Artie Fly, SASS #25397

Wow Brazos, I thought this thread was long dead! The toe is fine, you can check another thread for a full description of the incident. Tell Doc he will have to go to the Katy Herman Memorial ER for his bandages. Have him look for a REALLY cute young brunette doctor who unwrapped me!

Thanks for your willingness to share Artie No problem. I've made my share of mistakes and others can learn from them. Dragon Hill Dave - See you on the 4th! I'll try not to shoot the other foot.

Howdy everyone! I will try to answer all the questions asked and provide any further clarity to the situation. Thanks for all your comments, some of which prompted me to re-think what happened. This was day 2 and the 3rd stage of the day. The guns had been cleaned the night before, so had been fired for two stages prior, and loaded same as the rest. Bullet was not found and did not penetrate the boot, causing only a tear. Right foot, big toe. At the end of the stage all caps were cleared and guns checked as unloaded by UTO. After this I notified the PM I was attempting to discharge that particular cylinder. This is where I made a crucial error. I recapped to clear the chamber, then set it down. All guns were on the table at this time. I decided to get my backup pistol to finish the match and I began to reholster the pistol to move the guns to my cart. I neglected to clear the cap from the unfired cylinder! While the cap may have been fired, it was still on the nipple, maybe contributing to the discharge. Phantom - There was no UTO present at the time, not an unusual occurrence when clearing a cylinder between stages. My negligence entirely. Bullet was chambered, no squib. All that said, I still believe the hangfire was initiated when I changed the attitude of the gun. While it was 15-30 seconds after the cap had fired, I obviously did not wait long enough to deal with the hang. The low velocity of the bullet was probably due to a poor load (insufficient compression), fouled nipple reducing sufficient ignition, high humidity, or all of these. I will of course keep all of this in mind when a FTF occurs again. Luckily, I am still around to live and learn. Thanks for all your comments and concern.

Mark, Nice to hear from you. We don't get out that way anymore since retirement. Pass along our regards to all Y'all out there.

You also know you can time me with an egg timer and I have 3 times more fun than the top shooter!

ToMAAto, ToMauto, GermAne, German. Thanks for the comic relief Phantom & Goody.

Thanks for the feedback everyone. FYI, these are 44-40 full case loads for a slicked up Taylor's '73 carbine. Nowadays, I am shooting mostly in central Texas, where 60% is low humidity. It can get hot enough to melt BP lubes, so with my cap guns I use 50/50 beeswax/lard. Abilene - I am shooting Trailhead this weekend, but not planning on Cody-Dixon. Hope to see you there.

Thanks for the quick responses. I should have specified these are rifle rounds. I'll take care to run a patch each stage or so. I'll try the PAM recipe. Thanks All!

I just loaded a bunch of shells using true black. Previously I was using a BP sub. Not thinking about it, I loaded the usual smokeless bullet I was using with APP or Black Max. What can I expect if I use these without BP lube? Should I run a rag in the rifle after every stage? Is shooting these a serious no-no? I really want to avoid pulling all these bullets.

Allie Mo, thanks for keeping this going. I check it regularly for updates. Hang in there Freddy, we are with you!

For those of you unfortunate enough to live elsewhere . . .