It appears that…..

[Celt5494]

I'd swear some people here walk on water. But I can't. Don't hurt my feelings none either if some one mocks me when I do mess up. At least not for long. You're doing one thing right if you've dry balled. You're out shooting instead of tapping on a keyboard.

I have learned at a fairly young age to always laugh at myself and not take myself so seriously. I'm far from perfect and accept it. In memory I have dry balled twice in my life. One was at a woods walk shoot where my at the time very young son didn't let me live it down. The other was about a year ago with my Fowler. In both cases it wasn't a huge deal and certainly not a safety issue for me or anyone around me. Just a fact of life with these types of firearms and certainly learning moments.

 

[mushka]

I think about the only two things I have screwed up and not done with a muzzle loader is to shoot someone or launched a rod down range, but there is still time.

 

[M. De Land]

I'd swear some people here walk on water. But I can't. Don't hurt my feelings none either if some one mocks me when I do mess up. At least not for long. You're doing one thing right if you've dry balled. You're out shooting instead of tapping on a keyboard.

Amen!

 

[Griz 54]

It's not that I have ever really dry balled a rifle. It's more like I mighta missed a step along the way in a certain preferred order....

There are those hoe have and those how will

 

[appalichian hunter]

I think there are more that has dry balled on here than is willing to admit it. You mess around with these things long enough and yep; it's going to happen.

 

[shorthair]

You are suggesting common sense, which is in short supply!

Granddaddy always said that common sense was the least common of all the senses .

 

[stephenprops1]

Hey Y'all! Lookie me! I can't pay attention to what I'ma doin'!
Once? Ok. We were all noobs at one time.
More than once? Put it away before ya hurt yourself.

I have dry balled a couple of times. Each time it was because somebody interrupted me to talk about some irrelevant subject.

 

[stephenprops1]

What's 'dryballin' ? SW

Obviously, you ain't done it yet. --- It is loading the patch and ball down your barrel without first pouring your powder charge down the barrel.

 

[Steve Wagner]

Obviously, you ain't done it yet. --- It is loading the patch and ball down your barrel without first pouring your powder charge down the barrel.

Ok, Stephen, I need to apologize here. I have dryballed several times already in a fairly short ML career. I just asked that question to troll the posters here that never get hemmoroids-you know, the perfect ML a-holes. I admit to being somewhat human and have had to fight the dryball curse because I have an ingrained regimen from years of centerfire reloading and shooting. I find it real tempting to get ahead of myself. At any rate, the ones I've had have been such a breeze to get out with my percussions that I figure they hardly amounted to some kind of mortal ML sin. Never hunting, it happens at the bench. And I have shot them out with no issues. I keep a ball puller with my stuff but have not used it . Some folks are better than others at not letting this happen. If it were so easy to not do it there wouldn't be so many threads on how to fix it. BP Maniac's dryball video saved me. The grease gun solution seems effective but fugly to me. It is not on my 'bucket list'. Sorry about my jackass question. SW

 

[M. De Land]

Ok, Stephen, I need to apologize here. I have dryballed several times already in a fairly short ML career. I just asked that question to troll the posters here that never get hemmoroids-you know, the perfect ML a-holes. I admit to being somewhat human and have had to fight the dryball curse because I have an ingrained regimen from years of centerfire reloading and shooting. I find it real tempting to get ahead of myself. At any rate, the ones I've had have been such a breeze to get out with my percussions that I figure they hardly amounted to some kind of mortal ML sin. Never hunting, it happens at the bench. And I have shot them out with no issues. I keep a ball puller with my stuff but have not used it . Some folks are better than others at not letting this happen. If it were so easy to not do it there wouldn't be so many threads on how to fix it. BP Maniac's dryball video saved me. The grease gun solution seems effective but fugly to me. It is not on my 'bucket list'. Sorry about my jackass question. SW

Truth is with a good guided steel loading rod and ball puller it is barely and inconvenience on the level of flint sharpening or bore mopping between shots. It just isn't that big a deal with a good one piece steel loading rod except perhaps to ones ego.
The other good thing about a knob handled metal loading rod is you can't see through the front sight if it's still in the barrel so your not going to shoot it out.
Save the wood loading rod for hunting trips !

