misfire with the muzzleloader? (NewJerseyHunter.com)

Quote:
Right before you load your gun fire off 2 to 3 cap through the breech. This burns any residue left from cleaning. Then you should not have any problems, rain or no rain

Quote:
Right before you load your gun fire off 2 to 3 cap through the breech

Quote:
I have not fired the caps off before hand, but i will now.

Quote:
Also stay away from pellets, use loose powder. More consistant with ignition and performance.

Quote:
5 seconds later, "BOOM"!

Quote:
First off don't use bore-butter to protect the bore it's horrible for that.

Quote:
Quote:
First off don't use bore-butter to protect the bore it's horrible for that.

Why?

Quote:
Has no real protecting properties. Dries to a hard paste that is a bitch to get out of the barrel and if you fire a shot with the dry pasty BB it produces a thick gummy fouling. Many guys I know that used it in the past to protect the bore for long term storage reported rusting in the bore.

Use it if you wish but a good gun-oil just can't be beat.

It's great for a patch lube and for lubing conicals but in my opinion and many others who have been shooting MZ's for decades it sucks for protecting the bore. Belive it or not but a good virgin olive oil is a great lube for the bore, much better than BB, but not as good as a good gun-oil.
Posted: 03 Dec 2009 4:07 AM

Quote:
I do however keep my gun loaded and laying in the garage "without

Quote:
keep it in the house unless your garage is heated. The condesation formed from the cold metal could mess up the powder charge. Always take the gun out of the case and store in warm dry place.. I wipe it off when I get home and put it right back in safe with dehumidifier.

Posted: 02 Dec 2009 6:28 PM
	Registered User Currently Offline	Posts: 497 Rack Buck: Join Date: Sep 2007
I was hunting in 23 yesterday, the weather was perfect. The breeze dropped off at about 1545hrs, and then they started to come in.About 10 or 11 deer, working there way toward me. A doe popped out 40 yards from me, then I seen him. A big heavy bodied 8 pointer, huge for the area. He stopped at 70 yards, broadside, with his head slightly obscured behind a tree, following the doe. I put the scope on him, right on his shoulder, took off the safety, held my breath, and pulled the trigger. ""CLICK"! I was in shock, still pointing the gun down range, 5 seconds later, "BOOM"! The deer where gone,along with the buck, unscathed. Any suggestion how to prevent this from happening again or does this just happen with the muzzleloaders sometimes. This is only my third year with the muzzleloader. Any feed back would be appreciated.

Posted: 02 Dec 2009 6:31 PM
	Registered User, Sponsor Currently Offline	Posts: 10160 Dominant Buck: Join Date: Oct 2006
wet powder? bad cap? Shit happens. Glad you kept the barrel pointed away from you

Posted: 02 Dec 2009 6:33 PM
	Registered User, Sponsor Currently Offline	Posts: 2385 Non Typical: Join Date: Oct 2005
no it should not happen what kind of gun was it.There has been a few issues with some models and breach plugs that i am aware of

Posted: 02 Dec 2009 6:38 PM
	Registered User Currently Offline	Posts: 384 Rack Buck: Join Date: Dec 2008
Hang-fire. Happened to me also. Charge got damp from rain on Monday. Old powder will do same thing.

Posted: 02 Dec 2009 6:41 PM
	Registered User Currently Offline	Posts: 395 Rack Buck: Join Date: Mar 2005
if you crush the pyrodex pellets in the breechplug, too much bore butter, the tiny hole in the breechplug was clogged, happened to my friend at the range a mess of times, second cap would fire it. he was pushing down hard and crushing the pellets. when your bore is lubed you can seat the bullet easy, then take a file or marker and mark the ram rod so you know when the gun is loaded properly each time without crushing the pellets

Posted: 02 Dec 2009 7:25 PM
	Registered User Currently Offline	Posts: 1242 Non Typical: Join Date: Jul 2008
Right before you load your gun fire off 2 to 3 cap through the breech. This burns any residue left from cleaning. Then you should not have any problems, rain or no rain.

