fire hazard

[Elijah Gunn]

It has been a bone dry August where I live. I'd like to do some shooting and am fortunate enough to be able to do so in my back yard. My question is, are there any real risks of starting a grass fire shooting a cap&ball revolver? The grass is brown,and pretty dry. My guess is it should be ok to shoot,but thought I'd ask  and see if anyone has any experiences of accidentally starting a fire by shooting BP.
 I know fires broke out during battles in the civil war, but those would have started from smoldering paper cartridges. I don't use those,and I've never heard about or seen for myself a smoldering felt wad.
Just asking, Mark

[Cowpox]

    Anything is possible, but I have done, and been around a lot of black powder shooting during dry conditions, in grasslands, forests, and ready to harvest, or freshly harvested croplands, with only one incident.
    That incident was the result of having read a magazine article in which the author claimed speedy reloading, and improved patterns in muzzle loading shotguns, by omitting over powder cards and fiberfelt wads, and using three crumpled Kleenex tissues instead.
     Never checked the pattern improvement part, but those tissues would hit the ground smoldering on every shot, and did start a few tiny foliage fires.
     The tissues were all we had along, so we finished our pheasant hunt with them, but we stomped out tissues on every shot we fired, plus a couple of small fires that day.
      Otherwise, I have never encountered such a problem, but it is always on my mind when things are dry, so I do watch the ground in the direction of the shots, for a couple of minutes after shooting. 
   
     I would suggest not using full loads in the Dragoons and Walkers in dry conditions, because I have seen some smoke on the ground when I load my old Walker clone full.
     Never noticed this with other cap and ball revolvers though, or had a fire start in front of them. 

[longcaribiner]

Every couple years I hear of fires that were supposedly started by muzzleloaders, particularly in dry corn fields.  Whether, they actually started the fires, is any bodies guess.  We've also had idiots start fires by parking their vehicles with hot catalytic converters  in piles of leaves.   I've even heard of the magnifying effect of broken glass bottles in the sun starting fires.    How the fire investigators come up with their conlusions seems like guesswork in some cases.   

I too have my own little range here on the farm.  I don't shoot with wads anyway, so I don't have that problem.  However, I have seen burning and unburned powder drop to the ground when full loads are fired out of short barreled guns.   Heck when I was shooting indoor 22 in competition, after a match we swept up lots of unburned smokeless from the floor about 5 feet in front of the firing line.  (Which we'd do stupid dangerous things with) 

[Gatofeo]

Many years ago I started a small grass fire by shooting my .45-70 Trapdoor rifle prone, in dry grass.
After a few shots, a lick of flame appeared a few feet off the barrel.
As I recall, I stamped out the flame. Might have peed on it. Can't recall now ... 
But yeah, it can happen.
I've seen the wads of cap and ball sixguns fly out, smoldering in flight and leaving a smoke trail like a tiny rocket. I shoot in a gravel pit devoid of vegetation, so I'm not too concerned.
Black powder produces a lot of sparks and go all over.
Set up a video camera on a tripod to the side of where you're shooting. Do this at twilight or, even better, in the dark. Then record yourself, in profile, shooting. Play it back at slow speed. You'll see an amazing number of sparks, most of which you don't see because you're behind a big smoke cloud that obscures them.
If you must shoot over dry grass, bring a fire extinguisher and shovel. Or, at least, a shovel and a 5-gallon bucket filled with water.
Don't rely on the Built-In Bladder Extinguisher.    During the panic of a sudden fire, that system tends to stop operating and you can't get so much as a squirt!

[Elijah Gunn]

I live in Michigan so it does not usually get that dry. A couple days after my first post we finally had a good soaking rain so it wasn't an issue anymore. Good idea about the shovel, and water buckets. I used to have those handy when I burned brush piles when I lived in Missouri(forgot about that). If I'm in a dry situation here again I'll be sure to have a few filled buckets with me. Also, if I had another 100 ft. of garden hose I could wet things down a little.
Thanks, Mark
P.S. I am very glad to see you posting here Mr. Gatofeo sir!

[Flint]

A few years ago in a CAS shoot, there was a real close cardboard target (it was too close to safely use steel).  A black powder shooter caused the target to catch fire.... 

[Hickok]

Remember the story of Ed Masterson, Bat's brother who was shot at close range with a BP revolver and his clothes were burning as he lay fatally wounded.