Well, I finally made it to the range yesterday. Not only was this the first time to shoot my new rifle, it was my first time to shoot a muzzleloader. I had already decided, after considerable searching on this forum, I was going to start with 70 gr of 4F behind a .440 ball and a .015 patch.
No problemo.
On my third shot, I got a ball from my pouch; got a lubed patch ready; I fill my powder measure with 70 grains and set it aside; I picked my vent, ran a wet patch and two dry patches down the barrel; placed my lubed patch on the barrel opening and rammed the ball down the barrel - AND knew immediately I hadn't poured my powder down the barrel !
Well, I didn't try to fix matters there at the range - I packed everything up and came on home.
No problemo.
I got my screw out; attached it to my range rod; screwed that booger into the ball and pulled. That son-of-a-gun of a bullet wouldn't budge. I kept on a-pulling and eventually got that bullet about 6" up the barrel and that was it. Well, about that time I figured to check out the experts on this forum and the first thing which caught my eye was to pour some penetrating oil into the barrel and let it set for a couple of hours. Did that. And that bullet still wouldn't budge. Well, back to the forum and more reading. Unfortunately, my range rod doesn't have a tee-handle, so I couldn't use that trick for pulling. I read up on the compressed air method of removing a lodged bullet but decided on trying, first, to pack some powder into the barrel through the vent hole, sufficiently to blast the ball out.
I unscrewed the screw from the bullet - and, uh oh. I measured that screw and sure 'nough it was longer than the diameter of my bullet ! I knew this would lead to problems. Well, I don't do anything fast. I rested my gun and cogitated for a while. When I went back I had oil flowing out of the vent hole and down my stock. Well, I flipped that dang rifle barrel down, rested it and cogitated some more. When I went back to the gun several hours later I had a well oiled rag on the floor. I flipped the gun again so as to drain some more from the vent hole, wrapped a rag around the lock and went to bed.
When I woke up to my little problem, I knew oil in the breech end was going to present a problem for touching off the powder. The first thing I did, next, was to touch off a priming load, hoping this might burn off the remaining oil. I then started picking about 5 grains through the vent hole into the barrel. As I was doing this I noticed the powder was changing color, turning black and probably soaking up oil. Well, I went ahead; rammed the ball back down on top of the charge; measured the seating depth with my ram rod; touched it off - and it sparked rightly well, spilling out of the pan and a bit across the lock. But that dang bullet didn't budge. I hoped it was burning oil which had made the unusual flash and maybe this problem was solved.
I managed to get a bit more than 5 grains packed in behind the seated bullet - maybe as much as 7 grains - until no more could be forced in; primed her; and pulled the trigger. This time, the flash was normal and the sound was "different", but I didn't think the ball had come out. Measuring with my range rod I found the bullet had moved about half way up the barrel. I figured pressure was being lost through the ball, from the hole made by the too long screw. But I knew I had it, now. I put about 13 grains through the vent hole; rammed the ball back down - and my dry ball problem was fixed.
Live and learn.
Now to fix my sight problem. From my first two successful shots I know my rifle is shooting about 4 1/2" high at 50 yards. With my Johnson Peep Sights, my sight line is much higher than normal and my .359" high front sight is just too short. Simple fix though - I just need to replace my front sight with a higher one.
No problemo.
On my third shot, I got a ball from my pouch; got a lubed patch ready; I fill my powder measure with 70 grains and set it aside; I picked my vent, ran a wet patch and two dry patches down the barrel; placed my lubed patch on the barrel opening and rammed the ball down the barrel - AND knew immediately I hadn't poured my powder down the barrel !
Well, I didn't try to fix matters there at the range - I packed everything up and came on home.
No problemo.
I got my screw out; attached it to my range rod; screwed that booger into the ball and pulled. That son-of-a-gun of a bullet wouldn't budge. I kept on a-pulling and eventually got that bullet about 6" up the barrel and that was it. Well, about that time I figured to check out the experts on this forum and the first thing which caught my eye was to pour some penetrating oil into the barrel and let it set for a couple of hours. Did that. And that bullet still wouldn't budge. Well, back to the forum and more reading. Unfortunately, my range rod doesn't have a tee-handle, so I couldn't use that trick for pulling. I read up on the compressed air method of removing a lodged bullet but decided on trying, first, to pack some powder into the barrel through the vent hole, sufficiently to blast the ball out.
I unscrewed the screw from the bullet - and, uh oh. I measured that screw and sure 'nough it was longer than the diameter of my bullet ! I knew this would lead to problems. Well, I don't do anything fast. I rested my gun and cogitated for a while. When I went back I had oil flowing out of the vent hole and down my stock. Well, I flipped that dang rifle barrel down, rested it and cogitated some more. When I went back to the gun several hours later I had a well oiled rag on the floor. I flipped the gun again so as to drain some more from the vent hole, wrapped a rag around the lock and went to bed.
When I woke up to my little problem, I knew oil in the breech end was going to present a problem for touching off the powder. The first thing I did, next, was to touch off a priming load, hoping this might burn off the remaining oil. I then started picking about 5 grains through the vent hole into the barrel. As I was doing this I noticed the powder was changing color, turning black and probably soaking up oil. Well, I went ahead; rammed the ball back down on top of the charge; measured the seating depth with my ram rod; touched it off - and it sparked rightly well, spilling out of the pan and a bit across the lock. But that dang bullet didn't budge. I hoped it was burning oil which had made the unusual flash and maybe this problem was solved.
I managed to get a bit more than 5 grains packed in behind the seated bullet - maybe as much as 7 grains - until no more could be forced in; primed her; and pulled the trigger. This time, the flash was normal and the sound was "different", but I didn't think the ball had come out. Measuring with my range rod I found the bullet had moved about half way up the barrel. I figured pressure was being lost through the ball, from the hole made by the too long screw. But I knew I had it, now. I put about 13 grains through the vent hole; rammed the ball back down - and my dry ball problem was fixed.
Live and learn.
Now to fix my sight problem. From my first two successful shots I know my rifle is shooting about 4 1/2" high at 50 yards. With my Johnson Peep Sights, my sight line is much higher than normal and my .359" high front sight is just too short. Simple fix though - I just need to replace my front sight with a higher one.
