Dealing with shotgun misfires

[tamara]

I finally got out to make some smoke yesterday. :grin: I had two misfires, both in the left barrel. Both times, the second cap fired the main charge.

I also made a big newbie mistake: I didn't check that the jag was tight on my cleaning rod, and it fell off the rod and got stuck in the barrel with the cleaning patch. :shake:

While dealing with that, I learned that the "patch puller" I bought was worthless. I say "was" because I broke it in about 30 seconds. It was a the thin two-wire type.

So, after that, I realized that if another cap does not fire the main charge, I'm completely unprepared to deal with a misfire. What do you use to pull the charge from a shotgun? Do you just pull the overshot card, knock the shot out, then pull the cushion wad and nitro card, and knock the powder out? What then? Snap some caps through? What if you didn't get all the powder out, or pieces of wads are still stuck in there?

Otherwise it was a real nice day. Sunny, dry, hardly any wind, about 30 degrees F.

 

[boar]

Tamare The patch puller is for a patch only it is not a jag puller. IF barrel was empty,you take out nipple and put in few grains of powder,it don't take much,put nipple back in and put something to catch the jag,something soft,pater,cloth,ect.shot,if jag don't come out ,pull nipple repeat above and put more powder in, replace nipple.Now push the jag back down on bottom.This is important,if you don't you could damage barrel,This should do the job.I have done this more than once. Dilly

 

[Berk]

I have only had to pull a load once on my shotgun. I just used my ball puller for my rifle. Pulled the over shot card dumped the shot then drilled my ball puller through the cushion wad into the nitro card and pulled that. I didnt have to worry about the powder since it was in the other barrel.( Ouch )

Berk

 

[Rebel]

Tamara, i have never had a misfire with my double barrel and the only hangfires were when i didn't snap a cap or two before loading to get any left over oil out. Sounds like you have a nipple problem, (not you personally, your gun :grin: ). Try swapping the nipples and see if it does the same thing with it on the right barrel. If so, i would get a new nipple for it. Or maybe just buy a new one and try it, they don't cost that much. Glad you had a good time. Welcome to the Order of Spray and Pray. :grin:

 

[tamara]

:rotf: at "nipple problem"

I've seen the "Hot Shot" nipples and so forth advertised as helping with better ignition. Are these any good?

Also, do you have any idea what thread size, etc., fits a Cabela's Pedersoli double?

 

[Rebel]

My double barrel is a Navy Arms amde by Pietta, so i am not sure what size nipple your Pedersoli takes. I haven't found that i need the Hot Shot nipples in my double since the nipple is a direct line to the powder. I do use them in sidelock rifles, and they work good. Good luck with your double, they are a lot of fun.

 

[Leatherbark]

The only time my New Englander 12 gauge has ever misfired is when I either take a 12 gauge brush and loosen the fouling ......It seems to drop ashes down into the firing chamber and cause a misfire. Or when swabbing with just a slightly damp patch..........Seems like it forces fouling into the patent breech......So now if I use a brush after firing several shots I her upside down and shake the heck out of her until the loose 2fg fouling falls out.......Bob

 

[Leonredbeard]

Psst, Rebel,
Chuck Dixon calls them 'cones'. He claims that is what they were called originally in the 19th century. It takes the :redface: out of talking about them, hee, hee!
YHWH bless.
volatpluvia

 

[Rebel]

:redface: Boy, thanks, that will save me some worries. :grin: Hows about Tetons? Is the Teton on your rifle plugged? :grin:

 

[Blue Smoke]

On my Double Barrel the Left Barrel the nipple wasn't lining up with the Hammer,got that fixed never had a problem.

Blue Smoke

 

[Toomuch_36]

Tamare The patch puller is for a patch only it is not a jag puller.

For future reference to pull the over shot/over powder cards and wads it is best to use the "lag screw" type ball pullers.

Toomuch
.............
Shoot Flint

 

[Leonredbeard]

Rebel,
How about calling them the (spelled phonetically) walaharta? These two mountains are found just west of I25 in Southern Colorado. They project upward out of the plain. :rotf:
YHWH bless.
volatpluvia

 

[Rebel]

Sounds good to me. Course the other way is easier to spell. :grin:

 

[paulvallandigham]

YOu want to use the ball puller for this, the device that looks like a wood screw welded onto a fitting for a cleaning rod( 'cuase that is what it is!), to pull wads. Use a good range rod( I like steel, some like brass, other aluminum) with a muzzle protector, and just screw the thing into that over shot card, and pull it out. The shot pours out. Then screw the thing into the next wad, and pull it out, until you are down to the powder. It isn't a fun thing to do, but its a great way to remind yourself not to put any wads down the barrel unless you are sure that you put powder down first. In your case, you have a stuck jag. That is a whole other set of problems. The one time it happened to me, I was able to get the ramrod onto the end of the jag, and screw the thing back on, and then pull it out. I still consider myself a very lucky man that night. The safest way to get everything out is with one of those CO2 devices that will screw into your nipple mount, so that you just blow all the powder, wads, shot, and jag out of the gun with one squirt.

 

[tamara]

Thanks for the input, everyone. I knew I should have bought one of those screw things. They are called "ball pullers" at the store, and the other was called a "patch puller," so I just figured I needed a patch puller. Now I know! I will go buy the screw thing this weekend.

