Preventing wood erosion & scorching behind military rifle/musket nipple?

[smoothshooter]

I was wondering about that...what types of finish/oil/wax/varnish/poly finishes promote or prevent that. ?? What about some clear nail polish? Another possibility, might be to take the barrel out of the stock, and sand that area a bit, re-stain to match the finish, then rub some good quality (like bow-making epoxy) epoxy into the wood in that area, really work it in. Let it set up, then steel wool to match the rest of the finish.

Now when I made a band-aid, like Coot, I had a hole in the leather, and the nipple went through the hole. Did not obscure the sights, your sight must/might be lower.

Piece of masking tape.
Remove when done shooting.

 

[Rat]

I agree, but....it's looking like way too much blow back is the main source of the problem...or a much greater issue. On my 1861 I can only detect a small amount of discoloration in that area, and she's never had a band-aid or tape on her.

 

[Rat]

That's the extent of it.

 

[SDSmlf]

Have you considered using a flash cup? It’s purpose is to protect the wood.

 

[koauke]

I agree, but....it's looking like way too much blow back is the main source of the problem...or a much greater issue. On my 1861 I can only detect a small amount of discoloration in that area, and she's never had a band-aid or tape on her.

I think this may be due to the Mississippi rifle's nipple sitting up higher up above the wood. The springfield's sits much lower and has more of a steel shield behind the nipple.

 

[Rat]

Good theory, and it is true that the nipple sits lower on the Springfield, but I have another Remington Contract Rifle, (replica) which has the same exact breech and bolster as your Mississippi, and she don't blow back anything like yours. I'll post a pic sometime soon.

I read somewhere, but don't know if it's true, that the 1863 Remington Contract rifles were made on the Mississippi rifle tooling, and that they just made some minor changes in the furniture, (patch box and nose cap) and the caliber of course. At any rate, the replica Remingtons and Mississippis seem to have identical barrel, breeches, lock plates and hammers. ??

 

[koauke]

Good theory, and it is true that the nipple sits lower on the Springfield, but I have another Remington Contract Rifle, (replica) which has the same exact breech and bolster as your Mississippi, and she don't blow back anything like yours. I'll post a pic sometime soon.

I read somewhere, but don't know if it's true, that the 1863 Remington Contract rifles were made on the Mississippi rifle tooling, and that they just made some minor changes in the furniture, (patch box and nose cap) and the caliber of course. At any rate, the replica Remingtons and Mississippis seem to have identical barrel, breeches, lock plates and hammers. ??

Well you guys were definitely correct to suspect the size of the hole at the base of the nipple, I received the musket nipples I ordered from Track of the Wolf and sure enough, the Pedersoli has a much larger hole.

Looking forward to trying this one out and hoping this will take care of the wood burning issue. I read the same regarding the 1863 rifle and Remington's use of the existing 1841 tooling.

Photo: TOW nipple on the left, and Pedersoli on the right. Wonder why Pedersoli uses a much larger hole?

 

[EC121]

Hard to believe that hole didn't blow the hammer back to half cock.
BTW the #10 caps are usually considered revolver caps. #11 caps are for rifles and #11 Magnum caps are about the equal of musket caps. If the powder is under the nipple the gun will fire. I wouldn't be bothered using a #11 cap on a musket, but musket caps are easier to handle.

 

[Rat]

I've seen/had worse, (and they did go half-cock on me) but that should be a big improvement. And good to have a spare. Now build a better band-aid, and treat that wood one way or another to make it a bit more fire proof. Good luck!

 

[madsweeney]

One of my old team mates had a simple solution - he put a dollup of grease ( don't know what kind - nothing flammable) on the wood before a match, wiped it off after the end of the day. I tried it, but couldn't manage to not smear it off in short order!

 

[ugly old guy]

Flash cup intended for a musket nipple.