Re: Musket Malfunction -- Middlesex Village Trading Muzzleloading Forum

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Date Posted: 16:15:51 11/08/07 Thu
Author: Pete
Subject: Re: Musket Malfunction
In reply to: John in Tennessee 's message, "Re: Musket Malfunction" on 14:22:31 11/08/07 Thu

I've seen the pictures, read the reports of the people involved, and have a strong opinion of what happened, but am not at liberty to discuss it at the moment.

The musket in question is to be tested by the top forensics labs in the country, and when we know actual "facts" about it, we can tell the whole story. The lab will also overload-test a pair of similar muskets to show, once and for all, just how much a seamless barrel can withstand.

I think I saw the 1919 pictures, and have seen many burst barrels on military semi-auto guns and machine guns. Pretty much all of them have been caused by bad ammo causing a squib load to obstructt he barrel. I've seen plenty of burst muzzleloader barrels too: Spanish, Italian, Japanese. Generally they are caused by one of two causes: the wrong powder or a ball that was not properly seated.

There are many potential causes for a burst barrel, and if you've studied them enough you can generally ID the cause with just a glance at how and where the barrel split. Today's barrels are much, much stronger than the ones that were used in the 18th century, but the same laws of physics apply and a loading mistake will burst a modern seamless barrel just as spectacularly as a handforged seamed barrel on a 200 year old antique.

As I said, I have a very strong opinion of how this happened, but am not in a position to speak publicly about it until we get the lab report.

In the meantime, if anyone out there has any question about the safety of their gun, simply proof test it. This is just common sense. If anyone needs instructions on how to do so, ask us and we'll walk you through it. If I somehow manage to squeeze it into my schedule, I'll do a step-by-step photo tutorial on how to do it.

Between the three big importers and numerous small ones, it is an easy estimate that there are some 25,000 Indian made guns in use in the US. On the whole, they have a great safety record. I shoot them, pretty much all of my freinds do, and my daughter even touches them off from time to time. If I didn't believe in them 100%, I certainly wouldn't let her fire them!

I promise that we'll release all of the lab's findings as soon as we know them, but until there are actual facts to state, we really can't say anything. The damaged musket, as I understand it, is supposed to be sent to the lab this week.

Thanks for your patience as we sort through all of this and get to the bottom of things,

Pete Plunkett
President, MVTCo Inc.

>>What have we heard about the musket that exploded?
>
> I've been trying to find more info on that myself.
>There are pictures over on the British Militaria Forum
>on the muzzleloaders page. The last time I saw a
>failure like that was on a 1919 Browning shooting some
>cheap Euro surplus ammo.

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