Issues with Parker hale P53 enfield ignition

[Leeroybrown]

Since owning this rifle I have put roughly 100 rounds through it. I haven’t been able to get more than 5 usually, and at the most 10 shots before the cap ignites, but the powder doesn’t. At times I will add a few grains under the nipple, and other times I will just place a second cap after a quick pick of the hole. Im including a few pictures of what it looks like when I take the nipple off after a misfire. It looks like caked up debris, sometimes red ( I also occasionally see little red specks near the muzzle after firing and I’m not sure what they are either) but mostly black in color. The gun is cleaned thoroughly after each use, and isn’t left with any large amounts of oil/solvent in the breech or under the nipple.this seems like an odd amount of buildup for just five shots. I’ve used two kinds of caps, cci, and scheutzen. The scheutzen seems to ignite more but still suffers from this issue. The gun does not have a patent breech and has been cleaned with all the proper tools and shows no sign of any buildup/blockage prior to each new range trip. I bought a new stainless nipple from ToTW originally as I figured it would be the best place to start after talking with a friend about it.
I’m shooting 60 grains of FFg
With a beeswax/oil lubed .57 minie ball

My most recent trip to the range was all scheutzen caps, with the same issues every 3-5 shots. I’m stuck here, so any advice is greatly appreciated.

 

[Stantheman86]

Do you clean by filling the bore with water, alcohol or other solvents and "pumping " it through the nipple with a patched jag or do you run wet patches down the bore only to clean?

It also seems like the powder residue is reacting to something

 

[Leeroybrown]

I usually fill the bore with a water ballistol mix, shake it and dump it. Copper brush a few times then a bore mop then patch it with ballistol until it’s clean and I make sure it’s patched basically dry. Tonight was the first time I actually “pumped” the water through a patched jag out of the nipple. The only solvent I’m using is ballistol. Agreed, it seems like something is reacting and it’s strange.

 

[dave951]

What is you lube made from? You said "oil" If it's petroleum based- STOP. Use lard or crisco and reevaluate.

Also, what brand of 2F. I shoot 3F Swiss in my Parker Hale and don't have this issue at all. I'll shoot an entire match of 5 events spaced across 2 relays and don't have an issue either with the cap or wiping.

CCI caps are garbage

 

[Leeroybrown]

What is you lube made from? You said "oil" If it's petroleum based- STOP. Use lard or crisco and reevaluate.

Also, what brand of 2F. I shoot 3F Swiss in my Parker Hale and don't have this issue at all. I'll shoot an entire match of 5 events spaced across 2 relays and don't have an issue either with the cap or wiping.

CCI caps are garbage

Using a beeswax/coconut oil mix. Shouldn’t be any petroleum based product there.I’m not familiar with what all the brands are called yet but I’m using a scheutzen FFg black bottle blue cap. I’m stumped

 

[Britsmoothy]

Is the flash channel large enough between the nipple bolster and barrel?
I say this as one Parker Hale I had I had to open it up a little to get reliable ignition.
Also, are you using hot water?
Looks like sludge is being left behind.
Something simple is going wrong here!

 

[Grenadier1758]

Are you doing a wiping of the bore between shots? Something is pushing fouling into the flash channel. A tight fitting patch with a lot of lubricant will push a lot of fouling back down the barrel and into the flash channel.

Tell us all the steps in the procedure you are following from the loading of the first shot to the firing of the following shot. Does the procedure change from the first shot to the second shot? Third? Fourth? Fifth?

I always remove the nipple when cleaning to allow more water to flow through the barrel. I may insert a threaded plug to hold the water as I slosh the cleaning solution around for the first pass at removing fouling.

The red specks near the muzzle are specks of sulphur or sulphur cherries that don't get burned up during the combustion of the firing charge. A sign of your high humidity in Georgia and nothing to worry about. Same for the red at the breech.

 

[Leeroybrown]

Is the flash channel large enough between the nipple bolster and barrel?
I say this as one Parker Hale I had I had to open it up a little to get reliable ignition.
Also, are you using hot water?
Looks like sludge is being left behind.
Something simple is going wrong here!

I am not using hot water but a water ballistol mix.

 

[Leeroybrown]

Are you doing a wiping of the bore between shots? Something is pushing fouling into the flash channel. A tight fitting patch with a lot of lubricant will push a lot of fouling back down the barrel and into the flash channel.

Tell us all the steps in the procedure you are following from the loading of the first shot to the firing of the following shot. Does the procedure change from the first shot to the second shot? Third? Fourth? Fifth?

I always remove the nipple when cleaning to allow more water to flow through the barrel. I may insert a threaded plug to hold the water as I slosh the cleaning solution around for the first pass at removing fouling.

The red specks near the muzzle are specks of sulphur or sulphur cherries that don't get burned up during the combustion of the firing charge. A sign of your high humidity in Georgia and nothing to worry about. Same for the red at the breech.

