Loading BP from a flask??

NMLRA; What say you ??

Please don't misconstrue my earlier post; the context was using regular flasks with cap and ball revolvers, NOT rifles or single shot pistols.
Click to expand...
That is the question/concern that I have. I am aware that the NMLRA does not allow this on rifles and possibly single-shot pistols. I would ask members that shoot in these competitions, what is allowed for C&B revolvers as I am not current? ...... :confused:

Be Safe !!!
 
Here's the pistol safety rules from the NMLRA rulebook.

– PISTOL –
6000 – SAFETY
• All pistols will be carried to and from the firing line with the muzzles pointed up (see Rule 1080). • No capping or priming until the command
“Commence loading, you may fire when ready,” is given (see Rule 1130) and the handgun is pointed down range on the firing line.
• Load all flintlocks with frizzen open and the hammer down.
• Keep all powder containers covered; NO open powder containers (see Rule 1230).
• All false muzzles must be attached (see Rule 1120).
• Do not load directly from a horn or flask. You must use a measure or holder (see Rule 1220).
• Never load all chambers of a revolver cylinder (see Rule 6103.4).
• The cylinder of a revolver, whether it is in the pistol or not, is “hot” if it is loaded and will not be capped until it is in the revolver and pointed
down range on the firing line (see Rule 6103.4).
• All loaded chambers will be capped prior to firing the first shot (see Rule 6103.4).
• When the Range Officer asks for “hot loads,” all loaded firearms (including loaded revolver cylinders) will be brought to the Range Officer’s
attention by raising the hand while remaining on the firing line with the firearm pointed safely down range. The hot load will be fired into
the backstop upon the Range Officer’s command (see Rule 4040.2).
Click to expand...
 
What's the point? Do these particular range rules make the ways of days past any less safe because they've been approved by lawyers and insurance companies? I think not. :rolleyes:

However, one who wishes to shoot at the Walter Cline range for example, must follow their rules. If I were shooting at Friendship, which I hope to someday do, I would be using a separate measure for my sixguns in the interest of accuracy and to honor the house rules. :D
 
I'll stick to using a separate measure as well.

If there is even .001% chance that a spark could be in the chamber/bore when I go to pour powder in, I'd rather not be holding a bomb in my hand. I like my hand. There are documented cases of exploding powder flasks from this very practice, and the results are not pretty.

Just like that chap capping his derringer while holding his hand in front of the muzzle. The odds of the cap going are were probably small, but what are the consequences if it does go off, and how hard is it to not do such a potentially dangerous thing?

I've had debilitating injuries before.

The recovery is long and painful. I have no desire to become severely injured by my black powder hobby if I can help it, and follow safety procedures as closely as possible. And yes, I still have plenty of fun doing it! :D
 
Its also possible to use a measuring spout dispenser as just a filler for a separate measure.
Just saying the Hand of God won't smite you if you do.:rolleyes:
 
loading

The old man that taught me back in the 70's was 90 some years old then.
He had grown up with BP guns.
Some of the older nozzles on flasks were straight tubes and thus a bit more difficult to pour into revolver chambers. Many of the newer ones today are more tapered so a bit easier.
I shake my flask to loosen the powder, put finger over the tip of spout,turn the flask upside down, open the gate and let nozzle fill. Close gate, turn right side up, insure nozzle is full and pour in chamber.
So the same with my front stuffers.
I have 2 flasks one for the revolvers and single shots and one for the long rifles.

Safety says you shouldn't pour from flask into the gun because of a possible burning ember.
I've done it that way since I first started, before those warning became prevalent in every new manual or article or here on the "web".
But I am cautious and make sure there are no burning embers left.

way back then if you wanted a different sized nozzle based on amount of grains, you used a tubing cutter.
 
I agree with Model12.

Cookoffs happen. I've never had it happen to me, but I've heard them go off on the firing line during competition perhaps 3-4 times in the 4 years I've been shooting.

I've never heard of it happening with a revolver. You can't load these on the firing line, and in N-SSA competition they don't allow paper cartridges. So the odds are by the time you get the gun back to the loading table and it is time to load any embers have burned out.

That said, there is no reason to load from a flask. I use little rubber tubes, and make up pre-measured "cartridges" that are ready to go to the range. With all my guns, I have ammunition prepared before I go to the range.

Steve
 
If there is even .001% chance that a spark could be in the chamber/bore when I go to pour powder in, I'd rather not be holding a bomb in my hand. I like my hand. There are documented cases of exploding powder flasks from this very practice, and the results are not pretty.
Click to expand...

You have a greater chance of being injured or killed when driving your automobile and yet I reckon, you go out on the road regularly. :rolleyes:

Anyhow, there are NO documented incidents of burning embers from a cap and ball cylinder cooking off a powder flask. Zip, zero, nada. Reason being, there are no burning embers in cap and ball revolver cylinders.

