Speaking of Safety
Sunday evening up the camp my cousin and I were getting things ready for the next day's hunt. He was swabbing the bore to get the oil out of his CVA Optima and talking to me.
He pulled the ramrod out and wasn't looking and asked me if I saw the patch come out. I didn't. I said no problem, just unscrew the BP and look down the barrel. Well the rifle wouldn't break open!
I asked him if he cleaned up after our NC trip and he said he did. (Now he's new to the whole black powder/muzzleloading thing)
I took the rifle and squeezed the trigger guard and use a bit of force and the rifle opened. I immediately saw the problem. There was some rust on the break action engagement surfaces. So I closed the action and took off the forearm and took the barrel off the receiver. I unscrewed the BP and looked down the barrel and couldn't see daylight. I grabbed my flashlight and all I saw was gray! Taking my range rod and the barrel outside I slid it down the bore and when I hit the blockage gave it a pop. Out came a powder charge and a saboted bullet. "Good thing you didn't load this again" I told him. He was totally red faced.
I cleaned up his action with some gun oil and a stiff toothbrush to remove the rust, swabbed this bore clean, teflon taped his BP and put his rifle back together.
He learned a valuable lesson on Sunday which I'm sure he'll never forget.