Posted: 02 Dec 2009 7:29 PM
	Registered User, Sponsor	Posts: 2109 Non Typical: Join Date: Sep 2005
Quote: Right before you load your gun fire off 2 to 3 cap through the breech. This burns any residue left from cleaning. Then you should not have any problems, rain or no rain Do it every time..Only 1 but the more the merrier Good suggestion..

Posted: 02 Dec 2009 7:29 PM
	Registered User, Sponsor	Posts: 6936 Dominant Buck: Join Date: Nov 2009
what njpassthru said...learn from are mistakes,alot of us have done it.

Posted: 02 Dec 2009 7:31 PM
	Registered User, Sponsor	Posts: 13337 Dominant Buck: Join Date: Nov 2007
Quote: Right before you load your gun fire off 2 to 3 cap through the breech

Posted: 02 Dec 2009 7:36 PM
	Registered User Currently Offline	Posts: 1242 Non Typical: Join Date: Jul 2008
I did the same thing about 10 yrs ago. Dry fire it before you load it! Worked perfect ever since.

Posted: 02 Dec 2009 7:36 PM
	Registered User Currently Offline	Posts: 383 Rack Buck: Join Date: Sep 2009
I have t/c 54 cal. As soon as I wake up on morning of the hunt .I snap a couple of caps then I put a little bit of powder in & then I put a cotton ball down the barrel,put a cap on & fire it out in the back yard ,the cotton ball will come out on fire. it is not loud. Then I load my muzzy in the house , this way I know my powder is dry & 99.8% my gun will go off. I do this all of the time & my muzz has always fired. Only 1 time it didn't fire because it was rainning hard.

Posted: 02 Dec 2009 7:37 PM
	Registered User Currently Offline	Posts: 497 Rack Buck: Join Date: Sep 2007
I have not fired the caps off before hand, but i will now. Also, after reading some of the possibilities, it was either to much bore butter after cleaning, or I rammed down on the pellets to hard. The gun is deadly accurate when it fires, I stack the slugs at a 100 yards. Thanks for the feed back. Hopefully I will get another shot at a decent buck this year.

Posted: 02 Dec 2009 7:56 PM
	Registered User, Sponsor Currently Offline	Posts: 11882 Dominant Buck: Join Date: Dec 2005
How old are the pellets , might be time to use them on the practice range and use new in the woods

Posted: 02 Dec 2009 8:11 PM
	Registered User	Posts: 2368 Non Typical: Join Date: Apr 2008
First off don't use bore-butter to protect the bore it's horrible for that. Use a good light gun oil like CLP or Rem-Oil and you don't need alot, just spray a little on a patch and run it down the barrel and out, light coating. I use flintlocks exclusivly and never have a problem even in wet weather. I can't snap a cap so what I do and it should work for inlines if you can plug up the breech hole. Pour alcohol down the barrel doesn't need much, tip the barrel back and forth a few times, dump it out and run a few patches until dry. The alcohol removes the oil and any moisture that may have been in there. Better than snapping a cap as you don't foul the barrel at all. Also stay away from pellets, use loose powder. More consistant with ignition and performance.

Posted: 02 Dec 2009 8:39 PM
	Registered User Currently Offline	Posts: 1422 Non Typical: Join Date: May 2009
i lost a nice 8 pt by not firing a cap after using that stupid bore butter as well.

Posted: 03 Dec 2009 8:09 AM
	Warden, Sponsor	Posts: 12267 Dominant Buck: Join Date: Mar 2005
I used to have a remington Model 700 ML. It used #11 caps. I had many hangfires. I got so pissed that I went to Simon Peter one day after a hang fire and bought the Encore. I use 2 Triple 7 pellets and 209 Shotgun primers. Never had a problem with this gun.

