"Unloaded" black powder rifle story #6:

My state's POST requires 40 hours in-service training each year to retain certification. They mandate some subjects and leave the un-filled hours to the discretion and needs of each agency.

My agency always struggled to fill those hours, partly because they were cheap and partly because they always waited until the end of the training year.

So, one year the head firearms instructor and armorer decides to use 2 hours of the time to demonstrate how to check and unload various firearms not used in law enforcement. He went into the evidence room and checked out several armfuls, including a muzzle loading black powder rifle. He would pick up a gun from the "possibles" table, tell us what it was, and then operate the action to demonstrate how to check for loaded status and how it works, then passed the demonstrated empty gun for first hand inspection.

About halfway through the pile o' guns, he picks the muzzleloader up and, without even a glance at the action, cocks the hammer, pulls the trigger and launches a 54 caliber Minnie ball through several walls.