Ouch!
Three of four respondents at the article expressed their pleasure that this occurred.
Cleaning Rod still in barrel?.................
It might be nice if they could explain why the barrel failed. Was it loaded properly?
Didn’t seat the ball properly? Double dose of powder?
Cant read the article at work.
Maybe. Right handed rifle, explosion on right side of barrel, left hand would have been there. Right hand is shown injured. Article sounds like a translation. Also, read the left wing comments.
Always clean your weapons
But that is two incidents over a time span of about 75 years.
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Way back in High School days a friend lost both thumbs driving his XKE Jag with his thumbs stuck in the holes in the spokes of the steering wheel as he drove into a ditch on a mountain road.
Shall we ban cars now?
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Why was he holding the barrel? Must have been a stock there at one point.
I don’t know much about muzzle-loaders, but why would a muzzle-loader have a bolt? That is a bolt, right, on the rile in the picture?
Blackpowder muzzleloading firearms must only ever be loaded with black powder. Modern cartridge firearms use a powder that is black in color, but chemically is quite different and will far exceed the pressures a muzzle loading firearm can withstand leading to a ruined weapon and likely death or injury to user or bystanders.
I’ve seen it happen in person, at an informal shoot by some moron. The rifle barrel didn’t burst, but it was ruined. I had noticed a peculiar and very loud, sharp report from the weapon and stayed well clear. Technically speaking a blackpowder firearm could be completely filled with blackpowder and the barrel would hold. Even a small amount of modern smokeless powder will detonate a barrel.
It is apparently not unusual for people to believe they can use small amounts of smokeless powder in a muzzleloader. For this reason, anytime muzzleloading weapons are used in your presence by anyone for your safety and others it is imperative that you are certain your partners are not using ANY smokeless powder whatsoever. Lots of idiots out there when it comes to muzzleloaders and cap & ball revolvers, and home made cannon.
For this reason I would never allow anyone near a 4th of July celebration near a home made device. Just because.
I prefer my odds w store bought ammo.
That won’t just buff out. What a mess.
Minor point - it wasn’t an “accident” if, as is most likely the case, an unsuitable smokeless rifle powder was used in the weapon. Pure carelessness and/or negligence. I’ve done my share of really stupid things growing up, I must confess - not this, however. “Accident” isn’t the correct word.
After reading the article, it appears the experts do not know why the barrel exploded. I have about 15 traditional front loading, cap or flint ignited black powder weapons. Been doing this since 1976.
I have double loaded (twice the powder) many times. I learned from articles written by the guy that founded Dixie Gun works. True blackpowder burns so slow, that if overloaded, the excess will just spits out the barrel. I have proven this by observing the little black specks that land on snow after doing this.
That same Dixie Gun Works expert also said never load modern smokeless powder or the barrel will explode.
I suspect this is the cause, whether be in intentional, or by mistake.
The weapon shown appears to be a modern inline. I’ve never owned one as I think they are not true to the sport. But, I have also learned their barrels are made of a more modern steel designed to take greater pressures. I really think this guy used too much of the wrong powder.
*****SAFETY WARNING*****
Please don’t load smokeless powder (nitro propellant) into any muzzle-loading arm. Firing it would be a huge safety risk.
As many posters noted, there are “modern” muzzle-loaders. Several major gunmakers have introduced them, including Remington, Savage, and Ruger. These companies based their muzzle-loaders on their bolt-action cartridge rifles chambered for modern ammunition, but they are not made as strong as cartridge guns. Heat treatment and tempering of barrels, breech plugs, bolts, receivers, and other key parts is different.
Other companies make modern muzzle-loaders: Knight, CVA, Thompson/Center, Traditions are some. Stick to real black powder or replica powders like Pyrodex, Triple Se7en (both made by Hodgdon) and Blackhorn 209.
Black powder and nitro propellant are very different: black powder is chiefly potassium nitrate, with charcoal and sulfur added. Smokeless powder is mostly nitrocellulose; sometimes nitroglycerin is added, and nitroguanidine (the last material has been used as a flash suppressant in artillery ammunition and is rarely found in cartridges for small arms).
Nitro propellants contain far more heat energy per pound, and thus generate much higher peak pressures on firing than does black powder. Replica propellants - sometimes called “black powder substitutes” - are formulated differently from either, but are engineered specifically to generate pressures comparable to real black powder.
The pressure curve (pressure increase versus time) of nitro propellants is also different from real black powder. No cartridge gun made before the invention of smokeless powder (1880s) should be fired with cartridges loaded with anything except real black powder or replica propellants. Each gunmaker followed their own timetable in developing and introducing metals capable of handling the higher peak pressures and differing pressure curves of smokeless powder; go carefully. Old guns can harbor hidden corrosion and other flaws that render them unsafe.
The same warnings apply to modern-made cap-and-ball revolvers. Cartridge conversions are now available for many models, but the firing of cartridges loaded with nitro propellants should be avoided. Many shooters assume “cowboy action” loads will be completely safe; go very cautiously. Heed gunmaker warnings & cautions.
Modern gunmakers apply different heat-treatments and tempering to muzzle-loading guns because they want to save money. Different - more costly - alloys and treatments are needed to handle smokeless powder. And applying them takes more time, which means more money.
Manufacturing processes typically cannot be reversed nor re-done: a part in need of heating-treating or specialized surface modification (carburizing or “case hardening” is one) is first fashioned to final shape, then the treatment is accomplished, then final finish as required.
The practical import of this is that no “modern” muzzle-loader can be reworked to make it stronger, to withstand smokeless powder. Alloys won’t take it.
As many other posters noted, determining just what happened to the rifle in the original article will be problematic. Such mishaps usually occur in the field, far from any laboratory or firing range. Much evidence disappears when the arm fails. Figuring out the real sequence of events demands subtle forensic work; sometimes, causes remain unknown. Many theories exist as to why a gun occasionally blows, but remain theories.
(Been reloading for almost 49 years - mostly modern metallic cartridge, some shotgun, and many muzzle-loaders, including flintlocks. Also spent over a dozen years in gun repair ... the chief objective is to keep all of you safe. Blowups aren’t good PR.)
Everybody shoot safe.