Gun Ranges can be a distraction in themselves... I have seen quite intelligent and very gun savvy folks get distracted and make mistakes on the line. The idea that someone can be "too smart or too experienced" to make these kinds of mistakes is nonsensical, extremely ignorant and reckless. Like RobD stated so well, a "cook-off" can happen even without blowing down the barrel and stirring up an ember.
i respect your opinions with this matter, and i'd trust you'd do the same with mine.
yes, who's been in this game for decades and hasn't dry balled (yet!)? smart people do make boo-boo's.
i would never teach mouth blowing down the barrel to kids or newbies, and have never done so in trad muzzleloader presentations or articles i've written. using a 12" neoprene blow tube that's sized just under the bore diameter makes the practice safe and sane if you're not wiping for fouling control.
if you've fired a muzzleloader and immediately pour a new charge down the tube, that is a huge mistake of epic proportions. either wipe or blow, and both will shut down any glowing embers. lest you wind up like the unlucky, but lucky, mr. nesbitt.
the bottom line for me is that i see no need for anyone to dictate how i live my life or how i address a trad muzzleloader's fouling control. i will abide by the rules of the range/club/whatever while i'm at their venue, but otherwise i absolutely will continue to mouth blow down the tube at wherever venue i can do so. if done immediately after firing, there is no safety issue other than a made up one that has zero real world relevance. i guess it's a libertarian thing.
I usually do not wipe with a wet patch after every shot because that can push wet fouling into the breach and vent, causing ignition problems and more. What I do is shoot with a tightly patched load, and keep anything precious to me away from the muzzle end at all times, and I don't rush to re-load. I have never had premature ignition occur, but I am not going to push my luck and stick my mouth over the muzzle even if I did choose to swab the bore with a wet patch.
if you properly swab a barrel with a specific type of chamber, there can be no glowing ember left in the touch hole, or nipple, or bolster, or chamber, or tube.
if you use a patched jag - wet, moist or dry - the compression of that piston going down the tube will send a rush of compressed air down and out whatever orifice yer gun is fitted with, and you should see a quick plume of smoke exit and end. anything hot within any of those barrel/ignition chambers will get extinguished because the patch jag duplicates lung air. to be sure, pull up a few inches on the rod and pump down again - no smoke should emanate out the ignition hole as the acid test.
when i use a wet patch, it's always followed by a dry patch - this is crucial. but this is unnecessary with a dry lube or dry patch. it's usually also unnecessary, for me, with a barely moist patch.
*LOTS* will depend on the chamber yer cleaning out. if you have a classic traditional flat faced breech plug, the patch will take care of business. if you have an offshore gun it will more than likely have a patent breech, so you first run down the patched jag which will push crud into the ante-chamber that will require a patched brush to clean out. for all the offshore guns i've had, all have been capable of reloading without fouling control, once the gun in question has been sorted out for reliable ignition. all breeches can also be scraped for any baked on crud. easy for a flat faced breech plug, not easy for an ante-chamber breech plug.
i have yet to read or hear about both glowing embers and unburned black powder existing anywhere in the chamber or barrel of a just fired trad muzzleloader. that's literally an oxymoron.
but let's look at what is possible, and has been recorded to have happened to more than a few trad ml shooters who do not employ any manner of fouling control prior to pouring down that measure of powder into the tube, when there is a hot ember lurking somewhere .... yep, the big bang.
