Dealing With A Misfire

[Cpl. Ashencheeks]

I have not shot any of my muzzleloading arms for some time now.

I also consider myself a noob to this because some things have changed about the sport and other procedures may have been forgotten.

I first started using them in the late 1980s and continued using them until the mid 1990's then just put them away for a good number of years to help take care of an illness stricken relative. I never really got back into using them since.

I have had the occasional misfire on some of my guns and since I am taking these back up, I am wondering how people deal with them today.

When I would get a misfire I would continue to hold the muzzle in a safe direction and count off in seconds for up to a minute or a minute and a half before advancing to the next cylinder, sometimes even longer.

Today I see people just recapping or advancing the cylinder to either the next shot or manually advance the cylinder to the offending cylinder or charge, to refire before even waiting.

This just does not look safe.

I have only had one misfire on my Hawken style replica and that was dealt with by the same method of waiting and when it seemed safe, eventually remove the ball with a puller, then remove the powder from the rifle.

Now that I am getting back into this, I see I should probably purchase a CO2 setup or whatever these are being called now.

I don't like misfires, and I am very sure I would distinctly hate a hangfire in my guns.

So, with all that said, was I doing anything wrong in my way of dealing with a misfire?

 

[azmntman]

Sounds quite the safe way to go. On rifles, I will fire another cap or pan and if it doesn't shoot remove nipple and charge or pick and re-prime. I give it alot before I pull the ball.

To avoid start with a clean DRY barrel and on cap locks tap the side by the nipple to get some powder right under it. Most (some?) guys load flint with a feather or pick in the touch hole and remove when loaded, prime and fire.

Have fun!

 

[Zonie]

In the case of a misfire, you wait a minute to a minute and a half, I wait about 30 seconds before considering the gun safe to recap or reprime.

I don't think anyone can say either of us is wrong as long as we are both keeping the muzzle pointed in a safe direction while we wait and then deal with the problem.

 

[btech]

A good CO2 unloader does wonders. You can keep the gun pointed down range, remove the cap, point the unloader into the nipple and ball shoots right out. I have used mine any times. I consider it to be the safest unloading option.

 

[Patocazador]

When I first got muzzleloaders, I just used them for hunting and was lazy about cleaning them the same day they were fired and would also leave them loaded for long periods (months) before shooting them, usually at a deer. I had quite a few misfires. I also used Pyrodex along with black powder at that time.

When I got into muzzleloading seriously, I quit being lazy and have not used any subs except for Blackhorn 209 along with black powder.

I have not experienced a misfire in over 3 years and I attribute that to using too much oil without cleaning it out before loading.

Misfires should not be accepted as a normal part of shooting. Clean guns and good habits produce wonderful results.

 

[Kapow]

How many people on here have actually had or seen a genuine hangfire? I mean like several seconds or more? I'm not suggesting a misfire shouldn't be treated as a hangfire until deemed safe, just have never had one myself or heard of a first hand account of one.

 

[Rat Trapper]

I've seen hang fires and it can scare ya. Misfires is all about how you clean and take care of your rifle. I wipe out the oil, then run a patch down the bore and leave it in there while I pop a cap. When I pull it out there should be a burn mark on the patch. If not your rifle will misfire.

 

[jamesthomas]

I have never had a hangfire, but with a misfire I just pick the vent (never had to do it more than once) and she fired like new the second try. Now a dry ball is another matter. The key is use a soaked alcohol patch to get the oil out ( or spray brake cleaner down it with the vent plugged if you have something like RIG in your bore, Rig takes a bit more effort to get out than Barricade etc.) followed by 2 dry patches to make sure the bore is completely dry.

 

[thatoneguy82]

I've seen more hangfires using aged surpluss ammo that was stored and maybe even manufactured questionably. Had a bandoleer of .303 that would produce a 1-3 second delay at least once per clip. Muzzleloading, using a clean and freshly loaded gun I haven't seen this problem. I did find a load from the late 90s in a rifle my father gave me not too long ago, after pulling the ball it took three caps to finally ignite the compressed wad of powder, and it still hesitated on the third cap.

 

[rafterob]

I had a near cats-ass-trofee with a hang fire. Rifle mis fired, I waited a few seconds before bringing the rifle down and just as I was starting to bring the muzzle up to walk back to the bench it fired :shocked2: This was probably only 5-7 seconds, I learned my lesson.

 

[Rifleman1776]

Good question. You show good sense asking.
Too often we get questions like "how can I get 3,000 fps velocity for 1,000 yard squirrel shots with the $50.00 gun show rifle I just bought?"
I compliment you for asking.
You are doing well already. Keep pointed downrange. A hangfire, while unusual can take some time before it goes off. With experience you will develop your own method of handling these things.
But, the most important 'cure' is prevention. Find out why you are getting hangfires. Often better nipples will solve things. Subsitute powders are notorious for being hard to ignite. Please do use real black powder only if it is available in your area. Others have given good responses also. Mainly "THINK SAFETY".

