Cap lock ignition

[akummel]

I'm new to cap lock rifles. After about six shots I get no ignition. I clean with wet and dry patches after each shot. I end up pulling the charge, removing the barrel on my T/C Hawken, and pouring water down the barrel until it comes out the nipple then dry it. What am I doing wrong? Have never had any problems over the years with my flintlock rifles. Thanks.

 

[VEARL]

What type of rifle is it? Remove the nipple from the barrel before you start your cleaning process. After you have cleaned the barrel and got it dry, get some pipe cleaners and use them to clean out the nipple and inside the drum area all the way into the barrel.
When you load the powder, turn the barrel a little toward the drum and slapthe barrel a few times to get powder close to the drum and nipple.
I use CCI # 11 caps.
Sounds like you may be getting crud build up at the drum area, affecting the flame from the nippple.
Hope this helps.

 

[Pacobillie]

Sounds like the bolster (drum) has left-over moisture from the wet patches. After so many patches, there is so much moisture that the poowder is too wet to ignite. Your cleaning patches may be too wet and the left over moisture contaminates the powder. What do you use on your patches and why clean so often.

I had a similar issue with my .45, and after I started using a damp (instead of wet) patch, and cleaning every 10 shots or so, the problem went away and accuracy remained.

 

[Ken Rummer]

I went through the same exercise when I started shooting . The problem was that the flash channel was getting restricted or plugged by BP fouling.

I was not storing my rifle muzzle down after cleaning and the oil in the bore was running into the breechplug and collecting in the flash channel. This seems to collect and hold onto any fouling that appears.

I was also cleaning after every shot. I pushed the cleaning patch all the way to the bottom of the bore each time which pushed bore crud into the flash channel from the bore side.

I had a few 6 to 8 shot range sessions before I read some of the many posting on this forum that straightened me out.

Summary:
Store muzzle down after cleaning to reduce the chances of liquids collecting in the flash channel.

Cleaning jags need to allow the patches to slide down easy and then bunch up and pull the crud out as the patch is withdrawn.

A good shooting patch lube will loosen the crud and blow it out when the patched ball is fired. This keeps the crud accumulation relatively low.

I like Hoppe's #9 patch lube (liquid) or Stumpkillers Moose Snot (grease)

 

[Rat Trapper]

It sounds like you are pushing crude down the barrel when you are cleaning between shots. What kind of powder are you using? What model TC rifle do you have? Since you are getting some shots off, before the problem storage of your rifle after cleaning is not the problem. How you clean between shots is the most likely problem.

 

[ebiggs1]

Very first thing is CLEAN THE RIFLE. I mean by that CLEAN THE RIFLE. Remove the nipple for cleaning and get a new one. Use a bore light to make sure the rifle is clean. You should be able to see the light through the nipple's flash channel and see bare metal.
I don't do any of the extraordinary efforts that some go to and my TC's have shot every time for many, many years. Stop swabbing between shots. Also, it isn't necessary to slap the the rifle either. If you are unsure of powder being in the flash channel, pull the nipple and look. You should have the nipple on the downward side when you dump the powder in. If your rifle is clean the powder will go into the flash channel.
In my 50 cal TC's I use 70 grs of Pryrdex P. A Hormady 490 RB with a 018 patch lubed with Bore Butter. I use whatever cap the store has on the shelf. Remington or CCI doesn't matter. A typical session for me is about 40 shots and they all shoot with no fuss.

 

[cynthialee]

I also have the T/C Hawken.
The men have all given good advice.
Clean that rifle with the nipple off, store it upside down and pop it on the side of the lock with your hand after loading to be sure and settle powder in all the right places.
Myself I swab it after every 2 shots.

 

[Bill Hall]

As you get more accustomed to percussion, you will think of the nipple and flash channel as a sacred place of cleanliness and dryness. That area is the bane of muzzleloaders, a narrow tunnel and a small hole, too easy to clog up with powder residue and moisture and often taken for granted.

Always be aware of what might lurk in the nipple area to stop the cap fire. Many a deer and elk have led long lives due to crudded up flash channels. Keep it clean and dry. Bill

 

[akummel]

All of you guys are GREAT for helping me out. My main problem I'd guess is that I use a patch soaked in water after each shot then use a dry patch or two. I'll next time LIGHTLY moisten my first patch. Also in my rifle cleaning I will remove the nipple and thoroughly clean it out of the barrel. I mainly use Goex because I've used flintlocks in the past. It's a .50 T/C Hawken. Thanks again.

 

[William O.]

