This concerns the explosion in the turret of a mock up Tiger I at the indiana air show this past year. If you have access to Muzzle Blast magazine for feburary 2008, the article by Buddy Townsend is worth reading.
The "Tiger" in question was in fact a T34/85 Mock up the same used in Saving Private Ryan", proper safety procedures were not observed and as a result two crewman almost lost their lives. The tank had a functioning breach but as there were no 85mm blanks the crew loaded empty 85mm casing with 1lb foil rapped black powder charges placed in the casing with a 20 second Fuze! Big no no here. Before the breech was closed the fuze flashed and disaster, luckily for the crew an experienced team of Muzzleloading artillyrman were next to them and reacted promply and got them out.
As an Artillyrman both breech/muzzle I'll tell you, if you have access to a unit in you'r area and are contemplating firing demonstrations go and talk to them you will save yourself a lot of grief. Again read the article if you can it is informative.
Blank Firing and Premature Ignition.
