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10 ML-II muzzleloader by Savage Arms is problematic

Posted: Tue Dec 05, 2017 4:51 pm
by bignflnut
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.

Re: 10 ML-II muzzleloader by Savage Arms is problematic

Posted: Tue Dec 05, 2017 10:05 pm
by JimE
That is odd.
They build rifle barrels that handle 60,000psi loads with ease.
Makes me wonder if people are stacking one fresh charge over one they forgot was in there.

Re: 10 ML-II muzzleloader by Savage Arms is problematic

Posted: Tue Dec 05, 2017 11:08 pm
by willbird
JimE wrote:That is odd.
They build rifle barrels that handle 60,000psi loads with ease.
Makes me wonder if people are stacking one fresh charge over one they forgot was in there.
Yep, bingo.

One dude is known as "clerk the overloader" (I changed his name...it does start with C)...he managed to blow one up. There are tons and tons of loads being developed for those guns, or guns similar in operation that use duplex loads (charge of fast powder, then slow powder added on top) reverse duplex loads (slow powder on bottom, fast powder on top), etc, etc, etc.

many of the blowups in pictures one can to a degree see where the bullet was when the gun went kaboom, and they tend sometimes to indicate that maybe a double load was present, or a non recommended load.

Bill