I wasnt thinking!
 

Idid somethingreally stupid and careless while sighting in my new TC Omega. Ileft the ramrod in my barrell and fired the gun. Please, Please, Please check to make sure you are safe before, during and after the shot!!!!!!

I think I am lucky I didnt get blown barrel in the face!All that happened was a badly brused shoulder and hand not to mention my pride, and what may be a ruened TC.

I am going to get ahold of TC to see what they sudjest I do with the gun. All visual checks seem to be ok but I dont know if I can trust the gun. And I dont think I will. Believe me, that will never happen again!

Anybody ever have any expirience with this happening or other boneheaded things I can add to my do not do list? Is my gun scrap metal?

RE: I wasnt thinking!
 

I did the same thing 2 yrs ago with my knight bighorn 50cal. I found the ramrod about 35yds downrange. Scared the hell out of me. No harm to the ,eventhough it kicked like the devil. I rember reading an article some yrs ago by Sam Fadala,Ithink, where they set out to blow a percussion barrel and it took 600grs of powder to do it. get things checked out but I think things will be ok. but I am no expert. Good luck and be safe.

RE: I wasnt thinking!
 

Glad to hear your alright. I had a friend who shot a rifle that was double loaded. Damn thing blew up and he lost an eye and has some really bad burns on his face. Please be more careful and get back out there. I doubt it hurt your rifle too bad.

RE: I wasnt thinking!
 

I saw some pics of a rifle that had been fired with a bore sighter in it....nasty

RE: I wasnt thinking!
 

Take your cleaning rod, put an oily, tight-fitting patch on the jag, and run it up and down the bore. Do you feel any loose spots, or gaps in the rifling? Take the breech plug out. Look through the bore. Do you see anything out of the ordinary, like a black ring somewhere? Was the rod sitting on the bullet when you fired? If the bore andbreechplug look OK, there is no ring in the bore, and the rod was pushed out by being in contact with thebullet when it was fired out, chances are that the gun is OK.

Many folks have "shot the rod" without damaging the gun.....

RE: I wasnt thinking!
 

This is somewhat off topic but I thought I'd tell this story...

A couple guys who I know of fromthe town I live were drunk or high whatever...
They had a ML but didn't know how to properly load it etc. Anyways, according to the DNR investigation, they put WAY WAY too much powder in it, left the ramrod in it, and fired it. The barrel and breech exploded like a grenade. The kid who fired it got his hand COMPLETELY blown off... I guess from the story his hand was hanging a almost a foot off his arm by the tendons. This is no BS...
It happened 3 miles from where I live. Just last year.I know one of the guys who was there. It happened at his dads house when he was at work. I guess they were really F-ed up. I don't mean to be so gruesome but that's what happened. The kid was only 18 or 19 years old. Very Sad. The other guys that where standing by him got shrappnel in their faces etc. But where not severly injuried like the shooter. It's a miracle someone didn't die. I guess the shooter almost did, from blood loss. That is a good example that guns & drugs and/or alcohol don't mix. I personally don't have a problem if someone chooses to party or whatnot, but they shouldn't have been messing with ANY guns. I still think of that kid and what happened to him. Makes me sad. Talking about ML's blowing up brought that right back. I'm pretty sure if they would not have been so screwed up, it wouldn't had happened...and the thing is the guy who lived at the house has been around hunting and guns etc..... ??? Don'tknow..

RE: I wasnt thinking!
 

What eldequello said is correct. If the rod was against the bullet when the gun was fired it is highly unlikely the gun was harmed. If you can't find any loose spots with the ramrod/tight patch test you're good to go.

Did that myself one time with a .40 caliber / 42 inch barrel and solid aluminum ram rod. Kicked like a mule but no harm to the gun. I know at least three people who have "shot the rod".

RE: I wasnt thinking!
 

Might be important to know how much powder was in the charge. If you figure the weight of the bullet and the ramrod with a relatively low powder charge it probably would be in the limits of the normal expected range. If it was a heavy powder charge and the extra heavy "bullet" things may be well above expected pressure. Likely the rifle is OK but it would be interesting to see how T/c reacts to that question. Make sure you let them know powder type and charge.

RE: I wasnt thinking!
 

First of all thanks for the replys and the honosty Thumper. I will do the tight patch test for sure. TC said that I was lucky and to send it in and let them determin if it is ok or not. I was useing a 250 gr. bullet with two 50 grain 777 pellets. It also had a b rass jag on the end of the rod. There does appear to be some crackson the sinthetic stockon the insideby the mounting screw. Where the barrel attaches to the stock.Not sure they were there befor or not.

Thanks again for the input

RE: I wasnt thinking!
 

You're not the first to launch a ramrod and you will not be the last. The main thing is you are safe, the rifle probably is fine but you're showing your intellegence having it checked if you have any doubts, and I bet you will never do that again... Your message to the forum is a very good alert and I think well intended.. thanks.

I have a friend that did the same thing. He was loading and got distracted. He ended up loading the ramrod as well and when he fired it, the results were not life threatening thank goodness, but after he picked himself up, we all had a good laugh. We now send him emails every time we see ramrods on sale.. as we tell him, in case he wants to stock up.

Good luck in the future with the rifle, and be careful out there...

RE: I wasnt thinking!
 

That does say something about TC barrels !!
Glad your OK !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

RE: I wasnt thinking!
 

Never left my ramrod in and fired.....Almost did once tho.....Whewwwww...Glad my buddy seen it :eek:.....

RE: I wasnt thinking!
 

