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A hunter was hoisting his .50 muzzle loader, loaded, up a tree with a rope when it discharged,
shooting him in the right hand.

SIA

Dumb, dumb, dumb. You'd think a muzzle loader shooter would know better. Cocked, locked and primed?

joe817 wrote:Dumb, dumb, dumb. You'd think a muzzle loader shooter would know better. Cocked, locked and primed?

Maybe not cocked. Depending on the design, the hammer or striker might have gotten snagged as he hoisted it, drew back short of the half cock notch, then fell.

But yeah, it should have been unprimed.

dicion:

Kudos to you on the above photo.

That one can be used on many future occasions when the 4 rules are violated,
or other human folly presents itself.

SIA

It may have not been primed there are instances of muzzle loaders firing from a spark when the hammer struck the nipple. Hauling a loaded firearm up and down from a tree stand is an accident waiting to happen.

It looks like NH had another case of the same thing, except this time it was fatal.

http://unionleader.com/article.aspx?hea ... 16469a6c52" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

I used to hunt with a couple of different black powder rifles, even taken a couple of deer and would sure like to know a little more background.

One thing that always bothered me was once I was loaded and, in the case of the flintlock, primed, I pretty much stayed in one place, but how to unload? Of course I could use a worm and pull the slug, but that ain't all that easy and if I was just going to change locations, somewhat inconvenient. Just walking from point a to point b was no big deal, but one place I used to hunt sometimes was shut down after about 10am by the landowner, which meant possibly getting in the car to go somewhere else or even going home.

If I was headed home, I "unloaded" at a target of convenience - I didn't have to worry about other hunters on her land, I was the only one with permission, along with my guests, to hunt there. If I was going someplace else I would not want to shoot because that smell lingers, and even crossing the road with a loaded BP rifle is illegal in NY, and loaded includes no prime, so out would come the worm.

I can tell you that loading in a tree stand is not easy either, and I wonder if the intrepid woodsman involved just decided to load on the ground and haul away, and either forgetfully primed, or just plain stupidly. The least he could have done is arrange his hoist so the muzzle wasn't pointed his direction.

Got a few good war stories about hunting with black powder.

jimlongley wrote:One thing that always bothered me was once I was loaded and, in the case of the flintlock, primed, I pretty much stayed in one place, but how to unload?

Dump the prime, raise the frizzen and wrap a cloth around it and/or the flint so there's no way you can get a strike. Even with percussion I like to catch something between the hammer and nipple to ensure there won't be any steel-on-steel strikes near the powder.

KD5NRH wrote:

jimlongley wrote:One thing that always bothered me was once I was loaded and, in the case of the flintlock, primed, I pretty much stayed in one place, but how to unload?

Dump the prime, raise the frizzen and wrap a cloth around it and/or the flint so there's no way you can get a strike. Even with percussion I like to catch something between the hammer and nipple to ensure there won't be any steel-on-steel strikes near the powder.

I thought I made it obvious that I knew how to unload and didn't go into the mechanics. That said, as I pointed out later in my post, in NY State it is illegal to cross a thoroughfare with a loaded gun, and they consider unprimed, but with powder and shot in the gun, to be loaded, so I could not even, legally, move from where my friend had set the time limit, which was relatively near her house, to other fields without breaking the law. And a game warden lived just down the road.

I haven't used them, but they do have CO2 dischargers.

jimlongley wrote:That said, as I pointed out later in my post, in NY State it is illegal to cross a thoroughfare with a loaded gun,

It's easy enough to not hunt in NY. I've managed to avoid it for decades with very little effort.

KD5NRH wrote:

jimlongley wrote:That said, as I pointed out later in my post, in NY State it is illegal to cross a thoroughfare with a loaded gun,

It's easy enough to not hunt in NY. I've managed to avoid it for decades with very little effort.

True, I haven't hunted there since 1991, but it was the only choice I had at the time.