A new way to dryball

[mykeal]

I posted this on another forum this morning, but I thought it might be applicable here also.

I've only been at this 30 years, and hold no illusions about my ability to dryball - I can do it any time, any place, for no good reason at all. But this was a new experience:

Technically it wasn't actually a dryball, as there was a full load of powder under the ball. But it wasn't a proper load either.

The gun was a .54 cal Lyman GPR flintlock. I had taken 4 shots and swabbed after each. I carefully measured 70 grains of ffg Goex and poured it down the barrel. There were no distractions; all the onlookers knew not to talk to me during the loading process. I picked up and carefully separated a single 0.015" lubed patch, placed it on the muzzle. I picked up a 0.530 round ball and placed it on the patch, and noticed that the patch was not well centered. So, I placed one finger on the ball to hold it steady. I took my thumb and forefinger on the other hand and carefully captured an edge of the patch and pulled it across the muzzle to center it. And promptly pulled it out from under the ball, which disappeared down the bore assisted, by my finger.

So now I have a full powder charge in the barrel along with a loose ball. Let's see, .530 ball, .540 bore, should fall right out, right? Nope. Wouldn't budge. Tapped the barrel on the carpet I use to protect the butt when loading. Nope, still no ball.

Ok, rammed the ball down all the way with the range rod, checked the mark, yep, full powder load and round ball. Primed the pan, got a flash, no boom. Great. Picked the touch hole, primed and tapped some 4f into the touch hole. Got another flash, but no boom. Now it's starting to rain.

Packed up the gear and went home. I'd shot 4 guns yesterday and decided to wait until after supper to clean them. I did the .54 flinter last, and decided to try to pull the ball. The timing is important because now it's about 11 pm. The ball came right out with very little effort. Normally I'd just wash the powder out with water, but something made me decide to shoot it out - after all, how much noise would some loose powder make?

It's not loose, stupid, it was compressed when you rammed the ball down. It's still compressed, stupid. 70 grains of compressed 2f out the back door across the lake at 11 pm is impressive. I swear the echo went on for 15 minutes. SWMBO had fallen asleep reading. I now have very clear instructions about how and when to clear bore obstructions. I know exactly how many neighbors I have that retire before 11 pm, and how far away you can hear 70 grains of 2f at 11 pm. I know that the odds of the only Sheriff's road patrol car on duty at 11pm being across the lake in view of my house at that precise moment are slim but not that slim. I have learned that it is a misdemeanor to discharge a firearm at my house, since, although it's an undeveloped rural area, it was platted as a subdivision in 1921 and the county considers it an urban area. He may have made that part up, but he didn't charge me and I'm not going to do it again in any case.

Sheesh. All I did was accidentally pull the darn patch out from under the ball...

 

[Rachen]

I am wondering why the powder didn't go off when you fired it with the ball in place at the range.

Why did it fire later on?

 

[sundance44s]

I don`t understand the laws where Mykeal lives BUT I do understand why the flintlock rifle didn`t go off when he tried it at the range earlyer ...Because a flintlock is like a woman ..get in a hurry and try to get her to do something she doesn`t want to do ..and it`s a NO GO ...try again a little later ..and she`ll wake the neighbors getting it done !

 

[Rachen]

OMG! LOL Sundance!

 

[Smokin_Gun]

Good one Mykeal...what do you do on the 4th of July ...

SG

 

[mykeal]

I am wondering why the powder didn't go off when you fired it with the ball in place at the range. Why did it fire later on?

I don`t understand the laws where Mykeal lives BUT I do understand why the flintlock rifle didn`t go off when he tried it at the range earlyer ...

The GPR has a patent breech, and I was swabbing between shots. It's possible to push fouling into the patent breech when swabbing and eventually plug it, causing an FTF. Pulling the ball probably freed up some of the fouling allowing the later shot to function. Unusual, but not unheard of. Certainly more likely than the one and only sheriff's road patrol in 550 square miles being across the lake when I pulled the trigger.

There's a state law prohibiting the discharge of a firearm within 450 feet of an occupied dwelling. It's a misdemeanor offense, originally intended to keep hunters away from farmhouses. Not widely known and rarely enforced. The deputy's excursion into real estate law was nonsense, reaching for something to get my attention (as if the realization that I had just fired a rifle at a police officer's car wasn't enough). He had a few other ideas, like attempted murder, etc. but calmed down a little when he found out what really happened.

