All,
I am all for public displays of guns, salutes, starting races, demonstrations, living history, etc. All with due regard for safety! Jim Olsen of South Bend Replicas sent this message this morning. Note the you tube video link (you may have to copy and paste).
Referee at college football game injured after being shot by cannonSDS Staff | 4 days ago
A college football referee in Castine, Maine, was injured after being shot by a cannon blast over the weekend.
The referee was calling the Maine Maritime Academy football homecoming game where it’s tradition for a member of the athletic department to fire off a cannon after a touchdown with blank shotgun shells. Well, an alumnus of the school brought his own cannon to the game, and he had loaded it with black powder and some sort of substance that had made into an unidentified “wad,” per the Hancock County Sheriff’s Office.
The cannon was fired in the fourth quarter just after a touchdown as the back judge was walking by. He immediately fell to the ground and grabbed his head as referees, coaches and trainers rushed to his aid. He was taken to the local hospital with non-life threatening injuries.
The investigation findings will be sent to the district attorney’s office. Maine Maritime ended up losing the game to Massachusetts 42-21.
Below is a video of the incident, and as you can see in the right of the screen, when the cannon is fired, the official immediately grabs his head and goes down.
https://youtu.be/0nzCPCMKC6wMy response to Jim (following) also is a cause for amazement. The HS has since suspended use of the Krupp.
Jim,
Thanks. I'll post to forum. You would not believe what my kid's HS was doing with a Krupp BL 75(+/-). They had welded an bolt action and bbl stub into the chamber block and were using 308 blanks for igniters. The wads (smoking) were landing in the end zone. No traffic control whatsoever and I witnessed many "near misses" of pedestrians walking in front of the gun. Fired at start, quarters and end of game plus every score and they scored a LOT! I think neighborhood noise complaints finally ended the abuse of the gun.
Insane!