Muzzleloader PSA

    This Youtube clip was published in 2011 but it shows some very serious safety precautions to be taken when using muzzleloaders. The shooter has an inline muzzleloader, but left his powder charge open on the table, directly underneath the rifle as it was being fired. As soon as the round fired, the entire charge ignites and engulfs him in a ball of fire. It appears that he turned out okay afterwards, but I’m sure he’ll be wearing eye protection next time, and take better care of his powder containers in the future. I’ve only had significant experience shooting traditional percussion muzzleloaders at a summer camp in New Mexico and don’t recall safety warnings about this kind of thing happening. But should I get into the sport or be around a muzzleloader, I’ve certainly learned a valuable lesson from this video. I imagine the argument could be made that this could happen alot easier with some of the older powders where you actually pour them down the muzzle, and not with the newer, inline powder pellets. However it doesn’t seem to matter, as black powder is very flammable and must be treated properly and responsibly when being used on the range. Keep your powder covered folks!

    Miles

    Infantry Marine, based in the Midwest. Specifically interested in small arms history, development, and usage within the MENA region and Central Asia. To that end, I run Silah Report, a website dedicated to analyzing small arms history and news out of MENA and Central Asia.

    Please feel free to get in touch with me about something I can add to a post, an error I’ve made, or if you just want to talk guns. I can be reached at miles@tfb.tv


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