• Friends, our 2nd Amendment rights are always under attack and the NRA has been a constant for decades in helping fight that fight.

    We have partnered with the NRA to offer you a discount on membership and Muzzleloading Forum gets a small percentage too of each membership, so you are supporting both the NRA and us.

    Use this link to sign up please; https://membership.nra.org/recruiters/join/XR045103

Barrel help please!!

Muzzleloading Forum

Help Support Muzzleloading Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

scheidtk

32 Cal
Joined
Jun 21, 2023
Messages
2
Reaction score
0
Location
ionia
bridger hawkins percussion muzzle loader, when placing jag in barrel, feel like something in there. But when i move it around it seats a little lower. It feels like it is part of barrel but not sure. i cant seem to get anything out of the barrel as well, so i think it is part of the percussion in the barrel. Any help would be appreciated.
 
If its a Thompson Center, they have somewhat different breech plugs in them. They actually made special attachments (scrapers) to get down in there. Even their jags are rounded on the ends. That might be what you are feeling.

However, if its not a T/C and if you're still not sure, the first thing you might want to do is check that there's good flow through the flash channel and out the barrel.

Second, a bore light is best but you could go get a one of those small diameter fishing bobber light sticks or a lighted nock for arrows and drop down the bore.
 
Last edited:
This barrel might be loaded ! take the nipple off and pour hot water down the barrel, and see if the water is restricted, next run a ball worm screw down and see if it feels like lead or steel, been there before bought two loaded T/C s at an auction brought them home and discovered they were both charged and ready to go
 
Take your ramrod and place it inside your barrel. Mark the point where it stops. Then lay the ramrod along the outside of your barrel. If the barrel has an obstruction, you will see the difference. If empty, the rod should reach the breech area. If the rod shows short of the breech, there is an something in the bore.
If you can take the rifle to a safe place outdoors, snap several caps while pointing the rifle in a safe direction. If nothing comes out, point the barrel toward the ground and snap another cap. If you see leaves, grass or dirt move, then you have an empty firearm.
 
Take your ramrod and place it inside your barrel. Mark the point where it stops. Then lay the ramrod along the outside of your barrel. If the barrel has an obstruction, you will see the difference. If empty, the rod should reach the breech area. If the rod shows short of the breech, there is an something in the bore.
If you can take the rifle to a safe place outdoors, snap several caps while pointing the rifle in a safe direction. If nothing comes out, point the barrel toward the ground and snap another cap. If you see leaves, grass or dirt move, then you have an empty firearm.
I would never snap a cap on an unknown powder charge.

Some idiot could have dumped smokeless powder in there.

Pull the breech plug and be done with it.
 
I would never snap a cap on an unknown powder charge.

Some idiot could have dumped smokeless powder in there.

Pull the breech plug and be done with it.
Indeed. Everybody to their own thang, but personally in this case, and considering how the OP is describing it, I would want to take a peek down that barrel and see what's down in there. The OP stated that the cleaning jag stops, then if he moves it around and pushes, it then goes the rest of the way down. That does not sound like a stuck ball or conical.

Cheap and easy to drop a small diameter light stick down the barrel. And at the same time he can get a fairly good idea of the condition of the bore. Then go from there.

But then again, I'm just a .45 caliber on here. :)
 
Not sure if they still make them but MAG has a small pen sized flash light, takes one AAA battery. With mine it is strang enough to see down any barrel all the way to the breach.

Difference between the flashlight and a drop in bore light is that I can see All the down. Then if I want to Really light it up I drop one of those shiny bore plugs down (I forget what it's called or where I got them - different bore sizes) and shine the flashlight down; it will almost blind you, but again you can't actually see the bottom of the barrel so you just 'guess' it's all the way.
 
Back
Top