I question the practice too but only the practicality or purpose of it. Having such hard and fast rules about muzzles makes it extremely difficult to shoot blackpowder guns seeing as how they most all load from the business end.
Well, I can tell you that I still don't see how having the muzzle so close to your head is needed. Having the muzzle at arm's length (roughly) is a far cry from having your head so close to it that you can blow down the barrel, agreed?
The point is that getting your head so close seems rather dangerous, and the risk is in the interest of what? Safety? You are trading one risk for another with that practice in my opinion
You must never check the bore of a used gun before you buy it. Or clean them. Or check to see that they are clean after cleaning them.
Now, of *course* you need to look down the muzzle to clean a weapon for examle. But we aren't talking about cleaning here, correct ?
I didn't feel the need to give a lawyer's reply and make a footnote about cleaning...maybe I should have made the disclaimer, but then again I'm not trying to win an argument here- you and I both know that blowing down a muzzle of a potentially loaded firearm is not conducive to additional birthday celebrations. I don't need to argue that fact
Your loading procedure might work fine for a Remington or Ruger Old Army but it would be more than a little hassle with a Colt or replica.
I do not have anything but an 1862 Colt NY Met Police replica. Taking out the cylinder is quick and easy with a small block of wood. No injuns shooting back at me
Plus, speed or minor convenience is not something I place importance on, over safety. I'm not going to cut corners on "hassles", especially when BP is already a huge "hassle"
I've never heard of anyone shooting themselves in the face because they were using a loading stand.
Just because you have never heard of anyone shooting themselves with a loading stand is not a good enough argument for my taste
Surely you can see the potential in having a pistol facing up at you from bench height as you lean over it. In my opinion, if I wouldn't load a brand new semi-automatic pistol holding it in that position, how is loading a BP pistol that way "safe"? They'll both shoot you dead. So what's so special about a BP pistol that says that having the muzzle pointing straight up as you lean over it a safe way to go about things?
Many people use the stands, and I'm sure most of them can prove their superior knowledge of firearms to me and everyone else in a heartbeat. That
still doesn't prove to me that loading in that fashion is "safe". What's more important to me...saving 30 seconds of time, or saving some wear on some case hardened steel...or making sure my damn fool head is out of the path of a bullet? This is no contest