I went to the range the other day to site in my .50 cal Thompson Renegade. I was going to try to site in the 320 grain TC pre-lubed maxi balls.
It was pretty cold, around 20 degrees. I started off by pouring 65 gr of ffg into the barrel and then attempted to load the maxi ball. I could only get the maxi ball about 1" into the barrel. I could not for the life of me, get that bullet to budge another fraction. I finally used a puller and after a lot of work was able to pull the maxi ball back out, but it was a helluva job to get it done. I then loaded a round ball with a prelubed ticking patch and it loaded perfectly. The gun fired well.
Just wondering what the heck the deal was with the pre-lubed maxi ball. I had a tube of bore butter with me, but it was so cold that the tube was hard and I couldn't even get it to squirt from the tube. After a fired the round ball, I barely could force one lubed cleaning patch down the barrel. I feel like there is maybe something wrong, but I don't have enough experience to know what it is.
I guess the question is: 1) Is there a reason my gun won't load maxi's, 2) Was it just too dang cold to use the bore butter. Does it need to be warmed up. And 3) why the heck was it so hard to get a lubed cleaning patch down the barrel?
Thanks for helping a novice.
It was pretty cold, around 20 degrees. I started off by pouring 65 gr of ffg into the barrel and then attempted to load the maxi ball. I could only get the maxi ball about 1" into the barrel. I could not for the life of me, get that bullet to budge another fraction. I finally used a puller and after a lot of work was able to pull the maxi ball back out, but it was a helluva job to get it done. I then loaded a round ball with a prelubed ticking patch and it loaded perfectly. The gun fired well.
Just wondering what the heck the deal was with the pre-lubed maxi ball. I had a tube of bore butter with me, but it was so cold that the tube was hard and I couldn't even get it to squirt from the tube. After a fired the round ball, I barely could force one lubed cleaning patch down the barrel. I feel like there is maybe something wrong, but I don't have enough experience to know what it is.
I guess the question is: 1) Is there a reason my gun won't load maxi's, 2) Was it just too dang cold to use the bore butter. Does it need to be warmed up. And 3) why the heck was it so hard to get a lubed cleaning patch down the barrel?
Thanks for helping a novice.