 

[Pulp]

Funny story, thanks for sharing. I wonder if the deputies patrol car needs new upholstery??? Can you imagine if he'd been casually looking in your direction when it went off??
I'm glad all you got was a tongue lashing.

 

[mykeal]

I think he was looking towards my house - he thought someone had fired a cannon at him. At one point he made reference to a 105mm.

 

[arcticap]

Did the Officer actually knock on your door and come in or did you go out to meet him when he pulled into the driveway?
Did he come into your house to see your flintlock and to have a look around or was he satisfied to stay outside?
I think that you're lucky that he believed that you were only shooting a blank.
If he thought that you were shooting a live round or if you were a few years younger with a "look", he might have had a whole different attitude about the incident.
At least it would have only been a misdemeanor, but I wonder if it could have led him to confiscate the rest of your guns over it?
I'm glad that the 2nd amendment is still alive & well at the mykeal household today. I'll bet that the wife was shaking her head in disbelief at some point afterward though.

 

[scrat]

yep inquiring minds want to know. So you need to continue the story after you pulled the trigger in detail. Man o man that must have been a sight though. 70 grains in the dark.

 

[whosyrdaddy]

There's a state law prohibiting the discharge of a firearm within 450 feet of an occupied dwelling. It's a misdemeanor offense, originally intended to keep hunters away from farmhouses.

Absolutely correct. However, as passed by the legislature it prohibits the discharge of any firearm or bow within said distance of a occupied dwelling or building or structure used for any farming operation whether occupied or not.

Unfortunately for the legislature, they lack the authority to regulate the use of firearms except where it pertains to the act of hunting. Local government, (ie. city, township, village ect.), retains the power to regulate general firearms usage. Therefore the following excerpt from the MI DNR hunting guide.

Safety zones are all areas within 150 yards (450 feet) of an occupied building, house, cabin, or any barn or other building used in a farm operation. No person, including archery and crossbow hunters, may hunt or discharge a firearm, crossbow or bow in a safety zone, or shoot at any wild animal or wild bird within a safety zone, without the written permission of the owner or occupant of such safety zone. The safety zone applies to hunting only. It does not apply to indoor or outdoor shooting ranges, target shooting, law enforcement activities or the discharge of firearms, crossbows or bows for any non-hunting purpose.

http://www.michigan.gov/dnr/0,1607,7-153-10366_37141_37706-31581--,00.html

So, unless your specific local body of govt. ( not county ) has prohibitive ordinances in place, you have only your SWMBO to fear.

That being said, I find it's best not to disagree with an LEO until it really matters.

 

[mykeal]

whosrydaddy, thanks for the citation. I'm a HSE volunteer for the muzzleloading section - I recalled the "occupied building" language in the handbook.

The first thing I recall happening after regaining my sight and hearing (yes, 70 grains in the dark, quiet night will cause sensory overload) was thinking, "Oh, my God. Wow, is that neat!" The report echoed back and forth across the lake at least half a dozen times.

Then the wife's reaction - imagine the Command Master Chief showing the new Captain around and coming upon a craps game complete with homemade brew and cheap cigars. Similar demeanor and language, I'd imagine. I carefully explained that it was a simple discharge of loose powder that made a little more noise than I expected. I told her that it wasn't as bad as she thought; she must have just been shocked when it woke her up.

Which she believed until the phone started ringing. "Nope, no problem, nothing wrong, just chasing off a raccoon. I don't think he'll be back, so it won't happen again." Repeated over and over again.

And then the deputy showed up, all lit up (both him and the car's emergency lights). I left her to the phone duties - she'd heard the story several times so she knew what to say.

His imitation of the CMC was less animated than SWMBO's, but still effective. He knew me from the Hunter Safety courses and he'd been to the house one time two years ago for a minor burglary report.

I met him in the driveway - the first thing he wanted to know was if anyone was hurt, and then, "What the #*!$ was I &*#% doing %#@! shooting off a $%^* cannon across the #$@* lake in the middle of the %#@$ night?" Or something like that. I think he was angry.

I don't recall the exact conversation. It was pretty one sided. He let me explain exactly what I'd done - pulling the ball so I knew the gun was 'unloaded', the (utterly *%#$@ stupid, he said) decision to fire the gun to remove the powder and the fact that I was truly sorry it had happened as it did.

