How to stop misfires?

[TerryK]

Swabbing is shady. I use a barely damp patch, just to keep the powder residue soft. I try not to push down the gunk.
I guess swabbing has been one of my biggest problems over the many years.

 

[Rifleman1776]

I swab between every shot. But, I only dampen the flannel with spit. Key is dampen, not wet or soak. It is enough to bring up the gunk and not create goo that will cause problems like you describe. Try it, you might like it.

 

[Grimord]

The other day when I was in Harbor Freight I spotted some very small bristle brushes used to clean paint nozzles. The smallest one is perfect for cleaning the touch hole, and it has a ring on the end of the shaft that is easily attached to a thong with your pick or priming horn.

 

[sportster73hp]

At a match I usually clean after each 5 shot target. One wet , one or two dry. I use the difficult to find morning coffee. Hot or cold works the same.

 

[R.J.Bruce]

Like FlintyScot I used a home made copper wire touch hole pick when I first got started in muzzleloading. It was filed mostly round from stripped heavy copper wire like you would use to run 220v current. I glued the wire into a piece of antler time, and it was long enough to reach the opposite side of the bore's wall when picking.

Perhaps I was just lucky, but I never had more than a couple of misfires, mostly from dirty flints/frizzens/pans. The one, or two, hangfires that I had could be traced to forgetting to pick, which led to an obstructed touch hole.

After the first couple of range sessions, I made it a habit to pick the touch hole at every shot. Probably not HC, but it worked to keep the rifle firing at virtually every shot, with an incredibly low incidence of failure to fires.

 

[R.J.Bruce]

I found out early on, by learning everything by myself, that having an unshakable routine to load & shoot by, was indispensable.

Regardless of how deep the grooves in a barrel are....

Or what shape the bottom of those grooves take....

If the combination of the ball's diameter, and the thickness of the patch is such that when the ball/patch are loaded into the bore.....

Then the patch material will be imprinted into the soft lead of the ball, and the entirety of the groove will be stuffed full of patch material.....

And a complete seal of the bore will be achieved.....

And as the ball/patch is pushed down onto the powder charge.....

Virtually ALL of the previous shots fouling will be cleaned out of the bore & deposited on top of the new powder charge......

Where said fouling will be blown out of the barrel behind the patched ball.....

In NO WAY affecting the accuracy of the shot...

And, NOT REQUIRING the need to EVER swab/clean the barrel between shots......

This should be repeatable for however long you want to shoot, regardless of how many shots are taken.....

I myself have made upwards of 50 shots without needing to ever clean the barrel. This was in a very humid Maryland summer, back in the mid-70's. I only stopped because I was tired. There are shooter's over on the ALR forum that have gone over 100 shots without needing to clean the barrel.

 

[GAHUNTER60]

I have a Kibler Colonial in 54. I use a tight ball / patch combo with a lubed patch. I can get 10 to 15 shots without having to swab the barrel.

I was getting only two shots without hammering my .530 ball surrounded with a .018 pillow ticking patch, lubed with mink oil. But I did notice the other day that the second shot was going down the unswabbed bore much easier than it was just a couple of weeks ago. Maybe it's getting "seasoned" enough to allow me to shoot a few without swabbing.

I'll do a range session later this week to find out.

 

[flntlokr]

I'm not really sure it helps but when I hammer my copper picks from stripped wire, I give them a square or triangular cross section s0 twisting them should scrape the touchhole clean. I also make sure they are long enough to touch the far wall of the bore w/out binding in the hole.

I used a round iron pick on my pistol (1/16' hole) last time out & was frustratingly plagued with flash in the pan.

I wipe w/ alcohol between shots. I have best luck using a braided line with a wad of tow on each end; alcohol damp on one and dry on the other. I push them down w/ my (tapered)ramrod butt - which lets the tow collapse w/out pushing fouling down to the breech- then reverse my rod, to expand the tow wad. I hold tension on the wad w/ the rod, expanding it and pulling fouling out.

Unless it's badly fouled, I save the clean tow end for the next shot, w/ more alcohol.

Between uses, it wads up into a small pouch pocket. I carry spare tow and save the soiled tow for washing out & reuse.

I file the point on horseshoe nails square and use them for vent picks; have one hanging on a string from the trigger guard always.