I am not wiping between shots. im new so bear with me, my procedure is as follows. I do nothing to the gun before the first shot/load. no patching it, no cap down an empty bore.I make sure(to the best of my knowlege that its cleaned and dry the previous trip)pull it out of the van and load 60 grains of FFg powder, place my .577 minie ball thats pre lubed with a 1:8 beeswax coconut oil blend into the bore. they are pretty tight in my gun, so sometimes they are a little rough to get past the first few inches but after that its good. Ram it all the way home, a few taps at the bottom with the weight of the rammer. prime with a cap, and fire. I then leave the cap on while repeating that exact process until im ready to prime again. At times, I will notice a large buildup of this debris visible in the top of the nipple, usually after only about 5-8 shots. The process remains the same until it misfires, at which time i will either pick the nipple, remove it and pick the area under it, or add a few grains to push the load on through. at times I have opened the nipple and its been a solid sheet of this residue mimicking the bottom of the nipple until i clear it all out.
when cleaning i remove the nipple as well,and yesterday evening used a patched jag to forcefully spray water/ballistol through the channel after cleaning.

 

[Stantheman86]

As long as the Minie lube doesn't have Alox or isn't that red stuff made for cartridge rifle bullets

 

[rmark]

I find it hard to believe the beeswax/coconut oil lube is the problem, but I'd suggest just lubing the minie bullets with just plain Crisco shortening and see if it makes a difference. With my 2 band Enfield I usually wipe the bore about every 5 shots, my minie bullets are sized to bore size.

The only other suggestion would be getting a flushing nipple and hose from Track of the Wolf (if you don't have one) and cleaning with hot tap water only, followed by drying the interior of the barrel then oiling with a light oil (I use good old Hoppes 9, which I think is mostly kerosene nowadays). I just wipe the bore with one dry patch before the next range trip.

 

[Stantheman86]

+1 I'd definitely see if the lube is a common denominator here

Dry size the Minies and just smear a finger dab of Crisco on them and see if this fouling continues

 

[Britsmoothy]

It's not the bullet lube. It's the cleaning.
The cold water is not dissolving the oil. The cleaned flash channel is not totally dry.
It is very difficult to convince folk that a flash channel has to be bone dry!
Another reason for using boiled water.

 

[Grenadier1758]

I agree with @Britsmoothy. Boiled water is good as there are none of the corrosive purifying agents such as chlorine. Ballistol is good when there is no oil or grease in the bore and water and Ballistol won't dissolve Bee's Wax either. First pass with water and dish soap to work on the oils and powder fouling. Hot water will soften the wax. Then rubbing alcohol to help in removal of the bee's wax. Then it is time for Ballistol.

 

[dave951]

Windex does a great job.

As for the lube, with beeswax/coconut oil and Swiss 3f, my PH can shoot one hole groups and has no issues through an entire match without wiping.

 

[SDSmlf]

I am not using hot water but a water ballistol mix.

What is your water to Ballistol mix? Do you you store the muzzle down after cleaning? There appears to be something in your bore reacting with your powder. And you are using real black powder, not a sub?

I suggest you do a deep cleaning with HOT water and soap with a lot of pumping, followed with an alcohol flush right before heading to the range. No oil. No Ballistol water mix. Get the barrel hot. It will be dry by the time you get to the range. At the range, put a cotton patch on your jag and run it to the breech and leave it there while while you fire couple of caps. Remove the jag/patch and see what you have. A slightly charred patch with no evidence of moisture on it is want you want. Now load your gun and proceed. If the issue goes away, it was something to do with your cleaning process. Then you’ll have to figure out what in the process it was.

 

[Frod733]

I thought Parker Hales do have a patent breech.

https://www.tapatalk.com/groups/bri...roblem-with-parker-hale-whitworth-t26340.html

 

[dave951]

I thought Parker Hales do have a patent breech.

https://www.tapatalk.com/groups/bri...roblem-with-parker-hale-whitworth-t26340.html

NO

 

[Leeroybrown]

Thanks for all the advice. I just cleaned it with the method described using boiling water, and saw some pretty gnarly stuff break free onto my patches that before wasn’t noticeable. I’d wager that was a lot to do with it. I won’t know until I go back out in a day or so. Noticed it start to flash rust a bit after the boiling water dried almost instantly. What’s the best way to deal with that? I’ll clean it this way moving forward if that’s what the issue was.


Early on when I first cleaned the gun after buying it, I used remoil instead of ballistol, and likely doused it as I didn’t really know the best way to clean it. I’m thinking residue from that rem oil could have been down there stuck even after all these shots and cleanings due to never really breaking free . That’s the only thing I could possibly come up with.

 

[Britsmoothy]

They have a flat breech plug with a tiny flash hole under the nipple. Sometimes benefits from opening up a touch.