Frustrating Range Session with TC Hawken

[vsparto]

Last Saturday I shot my TC Hawken .50 for the first time in three weeks after shooting 50 or more shots in a silohuette shoot the last time out with no problems. I had gotten some Lyman sights I needed to sight in for the next shoot this coming Saturday. The morning was overcast and humidity must have been 100% with temp in the middle 80's at 10 AM. I loaded up with 60 grains of Goex FFFg and TC lubed .018 patch and .490 ball. Put the cap on pulled the trigger and cap went off with no big boom. Tried another cap an no big boom. Took the nipple out and poured some powder in and finally big boom. I had swabbed with moose milk and dry patched prior to the first shot. Had problems with slow ignition off and on in 10 shots I fired. I swabbed and fired a few caps and then tried to seat another ball. It got stuck about a foot down from the muzzle. I couldn't pound it down. Took the nipple out and poured moose milk on the powder charge and put it in the truck and then shot something that didn't use blackpowder for a while. Got the hawken home and used the fence post and some rope tied around the range rod after screwing it into the ball and proceed to pull it out. Came out looking like a hollow point conical patch and all. I proceeded to give the gun a thorough bath. I didn't pump wash it the last time. I just cleaned it with moose milk and put bore butter down the barrel. I got some rust out after running a brush through it about 30 times. I guess that caused all my problems. That and the high humidity so I stored it away with CLP down the barrel and hopefully won't have problems this Saturday. Any tips and tricks to avoid a session like that in the future?

 

[GregC]

Sounds like you did not clean it real well the first time out!

Clean, clean, clean.

100% dry. Then use NL1000.

Pump cleaning with a barrel of hot water is the best way to go.

 

[walruskid1]

check 'em a couple of days later with a dry patch, then re-oil them.

 

I feel your pain...

I've had problems with residue building up in the nipple channel. One of my rifles also has a drum that the nipple screws into and it clogs frequently. Therefore, I have started spending a lot of time cleaning the ignition path to make sure this area is spotless. Even with it clean, I often have to pull the cleanout screw on the drum after 15-20 shots because I'll get a misfire.

I stuck a ball or two when I first started with ML rifles but since then I try to make a point of swabbing a damp patch after every shot. There are others who can shoot all afternoon without swabbing but I take the precaution because I don't want to get a ball jammed into the barrel and it doesn't take long to make a swipe before loading.

 

[Rebel]

Good reason to get a solid brass or stainless steel rod to use at the range. I have never had a ball get so stuck going down that i couldn't finish seating it with the brass rod i use. I may have to put the end of the rod against a solid wall or something, but it will seat the ball. :m2c:

 

[rmonday2]

vsparto, sounds like you may have left some dampness in the nipple area just before shooting. This would have caked your powder at the nipple in the begining. Even though the charg went off, it may not have all expelled; leaving only a small flash hole to the main charge. next time, if you must clean before you shoot flush with alcohol and allow it time to evaporate, then fire a couple of caps only to make sure nothing eals is there.
If this happens to you again,remove the nipple and trickle some powder in the hole. It will fill up, but you can jar the side of the rifle with the palm of your hand and it will dissapear into the hole. reinstall the nipple and shoot.
This will also work to remove a ball without powder, but I repet the powder jaring twice before trying to shoot. It'll spit it out like a wad of gum and the day is saved! :thumbsup: Good luck with your shooting Ronnie...

 

[Rebel]

But make sure you have the ball seated all the way before trying to shoot it out after pouring powder in the nipple opening.

 

I think such an occurance is absolutely not frustrating! It is a learning experience and adds a lot of understanding of the BP arms. And the old lady, called Experience, always comes late.

When I started BP (after reading a lot about the topic) I reckoned with difficulties, but up to now, I didn't have any problem.

 

[JOHN L. HINNANT]

Greetings Vsparto,

Your problem has been discussed many times in depth on this forum.

The solution is to wipe the bore between every shot and use the the flush tube method to clean up.

Look up some of my postings about the two subjects, and that will put you right in the middle of everybodys ideas about this subject. (Do not tell anybody, but my method is the only right way. If you tell anybody what I just said, it is bound to stir a bunch of people up).

Best regards,

John L. Hinnant

 

[Pittsburghunter]

I thought Moosemilk was a lube not a cleaner sounds like a cleaning problem.

