Safety first, fatal firearm accident.

[WCF3030]

This happened in my area.
While I'm sad for there loss, there are several ways to have avoided this!


NEWAYGO, Mich. (WZZM) - A Newaygo County man died yesterday when he and his father tried to clean a muzzleloader gun.

Jason Charles Mielke, 28, died from a shot from the weapon that they found near a dumpster.

According to the Newaygo County Sheriff's Office, Mielke and his father were trying to clean the weapon, but a breech plug was stuck. They put the gun in a vice and used a torch to heat the barrel in an attempt to remove the plug. The heat from the torch caused the gun to fire, striking Mielke. He was pronounced dead at the scene.

[AJMD429]

Thanks to the internet and forums like this one, at least anyone who has a 'dumb question' can ask someone before fooling around with something dangerous. You would think adults would at least sense that a gun is at least somewhat dangerous, wouldn't you?

Of course, guys don't always ask for help or advice (my wife says if I were lost, I'd drive until I was out of gas, walk to a gas station, buy a can and gas, and walk back to the car without bothering to ask the people at the gas station for directions - my response was, "Well, 'duhh!' ").

Remember to ask someone who may know something you don't, whenever you're in strange territory, especially if it involves flammables, sharp things, motors, big animals, etc...!

[J Miller]

I'm sorry for their loss as well. But had I found such a rifle, the first thing I would have done is put a rod down the muzzle and compare the length to the breach plug. That would have told them there was something in the barrel, most likely a ball and powder.

You are quite correct. That was totally preventable.

Joe

[WCF3030]

Right on Joe.
Like AJMD429 posted, one is often only a moose click or two away from some advice. Or simply take it too a gunsmith if you don't know.

[El Chivo]

I wonder if he was looking down the barrel at the time?

What about pointing it away?

[gamekeeper]

When I worked for Westley Richards in the late sixties and early seventies they bought a lot of antique guns from India. I found a lot of these M/L guns were still loaded and even after a 100+ years in storage some of the charges were still ready to go. Making them safe taught me a lot about muzzle loaders.

[Ysabel Kid]

Right on Joe.
Like AJMD429 posted, one is often only a moose click or two away from some advice. Or simply take it too a gunsmith if you don't know.

Dang WCF3030, you must have one whopping big computer if you use a "moose" instead of a "mouse"!

Spot on analysis - this was so needless. Worse, it will be used as fodder for more gun-ban laws, just to "save the people". In that, it doubles the tragedy.

I remember when I lived in Indiana and Michigan you'd hear a story once every other year or so of someone stuffing modern smokeless powders in their muzzleloaders. Not mild powders, which with some research can be used, but fast-burning modern powders. The results were uniformly the same - blow gun, and severely-injured or dead shooter. I'm hoping that the Internet has also decreased these kinds of accidents...

[Travis Morgan]

When I worked for Westley Richards in the late sixties and early seventies they bought a lot of antique guns from India. I found a lot of these M/L guns were still loaded and even after a 100+ years in storage some of the charges were still ready to go. Making them safe taught me a lot about muzzle loaders.

OT, but a while back, a guy brought a Westley Richards falling block in to show off. It was beautiful. The craftsmanship and artistry were impressive. The bushnell scope he'd mounted on it, however......! I wanted to kick his teeth in.

[Charles]

It is farily common to find old muzzle loaders still loaded with ball and powder. Most often you can tell, by droping the ramrod down t he barrel. It sounds and bounces different if it hits lead or the face of the breech plug. I have removed the charge from several old muzzle loader. You can also instert the ramrod in the barrel and then mark the ramrod at the muzzle. Now lay the ramrod along side the barrel with the mark at the muzzle and you can see how far down the barrel the rod went. That will also give you a good notion of what, if anything, is in there.

You always assume they are loaded until you know for certain otherwise. I hesitate to call the event in question an accident. Negligence is a more accurate term. Still it is a great shame and will have awful consequences for many years to come.

[Doc Hudson]

Like the old saying goes: "More people get killed with unloaded guns by accident that with loaded guns on purpose."

I've known or heard of a number of folks who've been killed, injured, or scared nearly to death when an old front loader they figured was empty went bang when the trigger was pulled. And it isn't just muzzle-loaders or people with no gun knowledge that do things like this. Years ago, a friend asked me to look over her husband's old shotgun, it was a Marlin Lone Star 12 gauge (a hammer pump). Linda told me that it was unloaded, but that Joe had been unable to open the action. I fiddled around with it a while with no better luck and decided that I'd cock the hammer and pull the trigger. Fortunately, I knew better than to trust anyone else that a gun was unloaded. I went outside, cocked the hammer, shouldered the shotgun and pulled the trigger. You guessed it, BOOM!!! After which the action worked perfectly and I unloaded the rest of the shells. Linda nearly fainted! When she could talk, her first words were, "I'm going to kill that Joe Sport! He was waving that thing all over the place, pointing it at me and the kids and it loaded! I'm gonna kill him dead!"

Sadly, the two men in the story either didn't know, or forgot the old truism, "ALL GUNS ARE LOADED UNLESS YOU UNLOAD THEM YOURSELF."

[Lastmohecken]

Well, I hate to say it, but it's very hard to guard against stupidy. And this was an accident caused by sheer stupidy.

[piller]

As Einstein said, the only two things without limit are the size of the universe and human stupidity. I feel sorry for the family members though.

[TX Gun Runner]

I got my son a ML in 50 cal . Took it to the range ran a patch in bore . And my son knows to point the down range to snap a cap . He snap a cap and it when boom , it was loaded . Since we never load it before we never had rod marked for a loaded gun . Now when I get a new gun I mark the rod and drop in bore and make sure it is bottoming out on breach plug and not a bullet .

[Travis Morgan]

Gun Runner,

I'm glad you got such a good object lesson in the appropriate setting, with the gun pointed downrange!

[TX Gun Runner]

Gun Runner,

I'm glad you got such a good object lesson in the appropriate setting, with the gun pointed downrange!

I learn yrs ago anytime you pull a trigger point it something Cheap and SAFE .

[creosote]

I bought an old french percussion musket years ago . It was one of the many cut down for use as a sporting shot gun, just like a "ZULU" shot gun that had not been altered to a breach loader.
I bought it for possible use at rendevous and for frightening small animals.
We knew it was plugged up at the breech end for about 5 inches or so using the ram rod method.
It was fairly rusty and corroded and we were lucky in that the breach plug came out with penetrating oil and a wrench, now the nipple on this old thing was pounded down to the nub by repeated dry firing by the way.
When we removed the plug we pushed out a bunch of Ohio Blue Tip match heads ,wadding,
square grained smokeless powder and a big wad of toilet paper.
I cleaned it up and used it for several years, learning that a good fitting ball in a smooth bore with no rear sight can shoot pretty darned good for thirty or forty yards.
Its a shame what happened to that father and son.
I hope he can find peace in his mind in the years ahead.