 

[Buckskinquin]

Yeah, I’ve dryballed. Usually distracted or someone asks a question or I just screw up during the loading process. Lucky for me, I was in great BP group, that welcomed me to the dry ball club and directed me to the pulling jig used to secure your range rod in once the puller had been screwed into the ball. Then pull straight down on the gun to extract the ball. Sometimes a few sharp tugs are necessary to get it started out. Not sure I’ve seen answer to the question posed by the originator of this thread, why did the ball get stuck as he started to pull the ball. My guess, he had a burr or sharp anomaly in the rifling of the new unfired barrel.

 

[Howard Pippin]

How snarky and proud you sound. Let’s make fun of someone for trying something. Little did he know that the bullet puller would break. Then when he asked for help and advice, all the know-it-alls and trolls started up.

This is why a lot of people don’t ask for help and quit the hobby. It’s disgusting. And, Billy Bob here had to to start a whole new thread to attack and make fun of him. Not the

How snarky and proud you sound. Let’s make fun of someone for trying something. Little did he know that the bullet puller would break. Then when he asked for help and advice, all the know-it-alls and trolls started up.

This is why a lot of people don’t ask for help and quit the hobby. It’s disgusting. And, Billy Bob here had to to start a whole new thread to attack and make fun of him. Not the hobby I’ve known over the years — now full of mean trolls.

4 minutes ago
I think that's just a little bit harsh on us that see the humor in this, the ability to laugh at oneself should go with muzzle loading, as I think anyone that has been at it for a while Has did some very dumb things. Three times now I've short started a ball and shot it, thank God I was using triple seven as it acts a whole lot different from black powder, and it was kind of a squid load. I'm sure black powder would have ruined the barrel, triple seven just made a funny Delayed Action squib load that didn't even hit the paper.
I don't blame the fellow for trying to find out about dry balling before he finished the pistol, it just kind of adds to the story to have dry balled a firearm that can't be fired. it would make a wonderful story to tell around a campfire at night at a rendezvous. I don't consider myself a troll, I've been on this site many years, and hope I've shared some knowledge that has helped other people. I did find things here that have helped me and I'm glad to pass it on whatever I have found out.
Squint

Howard Pippin

 

[ColonialRifleSmith]

I know some guys who say they have never dry balled a gun, they sure tell some tall tales around the camp fire also.

Who,, Me,,, Dry Ball??? NEVER!!! Ahem.

 

[Dwight Dutton]

I have went to shoot several times without dryballing.

Loading a ball without powder is annoying - but not dangerous. Decades ago I loaded a charge in a .58 springfield - on top of another charge. It happened a lot at Gettysburg with that same model rifle, actually. I didn't know I had done it until the recoil was really heavy. I do not know how damaged the gun was after that - but it didn't blow up at least.

 

[sturmkatze]

4 minutes ago
I think that's just a little bit harsh on us that see the humor in this, the ability to laugh at oneself should go with muzzle loading, as I think anyone that has been at it for a while Has did some very dumb things. Three times now I've short started a ball and shot it, thank God I was using triple seven as it acts a whole lot different from black powder, and it was kind of a squid load. I'm sure black powder would have ruined the barrel, triple seven just made a funny Delayed Action squib load that didn't even hit the paper.
I don't blame the fellow for trying to find out about dry balling before he finished the pistol, it just kind of adds to the story to have dry balled a firearm that can't be fired. it would make a wonderful story to tell around a campfire at night at a rendezvous. I don't consider myself a troll, I've been on this site many years, and hope I've shared some knowledge that has helped other people. I did find things here that have helped me and I'm glad to pass it on whatever I have found out.
Squint

Howard Pippin

I was more referring to those who were making fun of him and piling on. He did nothing wrong and the fact that a nine have made fun of him…

i wasn’t referring to those who were joking, but the mean spirited piling on. He was trying to do it at home in a controlled environment and his equipment broke. But then all these guys wanted to go on that he is an idiot.

We’ve all dry balled. It’s like other subjects: there are those who’ve done it and there are liars.

 

[LME]

I know some guys who say they have never dry balled a gun, they sure tell some tall tales around the camp fire also.

I have been shooting M.l. since the late seventies and have never done it yet. I don't understand how one can make such a mistake if they are paying attention to what they are doing. As far as lying I never lie unless the truth starts failing me! LOL!

