Flushing Flash Chamber w/ Alcohol before Hunting

[luieb45]

I have heard of people flushing the nipple with alcohol before hunting instead of snapping a cap off. What I want to know is how I go about this. How much do I use? How long does it take to evaporate? Do I need to use a specific type of rubbing alcohol or is 70% ok? Thanks guys. :thumbsup:

 

[roundball]

I have heard of people flushing the nipple with alcohol before hunting instead of snapping a cap off. What I want to know is how I go about this. How much do I use? How long does it take to evaporate? Do I need to use a specific type of rubbing alcohol or is 70% ok? Thanks guys. :thumbsup:

Never did that, just used caps instead...but I will offer one thought about using alcohol due to the water content in it.

Places like Walmart and most drugstores carry both the 70% and 91% versions...the 91% version only costs a couple dimes more so I use 91% for any use on muzzleloaders, like cleaning off the Flint lock mechanism every 12-15 shots at the range...less water and I assume 91% should also evaporate faster.

 

[henry65]

I tried the alcohol when hunting with cap until i had a problem with it not evaporating once. the fumes trapped in the flash Chanel caused my cap to disintegrate which i found out when i went to unload that night so after that i went back to snapping a cap :thumbsup:

 

[boar]

Well I have not done this. I clean my detachable barrels in warm water and soap. Dry and oil. I always pull nipple and run Q tip in chambers. I never dry fire a cap or flash a pan. All ways go bang. Now if I am unsure about a certain gun going off due to type of breech, I pull nipple and add a little 4 in chamber. My nondetachable barrels I clean with MAP-equal parts Of Murphys soap,Alcohol,and Peroxide. After you use it be sure you oil as it removes everything to the bare metal. Hope this helps. Dilly

 

[longcruise]

I have heard of people flushing the nipple with alcohol before hunting instead of snapping a cap off. What I want to know is how I go about this. How much do I use? How long does it take to evaporate? Do I need to use a specific type of rubbing alcohol or is 70% ok? Thanks guys.

I have done this on the occasions where I know I left quite a bit of oil in the barrel after the last cleaning. I use denatured alcohol. I plug the nipple with an automotive vacuum line cap (you could use a piece of leather under the hammer too I suppose) then pour about 70 grains of alcohol down the bore using my trso measure with a funnel attached. Then slosh it back and forth a bit and let it sit in the breech are for a few minutes. Then unplug your nipple and use your rod with a patch on it to push some of the alcohol out through the nipple. Remove the nipple and use the rod to blow a whole lot of air throught the breech area to more or less dry it out. Then, let it set overnight without the nipple screwed in or at least a couple hours.

The whole process takes less time to do than to type!

OTOH, usually I have been shooting a day or so before hunting and use the water cleaning method to clean and then dry it with dry patches and follow with just a spritz of WD40 to displace any missed moisture. Store the rifle muzzle down and just load as usual for the hunt.

I never snap a cap before loading to hunt but often do it at the range or a match in lieu of the alcohol method.

There are many ways to deal with the potential problem and pretty much all of them work.

 

[Jason Lewis]

i do this all time with my whitworth. i use a capfull of the 90% rubbing alcohol. i then immediatly swab the bore with a dry patch, which does two things it squeezes the excess out of the nipple and it also makes an oil free bore. i then follow up with successive dry patches untill the bore is dry. then i use about 3 caps then 1 more dry patch to remove crud blown out by the caps. 100% ignition every time.

the only thing i do differently when i am hunting, is i do all of this the night before then let the rifle or smoothbore stand upside down over night. and 1 more dry patch in the morning just to be sure. this works for either cap or flint, never had a miss fire with this method.

 

[Little Wattsy]

I have heard of people flushing the nipple with alcohol before hunting instead of snapping a cap off. What I want to know is how I go about this. How much do I use? How long does it take to evaporate? Do I need to use a specific type of rubbing alcohol or is 70% ok? Thanks guys. :thumbsup:

Once in hunting camp I blow the load each night with a CO2 discharger. I then swab a couple of patches of 91% alcohol. I let sit over night and reload in the morning. It works PERFECTLY.

 

[stubshaft]

I use the denatured variety and also do not snap a cap prior to loading for hunting. I do use a pipe cleaner though to dry out and remove any lube from the flash channel (after removing the nipple). Never tried it in my rocklocks though.

 

[hanshi]

If alcohol is used, denatured is the way to go. I usually just pop a cap and have had no problems over the years. I have to say, however, that I've often left the gun loaded if it hasn't been fired. Even after weeks it still fires without hesitation.

 

[Trench]

I don't have a capper, but I do use 91% alcohol to swab my bore between relays in competition. I feel more secure in avoiding a flash-in-the-pan with something that evaporates as fast as the alcohol.