 

[Springerpanhead]

Tt

Shot my first match with my Kibler Colonial yesterday. Everything was going swimmingly, until shot number 28. That`s when things went to Hades!

Started with a single flash in the pan. So I picked the flash hole and tried again -- another flash. Pick again, another flash! By now, everyone was convinced I have a dry load, so I work a little 4f into the flash hole, prime, and BOOM, hit 80-yard gong.

To make a long story short, the next two shots were carbon copies of the above (only when they did finally fire, I missed). Fortunately, it was only a 30 shot match!

This is now a pattern, as I've had the same thing happen around 25 shots at every range session. And whatever it is, is too gunky to be cleared by a simple pick.

Now, I run a moose milk dampened patch down the bore after every shot, followed by a dry patch to dry patch to remove any moisture left behind. I thought this would prevent any gunk build up, but is it instead, creating its own gunk?

What can I do to mitigate this problem? My next match is 40 shots!

The whole problem may be as simple as your patch jag. It must be small enough and long enough to allow the patch to slide down the bore without pushing crud in front of it. Then when it is withdrawn the patch bunches up and pulls the crud OUT. I learned that here on this forum, and is the best piece of advice I have yet to find when it comes to dependable firing of my flintlocks.

 

[Loyalist Dave]

Now, I run a moose milk dampened patch down the bore after every shot, followed by a dry patch to dry patch to remove any moisture left behind. I thought this would prevent any gunk build up, but is it instead, creating its own gunk?

So I use spit patch at matches, and cut the patch at the muzzle. After three shots, I have this spit-damp end of the strip of patching, with three holes in it. I cut this away, and use that as it's damp, to swab the bore. Then I prick the touch hole, and then load. Seems to work without worries.

As others have written, I think you're swab is too "wet".

LD

 

[BadDaditood]

I like Zonies’ trick, although I’ve yet to try it.
I hope he’ll correct me if my memory fails (again)
Run a damp patch down to the breech plug
Let it sit there 5 seconds (or10?) or so
Gently pull back out
You should see a wet cake of fouling on the end of the patch
Then run a dry patch
It’s So Simple I can do it!

 

[excess650]

I have one flinter that suffers from this in as little as 5 shots. Its problem is the proximity of touch hole to the breech plug, but it does fire reliably IF I load it with a pick in the touch hole. Loading this rifle, this way, is more reliable than just picking the charge.

 

[Flintandsteel]

iIf your ball/patch/lube are right, you should be able to shoot all day without swabbing, like RJ said. In all of my rifles, a .005” undersized ball, and a .020” patch, with a liquid lube will shoot all day. However, if you wait too long, say a 15 minute relay, a et patch (just one) will refresh the fouling,and you can keep going.
It doesn’t need to be so complicated.
BTW, I have a vent pick, but I don’t know where it is.

 

[Crow Choker]

While it's not 'Old Timey'-'Period Correct'-Not how they used to do it'-Add other reasons so many will give to shooters who use more modern means to overcome shooting, cleaning, etc means of overcoming some way to shoot or problems associated with the sport, but for years before taking any of my cap and ball revolvers or TC percussion rifle out to hunt/shoot, I've used compressed air from one of my air compressors to clear any possible oil used to prevent rust or any gunk that may have been left from cleaning. I always make sure no moisture is in the tank. Works like a charm, have never had a cap fail to fire, I don't even do the cap firing on an unloaded revolver any more, waste of caps as the channels are always open and dry.

In a hunting situation clearing a black powder firearm won't be possible in the field with compressed air, but at a range or whatever, a small bottle of compressed air works also. One time my TC Hawken after a number of shots wasn't firing very well, even after clearing the nipple with a pick. After 3-4 caps, the rifle finally fired. I went in the house (live in the country, shooting in my backyard range) and grabbed a can of compressed air the wife uses around the computer. Gave a blast into the nipple, ran a slightly moistened patch in a slotted jag, gave another blast into the nipple, loaded, and boom. Follow up shots had no problem. As I first mentioned--"This ain't no old timey, period correct, and how they used to do it", but it works. Have used the can of compressed air a few times since. No reason it shouldn't work on a flint rifle-blows all the gunk accumulated at the end of the barrel forward where it can be got at and does a good job of clearing a nipple/flash hole. To make it look presentable, a person could make a buckskin, fringed holder for the can of compressed air (sort of like a cold drink cozy) and pretend the guys had canned air back in the day. Just passin on, yer opinion may vary. CC

 

[R.J.Bruce]

The tight patch/ball/lube combination is not HC. Or, at least I don't think it is. The 0.005" smaller than bore diameter ball, which I stumbled upon back in 1971 when I purchased my first ball mould, always gave me the ability to shoot without swabbing. When coupled with a thick patch that COMPLETELY fills the grooves of the rifling, and a relatively damp/wet patch (I mainly used saliva); it "cleans" the bore after every shot by pushing the spent fouling that adheres to the bore down on top of the new powder charge where it lies harmless until it is expelled out of the bore behind the new patched ball.