Posted: 02 Dec 2009 8:59 PM
	Registered User Currently Offline	Posts: 10162 Dominant Buck: Join Date: Dec 2005
Quote: I have not fired the caps off before hand, but i will now. Not that I'd argue with mikec's knowledge, but I always fire 3 caps into a clean gun before loading. Seems to work well and consistent (shooting 1st and following shots with a dirty barrel). Bore Butter wise, I find it helps improve accuracy in some of my guns (even with sabots despite it not being recommended). I use a light coating, and before I snap caps prior to loading the gun I always rub a dry patch through the barrel to remove any excess BB. Quote: Also stay away from pellets, use loose powder. More consistant with ignition and performance. This is great advice. I know a lot of guys like the convenience of pellets, but ignition is definitely variable depending on if they are crushed or whole. Loose granular is why I like the BH209.

Posted: 02 Dec 2009 9:01 PM
	Registered User, Sponsor Currently Offline	Posts: 2514 Monster Buck: Join Date: Oct 2007
Quote: 5 seconds later, "BOOM"! happend to me once, used bore butter on breach plug, i will never do that again, used a bit to much got in the breach when i screwed it in

Posted: 02 Dec 2009 9:47 PM
	Registered User, Sponsor Currently Offline	Posts: 800 Typical: Join Date: Sep 2007
Quote: First off don't use bore-butter to protect the bore it's horrible for that. Why?

Posted: 02 Dec 2009 10:03 PM
	Registered User Currently Offline	Posts: 3221 Monster Buck: Join Date: Sep 2006
I dry fire 2 every time at home before I load it. For instance, my gun has been loaded since Monday, but tomorrow I will remove the load and quickly clean and then fire off a few caps. The old pellets get thrown out. Not worth risking a hang-fire or missing a good deer.

Posted: 02 Dec 2009 10:06 PM
	Registered User, Sponsor	Posts: 3057 Monster Buck: Join Date: Aug 2008
Keep your breech plug clean.

Posted: 02 Dec 2009 10:15 PM
	Registered User, Sponsor Currently Offline	Posts: 1539 Non Typical: Join Date: Dec 2008
ive used borebutter and wonderlube 1000. no hangfires etc with the cva percussion. only malfunction i had was with the traditions inline. it was not the lube or the powder but the projectile. lead conical instead of a sabot. started shooting sabots out of it,no trouble. i always right before loading fire atleast 2 caps/primers. i've carried the cva when i've been out and its rained 85% of the time slung muzzle up on my shoulder. i've left it loaded for 7-10 days after, fire it at the range (until it was shutdown) to empty it and it fired first cap, first pull of the trigger. even using the same cap that was on the nipple while in the woods. lucky?? maybe

Posted: 02 Dec 2009 10:21 PM
	Warden, Sponsor Currently Offline	Posts: 3149 Monster Buck: Join Date: Sep 2005
I was at the range with a friend years ago and he had a hang fire that was at least 60 seconds...He fired 4 caps through the gun and waited and waited...He put the gun down, facing down range..We started thinking we were going to have to pull the ball, when "BOOM"..A full minute after he put the gun down..

Posted: 02 Dec 2009 10:23 PM
	Registered User	Posts: 2368 Non Typical: Join Date: Apr 2008
Quote: Quote: First off don't use bore-butter to protect the bore it's horrible for that. Why? Has no real protecting properties. Dries to a hard paste that is a bitch to get out of the barrel and if you fire a shot with the dry pasty BB it produces a thick gummy fouling. Many guys I know that used it in the past to protect the bore for long term storage reported rusting in the bore. Use it if you wish but a good gun-oil just can't be beat. It's great for a patch lube and for lubing conicals but in my opinion and many others who have been shooting MZ's for decades it sucks for protecting the bore. Belive it or not but a good virgin olive oil is a great lube for the bore, much better than BB, but not as good as a good gun-oil.