I managed to get the jag out... err with a clothes hanger (the wire kind that are covered in plastic). :redface: I bent a hook in the end and fiddled with it down the barrel for a long time, and finally hooked the cleaning patch securely enough to pull it and the jag out. Some how the patch corners got over the threads of the jag, and I couldn't screw the rod back on.

Hopefully I didn't scratch up the barrel or screw it up by doing that. It has chromed barrels, and looked good when I was done, but I don't know what to look for anyway.

 

[ffffg]

you didnt give loading proceedures so its tough to determin whats causing the misfires.. im assuming the gun has nipples going into chamber without a 90 degree angle into the chamber.. this is the best type of ignition for percussion.. dont wipe a shotgun, its a waste of time and unnessesary.. you could be getting crud from fireing forced down into nipple area from wiping, or water (cement hard damp crud) getting down into nipple area from wipping, or have too much oil in chamber running down into nipple area from oiling after cleaning.. or lube blowing back into nipple area.. too much oil can be stopped by prefireing a couple caps before loading.. crud from wiping or dampness can be stopped by stopping wiping , and lube blow back can be stopped with proper fitting nitro card. check to be sure there is not a burr in the way of nipple into chamber. and that cap is all the way down on the nipple.. if cap is not all way down on nipple it can stop ignition by not fireing.. use powder, nitro card, lube, fiber wad, shot, over shot card.. if barrel is not pretty clean after firng when loading use more lube.. the nito card over the powder will scrape bore, the lube will wet it, so this is better than wiping becouse its after the powder is in, and it wont cause misfires.. pack nito card to get better iginiton,do not pack the overshot card as it will make for poor patterns.. i have a cabellas sxs 10 gauge and ive considered it haveing excellent ignition.. so if this loading doesnt help id be surprised.. but we cant watch you load or inspect your gun,, youll have to do that.. time will give up the problem and the fix.. dave..

 

[ffffg]

on wonder wad post down the page i remembered if your choke is too tight for fiber wads, then you should use a coulple wonder wads over nitro cards with lots of tc lube. more lube can be added under or between the wonder wads if your getting into very cold or dry weather.. the nitro card and wonder wads should clean up the bore quite nicely , making wiping unnesesary.. .. dave.

 

[tamara]

Thanks for the info, dave!

Yes, the nipples are not quite a 90 degree angle from the chamber. I didn't do any wiping between shots. The jag-getting-stuck problem was during pre-put-away cleaning when I got home. It just made me realize how unprepared I was if I had to pull the main charge.

The left barrel that misfired has a modified choke. I soap / water cleaned it before use, and dried with clean patches. Then a quick wipe with a little bit of Natrual Lube 2000. When I got to my shooting area, I snapped two caps through both barrels. However, I loaded and shot only the right barrel a couple times before loading and shooting both barrels. Could that have given time for condensation or something to form in the left barrel? It's desert out here. It was at or slightly above freezing temp.

I used a volumetric powder measure, "one ounce" volume equivalent of Pyrodex RS, wacked the base of the barrel a couple times to get it to fall in toward nipple, then a Circle Fly nitro card (about 1/8" thick), then a half of a pre-lubed wonder wad (about a 1/4"), because it was nearly impossible to get a whole one down through the choke. Then 1 oz of #7.5 shot, then 1 overshot card.

Then I put a cap on (I'll have to check next time that I put them on all the way thanks!). Pulled hammer to full cock, aimed, (mis)fired.

Didn't have any trouble at all with the right barrel.

If you see any problems, please point them out to me! Thank you all for your help. :bow:

 

[Rusty Old Gunns]

My double barrel is a Navy Arms amde by Pietta, so i am not sure what size nipple your Pedersoli takes. I haven't found that i need the Hot Shot nipples in my double since the nipple is a direct line to the powder. I do use them in sidelock rifles, and they work good. Good luck with your double, they are a lot of fun.

I have both. A Peta 12 gauge, and a Pedersoli short barreled Coach Gun. I call the Pedersoli the "Room Broom" because, full of 1 1/2 oz of #4 buck, I'm betting that darlin could sure clear a room.

Anyways. They both use 1/4 X 28 nipples. I replaced the nipples in both guns with Musket Cap Nipples. They give you a greater detonation, and are so easy to load in the field. And at the range for "ole Fat Fingers"

Stay safe... Quail hunt alone.

 

[ffffg]

good idea to clean before you shot first time.. after i clean (after shooting) i dry with denatured alcohol..plug nippel and put small aomount in and pump it into plastic bucket. this stuff is dangerous around any flame and id burns blue and cant be seen. so dont use in room with any flame like boiler or water heater!!!! then i lightly oil bore, and again lightly oil it the next day, allthe time looking for any sign of rust.. .. thats all you need.. the best way to do nipple guns is a plastic tube over nupple into bucket with weight on it. pump in soapy water, push it out. thenput clean water in bucket, rinse, and dry.. sounds to me like you got water in the nipple that you got the miss fire, or possibley the lube... niether are nessesary with the load i gave you earlier.. just make absolutely sure there is never any water in the bore setting while in storage.. dave..