Category: Gun Info for Rookies

All About Guns Born again Cynic! Gun Info for Rookies

Savage muzzleloader 10ml blows up! How much you want to bet that Smokeless powder was used?

Post author By Grumpy
Post date December 8, 2017
No Comments on Savage muzzleloader 10ml blows up! How much you want to bet that Smokeless powder was used?

Image result for savage muzzleloader 10ml

IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) — It was the opening day of deer hunting season, and Ronald Hansen says he loaded his rifle the same way he had countless times before, aimed at a target and fired a shot.
This time, the gun barrel exploded, knocking the farmer from Hampton, Iowa, backward, severely damaging his right hand and ear and burning his face.
Unknown to Hansen, the manufacturer of the rifle that injured him in 2014 had received other complaints of explosions and injuries over the prior decade. Customers repeatedly reported that the barrel of the stainless steel 10 ML-II muzzleloader exploded, burst, split or cracked, according to thousands of court documents reviewed by The Associated Press.

Lawyers for the company, Westfield, Massachusetts-based Savage Arms, were expected to appear Wednesday in federal court in Iowa to defend against a lawsuit filed by Hansen. He is seeking damages for his injuries, alleging the company failed to warn customers about the defect.
It’s one of several lawsuits that have claimed the company recklessly kept the muzzleloaders on the market even as they kept occasionally mangling hands, damaging hearing and burning faces. At least three have been settled on a confidential basis since last year.
Martin Crimp, a Michigan State University metals expert who examined a 10ML-II that exploded and caused a hunter to lose multiple fingers in 2009, told the AP the barrel of that gun was “metallurgically defective.”
An expert hired by Hansen’s lawyers came to a similar conclusion, saying the steel used to make the rifle was prone to catastrophic failure after repeat firings.
Anthony Pisciotti, an outside lawyer for Savage Arms, said he wasn’t authorized to comment. A spokesman for its parent company, Vista Outdoor, didn’t return messages.
Savage Arms, which discontinued the gun in 2010 after thousands were on the market, has insisted it’s safe when used properly, has no defects and was designed in accordance with industry standards.
Savage Arms has argued that operator error is to blame for the explosions, saying users must have created too much pressure inside the barrel either by loading two bullets or using the wrong amount or type of gunpowder. It has issued a safety notice on its website warning owners to “carefully follow the safe loading procedures” in the product manual to avoid injuries.
Hansen’s case highlights how gun makers, unlike manufacturers of other consumer products, have the sole discretion to decide themselves whether to recall potentially dangerous weapons. In 1976, Congress blocked the newly-created Consumer Product Safety Commission, which has broad authority to regulate everything from toasters to toys and BB guns, from restricting the manufacture or sale of firearms.
“It’s an example of an industry that can essentially do whatever they want and there’s no consequences other than being held accountable in a civil liability context,” said Kristen Rand, legislative director of the Violence Policy Center in Washington D.C.
Other companies have faced allegations that they allowed unsafe guns to stay on the market. Remington agreed to replace triggers in its popular Model 700 rifles — only after several lawsuits claiming that they were prone to accidentally discharging. Ruger was accused of marketing revolvers for decades that could fire when dropped.
Savage Arms recently agreed to settle a lawsuit filed by Trent Procter, who was on a hunting trip with friends in October 2009 when the 10 ML-II he’d owned for years “just blew apart” when he shot at a target.
Procter, 48, missed nine months of work from his job as a power company lineman as he endured surgeries on his left hand and rehabilitation. He had to move to a different job and still experiences numbness due to nerve damage in his hand, where he’s missing parts of his thumb and middle finger.
Photos of Procter’s hand were shared on hunting websites after the explosion, and he said it was insulting that some suggested he and not a defective product was to blame.
“I’m surprised it was never recalled or a warning was put out that this was actually happening,” he said. “It’s quite scary when you think about it.”
Last year, the company also settled a case brought by Michigan hunter Rodney Palatka and his wife, who was pregnant with twins and suffered a miscarriage after witnessing her husband’s injuries.
James Putman of North Carolina alleges in a pending lawsuit that his Savage 10ML-II burst as he hunted last year in the George Washington National Forest, blasting his thumb off and forcing his early retirement as a firefighter.
Savage Arms started making the 10ML-II in 2001. It was designed to withstand the use of smokeless powder, which appealed to some shooters because it didn’t require the same messy cleanup as black powder.
The company’s knowledge of the barrel problems is becoming clear after years of lawsuits.
In Palatka’s case, a federal magistrate in 2015 sanctioned the company for a “purposeful record of obfuscation” that included falsely claiming that it was aware of only two prior explosions while withholding information that showed otherwise.
The company acknowledged in Hansen’s case that it received 45 legal claims related to burst or split barrels dating to 2004. Hansen’s lawyers say documents show Savage Arms created a special “muzzleloader return team” and faced hundreds of warranty and service claims.
Some hunters were offered free replacement rifles after they were told their errors caused the damage.
Hansen, 50 and a lifelong hunter, testified in an August deposition that he followed the recommended procedures when he loaded his 10ML-II, which he bought in 2010 and had shot 200 times. He said he weighed and loaded 43 grains of the recommended powder and one bullet. He set a target at 50 yards, laid on a dirt pile, aimed and fired.
Hansen, who was rushed to the emergency room after the explosion, testified he still struggles to hear even with a hearing aid and cannot perform some farm chores due to his hand injury.
Savage Arms has suggested that Hansen used an improper mix of powders that caused too much pressure. Trial is set for next year.