When I shoot my m/l I go for the clean dry barrel thing and lube loads as required. I use 70% alc or bp solvent then dry the bore and fire chamber before loading anything. With sidelocks I take off the nipple and use a pipe cleaner to clear the channel before firing. I also set off a cap or two with the cleaning rod all the way down with a fresh patch to make sure the fire is getting to the business end. If it does not come up all black from the primer I know I have a problem.

Lube can make or break a good shooting rifle.

 

[vsparto]

It was a good learning experience. I have only been shooting black powder for about 9 months. It was the first ball that stuck on me in about 500 shots. So I was able to clear it. It was some pretty damp conditions that I was shooting in. Just after the ball got stuck the clouds opened up. So I think my powder was caking and leaving more residue in the barrel. Prior shoots I was able to shoot 5 shots with prelubed TC .018 ticking and 60 gr of fffg goex and then wet patch with moose milk and dry patch and on with the next 5 shots but not this day.
So it was more frustration with the weather and dealing with it than shooting the Hawken. I still need to finish sighting in the new sights before the silohuette shoot this Saturday. I gained a little more knowledge from the experience and everyones comments. Thanks for the replies.

 

[Pittsburghunter]

Well there you go you answered my question.

You use moosemilk as a lube my friend not to clean your rifle or rifle bore.

You use bore cleaner to clean the bore not lube. Whether it be a commercial cleaner or some of the homemade ones you read about here it does not matter you can't shoot that way.

I bet if you clean your barrel real good (without moosemilk) it will go off fine. I know of nobody that recomends using Moosemilk for cleaning.

 

[Stumpkiller]

I know of nobody that recomends using Moosemilk for cleaning.

I do. All the time. I use it as both a lube and a blackpowder solvent, and as a wipe between shot strings. I have cleaned a gun after shooting with moose milk when hot soapy water is not available.

Lubing well before the first load of the day and a spit wipe every third or fifth shot helps, but a wipe every ten shots with moose milk keeps me going for long sessions.

 

[Zonie]

As others have said, it sounds like the first shot problems were caused by a somewhat plugged flash hole but the delayed firing you mentioned of all of the first and the other shots could be a symptom of your loading method.

If you are not clearing the spent cap off of the nipple, or you are leaving the hammer down on the nipple while ramming the ball down on the next charge of powder you are preventing the loose powder from being blown back into the flash hole.
If this occures, the flame from the cap will have to travel a torturous path to reach the main powder charge. By the time it does reach the main charge, it will have lost much of it's heat.

The solution is simply to make sure the nipple is clear of the spent cap, and put the hammer at the half cock position before ramming the ball.
If you do this, the air in the barrel will blow out thru the nipple with enough force to carry the powder back thru the flash hole so it rests right below the nipple.
The new caps flame will only have to travel about 1/4 inch before it ignites the powder.

 

[Pittsburghunter]

SK all the more power to you but I find lube in the bore causes missfires. Am I doing something wrong?

 

[vsparto]

Zonie and others thanks for the info. I was not paying attention to the nipple while loading the next ball. I will definitely remove the cap and half cock the lock before loading in the future. Thanks for the good advice.
I had cleaned the rifle at the range the last time before this episode with moose milk and a pipe cleaner through the flash hole and thought I had it cleaned good but there must have been some powder residue in the breech. This time I cleaned it with hot soapy water and pumped it and bore brushed it really good and sprayed it with clp. I'm going to shoot it on Saturday so we'll see how it does. Going to shoot 40+ shots in the monthly silohuette shoot. I usually shoot 5 shots and then swab with moose milk and dry patch that was working the last 2 times before this time. I think alot of it is the high humidity in NJ this summer. It has been brutal for the last month. Last Saturday I went through 4 t-shirts. One at the range, one cleaning the Hawken one mowing the lawn and one chasing the grand kids around the yard. Man has it been hot. I think I might need to use straight alocohol to swab after a few shots this Saturday to keep the moisture in the barrel down. It is supposed to be in the mid 90's with high humidity again. I'll let you know how it went. Thanks again.

 

[pepperbelly]

You don't spray the CLP into the bore, do you? If so and it isn't completely removed that may cause some of your fouling trouble.
Jim