Posted: 03 Dec 2009 4:07 AM
	Registered User, Sponsor Currently Offline	Posts: 1659 Non Typical: Join Date: Dec 2008
Usually a sign of a damp plug, if the plug is removable (modern muzzleloaders) I always take out the breech plug, roll a small piece of paper towel small enough to fit through the larger hole and twist it in there , repeat till completly dry. If you have an older gun, just fire a couple of caps, of course make sure that the gun is not loaded first

Posted: 03 Dec 2009 8:18 AM
	Registered User, Sponsor Currently Offline	Posts: 8900 Dominant Buck: Join Date: Oct 2006
Quote: Has no real protecting properties. Dries to a hard paste that is a bitch to get out of the barrel and if you fire a shot with the dry pasty BB it produces a thick gummy fouling. Many guys I know that used it in the past to protect the bore for long term storage reported rusting in the bore. Use it if you wish but a good gun-oil just can't be beat. It's great for a patch lube and for lubing conicals but in my opinion and many others who have been shooting MZ's for decades it sucks for protecting the bore. Belive it or not but a good virgin olive oil is a great lube for the bore, much better than BB, but not as good as a good gun-oil. Posted: 03 Dec 2009 4:07 AM I totally agree with mikec.. It is a patch lube. Nothing more. The stuff is like cement when mixed with hot powder residue. Modern sabot's require a dry bore. "snapping a cap" prior to loading is good method. I usually have mine loaded the night prior to start of season and keep it loaded til I shoot one or season is over.. I clean and dry all lube out of it and load it in the basement. I have never had a hang fire.. The only time I empty it mid season is if I was out in a heavy rain I might shoot it when I get home, let it dry out and reload it when its ready.. Also, after making some check rounds a day or two before the season I swab it out and do not take it down and scrub it. I want that first round at a deer to hit exactly like the last one I shot at the range. Alot of guns will not shoot the same on a completly scrubbed barrel,plug, etc.. If you are using real black powder this might not be a good idea but 777 and bh209 its fine. same with smokeless rifles. the bore does not get cleaned after check rounds until season is over unless emergency reason..

Posted: 03 Dec 2009 8:43 AM
	Registered User Currently Offline	Posts: 2848 Monster Buck: Join Date: Mar 2009
I always snap a cap first to blow out any gun oil that may be in the barrel. I typically keep it loaded all season unless we have heavy rain like we had on Monday. I cleaned mine out yesterday and there was some damp residue around the flash hole but was still in good enough condition to fire if need be.

Posted: 03 Dec 2009 10:20 AM
	Registered User	Posts: 1169 Non Typical: Join Date: Aug 2009
damm that is a bad deal! I use bore butter on my breach plug as well but just on the treads...looks like I should pop off a couple primers to burn that stuff out before shooting! I do however keep my gun loaded and laying in the garage "without primer" after I hunt and in between hunts so long as they are not more than a few days apart.

Posted: 03 Dec 2009 10:47 AM
	Registered User, Sponsor Currently Offline	Posts: 8900 Dominant Buck: Join Date: Oct 2006
Quote: I do however keep my gun loaded and laying in the garage "without keep it in the house unless your garage is heated. The condesation formed from the cold metal could mess up the powder charge. Always take the gun out of the case and store in warm dry place.. I wipe it off when I get home and put it right back in safe with dehumidifier.

Posted: 03 Dec 2009 10:57 AM
	Registered User Currently Offline	Posts: 10162 Dominant Buck: Join Date: Dec 2005
Quote: keep it in the house unless your garage is heated. The condesation formed from the cold metal could mess up the powder charge. Always take the gun out of the case and store in warm dry place.. I wipe it off when I get home and put it right back in safe with dehumidifier. It's the fluctuations in air temperature that create condensation, i.e. going from hot to cold to hot to cold. Best to keep it as constant as possible (i.e. outdoor temp) all the time.