The last time I remember a well publicized accidental shooting of a Civil War reenactor was about ten years ago at Gettysburg. A Confederate re-enactor was shot in the neck by a Union trooper using a pistol. The Union trooper was a walk-on French tourist. The pistol he barrowed. It was determined the pistol had a spent round stuck in the barrel from some earlier live shooting. The wound was not too serious and the ball was recovered from the victim, it being just under the skin. The Frenchman, after being detained by officials during the investigation, left the country in a bad mood.

That's why I asked about the calibur. Since reading this post I found it was a .45 size pistol ball (Cabelas used to sell a reproduction Navy Colt .45 for a very cheap price) shot from about 25 feet. Had it been a fully loaded .58 or .62, being hit in the shoulder should have been a very serious wound; and had it hit bone, there wouldn't have been much left of that shoulder. It would be interesting if they found this to be the same circumstance as ten years ago with a spent round in the pistol barrel.

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David Upton