Indiana conservation officers say a shooter inadvertently turned a rifle into a grenade when it was loaded with the wrong kind of gunpowder.

On Monday, Department of Natural Resources officers posted a photo on Facebook showing a black muzzle-loading rifle that had been blasted to pieces.

“This is what can happen when you shoot smokeless powder out of a muzzleloader designed for black powder,” the post read.

The caption on the photo said the Martin County would-be shooter lost a couple of fingers in the accident.

It’s currently legal to use muzzleloader firearms to hunt deer in Indiana.

Modern muzzleloading rifles are similar to muskets and long-rifles that were used before the advent of modern bullets. With these guns, black powder and the projectile are packed into a rifle barrel using a ramrod.

As this unfortunate shooter learned, using more potent modern smokeless powder in a gun designed for black powder can have disastrous consequences.

Call Star reporter Ryan Sabalow at (317) 444-6179. Follow him on Twitter:@ryansabalow.

This type of thing never ceases to amaze me. He's lucky he only lost a couple fingers. :rolleyes:

He'll remember not to do this next time.

Wow

To bad someone didn't teach him any better :rolleyes:

You can't fix stupid............

knew a guy that always used smokeless in he encore.. come to think about it I haven`t heard from him lately..

Ouch !

These are the same guys they are proposing to turn loose with a .300 mag in your neighborhood next year.

I second that Steiny.....clown boys are chomping at the bit to go to town with their big guns..... I am so against this new centerfire crap....it just isnt needed to kill deer...

Other than handicapped folks being allowed to use them....neither are crossbows.

+1

Other than handicapped folks....neither are compound bows

http://www.tribtown.com/view/local_story/Muzzleloader-explodes-local-ma_1418270122

A diff one from this week.

Good eye!!

What's a compound bow?? Haha

Wow

For most of my life I shared your thoughts also about crossbows. My opinion changed when my 73 year old father couldn't pull a bow back anymore because of worn out shoulders. He swallowed his pride and bought a crossbow. He never was a gun hunter. After he got his I helped him set it up. I shot his a few times and realized it was just another weapon to hunt deer with. I actually enjoyed shooting it as much as my vertical bow. I'm a healthy 50 year old deer hunter that didn't need to use I crossbow. I bought one because I enjoy hunting deer regardless what weapon is in my hand. I can care less what weapon anybody uses to kill a legal deer with. I will never complain about the weapon they choose. You can complain all you want, but the choice of a hunter using a crossbow in early archery season is here to stay in Indiana. Crossbow sales are booming. History is repeating itself just like when Mr.Allen invented his contraption that most said made killing a deer much easier. It made them a better shot, but did little to improve their actual hunting skills just like the crossbow does.
It's not the actual use of a crossbow most vertical bow only hunter are afraid of, it's sharing the woods with another hunter who in the past would have been home on the couch watching football on TV. Pretty sad.

I wasn't complaining. I could care less what anybody uses. I just stated my honest opinion, and you agreed with the same opinion in the past, by your own admission. Your change of heart was brought on because it directly affected you and your father, and I applaud you for that.

Like another member stated earlier in a previous post...most hunters won't change their views on certain issues unless they are directly affected in some way. This proves his theory,,which again, I agree with.

I don't bow hunt...so your reasoning in regards to vertical bow hunters sharing the woods with crossbow hunters (if directed towards me) doesn't bother me at all either. Have at it.

Don't be so quick to judge someone just because their views differ from yours. It would be a pretty boring World if we all agreed on the same issues. Life is too short man...have a great rest of season, and be safe.

Many years ago. when they first allowed a muzzleloader season, People were showing up at Atterbury for hunts with a $59.95 CVA muzzleloader kit to hunt. This was a .45 cal kit that you could buy and put together but the stock was unfinished rough wood and the unfinished steel barrel needed blued or finished. They would show up in the dark and attempt to put the gun together to hunt with it straight out of the box. I see we still have them, idiots not the gun.

This is the gun
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QirKIve2uow

I have one and this is what you used to hunt with and were happy to have the opportunity.