Then it was his turn again. Phrases like, "#@%* 105 howitzer", "scared the $#*! out of him and all the neighbors", "lit up the %#$* phones in the 911 center", you get the idea. He did remind me of the 450 foot law, ordinances against "disturbing the *#@% peace", brandishing, public nuisance and I think he even mentioned global warming at one point. He also made up a couple - I specifically recall the one about discharging in an urban area. He finally gave me a colorful description of the local lockup and it's current residents, suggesting I might not enjoy their company.

He did not ask to see the guns, nor did he make any 'confiscation' noises. He did suggest that any one of the aforementioned violations would be cause to revoke my CPL and my C&R FFL. I think things finally calmed down when the wife came out on the front porch and sat down to watch. His language got quite a bit cleaner and he stopped waving his arms as much. At some point I reached the magic number of repetitions of "Sorry", and he went back to the car, turned off the flashers and called off the State Police backup that was enroute. They did drive by slowly a few minutes later and he waved them off.

He heard the wife's raccoon story on one of the phone calls and decided to use it himself when he called in his end-of-action report to the dispatcher. His final admonition to me was that if he was ever on duty and heard of a similar incident he'd drop whatever he was doing and personally participate in the arrest and booking. And testify. And then he got in his car and drove off into the night.

SWMBO's after action briefing was more succinct: "Well, have you had enough excitement for tonight?" She did suggest that someday we take the GPR out to some remote area at night and touch one off just so she could see the result. I'm not sure she heard the initial report, but she certainly did hear the echos, and they were impressive all by themselves.

We will be home over the 4th this year, and are planning a beach barbeque and campfire to watch the neighbor's fireworks displays (one guy does a great professional level display every year). I may take that opportunity to show her then. I have a bp double 12...

 

[Jamie C.]

Man... Talk about the stars lining up juuuust right to bite you in the ass.

So what did you do to piss Capt. Murphy off, any way?

Still... you didn't shoot the light bar off the top of the patrol car, so it most certainly could'a been worse.

( A local fellow shot a large chunk of wood out of his BP cannon, some years back, that just happened to catch one of the Sheriff's cars as it went by. He got into a ton of trouble for shooting across a roadway, and for destroying county property. )

J.C.

 

[whosyrdaddy]

Mykeal,
I think you handled that situation superbly. You managed to stay out of the back of the car, keep all your guns, and to avoid incurring any annoying legal expenses all while faced with an irate and uninformed LEO.

If I may, I will make a couple of suggestions that may be helpful to some of our fellow readers who may be planing some 4th festivities involving bp.

First, if you happen to live in MI and end up facing a similar situation DO NOT use nuisance animals as part of your cover story because it will place you in jeopardy of the safety zone law violation.

Second, read your state and local firearms laws. Most are available online. After you have determined that, in your opinion, you won't be in violation of the law for a given activity, e-mail or write your State Police and your local top LEO and ask them if they agree with your interpretation of the law. It will help you greatly if you cite chapter and section numbers in your inquiry. If they disagree with you, ask their reasoning. If you believe that they are in error, contact your local prosecutor's office and be sure to get any positive responses in writing or printed e-mail and keep these in your pocket whenever prudent.

Third, whenever dealing with an LEO, always be respectful and polite. If the situation does not improve rapidly, then simply SHUT UP UNTIL YOU CAN SPEAK TO AN ATTORNEY

Disclaimer: I am not an attorney and all of my advice is given as friendly non-legal advice that is worth less than what you paid for it.

 

[mykeal]

Alternative scenario

A gentleman on another forum suggested an alternative scenario with respect to the officer's point of view.

I assumed the deputy was sitting in his car quietly watching for some kids doing mischief (we'd had a little bit of the upended outhouse type of shenanigans lately), and was just scared by the sudden flash and boom out of the darkness.

However, considering the already improbable lineup of events, why not add one more: the deputy was actually out of his car, down on the bank by the boat ramp attending to a little personal call, when, in the midst of a quiet commune with nature, KABOOOM!!.

It's possible. That might have colored his view of the event somewhat.

I implied, but did not clearly state, that my explanation to the deputy was the compete truth as to what I did. Always better to do that than come up with a story. Whosyrdaddy is 100% correct about the varmint excuse - that could have gotten me iinto even more trouble if Deputy Fife had wanted to start making a list. As it was, we only used the raccoon as a scapegoat for the neighbors - it's something they all can relate to and sympathize with.