 

[Billnpatti]

Nothing wrong with your misfire handling technique. I think you would be well advised to buy one of the CO2 dischargers. I don't have one but I am told that they are just the thing for removing a stuck ball, a misfire or a dry ball. I do not like to use a ball puller because it puts the person pulling the ball directly in front of the muzzle. My preference, since I don't own one of the CO2 dischargers is to remove the nipple and add a bit of powder directly into the nipple hole. Then I replace the nipple and try to fire the load again. It seldom fails to get the offending ball out of the bore.

You have a good safe head on your shoulders so I am sure that you will do well and shoot safely but if there is a muzzleloading club in your area, that is one of the best ways to get back up to speed in muzzleloading.

 

[crockett]

Kapow- depends on what you call a hangfire. Many years ago when I was first getting started I was surprized that the fouling in the bore was making the second shot/ball harder to ram down the bore. So I swabbed between shots. After a few rounds the cap went off but nothing else. I had been told/trained/instructed to hold the rifle on target so within about one second the gun fired. It was pretty disturbing. I swabbed and reloaded again and that time, same thing, only the cap went off but I kept holding the gun downrange. After about 30 seconds I began figuring the gun wasn't going to fire. I still held it pointed at the target for about another minute and a guy came over and said he would help me out. I didn't have a co2 dispenser in those days. He took out the nipple and put in a few grains of powder- the muzzle continually pointed down range at all times- and then put the nipple back on and that time the gun fired okay.
He told me the problem was the swabbing between shots- I was pushing fouling down the bore and plugging up the drum area. I could either forget the swabbing or fire a cap on an unloaded gun after swabbing to clear out the pathway.
In any event I did have a hang fire and that was how it occurred.
That fouling plugging up a flash hole, that is prime material for grabbing an ember and holding it. I am told that on a flint it is the heat rather than the flame that causes igition of the main charge and that may also be true on the percussion. In any event there is a real hazard. You could lay a rifle down on a bench with the muzzle pointed down range but if it fires and recoils- it could fall off the bench and be damaged, so I'd just keep holding the rifle for the 1 1/2 minutes- what ever time frame you are comfortable with but ALWAYS keep the muzzle down range- you have a rare but dangerous situation until the gun is fired and the powder charge used up.

 

[nkbj]

Once saw a doe levitate up the wall of the Pedernales river canyon when the cap popped before the .54 Tryon went boom. :haha:

 

[Wes/Tex]

Once saw a doe levitate up the wall of the Pedernales river canyon when the cap popped before the .54 Tryon went boom. :haha:

"Levitate" is such a good word...I can just see it happening. Last season I levitated a little 4-point with a deflected ball that hit soft earth almost dead geographical center under the poor guy. Through the smoke I saw all sorts of debris fly up around him and he did a standing high jump several feet straight up! After that he looked like he touched the ground twice in 100 yards!! Last year was the craziest, most bizarre year I've had in all my 67!

 

[Joel/Calgary]

How many people on here have actually had or seen a genuine hangfire? I mean like several seconds or more? I'm not suggesting a misfire shouldn't be treated as a hangfire until deemed safe, just have never had one myself or heard of a first hand account of one.

With muzzleloaders, only one of more than a second - that was in the few-to-several-seconds range (can no longer recall the count). With center-fires and OLD ammo, several in the fraction-to-few-second range and one that was more than 10 seconds (again, cannot recall the count). None have been with revolvers, so I cannot say if I would still observe proper mis/hang-fire procedure with one in reality, but I profoundly hope that my discipline would prevail.

Regards,
Joel

 

[George T.]

Since I bought my C02 un loader It has saved my bacon several times and I have found several other uses for it. You will never regret buying one. I got mine from Dixie's.

Geo. T.

 

[2172]

In over 30 years ofshooting ML's I have never hada hangfire andI haveneverseen one . in spite oftat when I have a misfire I trat it like a coled rattler hank

 

[ChrisHarris]

I shoot caplocks. No flinters.

If I get a mis-fire, I just wait 5-10 seconds, then pull the hammer back and recap. That usually does it.

My TC Hawken gets gummed up after about 25-30 shots. The bottom of the nipple gets crusted over. It will hang fire 2 or 3 times, then it quits firing. It took me a handful of times to figure out the pattern of the rifle. Now I just shoot until I experience a hang fire and then pull the nipple. Field clean it, and get back to shootin'....good for another 25-30 shots. I'm usually wore out before then, so I don't worry about it getting gummed up the 2nd time. I think the most I ever shot in a day was around 50 times and it started to hang fire again. I went home and cleaned it.

 

[RedFeather]

When I first got my musket I lubed Minie bases with Crisco. Bad combination with a hot barrel on a hot July day. Didn't take long before I had some slight hang fires, kind of like click - boom. Quit lubing the bases and she fired normally.