RE: All Hail the Second Amendment
October 24, 2015 at 5:36 pm
http://www.ozarkcountytimes.com/news/art...59c72.html
Quote:Man declines treatment after reportedly shooting himself in the foot at Caney Mountain
Quote:A 50-year-old man reportedly shot himself in the foot Saturday morning with a black powder rifle during the muzzleloader management hunt at Caney Mountain Conservation Area north of Gainesville.
Okay, so for those who are not familiar with muzzleloading rifles let me explain. There are essentially two types: Flintlock or percussion cap. Loading the rifle is pretty much the same to begin with. You pour a powder charge down the barrel and tamp it down with your ramroad. You want to give it a good push so as to make sure that you push some of the black powder into the vent at the base of the barrel. Next you wrap a bullet, usually a .45 or .50 caliber round ball, in a greased patch and put it over the muzzle of the gun. Generally you must tap it home with a bullet starter which is a short ramrod that has a padded or rounded top so it doesn't break your hand when you hit it. Once you have got it in the first few inches it's a lot easier...just like fucking. At that point you take your regular ramrod and push the ball/patch all the way down making sure to seat it firmly against the powder charge. At this point, remove the ramrod....yes, I have seen ramrods fired downrange by idiots who forgot.
At this point the weapon is still not ready to fire. In fact, it would take an exceedingly bad stroke of luck to get it to go off. For a flintlock, you must now place the hammer at half-cock, which is the safety status for the rifle. With the muzzle pointed safely downrange you then pour some priming powder into the flashpan, close the frizzen which covers your priming charge, and the gun is almost ready to fire. For a percussion model and still with the hammer at half-cock, you take a properly sized percussion cap and place it on the nipple. If you have loaded properly in step one you should be able to see a grain or two of powder inside the nipple. At this point, the percussion rifle is almost ready to fire.
Unless you are a total fucking idiot you do not take the hammer off half-cock until you are ready to shoot. Even then, you keep your finger off the trigger until you have sighted in on your target.
I can only assume that what is being discussed in the article is a total fucking idiot who was walking around with the gun pointed at his own feet in the fully cocked position. It is almost impossible for the gun to have gone off under any other circumstance.
Also, although I doubt that there will be a follow up to the story, the combination of the lead ball, greasy patch and black powder sludge which results from ignition will virtually assure this moron of developing an infection. Sooner or later he'll be at the ER telling the story again.
I hope someone calls him an asshole to his face.