 

[user 13896]

73 years old and shooting since I was 10. Never dry balled. A few years back I was up to shoot at a woods walk. Cap went off, rifle did not fire, tried another cap, still did not fire. The guys started laughing, "dry ball, dry ball." Put the ram rod down the barrel, turned to the crowd, "Didn't dry ball, just forgot to load it." Don't have Alzheimers, do have sometimers.

 

[M. De Land]

I have been shooting M.l. since the late seventies and have never done it yet. I don't understand how one can make such a mistake if they are paying attention to what they are doing. As far as lying I never lie unless the truth starts failing me! L

My guess would be that the most lied about subject is asking if a person has ever had an accidental/negligent discharge !
I have to tell a story on myself that actually happened some years ago in a kids day seminar at our local range in Birchwood AK. The venue was to rotate a new group of kids through our respective glass every 30-40 minutes until the loud speaker signaled a class change throughout the day. I would start the class with a brief history of the arm I was demonstrating and then would let each kid fire a shot after I supervised their loading of the gun. We typically had seven or eight kids per session and needed to keep things moving so we could finish in the allotted time frame.
For this event I had chosen my .54 cal percussion horse pistol which none of the kids had ever fired or probably seen before.
I always fired a cap through the nipple to clear any oil or fouling in the vent before loading and showed the class how this was accomplished while in the field, pointing down range and at a leaf or tuft of grass out in front. It was a good way to show the class how the gas from the cap would flow through a clear nipple and move the grass in front of the muzzle signifying the gun clear to load. You probably have guessed already where this is going!
I had a larger than normal class size and was running low on time and one student asked if he could load and fire a second shot so I obliged wanting to encourage his interest. Just as he got the gun loaded the megaphone signaled a class change so I un-capped and set the pistol back in the rack while apologizing to the young lad for not getting another shot off.
Next glass came in and I went through the whole routine again Buuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuut when I demonstrated how to clear the nipple I blew a smoking hole in the dirt out front and down range, forgetting about it being previously loaded by the interested student in the last class. I turned to look at the class and they all looked like a bunch of owls, wide eyed with their mouths agape ! I gathered my composure and calmly said " AND THAT CLASS IS HOW WE CHECK TO SEE IF THE VENT IN THE NIPPLE IS CLEAR " ! Boy did that tuft of grass move !
I then realized I could turn this disaster into a very teachable moment and so explained how this had all happened. I'm quite sure not one of those kids has every forgotten the incident or the Rube who foisted it upon them, I know I haven't but I can't help but think that incident may have very well impressed a rule of safety (keeping the muzzle at all times in a safe direction) that could have saved a life or two in the future. At least I like to think it may have had some redeeming quality to it.

 

[M. De Land]

4 minutes ago
I think that's just a little bit harsh on us that see the humor in this, the ability to laugh at oneself should go with muzzle loading, as I think anyone that has been at it for a while Has did some very dumb things. Three times now I've short started a ball and shot it, thank God I was using triple seven as it acts a whole lot different from black powder, and it was kind of a squid load. I'm sure black powder would have ruined the barrel, triple seven just made a funny Delayed Action squib load that didn't even hit the paper.
I don't blame the fellow for trying to find out about dry balling before he finished the pistol, it just kind of adds to the story to have dry balled a firearm that can't be fired. it would make a wonderful story to tell around a campfire at night at a rendezvous. I don't consider myself a troll, I've been on this site many years, and hope I've shared some knowledge that has helped other people. I did find things here that have helped me and I'm glad to pass it on whatever I have found out.
Squint

Howard Pippin

About two years ago I witnessed a barrel burst on a fine costume flint gun from a short started ball with a very moderate load of 2F powder I believe. It was a barrel made of 12L14 steel though so it doesn't really surprise me that it occurred. I have talked to folks who have short started more than once with no trouble and were using Black Powder. I've yet to shoot a loading rod down range or short start a ball but there is still time as I plan on doing a lot more shooting before I leave for home.

 

[Mad L]

Okay, ya'll have me sitting here red faced and feeling ashamed.
I have to admit that I 'dry ball'... every time...YES, I AM A DRY BALLER! It's the only way I know to load, no one ever told me how to wet my balls and I have been too ashamed to ask .

So please, tell me what ya'll wet your balls with?!? I Don't Want To Dry Ball Anymore!!