All About Guns Fieldcraft Gun Info for Rookies

Have Gun — Will Travel: How to Fly With Your Firearm

Post author By Grumpy
Post date November 20, 2017
No Comments on Have Gun — Will Travel: How to Fly With Your Firearm

Brett | December 11, 2014

Travel, Travel & Leisure

fly with gun vintage man packing suitcase gun in it

Last month I flew down to Austin to spend the weekend with the fine folks from Atomic Athlete for their Vanguard event. The Vanguard was basically 36 hours of man skills — we learned how to humanely slaughter rabbits and chickens, land navigation, and even some self-defense techniques from Tim Kennedy. It was awesome. I’ll be doing a full write-up on it soon, so stay tuned for that.
One segment of the event was a firearms class, and we needed to bring our own pistol and ammo to participate in it. Because I was flying, I would have to pack my gun for the trip. Having endured, along with my fellow Americans, thirteen years of taking off our shoes, putting our tiny toiletries in see-through baggies, and getting patted down by TSA agents, I figured flying with an actual, honest-to-goodness weapon would be a nightmare fraught with all sorts of bureaucratic, red tape rigmarole.
As it turned out, except for a small mishap, flying with a gun is surprisingly easy. Today I’ll share my experience and what I learned from it, in case any of you find yourself needing to travel with firearms and ammunition.

How to Pack Your Gun for Flying

TSA regulations require that your gun be packed in a hard-sided container that’s locked. You’ll then place that container in your checked luggage. If you can’t bring pocketknives on the plane, it’s a no-brainer that you can’t bring a gun in your carry-on bag either. That may not have always been the case though; I always thought it was funny that William Shatner had a pistol on him in that Twilight Zone episode where he sees a gremlin guy on the wing of the plane he was flying in. Any old-timers know if you could pack heat in your carry-on luggage back in the day?

That gremlin on the wing is the least of your problems, Bob. You’re about to be tackled by a federal air marshal.

Anyway, for my hard-sided, locked gun case I used this Pelican handgun carrier and these two Master locks:

My Smith and Wesson M&P 9mm in my Pelican case.

My Smith & Wesson M&P 9mm in my Pelican case.

pelican gun case safe locked with master locks

Locked with my two Master locks.

