I was told that the gun was discharged when he reached for it and recieved a static shock when he touched the gun near the exposed nipple. There was no cap in place and apparently he claims the static charge traveled through the nipple igniting the powder charge.

Having worked fairly extensively in commercial pyrotechnics for a number of years, I can say that static is the pyro's worst enemy.

However, the nature and physics of static electricity lead me to lean towards thinking that the claim is bogus. A muzzle-loader is encased in steel.

If you wish to test what steel does for static discharges, simply drag your feet across some cheap carpet or linoleum and hold a key, touching it to the door handle.

You'll get the nice spark and loud snap, but you won't feel a thing.

OTOH, discharging static directly into explosive compounds containing finely divided metals is a recipe for disaster. It has also been stated that some of the most catastrophic fireworks accidents were caused inside storage bunkers while in the act of moving cartons of properly stored product. Static has been blamed in many of these accidents.

Might be worth investigating.

a friend that I work with at the post office was shooting his 50 cal. muzzle loader. they ran out of ammo, went to the car to get more. when he got back and was reloading the muzzle loader, it went off while he was ramming in the bullet. it had no primer on it. it shot the ram-rod through his arm and blew off his pinky finger.

Check out this guys experiments they seem pretty convicing that static electricity won't ignite black powder.
http://www.ctmuzzleloaders.com...s/sparks/sparks.html

I have shot a black powder rifle before. It might be remotely possible.

CVA is currently marketing an electronic ignition muzzle loading rifle. No specifications on the company website how the system works.

I reload black powder cartridges for Cowboy Action Shooting, using Goex. There are myths / stories that you should not use a standard reloading drop powder measure due to static build up. It is said that you should had dip every load, which is what I do. All though there are no known cases where a static charge has caused an explosion, using a standard drop measure.

Hey typeplus, Pulp SASS 28319 here. What's your alias and home club. When I get the chance I shoot at Badlands Bar 3 in Texas. Just finished the SW Regional today. I haven't seen the scores but I pretty sure I placed in the top 95%

BTW, I use my Lee Auto Disk measure when loading BP. I suppose there's a chance of a static explosion, but it's so remote I don't worry about it.