BLACK POWDER: SO THAT’S THE REASON FOR THE RULE

BLACK POWDER

SO THAT'S THE REASON FOR THE RULE

Author Mike Nesbitt’s Leman-style .54-caliber flintlock rifle, “Tacky Too,” fired prematurely as powder was poured down the muzzle. To prevent larger ignitions, range rules require shooters to use a separate container for their powder instead of pouring it straight from their horn or flask.

A lingering spark in his barrel as he poured powder led to a lesson learned for a muzzleloader.

STORY AND PHOTOS BY MIKE NESBITT

At several muzzleloading clubs, there is a general safety rule that you must pour your powder from the horn or flask into a separate powder measure, then plug the horn or flask and pour the powder from the measure into the muzzle of the gun. This is done specifically to keep the larger amount of black powder that is in the powder horn or flask away from the muzzle just in case the powder being poured down the barrel is somehow ignited.

While we’ve observed that rule for years, no one that I know of had ever actually seen a “premature ignition” with a muzzleloading arm. But about 10 years ago, that really did happen to me.

During this fateful match, I took my first shot with my .54-caliber flintlock Leman-style rifle as a fouling shot. I knew the bore was oily, so the fouling shot was necessary simply to be assured that my next shot, fired for score, would be a good one. When I primed the pan for that first shot, I poked a good hole in the priming powder through the flash-hole and the powder inside the barrel simply felt soggy. That shot had slow ignition, just as could be expected, but the shot had fired.

Then, while preparing to load for the next shot the powder had just begun to pour from my powder measure and into the bore when it was ignited – we might say “touched off” – by a lingering spark down inside the barrel. That powder charge, only 50 grains of GOEX FFg, blew the adjustable powder measure out of my hand and left me with some very numb and sooty fingers.

Yes, I quickly checked and counted those fingers, all of which were still present and accounted for, quite thankfully. Then the numbness began to wear off and I quickly submerged my blackened and aching hand in the cool of the rainwater barrel. That cleaned some of the soot off of my fingers and it allowed me to begin feeling normal again.

My powder measure, one of the old treasured adjustable ones from Doc Haddaway (find similar ones from TDC Manufacturing, tdcmfg.com), was blown more than a few yards away but I was able to find it. Other than being very sooty, like my hand, there was no damage to the powder measure. However, the blast at the muzzle of my rifle sent that powder measure far enough that I know how lucky I was to not have my fingers directly in front of the gun’s muzzle.

THIS EXPERIENCE ALLOWS me to testify that there is certainly a chance of having a lingering spark present in the gun’s barrel that can be hot enough to ignite the next powder charge. Why it happened this time, and I’m just guessing, is because my gun’s bore was left rather oily after being cleaned the previous week on a rainy day. The oil was wiped down the bore just after cleaning the gun. My thought is that some of the powder in my first powder charge absorbed some of that oil and did not burn completely when the shot was fired but remained in the bore, allowing a “slow spark” to remain after firing that fouling shot.

I had never witnessed such a thing in over 40 years of shooting muzzleloaders, but I will say it again: it can happen. And I know I’m not alone in saying this. Let me quote a paragraph from Bernard DeVoto’s Across the Wide Missouri.

“Hazard of the trail. On the way back, one of the hunters (in Wyeth’s group in 1834) started to reload his rifle, which he had just discharged. He didn’t wipe it and a piece of

smoldering patch was in the barrel, so that when he poured the powder in he was showered with flame. His face was all one blister and there was not much that one could do for burns in the wilderness. This sort of thing must have happened scores of times.”

That is all that’s said about this occurrence in DeVoto’s book and he does not quote the diary or text to indicate where he got that information. While we can’t really ask for more information about what did happen, I’d like to add some comments. First of all, I’ll say I was luckier than the hunter in Wyeth’s brigade but I was not looking down the barrel while the powder was being poured into the gun’s muzzle.

Next, I have my doubts that the powder was ignited by a piece of smoldering patch. That patch, along with the ball, is one of the first things to leave the barrel when the rifle is fired and I have never known a piece of the patch to remain in the bore, smoldering or otherwise. My guess is that some of the powder granulations in the hunter’s rifle became dampened with lube or lard, which caused those powder grains to become embers. It is quite likely that those embers would not have been blown out of the barrel, especially if they were located near the rear of the powder charge. Of course this makes little difference now.

What I do take exception with is the comment, “This sort of thing must have happened scores of times.” I think that a premature ignition was just as rare in those days as it is today. If it had happened scores of times, we’d find more references to it in those diaries and books written either on or about the frontier.

One other little point about DeVoto’s comments. Any burn, in the wilderness or otherwise, can be helped by covering it with mud or something that will “hide” the burn from oxygen. (I dunked my hand in the water barrel.) That will reduce the pain and allow healing to begin. We can only guess that the hunter was lucky enough to keep his eyesight while getting his face burned.

DeVoto was a tremendous historian but apparently not a shooter of muzzleloading arms, nor was he a Boy Scout, as we can guess by his comments about burns. At the same time, I do want to thank him for including that paragraph in his famous book.

I CAN’T RAKE DeVoto over the coals too harshly; he’s totally correct on at least one point. The premature ignitions that took place while loading muzzleloading guns – mainly rifles, pistols and smoothbores – must have happened more times than what we can find recorded. And now knowing that it can happen, as I learned so very well, I fully recommend the range policy that states, “No loading or pouring powder down the muzzle directly from the horn or other powder container. Always use a separate

In addition to leaving his fingers numb, the blast blew Nesbitt’s powder measure, near the rifle’s triggers, out of his hand.

The old and “sooty” powder measure was undamaged other than color.

powder measure.”

We can’t be too well prepared or too safe in any of our shooting activities. Our muzzleloading sport has a rather clean safety record, not spotless but still very good. We must continue to practice safe shooting procedures and safe gun handling habits in order to maintain that record. Let’s all strive for safety in order to keep our black powder shooting sport on track the way we enjoy it today. 