 

[ravenousfishing]

I use the an alcohol flush at the range to clean the oil out of a barrel that was well oiled for storage. Does an excellent job of removing the oil. In fact, maybe too good a job. Fortunatly the one time I did this before hunting, I checked the barrel after a couple of days. There was a very fine layer of rust starting to form from the lack of oil in the bore. I often leave my hunting guns loaded for a week or two during the season. Before loading, I run a dry patch or two down the bore, followed by a dry 38 cal swab or a small slotted gleaning tip and patch into the patent breech to get out any oil that may have pooled there. Than I use a Q-tip to clean the nipple thread area and a pipe cleaner to clean the nipple. I may or may not fire a cap, depending on where I am. Takes longer to describe than to do. No problem with the gun going bang when I want it to, and never had any rust issues.

 

[paulvallandigham]

In the field, just run a lubed( greased) cleaning patch down the barrel after seating the PRB. This will grease the bore in front of the PRB, and protect it for days from any humidity or moisture that might get into the barrel. It does not seem to affect accuracy( change POI) in any of the guns in which I have done this. My Chronograph actually shows an increase in MV of about 20 fps when the bore on my rifle is greased. Totally unexpected! :shocked2: :hmm: :idunno: :hatsoff:

 

[luieb45]

So correct me if I am wrong guys... For a pre-hunting procedure would swishing around about 80 grains of 70% alcohol the night before I go hunting take the need away from having to pop caps before hunting? This of course is after I have weeks before flushed and cleaned the gun with soap and water then oiled the gun. I'm just trying to test better procedures to use before I hunt since I am going to be working up a hunting load in my rifle this weekend. And Paul, about your running a greased patch after loading, would the grease off the patch as I ram the ball down coat the barrel already?

 

[paulvallandigham]

Yes, grease from the patch lubes the bore, but then its also strips grease from the patch that is needed to act as a firewall for the patch. Putting more lube down the barrel makes sure you have it in the corners of the grooves, where it might not get from the patch around the ball. The added lube FEEDS the patch with more grease, as the patch and ball come out of the barrel, and that keeps the patch from burning.

There is method to the madness...... :wink: :thumbsup:

 

[jethro224]

After cleaning with soap and water, I use a non-petroleum-base oil (like olive oil, bear oil, etc) to oil my bore. Store muzzle down. I never pop a cap before loading.
In 5 years and thousands of shot from my GPR I have had 4 missfires.
The first time was because I did not properly clean the gun after shooting the day before. My fault.
The 2nd and 3rd were right in a row while trying to shoot a nice buck last fall after I had failed to properly clean my nipple. My fault.
The 4th was just recently when I got a cap with nothing inside. Remington's fault, but I shoulda checked.

The way I see it, if I did my job and cleaned my rifle properly last time I shot it, and pay attention to the details while loading, the rifle will go off.

It's always smart to run a patch down the barrel before loading after your rifle has sat for a while. Put it on half-cock first and listen/feel for the air hissing out the nipple. That tells you the nipple and flame channel are clear. It also confirms that the gun is not already loaded and the bore is not obstructed.

Your mileage may vary but you've got plenty of time before deer season to try whatever you think will work. :thumbsup:

 

[luieb45]

What I think I'll do this weekend when I go shoot is day before I'll flush the chamber with alcohol then let it dry. Load the gun(without capping it), do that greasing the bore with the load in there like Paul said, then shoot the gun the next day. I'll be working up hunting loads this weekend because I've found patching that works great for a 55 grain target load but if I bump it up to around 75 or 80 it might burn through. So if it does I still have plenty of time to find better patching. I might also try out my squirrel load again because squirrel season is coming up in about 2 1/2 months. I am still wanting to find an affordable ml shotgun for small game hunting because I think it would be more suitable.

 

[luieb45]

Well, I loaded with 75 grains of powder and patch and ball having prior swished with alcohol the night before. I got to the farm and fired and only cap went off. Then I fired another cap and had a huge hang fire. What I think happened is when I got my gun ready this morning I wiped a patch through and there was surface rust in the bore and I had to wipe some wet patches to get it out. Then I dried it... kinda. Then on top of that it was 90 and humid today so that didn't help. Next time I'll just clean it properly after I shoot it then when I need it I will just load. Then I tested deer loads and found that 80 grains of 3f black powder works best. On top of that my patches had no tears or rips after shooting so I am ready for deer season. Even though it is 6 months away. :rotf:

 

[jethro224]

so I am ready for deer season. Even though it is 6 months away.

Not quite. Gotta get that 1st shot figgered out. :wink:

 

[luieb45]

That first shot was bad because there was still a little moisture left in the barrel because when I did the alcohol treatment all I had was %70 alcohol so the water caused some surface rust in the barrel. So when I checked the barrel I got some rust on my patch so then I cleaned the barrel with soap and water then sorta dried it. Then like 10 min. later I loaded. I figure if the barrel and flash channel are clean it will fire fine. Or I could do like last year and snap some caps off before hunting.

 

[jethro224]

As a rule, before loading I'll run a clean dry patch down my barrel before loading. That tells me for sure nothing is in the bore and, if I pay attention, if my nipple is clear. If the patch comes out too oily, I'll run another down and into the patent breech on a smaller brush. Then load and shoot.

I had a Traditions rifle once that missfired after snapping a cap before loading due to a piece of cap crud.

You just need to develop a system that works for you and remember to stick to it and pay attention. Most every one of my missfires is due to me getting lazy about one thing or another.