First Black Powder Rifle

[DJensen]

I gave up looking for BP in CA years ago and stick with T7. As anything over a pound is a felony here, T7 is classed as smokeless so you can have up to 20 pounds.

 

[stronics]

Wow, Apple Valley. I used to fly up there from Long Beach for breakfast an the Inn. Wonderful place.
I'm curious. If I may ask, what happened to your right eye? Mine has been doing crazy things for the last three years. I see a notch right where I want to see the front sight. I tried left handed and didn't seem right to me.
David

 

[Socal147]

Today I discovered some good and bad news.
Bad news - my nipple wrench is too small. I will need to do some personalizing to make it work.
Good news - it looks like Pederosi is listening to customers. My nipple and nipple base screw both had never seize applied to them. The nipple came out with the use of a 8 mm open end wrench and very little force. Pleasant surprise! Micrometer reading was right at 6.8 flat to flat.
Hairball - I know. Very sad that BP has been criminalized. I have T7 in house.
Stronics - Macular Degeneration both eyes, Ectasia right eye. Left eye is pretty good, right eye is good for spotting barns ...

 

[bpd303]

If you have a Dremel tool with a cutoff wheel, nipple wrenches are easy to make and superior to most on the market. I made these out of 1/4 drive sockets. just make them a snug fit for the size nipple you have.

 

[Socal147]

Finally went shooting today got off eight shots total. What a hoot. I loved it all. But why oh why did I stop so soon http://s1107.photobucket.com/user/socal147/media/imagejpg1.jpg.html?sort=3&o=0
On the eighth and final attempted shot, I attempted to fire four times. I use T7 (Commiefornia Resident, Michigan Born) and RWS 1081 caps pushing a .570 ball with a .05 patch. Gave up and brought her home with a stuck ball. Bummer but a great chance at another learning experience.
Please keep in mind;
This is my first time shooting a muzzle loader so this was a FamFire for me. No prior experience and no friends that shoot ML. I could care a less about accuracy right now. I was just out to have pure fun. Mission accomplished.
To remove the ball I used the standard stuck projectile remover, my ramrod, and my homemade force redirecter made of a nice piece of purpleheart. After threading the ball, I used the purpleheart stuck projectile removal assist tool as a hammering surface to remove the stubborn aforementioned problem. :grin:
I live alone so when my lady is not here, I used the kitchen sink filled with hot soapy water for cleaning. Works Great! :wink: http://s1107.photobucket.com/user/socal147/media/imagejpg2.jpg.html?sort=3&o=1
Should I enlarge my nipple hole. I did have one no fire on shot four. I waited 30 seconds or so and tried another cap. Bang ... No Problem. Attempted shot number eight, I tried firng four times without success. The cap went off without a hitch. Comments or advice appreciated.
Thanks
All
Patrick

 

[gwalker]

Likely a clogged nipple. Use a nipple pick (wire) to keep your nipple hole open when shooting at the range. Also, if you had oil standing in the patent breech, the shooting may have built up enough fouling in the passageway such that it became clogged. A good flushing is needed to clean it out after shooting and be sure to clean out the oil before heading out to the range.

 

[Socal147]

Think I might have found the problem. If you look at the extracted ball closely, the breech side has been flattened. Would this happen if there was powder present. I may have pulled a rookie mistake.

 

[bpd303]

If you didn't have any powder come out after you pulled the ball... Welcome to the dry ball club. :grin:
Next time you go to the range take your nipple wrench along. If you have a failure to fire pull the nipple and dribble as much powder as you can under the nipple then put it back in and cap & fire with the muzzle in a safe direction. This will usually get the dry ball out and fire a charge that is not going off due to a blocked flash channel.

BTW pretty ingenious your force re-directer. :thumbsup:

 

[Socal147]

Second Shooting Experience.
Went out today armed with a little bit more knowledge and some Minnie's I had cast yesterday.

First ball shot required that I pull the nipple, add a tad of T7 ..... and bang.
Second shot was normal.
Third ball shot was a repeat of first
Forth, fifth, and sixth shot Were Minnie's, 50 grains T7 ,and ... FTF.
I removed and cleaned the nipple. The pick I bought from COTW was too large for the small nipple hole. In order to fire the Minnies I had to add a pinch of powder before reinstalling the nipple. I could see light thru the nipple hole.

Question; at this point I am leaning towards enlarging the nipple passage. How big do I need to go?

