CVA has a video on its www.CVA.com website that explains the dangers of improperly loading a muzzleloader.  The 7 minute video can be accessed directly at http://www.cva.com/dangerous-loading-practices.php.

“Unfortunately, we see way too many instances of serious injury due to shooters making these loading mistakes,” said Dudley McGarity, CEO of Blackpowder Products, Inc., the owner of the CVA brand.  “If we can prevent just one accident by publicizing the tragic results that are possible when a muzzleloader is improperly loaded, it will be well worth the effort and expense of making this video.”

McGarity said that catastrophic barrel failures are almost always the result of two issues, 1.) The loading of modern smokeless powder into a muzzleloader, and 2.) Barrel obstructions.  Either one, he said, can turn an otherwise safe muzzleloader into a pipe bomb.

“Unbelievably, some shooters actually intentionally load smokeless powder, in an attempt to achieve some sort of super-hot load.  Or, they heard about the Savage Muzzleloader (now discontinued), that was supposedly designed for use with modern smokeless, and decide to try smokeless in whatever muzzleloader they happen to own,” McGarity continued.

As for barrel obstructions, McGarity said that these are the most common unintentional errors, usually the result of the shooter loading the gun twice by mistake or by a bullet being partially started down the barrel, but not properly seated.  “Sometimes,” he said, “people leave their guns loaded from one hunt to the next or even from year to year, and they end up loading a second charge on top of the one already in the barrel.”

“This video,” McGarity concluded, “dramatically illustrates what can happen when these loading mistakes occur.  It should be a very memorable warning to all who watch it.”