In closing, you fellas keep equating the wrong-headed practice of pouring powder direct from a horn or flask into muzzleloading rifles and single shot pistols, the same as cap and ball revolvers, thereby making apples to oranges comparisons. Such is historically inaccurate and wrong and misleading.
 
Tell me then, why is it somehow magically impossible to have a burning ember in a revolver? Especially when using felt wads (like I do)?
 
Tell me then, why is it somehow magically impossible to have a burning ember in a revolver? Especially when using felt wads (like I do)?
Click to expand...

Probably not impossible but highly unlikely given the time between firing and reloading, Personally I don't load from a flask.
 
model12 because the wad very rarely ever stays in the chamber.
Been using wads since the 1970's never had one stay in the chamber yet.

In loading my revolver after having just been fired (I use paper cartridges)
I 1/2 cock spin the cylinder and look in each one before loading (common sense).
I have had a bit of paper left in 1 or 2 chambers now and then but none were still burning (no spark)
 
Tell me then, why is it somehow magically impossible to have a burning ember in a revolver? Especially when using felt wads (like I do)?
Click to expand...

My good man, what is there left to burn in a such a place?

Have you ever recovered a fired wad at the range? I have on numerous occasions while testing our sixguns, both lubricated and dry. And you know what? Not one of them has ever caught fire or even showed signs of being burned, like the scriptures say, no not one.

In addition, I too have shot numerous paper cartridges using cigarette paper and again, no burning embers even when rapidly reloading and firing.

You gentlemen do what you want but please don't spread the nonsensical untruth that loading cap and ball revolvers from a flask is somehow dangerous. It is not.
 
I load from a flask all the time. It is the fastest way to do so. I can load 3 cylinders with the press in no time flat. Never have I ever seen a burning ember in any of them. I do check the chambers though everytime. And I wipe the cylinders down with a rag before loading. Now I DO NOT load my rifles from the flask. I even let them sit a minute or so before loading even then I cringe a tad when pouring. Especially If I have shot it more than once.
 
I got myself in trouble some time ago and had to back off

I load revolvers from a flask with the cylinder out of the revolver and only after checking targets (with the obvious delay in loading).

What I said was, "It is no more dangerous to load a fired revolver from a flask than from a scoop."

That is obviously wrong. It is obviously more dangerous just as it is more dangerous to carry two pounds of powder to the range than one.

What I should have said was, it is not substantially more dangerous for me and the way I shoot, that I am willing to take on the additional step of measuring using a scoop. I shy away from scoops for loading revolvers because:

Wind more likely blows a few grains of powder around.
I seem to have less control over the scoop (A brass empty soldered to a brass rod)
I spill some getting from the container to the chamber.

All of these things could be easily overcome by adjusting my technique. That requires some thought and additional effort. (Old habits die hard.) So it leaves me with a decision to make.

Do I feel that the elevated danger associated with loading a previously fired revolver with the cylinder on a stand and a delay of some minutes between the last shot and the first recharging is sufficient for me to expend the effort to change my habits? For me the answer is "No".

But that means that I am willing to take the additional risk, however minor.

Many on the forum disagreed and of course I would never presume to tell another person he is trying to be too safe.

But at the end of the conversation I asked a few rhetorical questions.

1. How many people exceed the speed limit on the way to the range? (I do, in fact I exceed the speed limit every time I get behind the wheel. I do it on purpose because I enjoy it.)
2. How many people don't buckle their seat belt? (Sometimes I don't)
3. How many people use tobacco products? (Not guilty)
4. How many people refuel a hot lawn mower from a large can rather than from a vessel with exactly the same displacement as the fuel tank? (I have and probably would again if given the opportunity)
5. How many people cast their own bullets? (I do and I expose myself to more danger in that process than at any time on the range.)

I think that my point was (and still is) that life on the whole is a series of decisions regarding the level of risk we are willing to take on. I do a lot of things which I think are far more dangerous that loading a previously fired revolver from a flask rather than a scoop.

I have not disagreed with any point in this thread.
 
Hey Doc, regarding number 4, not only do I refuel my hot mower from a 5 gallon can, I don't shut it off neither! Can't remember the last time my truck was off while fueling either!

And them new mowers with the liberal lawyer cables that shut off if you let go, tossed that junk in the trash!

Drink Mountain Dew, chew nails for breakfast and reload my doublegun directly from a Hawksley (Sykes flameproof valve) flask too! :eek::D
 
swathdiver

I remember hearing several accounts of starting grass fires while shooting. The wad seems like the most logical culprit. I can't think it was the fireball....unless they were shooting snakes.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top