I have a flintlock rifle and a brown Bess.
This discharge is obviously stupid, as mentioned above.
If the re-enactor was tasked with firing his weapon indoors to “flash” his weapon as a demonstration, it is completely stupid without checking if the weapon was loaded plus the burning of 5+/- grains of BP indoors. And maybe having a second person agree.

On my rifle the wooden ramrod is scored(carved all the way around its circumference) at the loaded mark. In my case 70 grains of FFFg black powder. And on my Brown Bess which has a metal ramrod, I am familiar enough to know how far the ramrod extends if it is loaded.

If it was not my rifle or musket I would use a screw to remove a fouled charge-the item shown above, or I would use a flashlight to examine the weapon and see if you can see the breech. With the Bess (it’s .75”) it’s really easy to see a flat breech at the bottom, with my rifle (.45”) it’s a little harder.

Frankly, mistakes happen when people become complacent or are misinformed, shit like this happens. And the shooter deserves to have his weapon seized.

quote:

Originally posted by BB61:
mark my ramrod with a line showing loaded and unloaded chambers and label them as such

Yep, that's best practice in a nutshell.

I'd be interested if anyone knows whether military practice back in the day required marking ramrods, but it is sure what I do on mine.

It's really, really hard to tell what's down the barrel otherwise - if you can see light through the touch hole, then you know there's nothing, but otherwise it could be a ball with no powder, could be properly loaded - if someone's not paying attention, might even be multiple full loads?!?!? Can't exactly press-check these babies.

quote:

Originally posted by joel9507:

quote:

Originally posted by BB61:
mark my ramrod with a line showing loaded and unloaded chambers and label them as such

Yep, that's best practice in a nutshell.

I'd be interested if anyone knows whether military practice back in the day required marking ramrods, but it is sure what I do on mine.

It's really, really hard to tell what's down the barrel otherwise - if you can see light through the touch hole, then you know there's nothing, but otherwise it could be a ball with no powder, could be properly loaded - if someone's not paying attention, might even be multiple full loads?!?!? Can't exactly press-check these babies.

If you have a ram rod that isn't already marked, you simply align the rod on the outside of the barrel so that the end is at the bottom of the breach. This gives you a specific length from the breach to the muzzle. Then run the rod into the bore. If the rod sits higher than it was when outside the bore, then you know something is down there. From the amount it sits higher in the bore, you can surmise whether it is just the ball down there or whether it is sitting on a charge.

If I push down a patched ball, and am not certain I first dropped in powder, this test will tell you that. If the ball is sitting on top of the powder, it shortens the rod in the bore by about 2 inches in my .54 cal, with the charge I use, versus only a half inch if it was just the ball down there. I've scored the circumference of the rod at each depth.

It's not hard to get distracted, on the range or in the woods. One time in the woods, a bud asked to borrow my ram rod. I watched him walk around with it in the bore, chattin it up, etc. for a few minutes. When he went up to the line to shoot, I stepped up and reminded him the rod was still in the bore. He darn near shot the rod down range. Never seen it myself (almost did), but I know it has happened.

It is hard to injure a bystander with these things, as long as the muzzle is kept down range. I think there is more danger to the shooter himself by doing something wrong.

He had previously been to reenactment or drill and cleared the flash pan and frizzen but not the charge and ball.

From body of the e-mail I received from SAR-


New Firelock (Musket/ Rifle) Safety Requirement!


All
Based on the below event- effective immediately- commanders-

Please ensure that all Fire-Locks are safety checked (e.g. flash guard in place, frizzen cover in place, dumped and pinged) for any event where firelocks are present (e.g. parades, schools). Typically we have only done these safety checks as a part of preparing for shooting a volley. But the below highlights that we need to do more than that.

Please also brief this event at any event in 2023 where Firelocks are present.

The below is an excerpt from a recently received email concerning a discharge of a firelock:

-----------------------------------------------------------------

-- "From a Rev War re-enacting group’s experience just this past weekend.

