Indiana man loses fingers after muzzle loader explodes

[PeaShooter]

An Indiana man lost fingers after accidentally loading his muzzle loader with smokeless powder instead of black powder. The muzzle loader exploded like a grenade

Indiana shooter loses fingers when rifle explodes

 

[pudly]

Wow! Hope he recovers okay, given the severity of the injury.

 

[rosejm]

<shrug> Powder's powder, ain't it?

Another Honorable Mention for the Darwin Awards.

 

[djsmith1000]

Yikes! Looks like quite the explosion. Hope the guy can get put back together ok.

 

[Gluemanz28]

Holy WOW. I'm not a muzzle loader guy, in fact I don't know much about them at all but I didn't know they would kaboom with smokeless powder.

 

[singlesix]

he is lucky all he lost was a finger.

 

[HoughMade]

Holy WOW. I'm not a muzzle loader guy, in fact I don't know much about them at all but I didn't know they would kaboom with smokeless powder.

Some (well, one that I know of that is no longer in production)​ muzzleloaders can use smokeless powder, but only the right powder in the right charges. Start loading 50 to 70 (or even 100 or 150) grains of the wrong stuff- this is mild.

In A Savage 10ML, a typical black powder or equivalent load may be 100 to 120 grains while the smokeless loads did not exceed 45 grains...see the possible problem here?

 

[pudly]

he is lucky all he lost was a finger.

Article said a "couple of fingers".

 

[Hookeye]

Can't wait for "regular rifles" to pass for deer season.
The stupidity will just fade away.....................

 

[singlesix]

Even if HPRs passes it still doesn't allow its use during M/L season, so there will still be yahoos doing stupid things with M/L trying to achieve modern rifle ballistics.

 

[Hookeye]

Even if HPRs passes it still doesn't allow its use during M/L season, so there will still be yahoos doing stupid things with M/L trying to achieve modern rifle ballistics.

Uh, maybe they'll buck out with their Mosins and be done so they don't have to play with the dangerous MLs anymore

 

[calcot7]

Kind of makes you wonder just how many times he probably shot it while working up a load before it exploded in his face. Or could this have been a one time experiment / accident?

 

[87iroc]

Sounds like it was an accident.

Actually, I take that back. The posts here are assuming it was an accident. If the DNR is posting that...I think that the guy may have tried to shoot a deer with it.

 

[throttletony]

Can't wait for "regular rifles" to pass for deer season.
The stupidity will just fade away.....................

I wish I could agree with you... I think that stupidity is here to stay -- no purple needed here
Even when regular rifles pass, there will still be separate categories (muzzle loader/black powder being one of them, right? Just like archery, or pistol, etc.) So it's just a matter of time until something similar happens again

Either way, bad accident and it could have been worse.

 

[midget]

There are still several smokeless muzzleloaders on the market. The issue with most of them is that the person either forgets to use weight and not volume, way over does the charge (again going off of old BP numbers), doesn't seat the bullet/sabot to the proper depth, or just plain uses the wrong powder.

I personally am hoping to save enough pennies to buy a second hand savage smokeless, but they are getting more difficult to find and more expensive...

 

[drop45]

Even if HPRs passes it still doesn't allow its use during M/L season, so there will still be yahoos doing stupid things with M/L trying to achieve modern rifle ballistics.

We have M/L (mountain lions)?? Oh ****!!

 

[JettaKnight]

I've never handled a muzzleloader, and even I know it'd be bad...

 

[spaniel]

There are still several smokeless muzzleloaders on the market. The issue with most of them is that the person either forgets to use weight and not volume, way over does the charge (again going off of old BP numbers), doesn't seat the bullet/sabot to the proper depth, or just plain uses the wrong powder.

I personally am hoping to save enough pennies to buy a second hand savage smokeless, but they are getting more difficult to find and more expensive...

You can build one yourself; the most popular platform to do so is the old Remington muzzleloaders but I did mine on a Savage short action.

Regarding the comment that smokeless guns don't go over 45gr, my hunting load is 70gr...and that is conservative compared to some loads shot by those with more experience caring more about velocity. In a Savage smokeless the most common result of a double charge is a bulged (not blown) barrel and a very sore shoulder.

Clearly, most BP guns are not built to the standards of a smokeless-ready gun. My barrel is a tank...

Someone dumb enough to blow up a smokeless ML had better stick to store-bought ammo because they would likely do the same thing to themselves on the reloading bench.

 

[trailrider]

WOW. Just goes to prove that ignorance is dangerous.

 

[ruger1800]

WOW. Just goes to prove that ignorance is dangerous.

have seen very intelligent people do really dumb stuff, dumb people sometimes come up with smart ideas.
Hope this guy isn't a engineer at a nuclear power plant.