Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Muzzleloaders 1st Time Problem

Shot maybe 20 shots yesterday, swabing between shots with a Windex damp patch and then a dry patch. The day ended when I couildn't get a primer charge to the powder. Had blockage in there some where.

I removed the nipple and it was clear (hole not clogged/blocked". So there was something else. I suppose I must have pushed something (some crud) into the channel. After pulling the ball back at the house, I confirmed it did have a powder charge.

Anybody know of a longer, flexible type pick that would reach from the nipple and through all the way to powder?

I keep a couple of pipe cleaners in my box for just those occasions.

Next time, pull the nipple and dribble a few grains of powder into the channel, reinsert nipple and fire. That should clear the blockage.

Sounds like powder residue is blocking the ignition port. What kind of primer are you using? If it’s a No 11, you could install a musket cap nipple and get better ignition.

You could also fire a cap or two off after 15 shots or so (without powder) to clear out some of the residue.

Welding tip cleaner. They come in a tool with various diameters. Long enough to go all the way through a breech plug and there are circular grooves in them to enhance cleaning action.

Was using a #11.

Not a bad idea.

That'd be a good practice.

Prevent the problem. I suspect your Windex patches are too wet. Squeeze them almost dry.

Now that certailnly may be. I've never used the Windex for swabbing before and may have gotten the patch way too wet. I'll take your advice.

I use the welding tip cleaners with sucess, have for over 30 years, but the windex wetted patches? Pick up some 90% alchohol and swab with that in between shots, we use it because alcohol has a better chance of burning than the high percentage of water in windex. The idea of snapping a cap or two won't hurt either, but I usually reserve that for blowing excessive preservative out before the first shot

I use 91% alcohol carried in the little flip spout travel bottles. I got these at Bed Bath & Beyond.

Might be a kick to wait till dark, swab the bore with alcohol, and touch it off with a cap. Would you get a nice flame thrower effect???

I did the Windex patch cause somebody else said it worked well between shots, but I see your point about it being mostly water, which kind of messes with fire and powder.

Welding tip cleaners: My new Hawken barrel does not have a "side entry" clean out. I'd have to go in thru the nipple. Aren't welding tip cleaners too stiff for the 90to turn into the barrel?

Can't imagine pipe cleaners wouldn't work well for you. They do for me.

Thanks, all!

I've got litttle bottles for alcohol and some pipe cleaner inbound.

Keep the flash channel and patent breach clean. Pipe cleaners work well, work it in through the nipple threaded hole.

Get a CO2 discharger or remove the nipple and work a little 4f powder into the breach through the nipple hole, it doesn't take much.

Better than anything is to learn to keep it clean and avoid the issue from the get go.

http://traditionalmuzzleloader.com/index.php/cleaning-a-muzzle-loader

C₃H₈O or C₂H₅OH? use the latter and enjoy a nip once you are done swabbing!
I always carry a nipple wrench and a priming flask of ffffg for just these situations. fill the flash tunnel with 4f or 3f if you have it. saves the sweaty brow pulling a live charge most times.

Now you're gettig all scientific! I'd hate to waste good whiskey on a barrel swabbing but I like that multi-use aspect of it!

I have a couple lbs. of Tripple 7 2F (I know it's fake and all that, but it's what I have). For dribbling into the nipple hole, how about just crunching some 2F into smaller pieces or dust? Or that just asking for more trouble?

On the page the link take me to, about 1/2 down by the pipe cleanes is a brush with bronze bristles sticking forward. I've checked TOW, MidwayUSA, Browells, and Amazon.

Where is one of those for sale?

Forget the Windex. Use 91% rubbing alcohol in a small jar like a baby food jar, packed full of squares of cotton cut from a discarded T shirt or a pair of skivvies that can't be bleached anymore to remove the directional statins- - - - -"Yellow in the front- - - -brown in the back"! That's what we use all the time at the chunk gun shoots. Wet patch- - - -dry patch- - - -pop a cap before loading. If you're shooting a real muzzleloader with a "rock what'll spark" instead of a cap, flash a priming charge after the swab routine.
Jerry

In my experience, more than 30 years muzzleloading competitions, in which a normal day might see 25 to 50 shots, very few if any of the top shooters wiped between shots. It is a recipe for trouble to introduce any moisture into the very bottom of the breech. The wet or damp patch going down...deposits the crud in the breech/touch hole area when the patch is withdrawn toward the muzzle on the up stroke. If, for some reason, hot dry weather, wrong powder granulation , your barrel begins to be difficult to load...go ahead and finish loading and pour a little patch lube on top of the patched ball and shoot your crusted fouling out at the next shot. What are you using for patch lube?