Poor ignition this morning.

[JeffinNZ]

Team.
My usual 'bullet proof' Wesson rifle played up this morning with more misfires in one session than I can remember in the total time I have owned it.
I arrived at the range at 9am and there was still quite a damp frost around.
:hmm: Could the dampness in the air have been the cause? I have checked all the other factors and the barrel, nipple, flash channel etc are no different to usual. Same for the loads.
:hmm:

 

[William Joy]

Must be the climate....
Had a very reliable rifle ( almost 100% here in Utah/USA) and when I came to your great country to hunt deer I had the same problem.... I believe it had to do with bringing the gun from the house ( warm) into a cold & humid enviroment. Fixed it by swabbing the bore with alcohol and then leaving the gun outside.

 

[BrownBear]

We're real wet here, with 120 to 140 inches a year. Unless it's downright raining and you get things wet, the only time I've seen problems is hanging a cap dispenser on a string around your neck and shoving the unit inside your shirt while you hunt hard. A pretty sure formula for dud caps. Not an issue on the range.

But as for misfires such as you describe, in which the cap pops and you get no bang? I'd suspect either of two things. If the flame channel between the cap and the charge gets clogged anywhere, that's a good source, but sounds as though you have not had the trouble before.

That leaves my #1 choice- a worn or peened nipple. I've probably had more misfires from that than from any amount of humidity in the air. I'm not sure whether it's a case of the flame getting disrupted or simply not getting good ignition in the cap.

But humidity is waaaaaaaay down my list of possibilities.

 

[JeffinNZ]

Good thinking Brown Bear. I did however try 3 nipples all with the same outcome.
I think maybe I didn't clean out the Ballsitol well enough and some may have baked on. Either way it is spotless now.

Hey, I see you are from Alaska. My good friend Glenn just visited from Anchorage and did some hunting down here with his MLer. He/we had a great time.

 

[renovato]

Could the temperature change between the car and the firing line have cause some condensation perhaps? If so, maybe next time, let the gun come to temperature, then pour a little alcohol down the bore to remove any condensation.

 

[Little Wattsy]

We're real wet here, with 120 to 140 inches a year. Unless it's downright raining and you get things wet, the only time I've seen problems is hanging a cap dispenser on a string around your neck and shoving the unit inside your shirt while you hunt hard. A pretty sure formula for dud caps. Not an issue on the range.

But as for misfires such as you describe, in which the cap pops and you get no bang? I'd suspect either of two things. If the flame channel between the cap and the charge gets clogged anywhere, that's a good source, but sounds as though you have not had the trouble before.

That leaves my #1 choice- a worn or peened nipple. I've probably had more misfires from that than from any amount of humidity in the air. I'm not sure whether it's a case of the flame getting disrupted or simply not getting good ignition in the cap.

But humidity is waaaaaaaay down my list of possibilities.

Dont have quite the rain that Alkaka does but we get ALOT and in order to shoot outside of July, Augest, Sept you will be shooting in the wet, cold, or both.
Condesation could only happen ONCE. After the first discharge ALL moisture IN the gun would have had to have been "dried out".
So Ill echo Brown Bear with emphisis on "obstruction". Might check your patented breach to make sure you dont have "build up" that you are dragging into your flash hole when you swab.
OR if next time you go the problem is "miraculasly solved" them climat it was? :grin:

 

[JeffinNZ]

Guys, I have been mulling over this as the whole business is annoying me cos the Wesson is SOOOOOO reliable. Here is what I have come up with.

For some reason yesterday, while wiping between shots, I decided to fold the patches in half and double thickness them. Usually I wipe with the single layer of patch. I reckon the extra tight wiping patch has been picking up more fouling than usual and as the jag bottoms out has been depositing the fouling over the flash channel.

I have a shoot on Sunday so will single patch wipe and report.

Thanks for the imput team.

 

[paulvallandigham]

With a single layer, or double layer patch, you need to carefully Hand Over Hand the rod down the barrel and stop an inch above the breechplug. The only way you are going to know that is if you mark your Ramrod to indicate when its hitting the face of the plug on an empty gun. Pull that first patch out, and examine it for the amount of crud and how wet the crud is. IF the crud is not too much, and not too wet, you can flip it over and run the other side down the barrel, this time, ALL THE WAY to the plug, to pick up the crud in that last inch, WITHOUT pushing crud from the barrel down into the plug face, and flashchannel.

NOw, if its humid out, use a new cleaning patch to run down the barrel to dry it out completely before you put down the next powder charge.

If you find blue, or reddish, almost plastic residue on the patches, you are either using too much powder, or the air is too dry. Reduce the powder charge either way, by a few grains, and check the next patch. Keep reducing the charge until you no longer are seeing the red or blue streaks on your patch. ( This is incompletely burned Potassium Nitrate.)

Black Powder actually likes to be shot in humid conditions, and performs better than when fired in dry conditions. The price you pay is that the humidity will immediately condense on the inside of the barrel causing a lot of wet crud. If you don't remove it between shot, you risk spoiling some or all of the next powder charge, and seeing the next ball strike lower on the target, if it fires at all.