“I just want to let you all know that there was an incident in Westford yesterday that made the WCVB Channel 5 news today...
In short, the 6th Middlesex Regiment, representing Westford, Billerica, Chelmsford, and other towns, held a drill INSIDE the Westford Historical Society’s Westford Museum yesterday. Unfortunately, one of their members showed up with a fully loaded musket, including a musket ball. He did not remember that he had loaded it a couple of months ago. During the course of drilling, he put the musket at full cock, pulled the trigger, and fired. Even though the gun had no powder in the pan, a random spark from the flint striking the steel ignited the main charge and fired the musket ball into the museum. It went through a 6x6 wood post, into the second floor, and lodged in a wall. By the grace of God, nobody was injured.
Apparently, an ex-reenactor was visiting the museum and narrowly missed being hit by the ball. The police got involved, confiscated the musket, and then Channel 5 showed up.
I just wanted all of you on this distribution list to know the facts, and to know that we are aware of the story. In the coming weeks, we will double down on safety procedures and will be adding an extra step in our musket safety inspection to ensure that this cannot ever happen on our watch! When a rammer bounces off the bottom of a musket barrel and pings, is it definitely empty…? Could we miss that fact that it didn’t actually bottom out before bouncing back up…? Would we notice a one-inch difference in the rammer sticking out the top as we rapidly ping the musket?"

quote:

Originally posted by Sig2340:
Then the reenactor is an idiotic, irresponsible, negligent twatwaffle.

This is really the only possible explanation.

As BurtonRW said, res ipsa loquitor.

I noted that the musket was likely a flint lock as the group involved was a Revolutionary War reenactment group. Those groups are notorious sticklers for accuracy.

The percussion cap wasn't invented until 1807 and it was years later ebfor it saw entry into common and military service. It would not have been period correct for this group.

The oldest functional one know was converted from flint lock to percussion cap in 1839.
https://www.reddit.com/r/Gimcr...n_our_lineup_turned/

Agree with it being taken away, at least at the moment - but they better damn well not destroy it.

Didn’t know black powder could stay loaded for months at a time, and still be viable.

Definitely need more/better safety checks.

Frankly, given the type of group, and what happened, this might have been a bit of a “senior” moment.

That the pan wasn’t loaded, makes more sense.

quote:

Originally posted by sse:
[QUOTE]Originally posted by pedropc
FYI, a muzzle loader that is charged but not primed or capped is not considered loaded, at least in my state.

The lack of curiosity as to the facts, especially by one purported to be an attorney, is interesting.

As a 20-year veteran over on muzzleloading forum.com, I can attest that you don't need priming powder in the pan to set off the main charge. ANY spark can do it, and has done, many times. Demonstrations of this nature are usually carried out with the flints removed from the cock, so that not even the chance of a spark is possible.

I don't understand why someone, allegedly participating in an indoor reenactment rehearsal, would as part of the rehearsal, cock the hammer and pull the trigger.

For all I know they may even have donned period correct attire, still the firing function was not part of the rehearsal, and was not necessary for the sake of overall historical accuracy. They could just as well have been carrying broomsticks. Instead the guy came close to shooting someone.

In my area a museum hosts an annual the Civil War reenactment. The guys haven't been allowed to shoot muskets as part of the demonstration for a long time, but I don't think the change in policy resulted from a shooting mishap.

In a side story relating to what sse said about shooting ramrods -

One of my uncles was in the US Navy a long time ago and was on a gun crew serving a 3” cannon. 3”/50 for those that remember them. Their habit at the time was that the first shot was always a blank. This was a safety move in case a cleaning rod had been left in the bore. At sea swabbing the bore before shooting would always be a good idea, salt air being corrosive, etc. In his case a rod HAD been left in the bore. At firing the entire gun crew, and every officer on the Bridge, watched the rod make a beautiful, long arc across the sky and disappear into the water forever. Aerodynamic it wasn’t but it was a memorable lesson.