PSA dont use wrong powders....

[EhlerDave]

This has been several years ago now, I still see the scars on my arm, face, chest, leg and stomach, dont be like me.

This is what is left of a .54cal Renegade. It had green dot put in it, a fella played with my speed loaders and then refilled them with "gun powder" not knowing any better he just filled them from a can in my room. I loaded the gun with the loader out of my bag. The gun would not fire, it took a bit to get this mess to go off.

When it went off, this was the result. What you see other than a shard that can be seen missing in the top picture is all that was found in the yard. Some other pieces were removed from me, one being the breech plug. The breech plug exposed the femoral artery, had it been torn open I would not be posting this.

That being said what you are looking at is the breech of the rifle. had it been near my face I would not be as pretty as I am now. :) Because it took so long to get to fire I had it in my left hand pointed at the ground when it detonated.

It was given to the Fish and Game people for gun safety classes, it gets attention. If they could see the scars I have, they would be far more cautious than I was.

http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a308/EhlerDave/BBL04.jpg

http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a308/EhlerDave/BBL02.jpg

[54bore]

Lucky to be alive!!

[triggerhappy243]

I would never allow that person within 200 yards of me. I would not care if it were my own son.

[54bore]

I am curious about this 'fella' he must have been REALLY close to you to have time to mess with your speedloaders, dump your good powder out and refill with Green Dot. That doesn't make good sense at all? Whatever the case, it was a bad boo boo for sure!!

[Sasquatch-1]

Glad to see you survived that.

This video done by Iraqveteran8888 Tells the story quite well. If any of you have not watch it you should.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=en384qVqrug

[BPJONES]

Other than seeing somebody laying on the ground after the fact, this video drives the point across---or at least it should!!

[johnson1942]

the very very first day of the first class when i went to college to be a registered nurse, this is what was in big letters on the blackboard. never ever assume anything, it will make a *** out of you, get you in jail or kill your patient if you do assume anything. it has been my main thing all my life, it really ticks off some people around me as to not trusting them 100 percent but it has saved me a lot of trouble. glad yours was a good outcome and your not blind or crippled. thanks for the post as it may save someone who reads this.

[EhlerDave]

I am curious about this 'fella' he must have been REALLY close to you to have time to mess with your speedloaders, dump your good powder out and refill with Green Dot. That doesn't make good sense at all? Whatever the case, it was a bad boo boo for sure!!

Family member who lived at my house for about a year. He had never been around guns of any type and had no clue that gun powder was not just gun powder. He moved before I was getting around much.

It is one of those things that I never dreamed would happen. It was either pure ignorance or a attempt to get rid of me. Since he was standing next to me I am thinking he had no clue.

I do pop the top off those plastic loaders even if I just filled them and look now. :)

[Omnivore]

Good heavens.

A case full of fast-burning pistol powder (around 25 grains) will blow even a 223 Remington to bits and pieces. I've seen it. It blew the receiver (upper and lower) apart, blew the magazine apart, split the bolt carrier in two, and left the bolt head sticking out of the now fully exposed breech like a spark plug. The barrel held, but was forever compromised. And that's smokeless powder in a smokeless powder rifle with very limited case capacity. You must have had at least twice that much smokeless pistol powder in your muzzleloader!

I've noticed also that because smokeless powder is black in color, some people have refered to it as "black powder". That includes a military gent I know. And so I could envision someone with no firearms experience looking at some smokeless powder, seeing that it's black, and thinking it's black powder. I of course don't know what actually happened, but I find that a plauseable scenario given what I've heard out of some people's mouths.

[dondiego]

Black powder and the subs sure don't look anything like green dot but I suppose if I thought that I had filled the speed loaders myself I might not notice. I sure do look at most powders when I put them into anything and will even be more vigilant now! Sure glad that you are here and able to post this to us!

[Omnivore]

And by the way; thanks for posting!

[jjarrell]

I'm thankful that you made it through and are doing well and healthy. Thank you for posting. Even though most if not all of us know not to use smokeless powder in muzzleloaders. It's prudent that we are reminded of the disastrous outcome of this mistake. Mistakes can happen if we are not vigilant in our safety practices. All of us are human. Again, thank you for sharing your experience.

[dilly]

Glad you got through it. Not many of us need a reminder to not use smokeless instead of black powder, but some of use could probably use a reminder to not let ... certain people... around our stuff.