P.S. I really like shooting Minnie's

 

[Zonie]

If "nipple passage" means the tiny hole thru the nipple, leave it alone. Do not enlarge it.
It is small for a reason and enlarging it can damage your lock by allowing the powder gasses to blow the hammer back.

If you want to do anything to a passage, buy some old fashioned "pipe cleaners" and scour the small hole that connects the bottom of the nipple with the powder chamber in the bore.
That little hole may have a bunch of fouling in it that's causing the problem.
(The pipe cleaners I'm talking about are used to clean the stem on a tobacco pipe.)

Also, when you are loading the gun, make sure the hammer is at half cock and no cap (or remnants of it) are left on the nipple.

You want a clear passageway for the air under the ball or Minie' to escape thru when the projectile is being rammed down the barrel.

If the connecting passageway is clear, the escaping air should automatically blow fresh powder to the base of the nipple doing, in effect the same thing you are doing by adding extra powder to that area.

 

[Socal147]

Got it. Cleaning the barrel at this moment. I will do a double check on the passage. I thought I got it clean the first time but....
Checked the little passage (patent breach) between the nipple and the barrel it was clear. The nipple hole is clear. When I cleaned it the first time pulled hot soapy water back and forth from the muzzle end. When I was done I rinse with hot water in the same manner. Dried then lightly oil. I did spray brake cleaner thru the small passage and nipple post drying to make sure this area was clean and dry.
Prior to firing today, I wiped the barrel of most of the oil and fired two caps to clear the nipple and passage area.

 

[Socal147]

Now I am stumped. I will attempt a more thorough clean, dry, oil, and ensure the nipple passage area is very clean and dry.
Hmmm

 

[Socal147]

Ok, cleaned, and dried everything. Lightly oiled the barrel. Assembled the rifle and lightly oiled the rest of the metal with the exception of the breech passage and nipple threads. The passage is very clean. I have left the nipple and nipple base screw out and stored the rifle barrel down.

 

[bpd303]

The only other thing I can think of is weak musket caps. What brand (type) are you using?

 

[Zonie]

I agree.

It's very possible the caps are CCI #301 that are made for reenactors.
They were intentionally weakened by CCI to prevent fragmenting and because of complaints about the older #300 caps being too loud. :shake:

Also, a contributor may be the Seven7seven powder.
I've heard it comes in a 2F and 3F equivalent and the 2F may be too course to easily pass thru the flame channel to the base of the nipple.

It's higher ignition temperature, when compared with real black powder will also make it a little less likely to fire.

 

[Socal147]

I am using RWS 1081 musket caps. Could be that storing the rifle butt down allowed oil to collect down at the breach ??? Now I know to bring pipe cleaners, remove the nipple and nipple base screw in order to clean the small passage. I still don't understand how it worked after I placed a small amount of powder under the nipple if the passage was plugged. Won't be able to get back out to the range until Tuesday or Wednesday to test some theories. Lol

 

[Zonie]

Oil collecting in the flame channel between the nipple and the bore is common when the gun is stored with the butt down and the muzzle up.

That could explain the first misfire. If a priming charge is placed under the nipple and the gun is then fired, that usually blows the oil out of the area and the rest of the day can be spent shooting without the extra fussing around.

The RWS 1081 caps are hot enough that I would say they are not the problem.

 

[Socal147]

That is what I am not understanding. I blew out the flame channel but was still having ignition issues on the following shots.
Next time out I plan on ensuring the barrel has no residual oil prior to making booms.

Thanks all .....

 

[bpd303]

The only other suggestion I have, other than changing powders to say Pyrodex or better yet real black, is to remove what Pedersoli calls the nipple base screw (#12) or what we call the cleanout screw to see if anything is amiss (obstruction) with the flash channel. http://www.davide-pedersoli.com/uploads/prodotti/S243.pdf

 

[Zonie]

I have seen cases where the nipple threads were long enough to block off most of the cross-drilled flame channel.

It might be a good idea to check out the location of that cross-drilled hole and the length of the nipple threads to see if they are covering it.

I've also read about some guns that had a burr left in the area where the flame channel broke out into the chambered breech.

I don't think a Rifled Musket has a chambered breech but there is a place where the flame channel intersects the bore.

If a pipe cleaner is run down thru the flame channel, it would be a good idea to shine a flashlight down the bore to see if the end of the cleaner can be clearly seen.