• New Contest Starting Now! This Target Haunts Me

    Tell us about the one that got away, the flier that ruined your group, the zero that drifted, the shot you still see when you close your eyes. Winner will receive a free scope!

    Join contest

wrong powder! ouch!!

eli polite

Gunny Sergeant
Minuteman
Mar 9, 2010
1,304
30
49
delaware
I found this video I guess this guy used the wrong powder in his rifle




<iframe width="640" height="360" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/3dmLr3rsTDU?feature=player_detailpage" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
 
The video is misleading as it says "remember to use smokeless powered, not black powder." That rifle is designed to use either smokeless or blackpowder/equivalent. The fault is likely in not adhering to the admonishment not to use blackpowder volumetric measurers when using smokeless powder. That rifle should be able to handle 150 grains of black powder, pyrodex, or 777 behind a 250 gr projectile, so I can't come up with a way in which it would fail with these powders. My t/c omega (not rated for use with smokeless) lists 150 gr of pyroxed under a 400 gr projectile as max load. Using a volumetric measurer calibrated for black powder while dispensing smokeless powder could have caused the failure.

However, using a scale to wiegh black powder charges "could" cause the failure. I found a refrence that 100 "volumetric grains" of pyrodex weighs as little at 63 grains on a scale. The max charge for this rifle is 150 volumentric grains of black powder or equivalent. Weighing out 150 grains of pyrodex on a scale (max charge) would yield a charge of ~240 "volumetric grains." That is a substantial overcharge.

Either way, it pays to remember that when you are shooting a muzzleloader, you are a reloader. You need to have your head screwed on. We call muzzleloaders "primitive weapons" but from an operational awareness stand point, shooting a muzzleloader is advanced marksmanship. Anyone can load 30 rounds in an ar mag and blast away at the hill sides. It takes a bit of thought to go through the measure-load-fire-clean-... sequence in using a muzzleloader.

It really sucks for the guy that his rifle blew up and his hand got messed up in the process. But, my bet is that this is a case of user error, not faulty equipment.
 
I saw this photo spread in an email that circulated ~2 years ago.

The story the email told was the shooter had used a BP scoop to dip a smokeless charge.... which is a super-wicked overcharge.

Serious bummer.
 
The video is misleading as it says "remember to use smokeless powered, not black powder." That rifle is designed to use either smokeless or blackpowder/equivalent. The fault is likely in not adhering to the admonishment not to use blackpowder volumetric measurers when using smokeless powder. That rifle should be able to handle 150 grains of black powder, pyrodex, or 777 behind a 250 gr projectile, so I can't come up with a way in which it would fail with these powders.

Dead on.
I have the Savage smokeless, and whomever made the video was a moron.