I'm glad that you're ok. It's surprisingly easy to "not think" at the range. I've never shot the rod but I have forgotten to load powder a couple of times and that really puts a kink in the plans. As soon as I start becoming distracted or lose my train of thought I pack up for the day. It's not worth it. Safety first.

RE: I wasnt thinking!
 

Glad you are alright and thanks for an always prudent warning.

RE: I wasnt thinking!
 

I have seen it done before. It depends on whether the ramrod was all the way down the barrel or partially down the barrel when you shot the rifle. Eld. gave you great advice. The times that I saw it happen did not result inany barrel problems. The ramrod was basically the projectile. The shooter's said the rifle kicked like a Mule.

The way to tell where the ram rod was at the time of firing, is whether there was any damage to the ramrod. If there was no damage then the chances are the ramrod was all the way down on the load. This scenario would lend itself to less barrel damage. If the ramrod was destroyed then it was way off the load. If this is the case then I would be careful. Tom.

RE: I wasnt thinking!
 

Now that I have had a day too calm down and digest what had happened I have to aggree that it definately does say something about TC barrels and I am greatfull to say the least....... I have no idia if the ramrod was seated agaist the bullet or not. I did look downrange for the rod as well as I could being shaken and all, and did not see it anywhere. I did notice that right after the shot that there was smoke that had escaped out by the breach plug so much so that it was comeing out of the stock and there was burnt powder residue between the threads of the breach plug and where it screws into the back of the barrel. The breach plug was a little hard to get out but when I cleaned it, it screwed back in like nothing happened. When I think about there being so much force inside of that barrel that it forced gasses out between the breach plug threads back at me.............. That is how I know I am lucky! I could have been eating breech plug at 2500 fps................

I had gotten so exited about how accurate My new TC was shooting for me that I lost my focus. I just think I was dam lucky! I know my next or replacement muzzeloader will be a TC. Hands down! Thanks for everyones concern. Be safe!

RE: I wasnt thinking!
 

i have done it with a lyman 50 cal flintlock, i was hunting on the ground and just got to a little groung blind in the middle of a blow down. while i was loading the gun a 9 pointer comes into view heading straight for me and stops 15yds broadside, well i forgot to take out the ram rod when i touched the shot off that thing kicked like a mule and the deer ran off. well i found the blood trail and saw the deer only went about 40yds, so i decided to reload incase it was to get up. no ramrod to be found, when i skun the buck out it had 2 holes in it 1 from the ball and 1 from the rod and i ended up finding the rod the next day still in 1 piece but the end was mushroomed pretty bad, so now i always make sure i check to make sure the rod is in its holder before i fire the gun.

RE: I wasnt thinking!
 

Rob, that's a great story. I'd have had the deer mounted with the rod displayed underneath.

RE: I wasnt thinking!
 

:D did that with my winchester and a 410 grain great plains conical. I miss that ramrod[&:]

RE: I wasnt thinking!
 

I have also done the deed and launched my ramrod down range! [:@]

About three weeks ago, I was at the range with a buddy and his son (17 years old)with his son's brand new CVA Optima 50 cal.

After getting the boy up and shooting on his own with swabbing, loading and shooting accurate, we no sooner than turned our backs and were talking about hunting season when the boy shot his ramrod down range about 50 yards and ended up with a nifty cut in his right eyebrow from the excess recoil and the scope cutting him giving him 13 stitches.

The good news to the story is that while theboy has learned the hard way and thankfully was not hurt worse, he did shoot a nice doe opening morning.

Tahquamenon

RE: I wasnt thinking!
 

I thought I would fallow up and tell you folks what TC did after I sent it in with a note telling them what had happened and asking them to check her out. They sent me a new gun! No charge!

I fully explained that it was my fault. Still, they sent me a new gun.
WOW! My hat goes off to TC. They obviously felt that it would be wise to take the safe road. I know the brand of gun I will be buying from here on out! Thanks TC, and to all you good folk for the good advise.

RE: I wasnt thinking!
 

Now that's customer service!

RE: I wasnt thinking!
 

Yet another of numerous examples of Thompson/Center's suberb and unmatched customer service. I had T/C replace an entire Omega barrel when a thimble mount thread stripped out a couple of years after the initial purchase. :)

Eventhough T/C ML's do have their issues from time to time, it's tough tobeef about this example of service. ;)

Wonder how many other ML manufacturers would do the same?

RE: I wasnt thinking!
 

Had an old cva blazer, i broke the nipple and took it to a gunsmith to drill out the NIPPLE, A week later i go to pick it up and find out that he tried drilling out the WELDED in breech plug instead of drilling out the nipple like i said to do! Emailed CVA and asked them for a price on barrels, They email me back saying they no longer made the rifle nor did they have any parts and could not fix the rifle[:@]


But they did have me send it in and they replaced it with a brand new cva staghorn.

I only paid $60 for that cva blazer and it was built in 1986 if you go by the #'s on the barrel :D

RE: I wasnt thinking!
 

I own a safe full of TC and your experience is only one reason why. Thank God you walked away only shaken.
Did like the buck story. That must have been a wild experience.

Only have one ramrod story.I purchased a XS ramrod beforeTC bought them out and renamed them"power rod". The XS has the removeable brasstip. I was on a ridge and shot @ a whopper buck @ 75 yrds andhit a 3/8 hemlock branch. Unfortnatually the shot deflected and the slick ram rodsurface allowed it to slide out and it dropped 5' down the ridge while the buck stood there trying to figure out where the shot came from.I just watched w/ one eye on him while trying to find that rod......I fixed that problem
S
Steve