Like I said in one of the above posts, that spent fouling has no effect on accuracy.

What I see as problematic is introducing a lot of moisture into an uncharged barrel by using wet (what's the definition of how wet the cleaning/swabbing patch needs to be?) patches to clean a barrel without being 100% sure that the face of the breech plug, and the touch hole, are completely dry/clean.

I had ZERO idea back in 1971 that what I was doing, vis-a-vis the patch/ball/lube combo, that when I re-entered muzzleloading years later, would be a methodology that would be so controversial.

I just saw it as practical at the then tender, ignorant age of 17. I tried to keep things as simple as possible. All I had to go by was the Lyman Black Powder Handbook, and copies of Muzzle Blasts magazine.

 

[Springerpanhead]

So I use spit patch at matches, and cut the patch at the muzzle. After three shots, I have this spit-damp end of the strip of patching, with three holes in it. I cut this away, and use that as it's damp, to swab the bore. Then I prick the touch hole, and then load. Seems to work without worries.

As others have written, I think you're swab is too "wet".

LD

Do you chew ? use snuff ? Where do you guys get all this spit

 

[R.J.Bruce]

Do you chew ? use snuff ? Where do you guys get all this spit

I never found that the patch had to be all that wet with saliva in order to do its job. But, remember, this was back in the day when it was acceptable to blow down the barrel, and that process was introducing quite a bit of moisture into the spent fouling that helps to keep it soft enough to allow a tight patched ball to easily push the fouling down onto the new powder charge.

Nowadays, I would probably keep the patch material in my mouth just a little longer in order to dampen it a bit more.

This process is all about experimenting to find out what works for YOU!!!!

Anything that anyone tells you online is just a starting point for a shooter to begin their own experimenting. Most of us in our late 60's didn't have the wealth of knowledge represented by the internet instantly at our hands. There were few books published on black powder shooting. More than a few of the old timers held on to their knowledge as if it were gold. City boys often got treated poorly when attending rural shoots.

For me, in Baltimore City, in 1971, I had to figure it all out on my own. I made a BUNCH of mistakes that could have been avoided if I had had a mentor. By the same token, I stumbled upon (GOD BLESSED ME WITH) a bunch of things that made shooting a longrifle easier. In the end, it all balanced out.

Making virtually all of my own gear from scratch, was a HUGE advantage. I forced me to critically think about each step/piece of gear, before I made it, or performed it. Many of those mistakes were made trying to reinvent the wheel, which comes from NOT having an experienced mentor that has already made those same mistakes. Or, watched others make them.

 

[French Colonial]

Mr. Bruce and I have a lot in common, blow down the barrel, use a spit patch, if it feels a little tight going down make sure the next one is a little wetter. Good for as many shots as you can shoot in a day. Only use a tallow patch if its going to be loaded for more than an hour or so.

No swabbing between shots, no windex, no Ballistol, nothing that doesn't fit in your shooting bag.

 

[Bighorserider]

I have a TC Hawkin. The only time I've ever had a problem with it not firing was when I wiped with a flat bottom jag. For TCs it's very important to have the pointed on the end TC jag. I've probably used every combination of wiping, not wiping, patch lube etc imaginable. They all worked as long as I used the correct jag.

 

[kansas_volunteer]

After reading all this it makes me wonder how any of our muzzleloading forebears ever survived Indian attacks, won battles, or made meat. Old Bettsy, how do I swab thee, let me count the ways.

I've found only one really effective way to clean between shots, and it is a dry way. Turn your rifle butt up and muzzle down and lower it onto a range rod with a brass brush attached. As you pull the rifle/rod combination appart a lot of crud will fall at your feet. Of course you can't get away with this at most ranges or matches.