How do you tell if a muzzle loader is loaded?

[Ed Clarke]

I was reading the posts from the guy with the 150 year old rifle/shotgun
that might be a muzzle loader. One poster mentioned that guns were often
cleaned and loaded before being put away and that his weapon might still
be loaded.

So how do you tell if a 150 year old muzzle loader is loaded? No breach
to look into, any percussion cap might be missing (same with flints if
it's a flintlock). If you put a new cap on, it might not set off the
charge immediately either...

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Ed Clarke wrote:

# snip
# So how do you tell if a 150 year old muzzle loader is loaded? No breach
# to look into, any percussion cap might be missing (same with flints if
# it's a flintlock). If you put a new cap on, it might not set off the
# charge immediately either...

As I understand it you can remove the breech plug. That may be an
irreversible job in an 150 year old firearm. You could blow compressed air
through the touch hole / nipple a plugged barrel wouldn't pass air and if you
have enough pressure you can often unload a muzzle loader this way. However
you might have components deteriorated enough to pass a air around the load.
You could shove a borescope down the barrel and see what's there.
A simple way would be drop a dowel rod down the barrel and see if it reaches
the end of the breech plug. Not knowing enough about muzzle loaders I'm not
sure how you know where that is but I would feel fairly safe if the dowel
reached at least as far as the nipple / touch hole. I don't know what you
would do if it was an inline gun for this type of measure.

Doug T

[Don Sverdrup]

Simplest way is to try to blow down the barrel and see if air passes,
although a fouled/dirty breech may block this.
Next up is run the ramrod down the barrel and mark the depth (just hold
your thumb there) and then pull it out and compare the depth on the
outside of the barrel. If the depth is within 1/2" of the nipple or
flash hole it is probably not loaded.
If it is loaded you can get ramrods with a screw tip to thread into the
bullet and pull it out of the muzzle. A shotgun would be pull the
overshot wad, dump the shot, then pull the wad, dump the powder.
Don

[Mikeberta]

Easiest way that occurs to me is to stick a rod down the bore and see how far
it reaches. Should be pretty easy to tell if it's bottoming on the breach
block or stopping short of it.
Mike

#
#I was reading the posts from the guy with the 150 year old rifle/shotgun
#that might be a muzzle loader. One poster mentioned that guns were often
#cleaned and loaded before being put away and that his weapon might still
#be loaded.
#
#So how do you tell if a 150 year old muzzle loader is loaded? No breach
#to look into, any percussion cap might be missing (same with flints if
#it's a flintlock). If you put a new cap on, it might not set off the
#charge immediately either...
#

[Jeffersonian]

Ed Clarke wrote in message <9ij67k$cj2$1...@xring.cs.umd.edu>...

[snip]

#So how do you tell if a 150 year old muzzle loader is loaded? No breach
#to look into, any percussion cap might be missing (same with flints if
#it's a flintlock). If you put a new cap on, it might not set off the
#charge immediately either...

I believe the common way is to insert the ramrod and measure how far down
the barrel it goes, then remove it and lay it alongside the barrel to see if
it goes all the way to where the breech plug/flash hole/etc. can reasonably
be expected to be.
--
Criminals prefer unarmed victims.
Politicians prefer unarmed peasants.
I am none of the above.
http://members.shootersinet.com/jeffer...@shootersinet.com

[RB]

Here is what I was taught. When loading and ramming the ball down over the
powder, mark the ram rod where it meets the muzzle to ensure that the next
loads are properly rammed in place, and that no gap is between the powder
and ball. If this gun has it's original ramrod, check for the mark, if the
rod goes into the barrel an inch or two past the muzzle, then it should not
be loaded.

To make sure, try using a ball puller to pull out any ball that might be
loaded. You can inert a powder charge by pulling the nipple and immersing
the breach end into a pail of water for a day, then blowing the powder and
ball out with compressed air. I used a bicycle pump one time.

If you can't push a needle into the flash hole, then this may show it is
loaded.

RB

#
#So how do you tell if a 150 year old muzzle loader is loaded

[Russ Frazier]

CAUTION: I read a news story where a `gunsmith' squirted a liquid said to be
`powder deadener' into the barrel via the screwhole after removing the
nipple. Then the person, later in the hospital with a shoulder wound, was
pulling on the rod attached to the ball via a ball-puller screw. The
`gunsmith' then heated the base of the barrel with a propane torch to assist
in removing the ball via melting the outside of the ball. Surprising to
them, the gun went off shooting the other person through the shoulder with
the rod.
"Ed Clarke" <cla...@spanker.cilia.org> wrote in message
news:9ij67k$cj2$1...@xring.cs.umd.edu...

[USC]

I would say that if a muzzle loader smells of booze, is waivering back
and forth while on the firing line and keeps missing when attempting
to get the ram rod down the bore, chances are that he's probably
loaded.

USC

[rambling_one]

One method I teach in the Maryland Hunter Education and Firearm Safety
classes is to place the ram rod all the way down the empty barrel and note
the point where the other end exits the muzzle. At that point on the ram
rod, either wrap a thin piece of tape around the ram rod or mark the spot
with a dab of paint. When the firearm is later charged, placing the ram rod
down the barrel will place that tape or mark about 1/4" above the muzzle,
indicating that something is down there.

If working with a muzzleloader without a marked ramrod, the only solution I
know to prove there's something down the barrel would be to find an
identical firearm at a gun store, etc., mark your ramrod against that
"known" uncharged gun and then use the marked ramrod to check your gun.

Also, be very careful with wooden ramrods that come with most muzzleloaders.
They will break under pressure and some folks have had the palms of their
hands pierced. I recommend using fiberglass ramrods.

Hope this helps.

[Shinola]

rambling_one wrote:

# One method I teach in the Maryland Hunter Education and Firearm Safety
# classes is to place the ram rod all the way down the empty barrel and note
# the point where the other end exits the muzzle. At that point on the ram
# rod, either wrap a thin piece of tape around the ram rod or mark the spot
# with a dab of paint. When the firearm is later charged, placing the ram rod
# down the barrel will place that tape or mark about 1/4" above the muzzle,
# indicating that something is down there.

This is good advice, but I'll add a little bit more. I marked my rod with
markers for empty, each each pellet (one side) or different powder loads (other
side) , plus the bullet. That can mean a lot of marks if you're using a bunch
of different loads, but I typically use one combination and it's plenty clear.

S

[Paul & Victoria Heisner]

Over 400 years ago, Nostradamus predicted that on 13 Jul 2001 09:49:52
-0400, "rambling_one" <rambli...@email.msn.com> would write:

#One method I teach in the Maryland Hunter Education and Firearm Safety
#classes is to place the ram rod all the way down the empty barrel and note
#the point where the other end exits the muzzle. At that point on the ram
#rod, either wrap a thin piece of tape around the ram rod or mark the spot
#with a dab of paint. When the firearm is later charged, placing the ram rod
#down the barrel will place that tape or mark about 1/4" above the muzzle,
#indicating that something is down there.
#
#If working with a muzzleloader without a marked ramrod, the only solution I
#know to prove there's something down the barrel would be to find an
#identical firearm at a gun store, etc., mark your ramrod against that
#"known" uncharged gun and then use the marked ramrod to check your gun.

One thing we used to do with a Brown Bess when I was younger was to
"throw" the ram rod down the barrel. If it makes a sharp pinging
noise and bounces back up, the barrel is empty. If it makes a thud
and doesn't bounce back up, then there is a charge in the barrel.
Obviously, you wouldn't want to be doing this with a 150 gun/powder
charge (original poster), but with a newer gun and recent charge, it
might be an option....

HTH,
Vicki