When you put your gun in your hard-sided container, it needs to be unloaded. Unloaded means nothing in the chamber; even an unchambered gun with a loaded magazine inserted in the magazine well violates the rules. The regulations suggest that you could pack a loaded magazine in the same case as your unloaded gun — it just can’t be inserted in the magazine well. To be on the safe side, I made sure all my magazines were unloaded. I also didn’t insert any of my unloaded magazines in the magazine well. In other words, I packed a completely clear gun. Paranoid? Perhaps. I just didn’t want to have to deal with any snafus.
That’s it. Same rules apply for rifles and shotguns. Put them in a hard-sided container that’s locked and make sure they’re unloaded. You even need to pack like this if you’re carrying a starter pistol or just the frame or the lower receiver of a rifle. The only exceptions are not actually bullet-firing guns: airsoft guns, paintball guns, and BB/pellet guns must be packed in your checked baggage, but don’t need to be in a special case or declared. Compressed gas cartridges for these devices aren’t allowed on airplanes at all, even in checked baggage, unless the regulator is completely removed and you have an empty, open-ended canister, which often requires a technician. TSA recommends that you ship cartridges to your destination separately.

How to Declare a Firearm at the Airport

When I arrived at Tulsa International Airport, I’ll admit I was nervous. Since I’ve seen TSA agents declare the riot act to someone who’s attempting to bring a water bottle through security, I figured they’d be even more suspicious towards a guy trying to fly with a semi-automatic pistol.
When you’re flying with a gun, you’re supposed to “declare” to the ticketing agent of the airline you’re flying with that you’re packing a gun. When I checked in for my flight, I tried to be nonchalant about it, and simply said, “I need to declare a firearm.”

vintage painting man getting off airplane gun in hand

How NOT to declare a firearm.

I was expecting the ticket agent to take on a cautious and leery air, but she didn’t bat an eye – she just slapped a little card on the counter for me to fill out. On one side I was asked to put down my name, address, and phone number; on the other side I had to sign a statement affirming that the firearm in my checked bag was in a locked container and unloaded. The ticket agent put that card on top of my gun case in my checked bag. She verified that the case was indeed locked, but she didn’t ask me to open the case to show her that the gun was unloaded. She asked about my ammo, and I pointed it out to her in the bag. Then she asked if I had the keys for the locks, to which I replied in the affirmative (you’re supposed to have the keys on you and not in your checked bag). I got a friendly “Alrighty!” and she put my bag on the conveyor belt behind her and handed me my boarding passes.
As I was walking away, the ticket agent told me to wait around for 15 minutes or so in case TSA needed the keys to the locks on my gun case, in order to open and check it. She said they probably wouldn’t, but if I went through security and they decided to check my case, I’d have to come back out and go through security again. So I sat and read. Fifteen minutes later the ticketing agent said I could go.
And with that I made my first plane trip with a gun.
It was surprisingly easy and hassle free. At least on this leg of the trip…