I always recommend swabbing the bore with an alcohol dampened patch, using 91% rubbing alcohol. Since alcohol has a much lower boiling point than water it evaporates very quickly, reducing the chances of contaminating the next powder charge plus it ends up removing a great deal of fouling in the process. Since alcohol naturally attracts water there will be a certain percentage of water on the cleaning patch as well and I found it to work very well. A new stainless steel or bronze nipple won't hurt things either.

 

[khavell]

I swab with a slightly damp patch only after I have loaded. You don't really need to clean the barrel thoroughly until you get home. I now store my muzzleloader with the muzzle facing downwards. Do you cap off before you start? Else remove the nipple and put some BP down the hole and tap across - replace nipple and load as usual that will clear the breech area.

 

[Zonie]

It would probably help folks who are new to muzzleloading if we stopped calling it "swabbing the bore".

At least to me that brings up the image of someone with a dripping mop cleaning the deck or cramming it down the muzzle of a just fired cannon.

If we said "wiping the bore" it would come closer to what we are actually doing with our rifles.

 

[necchi]

Good point,, :hmm:

 

[cynthialee]

If I had not had prior black powder pistol back ground I would have taken swabed to mean a rather wet cleaning.
So 'wipeing the barrel' is probably a better way to say it now that you bring it up.

 

[ebiggs1]

I am not sure whether it is wiping or swabbing that is the issue or whether how wet you make it. You could certainly use denatured alcohol and eliminate the wettnes. But the crud you push back there is not good.

 

[zimmerstutzen]

There should be a fine clean out screw in the side that will let you push a pipe cleaner through to the powder chamber.

TC and several other brand bolsters have a threaded hole for the nipple that as I recall is 1/4 x 28, Directly under the nipple is a smaller diameter flash channel (about 5/32) that leads crosswise into the base of a powder chamber. Most powder chambers in TC breech plugs are only 3/8 of an inch in diameter and are about a half inch deep, and then the bore. Your 54, 50 or 45 caliber jag will only go as deep as the forward face of the breech lug, which when wiping between shots leaves a ring around the patch on the face of the jag.

On a few of the breech plugs I have examined, the 3/16 crosswise hole and the 3/8 inch powder chamber aren't completely open. That makes it difficult for the powder to settle back into the flash channel when loading.

Normally if a little powder trickles into the flash channel and or the flash channel is fully open , the pressure from ignition keeps the flash channel open.

Normal fouling shouldn't be causing the problem. Excess fouling can be caused by a few things. (1) loose patch ball combination, (2) coarse or contaminated powder like 1fg (3) heavy loads. (4) high humidity (5) excess lube on the patch soaking into the powder (6) excess moisture on the patch used to wipe the bore.

When you load do you pour the powder and then give the side of your gun a couple smacks with the palm of your hand? It settles the powder and causes some to get into that flash channel.

Before shooting do you snap several caps to make sure the flash channel is dried out?

I often shoot an older gun cobbled together from TC, Lyman and other parts. I have never had the problem you describe with the target barrel that has the TC perc breech plug. Even during a day of over 100 shots.

There are some ways to open up the junction of the flash channel and the powder chamber without removing the breech plug. A dremel and a fine narrow diamond grit grinding bit. You have to insert the bit before starting the tool or you will grind away the clean out screw threads. (Also stop it before pulling it out)

Only enlarge the hole out at the interior end where it meets the powder chamber, not where the bolster crosses over the lock plate, that is already kind of thin.

 

[BrownBear]

...and pouring water down the barrel until it comes out the nipple then dry it.

That might be some of it. I remove the nipple and stick the breech in a bucket of water, then "pump" the cleaning patch up and down the bore a few times to push the water through at high vel. Does a dandy job of getting all the fouling out of the breech. Leaving the nipple in and just pouring in a little water is real likely to leave a bunch of fouling, and probably even concentrate it at the flame channel.

It's an easy way to clean thoroughly without any gun mods or horsing around.

 

[necchi]

That might be some of it. I remove the nipple and stick the breech in a bucket of water, then "pump" the cleaning patch up and down the bore a few times to push the water through at high vel. Does a dandy job of getting all the fouling out of the breech.

Yeah man! That's the key :thumbsup:

 

[cynthialee]

...and pouring water down the barrel until it comes out the nipple then dry it.

That might be some of it. I remove the nipple and stick the breech in a bucket of water, then "pump" the cleaning patch up and down the bore a few times to push the water through at high vel. Does a dandy job of getting all the fouling out of the breech. Leaving the nipple in and just pouring in a little water is real likely to leave a bunch of fouling, and probably even concentrate it at the flame channel.

It's an easy way to clean thoroughly without any gun mods or horsing around.

Thats how I cleaned my rifle last time and it worked great.

(an idea I got from you guys)