BUYER BEWARE, mostly a rant.

[Otter]

Update,
Removed the vent liner and used a lot more hot soapy water with a brush and patched to really, really clean the bore. Not a pretty sight when I looked at it. The last 2- 2 1/2 inches of the breech end is heavily corroded and rough. It might clean up with enough steel wool and oil, or at least smooth out a bit. Thought about making some lapping patches but the muzzle end is not bad at all. Still might pull the breech plug to work out the major part of the pitting. HEY, I seem to recall from somewhere that there were chambered muzzle loaders. Wonder if that would work on a flint lock?? That way I could just lap the good parts of the bore. Yeah I'm dreamin' now.
Oh, the seller from Gunbroker has yet to reply to any e-mails. Go figure. Have discarded the shipping packaging so it'll be tough to prove to the Postal Investigative Service that the guy even shipped the rifle.
live and learn

[texasranger]

spitpatch, great idea I will be using it and telling my friends.

[mongrel]

As a P.S. to this whole thread (and mostly for future reference, since the original series of posts is a year-and-a-half old and any action that might have been taken is over and done with) -- IMHO the last thing someone like Otter wants to do is notify the Post Office that a gun of any kind was shipped loaded.

First off, if the gun is bought through GunBroker it's much more effective to contact the seller directly and give him a heads-up regarding his mistake. If there is no reply or the reply received is snotty, GunBroker's feedback feature allows the buyer a much more effective means of damaging the seller's credibility. I would counsel a cool and courteous tone in contacting the seller, too, because especially with muzzleloaders mistakes can happen. I've received more than just a couple of complete guns and barrels with loads still snugged down against the breechplug. There are a lot of dealers in used guns for whom muzzleloaders are more a curiosity than a major portion of their business, and the degree to which such a person might be forgiven not knowing how to check to see if a barrel is charged, IMHO, depends on the degree to which the recipient was born knowing everything and the last time he walked on water. In other words -- a huge mistake was made but in the absence of clear malicious intent I'd advise cutting the seller some slack, because we each and every one of us tend to be less than perfect ourselves and might need some slack cut in turn, one of these days.

Secondly, while to some folks mistakes and misdeeds MUST be reported and punished, bringing the Post Office into the matter will do far more harm than good for all of us as a whole. To begin with, what is expected to be accomplished by such action? That the shipper of the loaded gun will be fined? Possibly jailed? Have a federal finger wagged vigorously in his direction, accompanied by a SERIOUS scolding? And if any of the above, what precisely will that accomplish, particularly when combined with the fact that the Post Office and UPS and other shippers already allow their employees to take an entirely too disapproving view of the shipping of firearms? Do you WANT a mandatory HazMat fee attached to the shipping of every gun, same as for primers and gunpowder, due to complaints about a relative few being shipped in an obviously dangerous condition?

Matters of this sort ought to be kept "in the family" so to speak. The bureaucratic answer to things like loaded guns being accidentally shipped is to impose even more restrictions or outright bans than we're already dealing with, and for the satisfaction of being able to say "That'll teach you to ship me a loaded gun, nah nah nah nah!" that is, once more IMHO, a mighty poor trade-off.

[crazell]

You were lucky that it didn't go off on ya.. I check to make sure mine isn't loaded unless i'm shooting.My uncle's in Kentucky taught me about guns and safety!!

[dusty hill]

a firearm is loaded!!!ALWAYS LOADED!!! treat it as loaded and once you yourself have established it is not loaded always keep the muzzle pointed in a safe direction. old boyscout teaching

[Red Badger]

a firearm is loaded!!!ALWAYS LOADED!!! treat it as loaded and once you yourself have established it is not loaded always keep the muzzle pointed in a safe direction. old boyscout teaching

What are the top 2 rules to safe gun handleing....

1. Always treat a gun as loaded
2. when in doubt refer to rule 1