Boy killed when muzzleloader explodes near Carter-Sullivan line

[Guest TnRebel]

1shot , was it a modern black powder rifle ? or a reproduction old stile ?

[Guest TnRebel]

This is another story of carelessness using black powder,

Mackinaw boy's hand injured as black-powder rifle misfires

By MIKE FORNES

Special to the Journal

MACKINAW CITY - For Nick Jaggi, the lesson is a simple one.

“I'll never mix anything in a gun again, that's for sure,” the Mackinaw City father said Jan. 21 after spending an uneasy weekend helping his 11-year-old son, Caleb, recuperate from an accident involving a black-powder rifle.

The .50 caliber in-line gun exploded in Caleb's hands during a test shooting Jan. 17, baring the flesh in the boy's left hand and exposing muscle tissue. The elder Jaggi was stunned but acted quickly.

“I went out to test some powder in the gun and Caleb wanted to shoot it,” Nick Jaggi said. “It was only going to be one shot - I didn't even have a coat on. He pulled the trigger and it blew the breech out sideways. A piece of it went past my head and right through the window on our car.”

Caleb said it didn't hurt much at first, but his father knew it was a serious injury.

“The first thing I did was hold his face and look at those blue eyes of his and I was relieved that his face wasn't injured,” Jaggi said. “Then I braced myself to look at his hands because I feared that one might be gone or his fingers would be gone.”

Remarkably, the only damage was to the tissue on the bottom of Caleb's left hand, where muscle was exposed but not yet bleeding. The trigger finger of Caleb's right hand was the lad's chief complaint.

Jaggi put the boy in the vehicle and drove straight to the Mackinaw City Village Hall, dialing 911 on the way.

“The ambulance crew met us there and we headed straight for Petoskey,” he said. “Fortunately a hand surgeon was on duty and took immediate care of Caleb.”

The cause of the explosion has been narrowed to two possibilities, Jaggi said, but he thinks he knows what happened.

“I buy powder a lot of places, even garage sales,” explained Jaggi, who owns four muzzle-loaders and is experienced in shooting various types of guns. “I've only shot patch and ball from that gun and had switched my ammo, and I'd mixed some containers and one of them - I think - was smokeless powder. So I think some of that got in there and caused the firing to go a different way than it should have. I'm sending it out to see if that's it or if it was a flaw in the gun, which I doubt.”

Caleb was put under general anesthesia to repair his hand and received 40 stitches to close his wounds. He returned to school in Mackinaw City on Jan. 21, and said many of his classmates were unaware of his visit to the emergency room.

“It didn't hurt that bad until we were on the way in the ambulance,” Caleb grinned. “I go back in a week to have it looked at again. I can't go snowmobiling or anything until then.”

“Infection is our main concern at this point,” Nick Jaggi confirmed. “I told the kids to never touch that smokeless powder, and they didn't. Somehow I made the mistake of letting it get in there. I'm lucky he wasn't killed. It could have been me firing it and I wish it would have been me. I'm just glad he's all right.”

Both father and son say that hunting with firearms is something they'll continue to do, under safe conditions.

“Sure, I'll shoot again,” Caleb said. “I'll have to get this bandage off first.”

“I've learned a lesson,” said Caleb's dad. “Safety comes first and if it was my mistake I'll learn from it and go from there. I think it was the wrong powder, but if it was the gun I know I'll never shoot a muzzle-loader again.”

[Guest TnRebel]

And here is a story on the Savage black powder rifle that blew a mans thumb off , the pictures are graphic

N.A. Muzzleloader Hunting

Edited August 11, 2010 by TnRebel