Cautionary Tale

By Larry Babits · Originally published June 2018 · p. 2

With the reenactment season already underway, a word of safety based on recent experience is offered. The manual of arms was created to ensure efficiency and safety in firing muskets. One key element is that the muzzle should never be pointed at the loader. This is to avoid injury from premature ignition and accidental discharges. Almost all experienced reenactors and skirmishers know, and keep an eye on, a new troop in the ranks. This makes good sense but how many keep watch over their veteran comrades? This past weekend marks a case in point. Whilst shooting smoothbore in a second or third event last Saturday, there seemed to be an ignition problem with my 1842 reproduction Springfield. There was one slight delay, then a whoomp instead of a fully charged detonation. The loading went on but the next powder charge went off as it was poured into the barrel. Why it went off isn’t as important at first; it did. Since the muzzle was pointed out as per the manual, no harm was done, firing continued, but things moved a bit more slowly after that. Back in ’62 (okay, 1962), at the Vienna, Va., reenactment, Bob Miller, a very knowledgeable collector, historian, and shooter, was in a railroad box car firing back at Confederates lining the track. His second or third cartridge went down the barrel and immediately went off. In the confined space of the box car, he was holding the musket tighter than usual and took some powder to the face, including his eyes. He later wrote an article about the incident and felt that, over the winter, his clean musket stood in the corner while the oil settled into the breech where a shot or two heated it up so that it reached the powder’s ignition point and went off. My experience fifty plus years on suggests it made quite an impression on me. At the Sunday rifle musket match, as safety judge behind an experienced team whose uniforms and gray beards indicated they had been on the line once or twice before, one shooter always pulled the bullet out with his left hand, poured the powder charge with his right, then leaned over to grab his ramrod, pulling his musket inward as he did so. This was marginal but he kept doing it and, given my own experience the day before, he got extra attention. After the relay ended, I had a quick word with him starting with, “Sir, I didn’t interrupt you while you were shooting but….” After explaining my concerns, he looked pretty thoughtful and said thank you. He also said it might have been better to interrupt his shooting and break his concentration on loading and firing, to ensure he was safer. I agreed, after all we were not in the running for a medal and we are in it for the enjoyment and learning experience. There are some learning experiences best left unexplored and those deal with accidents and injury to people and equipment. Danger can grow over time as we all fit into routine ways of doing the manual exercise without ever realizing we are altering that safety net to generate greater speed, compensate for a bad shoulder, ease an aching back, or just having a bad day because that Yankee in the other battle line refuses to gone down. Over the years, I’ve seen ramrods go down range, unloaded weapons go off, double loads generate a really big bang, and once, had a musket blow up to my right in the front rank. All these have happened with experienced reenactor/shooters. They should have been more careful and there’s the meat of this article. We all need to watch each other and have quiet words if we note something a bit off. It pays off in the long run. Babits is the former Director of the Program in Maritime Studies at East Carolina University, a long-time reenactor and shooter, battlefield archaeologist and now retired rugby player.