RE: BP guns blowing up?
I think sabotloader has hit on a real good point. Many people getting into the black powder sport have no idea of what they are doing. When I first started shooting black powder rifles, we used to think 90 grains of powder was a really hot load. We shot roundball for the most part and what ever we hunted we still mananged to take down.
I remember the first add in a hunting magazine when I saw the rifle able to shoot 150 grains of powder. A friend and I talked about that for some time. We could not dream of a .50 caliber rifle able to shoot 150 grains of powder.
There are now a lot of people with rifles that have pushed these rifles to the limit, by people that do not know they are even doing it. My first inline.. a CVA Staghorn Magnum. Read the instructions and it is only magnum with 3 - 50 grain pyrodex RS pellets. If one were to load 3 Triple Se7en pellets or heaven forbid 150 grains of loose Triple Se7en or Pyrodex RS, you have just entered a danger zone with that rifle. Now put a big heavy conical on top of that load and you have increased the barrel pressures to possible unsafe limits.
It is shocking how many people who get muzzleloaders do not read the manual that comes with the rifle. How often have you seen posts of people with a new rifle asking for advise on how to operate the rifle.
There is also the issue of improperly tested barrels. I say improper because I am not saying they are unsafe. They are tested, just not to the same limits that other gun makers test theirs. If you load them in a responsible manner they are fine, in my opinion. Yet we read of people people blowing CVA's, Winchester and now you talk about a Traditions rifle. The Savage rifle incident I have not formed an opinion on the cause but one did blow up. I will leave that as it stands...
I can not stress enough. Read your owners manual. Learn all the things about muzzleloaders you can. And do not push these rifles more then what the manufacture says to.
Like sabotloader pointed out, the most dangerous part is right next to your face. Lets face it people... load that thing wrong and you have just made a pipe bomb. Take care and be safe out there.