Oh . . . I don't think I'd go as far as to suspect him of that, not that it is out of the realm of possibility.

I have yet to figure out why Savage Armshas approved such fast powders for their muzzleloader. It seems to me, that slow powders designed for use in big bores would be better and safer too. Actually, I have figured it out. Everyone wants their muzzleloader to be a 250 yard flat shooter just like a high powered rifle. Fast Powders accomodate that. The pricethough beingmuch higher pressures.

With all this talk about the Savage withstanding tests to 150,000 psi, I could definitely see someone likeToby loading his Savage to pressures of 60,000+ psi in an attempt to get 2800 fps 300 grainprojectiles.Its the kind of thing an envelope pusher might do, justifying it by naively supposing the gun is good to 150,000 psi.

I am an engineer.And I would like to say that a Savage 10 MLwhich weathers a 60,000 psi load once, twice, or even a dozen times, may notdosomuch longer.There is such a phenomenon known as fatigue. Whenmetal isstressed repeatedat high ratios ofits elasticity, it hasashorter useful life. Themetal becomes brittle anddevelops microscopic fractures. Eventually, it will fail.Even a .50 BMGis designed to operate around 50,000 psi. A Savage may be the safest muzzleloader made, but it can be unsafe is used unwisely.

Happy Hunting, Phil