The Tricky Part: Ammo

Like your gun, you’ll have to pack your ammo in your checked bag. Every airline has different limits on how much ammo you can pack, so you’ll need to check with the airline you’re flying with to determine how much you can bring. Southwest allows 11 pounds. I brought three boxes of fifty 9mm rounds, which was what I needed for the weekend.
According to TSA regulations, “travelers must securely pack any ammunition in fiber (such as cardboard), wood or metal boxes or other packaging specifically designed to carry small amounts of ammunition.” That’s pretty vague. Some folks take that to mean you need to pack your ammo in a special container that has individual cavities for each round you’re carrying, just the way your ammo comes in the cardboard box when you buy them. The thinking behind this is that airlines don’t want free rounds clattering around each other and possibly setting off a primer. The possibility of a primer being set off just by jostling next to another round is super remote, but when you’re flying 30,000 feet in the air, I guess it’s always better to be safe than sorry.
Well, I didn’t have any cool plastic containers with individual cavities for my rounds, so I just packed my ammo in their original boxes in a secure place in my bag. As I placed the 9mm rounds in my bag I thought, “This cardboard is pretty flimsy. There’s no way these boxes are going to make it down to Austin intact.” But I figured if the TSA said a cardboard box was safe, well, who was I to argue with that?
But sure enough, when I opened my bag in Austin, the cardboard ammo boxes had fallen apart, and I had 9mm rounds scattered all over the bottom of my bag. I made sure to thoroughly go through my bag to get every last stray round. I didn’t want that to be a problem when I was flying back to Tulsa.
After a weekend of slaughtering chickens, doing an obstacle course, and shooting guns, it was time to head home. I had made sure to fire every last round I had during the Vanguard, so I didn’t have to worry about packing my ammo for my return trip. I went to the Southwest check-in counter at Austin International Airport and declared that I had a firearm. I figured it was going to be a breeze like it had been in Tulsa — casually say “I need to declare a firearm,” sign a card, wait 15 minutes, and be on my way.
That didn’t happen.
Instead, the ticketing agent sent me to a special TSA room where a TSA agent opened up my bag and checked every single last nook and cranny of it. He even took out the bags that I had packed in my main duffle bag and checked them — Dopp kit, sleeping bag, even my pillow case. He didn’t really care about my gun case — I guess because he saw it was locked. He just put it to the side with the rest of my stuff.
Because I was carrying on a backpack with my camera gear, I packed my GORUCK backpack in my checked bag. I had used it as my gun bag when we went to the range. I was certain I had gotten every round out of it, so I wasn’t worried when the TSA agent started rummaging through it. He sifted through my stuff—pocketknife, compass, flashlight—nothing to be alarmed about. But then his hand suddenly came out of the bag and he hoisted a single 9mm round above his head like some sort of magical totem.
TSA Agent: “Bullet! Bullet!”
Damnit.
TSA Agent: “Sir, do you know you have a stray round in your backpack?”
Me: “I do now.”
TSA Agent: “You can’t carry this on the plane like this. Can you go put this back in your car?”
Me: “I rented a car… so, no.”
TSA Agent: “Do you have a friend or family member that can come up to the airport and take ownership of this round?”
Me: “Uhh…. I’m not from here, so, no.”
TSA Agent: “Well, I’m going to have to a file a report with the Austin Police.”
Me: “Well, do what you got to do.”
And off went the managing TSA agent to call Austin Police. I admittedly started to sweat a bit. Was this going to end up on my permanent record? After about 30 minutes of sitting in an airport purgatory wondering if I’d forever be on the no-fly list, a friendly Southwest ticketing agent came over and said, “Hey, I’ll be your friend for today. Don’t worry about this.” He took possession of my solitary 9mm round and the TSA let me go on through. No report was filed to the police.
I’ve always been a big fan of Southwest, but after that moment, I became a super fan.
A few weeks later I got a form letter from Southwest saying they’re aware of the incident and offering a friendly reminder to pack my ammo in a hard box next time I fly with them. A week after receiving that letter, I got a letter from the FAA saying they too are aware of the incident, reminding me of TSA regulations on flying with guns and ammo, and noting that no record of the incident had been made. That’s a relief.
So here are the takeaways from this experience:

Flying with a firearm is easy; it’s the ammo you have to worry about.
Every airport is different on how they handle declared firearms. Some will just have you sign a card saying your gun is unloaded and locked in a case; others are going to check every last nook and cranny of your bag after you declare your firearm.
Check with the airline you’re flying to see how much ammo you can pack.
Pack your cardboard boxes of ammo in a hard-sided case. Even though TSA regulations say it’s kosher, cardboard ammo boxes are no match for the beating your bags will get from luggage handlers.
If you’re not going to pack your cardboard ammo boxes in a hard case, at least tape them up as much as possible so ammo can’t get out.
MOST IMPORTANT TIP: Thoroughly check your bags (especially your range bag) for loose ammo. After you’ve checked once, check again.

Well, there you go. My experience flying with a gun. Not very hard. Just be careful with the ammo.
You can read the complete list of TSA regulations on flying with a firearm here.