h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

... but there is a big danger when firing blackpowder hunting rifles as well. These are meant to fire a big, heavy slug (hereafter called a bullet for the sake of laziness) fairly slowly, and as a result use slow burning blackpowder (like the stuff Marco Polo brought). The hazard here is that the shooter is the one that loads loose powder (unless they use the much safer compressed powder pellets) under the bullet much as one would in the American revolution. This was not a problem in the 1770's because the powder of the time was of relatively poor quality and was all blackpowder. Nowadays, though, we have high quality blackpowder as well as what is known as smokeless powder to chose from. These rifles are made for the slower burning blackpowder and are as safe as a gun can be (to the shooter) even with good quality blackpowder. Some hunters (whom we will call inept at best or suicidal at worst) try to use the smokeless powder which burns about a zillion times faster thinking that the bullet will leave the barrel faster and allow for more range. Unfortunately, what usually happens is the shooter is found dead with small peices of his gun littering the landscape for a radius of some 15 meters. An outdoors show here in the States demonstrated this very practice to show the dangers. Upon firing, the barrel exploded and the firing pin (inline BP rifle) was ejected out the back of the rifle (where the shooters right eye would have been) with enough force to be found embedded in range house wall some 50 feet away. Even the demonstrators were stunned at the carnage and gave repeated admonitions not to try this at home. Moral of the story, Be careful if you must shoot, Read, understand and follow all of the safety instructions that come with the gun, knowing how to use your gun properly will greatly reduce the risk of personal injury, and the most important safety rule is to wear these Safety glasses.

Shoot safely,
Untill I post again,
TUUUYSCS,
Deuce

Another experience I had was firing a P53 Enfield rifle. Unfortunately, the perishing thing hung-fired and I was left with a sizzling weapon in my hands. Some 2 seconds later it decided to ignite. Apparently there was a large cloud of dust where the .577 bullet grazed the top of the bullet stop (some 6m high) at Bisley!

I had the chance to fire a black powder rifle once. I attended a talk about the fur trading days and the speaker had one. He set up a cardboard box as a target and a paper slug for the bullet, and put the powder in then handed me the gun. I fired at the target, the powder ignited and nothing happened. Seems there was some moisture in the pan or something. I got a lot of smoke and a flash of light (when the powder ignited) but nothing else. I'd have been in trouble if I had been defending against hostile indians rather than shooting at a cardboard box.