from you.
Albert, you are always welcome to throw in the proverbial 2 cents.
That is interesting information. I will admit that in the forty plus years I've been shooting black powder I have always left my gun charged during the season. Sometimes it was only for a few days and sometimes for two weeks. I have never had a problem. I wonder if it was something more than just leaving a powder charge in that gun.
My brother (and I don't condone it) left his gun charged for an entire year. He was getting it ready for the opening morning and when he snapped a cap the gun went off. Good thing he had opened the basement door first.
Cal45,
Have you perchance removed the breechplug lately? I would do that and take a look at the breech area to be sure.
With respect to the corrosion, I am willing to bet that certain combinations of steels and powders are more or less likely to react and corrode. Carbon steel and real black powder would probably be the most likely to react.
Best Regards,
Albert A Rasch
Spoons: They're Not Just for Cereal!
I don't use black powder except in my flintlock and that never has a charge left in it. I use Pyrodex in everything else. I also remove the breech plug every time I clean the gun and inspect the inside of the barrel. It does stand to reason that if burnt black powder will corrode a barrel that unburnt black powder wouldn't do it much good either. I'm not saying I'm doing it right, I'm just saying that I haven't experienced any problems.
With the gun that blew up I was wondering if it was more than just leaving the charge in it such as did it have charges left for long periods of time? Was it cleaned properly? I know my father never cleaned his right. Instead of using hot water to clean it he would just run some patches with Thompson Center No.13 down the barrel. Now, the first 1/3 of the barrel has no rifling. Did it get double charged or did it have a barrel obstruction or did the powder get contaminated with something to make it even more corrosive?
Thanks all, you can never have enough tips.
My understanding was that it was left charged, that's all I really remember. Since real BP has potassium nitrate in it, I figure just enough moisture got into the powder to start corroding the carbon steel barrel. You could actually see the little pits and cracks in what was left of the breech.
It's been a long time, so I just don't remember any more of the details. I don't beleive it was double loaded either...
Best Regards,
Albert A Rasch
The Rasch Outdoor Chronicles: High Fence Hunting; Is the Public the Problem?
Albert, that surely is a bad thing to let happen to a blackpowder gun even though it usually isn't done intentionally.
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